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WFA's Better Marketing Pod with David Wheldon

WFA's Better Marketing Pod with David Wheldon

Hosted by World Federation of Advertisers (WFA)

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Episodes

51

Latest episode

Jun 2026

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EN-GB

About the show

Hosted by WFA President David Wheldon, WFA's Better Marketing Pod in partnership with Meta looks at the marketing industry’s biggest stories and speaks to some of the industry’s most interesting characters who are shaping those stories.

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51 recent
June 8, 2026Episode 5022 min

Ep 50: 50 episodes in David Wheldon reflects on conversations with the world’s top marketing minds

Fifty episodes in, one lesson keeps getting louder: marketing is still a person-to-person craft, even when the world feels dominated by platforms, dashboards, and AI. Recording from Stockholm during Global Marketer Week, in this episode David Wheldon reflects on what he has learned from CMOs and top marketing thinkers and why the energy of human contact makes ideas sharper, braver, and more useful.We dig into leadership under pressure, starting with a principle that sounds simple and turns out to be non-negotiable: if you lead others, you have to take care of yourself first. Antonio Lucio explains why it starts with the body, how uncertainty drains teams, and why self-care is not selfish when your job is to show up centred for your people. From there we move to a phrase we keep coming back to: creativity with precision. Great work needs measurement and proof, not to tame creativity, but to earn trust, defend brand investment, and scale what is driving real business results.The episode also tackles evidence-based marketing and the danger of untested myths. We explore why organisations often already have the data they need yet still fail to challenge assumptions, then zoom out to creativity, strategy, and technology: Sir John Hegarty’s case for creative effectiveness, Seth Godin’s view of strategy as a “philosophy of becoming”, and a clear stance on AI as augmentation rather than an enemy. If capability is expanding fast, the real question becomes uncomfortable and motivating: are our ideas good enough?Subscribe to the WFA #BetterMarketing podcast on your preferred platform: https://bit.ly/41ZwqkF.

May 6, 2026Episode 4931 min

Ep 49: Google's VP Global Ads Dan Taylor: "AI is more of a leadership than a technology challenge"

Real people do not move neatly from awareness to consideration to purchase, they jump between searching, streaming, scrolling and shopping, sometimes all at once. That messy middle is where brands win or disappear, and it is exactly where AI-powered advertising and modern measurement start to matter according to the next guest on the WFA Better Marketing Podcast Dan Taylor, VP of Global Ads at Google.On this episode Dan speaks to David Wheldon to unpack what has changed over two decades of digital advertising and what is changing right now. They talk about how first-party data, CRM signals, and outcome-based optimisation help AI steer towards real business value instead of proxy metrics. Dan shares why the best marketers treat attribution, incrementality testing, and marketing mix modelling as a connected system that supports smarter budget decisions and clearer conversations with the CFO.The episode also get into the practical side of AI and creativity. Automation can shrink weeks of execution into hours, but it does not replace the need for sharp strategy and a strong idea. From faster asset production to new search behaviours like longer conversational queries, visual search, and experiences such as AI Overviews, it explores how discovery is expanding and how ads can become relevant through context, not just keywords. If you want a grounded view of what to modernise now and what happens if you wait, this one is for you.If you found this useful, subscribe to Better Marketing and share it with a colleague.Subscribe to the WFA #BetterMarketing podcast on your preferred platform: https://bit.ly/41ZwqkF.

April 1, 2026Episode 4829 min

Ep 48: Judy Smith on why "be who you say you are" is the only crisis playbook that matters

In this episode David Wheldon talks with Judy Smith, crisis management expert and former White House advisor, about what protects reputation when risk is everywhere and scrutiny is constant. We come back to one hard rule for leaders and brands: be who you say you are, even when the story is moving faster than your playbook. In this episode David and Judy cover:• Being who you say you are as the foundation of trust, values and reputation • Managing brand reputation as both technology and AI reshape what gets said about companies • Reducing silos so marketing, comms, legal and policy act as one team • Why crisis playbooks struggle when culture and reaction are unpredictable • Using the risk barometer to prepare, adjust plans and measure intangible assets • Making intangibles financially meaningful through protection and long-term value • What leaders do in the first 90 days of a turnaround, beyond story polishing • When to respond to volatility and when silence avoids a damaging slug fest • How to think about fake news based on real reputational impact • The unexpected story behind Scandal and a former president’s sense of humourAbout Judy SmithFor more than 25 years, Ms. Smith has counseled presidents and world leaders through global crises, advised Fortune 50 CEOs through complex challenges, and helped manage the reputations of some of the world’s highest-profile individuals. She founded Smith & Company, a strategic advisory firm considered to be one of the top crisis firms in the world, that has offices in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, New York and London.In addition to her work as a communications advisor during high profile moments, Ms. Smith is a long-time counselor to some of the world’s largest and most influential companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Panera, Lowes, Sony, Kaiser, United Healthcare, and Walmart. She provides her clients with strategic advice on a variety of corporate communications issues such as mergers and acquisitions, product recalls, intellectual property litigation, corporate positioning, and other corporate, investor and public relations matters.A former federal prosecutor, Ms. Smith worked in the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia where she handled high-profile investigations. She also served as Deputy Press Secretary to President George H.W. Bush, during which time she worked on a host of domestic and international issues.As a result of her wide ranging and ground-breaking career, Ms. Smith inspired the hit TV series, Scandal and served as Co- Executive Producer of the project. Ms. Smith’s advice and counsel have been valuable to corporate boardrooms, and she currently serves on the board of Ariel Investments and as Chair for The Intangibles, the transformation consultancy for the intangible world. She also previously served on the boards of Global Citizen, Save the Children, Washington National Cathedral and Carbon Health.Subscribe to the WFA #BetterMarketing podcast on your preferred platform: https://bit.ly/41ZwqkF.

March 3, 2026Episode 4733 min

Ep 47: HP's Antonio Lucio on leading through a CEO transition, an AI surge and 4 layers of disruption

When everything shifts at once, composure becomes a strategy. David Wheldon talks with HP’s Antonio Lucio to explore how leaders stay steady through geopolitics, macro pressure, generative AI, and an unexpected CEO transition—while keeping teams focused, customers centred, and growth on track.Antonio cuts through the AI hype with three pragmatic plays: scale asset optimisation for faster NPI readiness, use identity-led media to guide IT decision makers across their buying journey, and automate back office work that drains half of marketers’ time. He makes the case that AI is only useful when it serves the customer, not a dashboard, and that chasing pilots without scale is a dead end for global brands.We also unpack the inner game of leadership. Drawing on Stoicism and a fresh look at Machiavelli’s hard questions, Antonio shares how he managed a delicate CEO succession process, balanced empathy with execution, and modelled honest emotions without losing operational clarity. The takeaway is a repeatable rhythm: protect your capacity, face reality as it is, define the next action, and deliver.Finally, we reframe the CMO’s mandate. Marketers who earn their seat at the table own three advantages: the aggregator view of budgets across units and regions, the authentic voice of the customer built on direct relationships, and the ability to integrate storytelling across stakeholders. As search behaviour tilts toward LLMs, trust, owned and earned content, and account-based marketing become decisive. Communications, marketing, and corporate affairs must move as one to turn reputation into revenue.If you’re leading teams through volatility or rethinking how AI and trust work together, this conversation offers a clear path forward. Subscribe, share with a teammate who needs a boost, and leave a review with the one shift you’ll make this week.Subscribe to the WFA #BetterMarketing podcast on your preferred platform: https://bit.ly/41ZwqkF.

February 3, 2026Episode 4624 min

Ep 46: Grab CMO Cheryl Goh's playbook on how to 'cross swim lanes' for commercial impact

Growth doesn’t start with an ad. It starts where your product decisions meet real people. We sit down with Cheryl, newly named Global Marketer of the Year, to unpack how Grab scaled across Southeast Asia by turning marketing into a true commercial engine—where product, pricing, algorithms, and culture work in sync to earn trust and drive results.We chart the journey from a scrappy airport-ride promo to a system of problem-space teams that cross swim lanes by design. Cheryl explains why immersion days keep leaders close to riders and drivers, how fair pricing principles became part of brand architecture, and where consensus can quietly kill velocity. Her hiring lens is refreshingly direct: seek commercial fluency, data and insights mastery, and relentless curiosity; then give those people room to orchestrate product, economics, and operations around the customer.Sustainability emerges as strategy, not slogan. Inclusive design and driver programmes widen supply, improve safety, and boost retention, turning social good into measurable outcomes. As AI becomes the growth engine, we explore why marketers must move upstream—shaping ranking, matching, and pricing so algorithms reflect brand values rather than rewrite them. The result is a practical playbook for CMOs, product leaders, and founders who want marketing to integrate the business, not decorate it.If you care about customer experience, fair pricing, and building teams that ship impact, this conversation offers field-tested ideas you can use now. Subscribe and share with a colleague.About Cheryl GohCheryl Goh is Group VP of Marketing and Sustainability and Founding CMO at Grab and the 2025 Global Marketer of the Year. Hand-picked by founder Anthony Tan despite her product and business development background, she scaled MyTeksi from 2012 origins into Southeast Asia's leading superapp across eight markets.She leads the full ecosystem, including product marketing, communications, growth, loyalty P&L (Grab VIP, Unlimited, Coins), sustainability, and customer support, while building a talent pipeline that has placed several of Grab's country heads.Subscribe to the WFA #BetterMarketing podcast on your preferred platform: https://bit.ly/41ZwqkF.

December 14, 2025Episode 4513 min

Ep 45: Is it all about AI? What's really shaping the CMO Agenda? - 2025 in review

In this episode we review a year of conversations with Unicef's Frederique Covington Corbett, culture guru Marcus Collins, Cathay Pacific's Ed Bell, Meta's Nicola Mendelsohn, Marcel Marcondes from AB InBev and Global Marketer of the Year, marketing expert Seth Godin, Leyal Eskin Yilmaz from the Magnum Ice Cream Company, and Ogilvy's Rory Sutherland.These conversations led to one clear truth: the best marketing is still about people. We pull together the sharpest lessons for CMOs and brand leaders, cutting through the AI noise to focus on conviction-led leadership, intelligent human connection, and simple ideas that change behaviour. You’ll hear why building AI capability and governance is urgent, but also why tech belongs in the back office while human creativity runs the front. We share how to connect customer insight to commercial reality, and why that shift turns marketing from a cost into a value engine.We dive into the channels where customers already live—messaging platforms—and explain how click-to-message journeys, verified utility updates, and AI agents on WhatsApp are transforming service and commerce globally. Real stories show the upside: faster response times, higher satisfaction, and scalable conversations that still feel personal. Then we move beyond tools to the psychology that makes any of it work. Technology amplifies an idea; it doesn’t replace one. The most effective work pairs clarity and emotional intelligence, proving that a simple, useful solution beats a flashy campaign when it solves a real problem.Finally, we tackle the mindset. Choose your customers and clients with care, because those choices define your future. Lead with conviction, not convenience, even when it costs you. Make space for practical magic, the creative leaps that reconcile contradictions the spreadsheet can’t. As we look ahead, think human creativity as the front office, technology as the back office, and AI as a force multiplier—not the point. If that resonates, follow the show and share this roundup with your team.Subscribe to the WFA #BetterMarketing podcast on your preferred platform: https://bit.ly/41ZwqkF.

November 26, 2025Episode 4435 min

Ep 44: Rory Sutherland on fat-tailed marketing and why creativity outperforms efficiency

The biggest wins in marketing rarely fit into neat dashboards. Rory Sutherland joins us to unpack why creativity is “fat-tailed,” how a few outlier ideas create the lion’s share of value, and why short-term incentives push teams to optimise what’s easy to count rather than what actually compounds. From “member since” on a card to names on Coke bottles, we dig into billion-dollar ideas that cost little to make but transform loyalty, fame, and lifetime value.David and Rory get honest about metrics and the bottlenecks they create. When every brand chases the same KPIs, platforms become toll roads and marketers pay rent for access. Rory argues for brand-specific measures that mirror your distinctive value, plus smarter routes to reach people without bidding wars, think influence, communities, and the “Cafe Nero” side door. They also contrast two economic worldviews: the tidy rational model that treats marketing as a cost, and the psychology-first approach that sees value as subjective, created in minds through service, design, and language.The conversation ranges from call centres as underestimated value engines to why family-owned firms often excel at brand building. David and Rory explore how an efficiency mindset blocks innovation by forcing either-or decisions, and how relational capitalism, trust over time, not transactional maximisation, builds resilient brands. The practical pivot: don’t just sell outputs; sell how you think. In an AI age, the durable advantage is reframing problems and resolving false trade-offs, turning contradictions into strengths. If you believe in magic, you’ll notice it, nurture it, and let it power growth.If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a colleague who needs a jolt of creative courage, and leave a quick review to help more marketers find us.Subscribe to the WFA #BetterMarketing podcast on your preferred platform: https://bit.ly/41ZwqkF.

October 1, 2025Episode 4331 min

Ep 43: Magnum Ice Cream's Leyal Eskin Yilmaz on Unilever, Minecraft ice cream and cultural relevance

In this episode of the Better Marketing Podcast with David Wheldon, Leyal Eskin Yilmaz, CMO of Europe, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand for the Magnum Ice Cream Company, shares insights on building a new marketing organisation as the business separates from Unilever.Key points covered:Creating a new company while running the business is like "building a new house while living in it".Each geographic market shaped Leyal's leadership approach differently - Turkey (agility), US (scale), UAE (cultural nuance), Netherlands (systems thinking).Turkish marketers excel globally because Turkey provides a "real-time MBA" with fast-changing markets and intense competition.The new company balances global brands (setting ambition) with local jewels (providing cultural relevance).Purpose remains central to the business strategy, with Ben & Jerry's setting industry standards.Cultural relevance requires long-term partnerships, demonstrated by their Minecraft collaboration.Inclusion and diversity initiatives focus on representation plus active sponsorship of diverse talent.AI is transforming marketing more than any other business function, triggering creativity when used properly.Modern CMOs need to embrace AI capabilities, actively shape culture, and position marketing as the business growth engine.Subscribe to the WFA #BetterMarketing podcast on your preferred platform: https://bit.ly/41ZwqkF.

August 25, 2025Episode 4233 min

Ep 42: On story, strategy and stealing attention with marketing guru Seth Godin

What happens when one of marketing's most influential thinkers shares his unfiltered wisdom about the state of our industry? Seth Godin joins the WFA Better Marketing Podcast to deliver profound insights that challenge conventional thinking about what makes marketing truly effective.Seth dismantles common misconceptions about marketing's purpose: "Marketing is about how we're going to tell a story that other people want to hear," he explains, emphasizing that great storytelling isn't an innate talent but a learnable skill developed through careful observation and adaptation. His pioneering concept of permission marketing, introduced decades ago, rings truer than ever in our attention-scarce digital landscape.The conversation explores the critical distinction between strategy and tactics that confounds many marketers. "A strategy is a philosophy of becoming. It's the hard work we do before the hard work," Seth explains. He contrasts enduring brands like Patagonia and Apple, whose core strategies have remained consistent for decades, with organizations that merely copy competitors in a tactical race to the bottom.Perhaps most powerfully, Seth reminds us that "when you pick your customers, you pick your future." This profound yet simple insight encourages marketers to cultivate relationships with clients who align with their values, even if that means walking away from those who don't.Ready to rethink your approach to marketing? Listen now for timeless wisdom that cuts through the noise and gets to the heart of what makes marketing truly matter.Subscribe to the WFA #BetterMarketing podcast on your preferred platform: https://bit.ly/41ZwqkF.

June 9, 2025Episode 4130 min

Ep 41: On marketing as the bridge between consumer and business with Marcel Marcondes, AB InBev

The marketing landscape is undergoing profound shifts, requiring marketers to rethink traditional approaches. At the forefront of this evolution stands Marcel Macondes, AB InBev's Global CMO and winner of the 2024 WFA Global Marketer of the Year award. His philosophy brings a refreshing clarity to how marketing should function today: as a bridge between consumers and business.Throughout this compelling conversation, Marcel talks about how AB InBev now owns eight of the world's ten most valuable beer brands. AB InBev's success stems not from treating marketing as a separate function but from deeply integrating consumer insights into business operations. "In the past, marketers would work to say, 'this is what we do, now let's convince consumers about it,'" Macondez explains. "Given how the world is evolving, our job has changed – we need a strong pulse on what's happening with consumers, then adjust how we work to serve them better."What sets truly exceptional marketing leaders apart? Marcel points to a pivotal career milestone: "The transition between following the agenda to driving the agenda." This shift from management to leadership creates the conditions for marketing to flourish as "the key architect of growth" within organizations. Through the "One ABI Way of Marketing" framework, developed over two years, AB InBev has systematized this approach while maintaining the agility to incorporate emerging trends and technologies.Perhaps most refreshingly, Marcel approaches innovation with balanced wisdom. Rather than viewing AI as disruptive, he embraces it as an enhancement: "AI is here to help us and support us." This exemplifies his guiding principle for marketing leaders: be very ambitious, but also very humble – pushing for excellence while remaining open to continuous learning in an increasingly complex landscape.Ready to transform your marketing approach? Start by deeply understanding both your consumers and your business, then build the bridge between them with creativity, consistency and an unwavering focus on delivering value.Subscribe to the WFA #BetterMarketing podcast on your preferred platform: https://bit.ly/41ZwqkF.

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