The WARC Podcast

Why more strategists are going independent

Strategy legends Suzanne Powers and Tom Morton left agency-land to build their own independent strategy businesses, discovering brands need new solutions to strategy prob

Strategy beyond the ad brief

AI makes it easier to compete inside markets that already exist. That does not make strategy less important; it makes the search for new sources of demand more important.

Reworking strategy's value proposition

How can strategy deliver measurable business value? Catherine Driscoll speaks with Martin Beverley (Ace of Hearts) and Baiba Matisone about value-based agency models, bus

Is AI a strategist's friend or foe?

Ad strategists are navigating two realities on AI: its benefit as a research tool, and the fear it may take their jobs. In the first of WARC's Future of Strategy series,

The hidden powers of out of home media

New research looks into unspoken qualities that different out-of-home formats convey, and the impact this can have on campaign effectiveness. WPP Media's Richard Kirk and

The 'vanilla imperative': Why American ads play it so safe

The US produces some of the most careful, literal commercials in the world. Is this 'vanilla' approach a creative failure? Or is it a structural necessity? Shann Biglione

Video: B2B marketing's secret superpower

Video campaigns are 2x more likely to grow B2B market share and 1.7x more likely to deliver stronger ROI, according to new research from LinkedIn's B2B Institute and WARC

Marketing in the K-shaped economy

2026 has been a challenging year for marketers, with constant upheaval forcing consequential decisions. Amid all this: the impact of the K shaped economy. WARC's Catherin

Bigger isn't always better for creator strategy

Brands are increasingly looking toward micro and nano creators for social cut-through. Marcus Yong, VP - Global Marketing at travel brand Klook, joins WARC's Rica Facundo

How Boots is operationalizing creative effectiveness

The gap between creative and media is closing, with large scale creative data and next-gen measurement tools combining to predict commercial outcomes, not just clicks. Bo

The psychological 'pause' reshaping the customer journey

Failing to usher buyers from discovery to purchase in the fewest possible steps is often seen as a setback. This belief misunderstands the consumer purchase journey, acco

Understanding 'Future Demand' with James Hurman

Effectiveness expert James Hurman joins to discuss the key ideas in his new book 'Future Demand', why performance marketing is plateauing, how brands really grow, and the

The Effective CMO: Instacart's Laura Jones returns

Instacart's Laura Jones returns to share practical lessons from Instacart's brand transformation, including prioritising effectiveness, brand-first marketing strategy, pa

The multiplier effect of creativity

The biggest creative risk? Not being creative enough. System1's Andrew Tindall joins WARC's Ann Marie Kerwin to discuss the multiplier effect of creativity, how brands ca

Revisiting 'How Brands Grow' with Byron Sharp

'How Brands Grow' is one of the most influential books in marketing, exploring rules of brand growth such as mental and physical availability, double jeopardy, and increa

The Effective CMO: Procter & Gamble's Marc Pritchard

Procter & Gamble is one of the world's biggest advertisers. Marc Pritchard, P&G's long-time Chief Brand Officer, joins WARC's Anna Hamill to share insights and lessons fr

Emerging themes in creative effectiveness

What do the winning campaigns from the 2026 Cannes Lions for Creative Effectiveness tell us about successful marketing in 2026? WARC's Amy Rodgers and Effie Insight's Joh

Agentic AI and the new delegation of consumer choice

New research by PHD and WARC explores the scale, timeline and implications of agentic AI for the wider marketing ecosystem. PHD's Rohan Tambyrajah and WARC's David Tiltma

Social media, creators and the 'twin pace' brand

New research from WARC finds that social and creator marketing – for all its speed and cultural relevance – hits three structural ceilings that no amount of additional co

Who murdered Madison Avenue?

How did ad agency economics become so challenging? Fee-cutting and low growth are part of the equation, but the roots of the issue go back decades. Ad industry analyst an