
Future Proof
Future Proof is the marketing podcast from Said Business School, Oxford University, and Kantar, the world’s leading marketing data and analytics company. In each episode, we’ll have a frank discussion with an expert, to help brands and business leaders navigate the changing landscape of marketing… and hopefully dispel some myths and misconceptions along the way. Looking at big industry question through both a market research and an academic lens, we can help prepare marketers for the future (with proof). All episodes and more info at https://www.kantar.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Latest episodes

Nov 2, 2022 • 32min
22. How brands are improving ad performance
Ad pre-testing plays a central role in campaign effectiveness, making sure the ad creates an emotional connection, builds the brand, and meets sales objectives. But with media budgets shifting to digital, should brands simply rely on in-flight campaign optimisation to drive performance? In this episode, Duncan Southgate, Creative & Media Solutions Director at Kantar, talks with Robin Langford, Editor at Performance Marketing World and Leonie Gates-Sumner, Head of Creative, Kantar UK about ad testing, in-flight optimisation, the role of Artificial Intelligence, and how the performance marketing landscape will evolve into 2023 and beyond. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 14, 2022 • 35min
21. What is truth in marketing?
What happens when marketing academics disagree? How do marketing academics look at brand theories and how does that resonate between marketing practitioners? In this episode, Jane Ostler, EVP of Global Thought Leadership at Kantar talks with Felipe Thomaz, associate professor of marketing at Saïd Business School, about trust, lies and evidence in marketing. Together with Graham Staplehurst, Thought Leadership director at Kantar BrandZ, they dig into the concepts of complexity, dynamism and differentiation and how they are seen by the world of academia and between marketing practitioners who must deal with decisions on a day-to-day basis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 11, 2022 • 31min
20. Aldi & McCann Manchester: The power of entertaining advertising to solve business challenges and propel growth.
In 2022 Aldi bounced back into the Global Top 100 Brands, having increased its value by 20% to $21bn. Aldi had the most effective UK Christmas ad last year and in is one of six brands to be nominated for Marketing Week’s UK brand of the year. Aldi is on the verge of taking over from Morrisons as the UK’s fourth biggest supermarket, it’s growth being far ahead of everyone else in a category that saw all but Tesco lose their share of wallet in the 12 weeks to July 10. Effective communications is one of the key pillars underpinning Aldi’s growth in the UK. In this podcast Jamie Peate, McCann’s UK head of Effectiveness and MWGs Global Head of Retail Strategy, talks about how McCann Manchester and Aldi have a shared effectiveness culture and ways of working that leads to the creation of entertaining and distinctive brand centric communications that solve business challenges and play a key role in propelling Aldi’s growth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 10, 2022 • 37min
19. Future Proof: Why does Mark Ritson urge brands to go beyond salience?
Marketing professor Mark Ritson discusses the importance of staying profitable and achieving success in the marketing industry. Topics include unconventional teaching methods, the role of marketing ROI in brand building, the importance of brand equity, meaningful difference in marketing, and the need for consistent change in evolving brands.

Apr 25, 2022 • 29min
18. What will the future insights organisation look like?
Stephan Gans joins us to talk about Insights Transformation and how Consumer Insights can best organize to drive business value. Stephan Gans is the SVP, Chief Consumer Insights and Analytics Officer at PepsiCo, one of the world’s largest and best-known FMCG companies. He’s been in the business of understanding and predicting consumer behaviour for some time and leads the ongoing transformation of his function at PepsiCo. Stephan join’s Kantar’s Mark Visser and Professor Andrew Stephen to discuss the future of Insights organisations and the need for re-imagining the Insights function in these disruptive times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 25, 2022 • 27min
17. How can brands get sustainability in advertising right?
Graham Page is a Global Managing Director at Affectiva and leads Affectiva’s Media Analytics business, which is focused on the application of Emotion AI technology to content, media testing, and customer experiences. Together with Kantar’s Vera Sidlova, Global Director, Creative at Kantar - join Jane Ostler to discuss the issues with sustainability in advertising and why brands often get it wrong. What is the context of sustainability advertising today? What do people expect from brands in the space? And why do advertiser get this wrong and in turn get banned in the process? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 7, 2022 • 33min
16. Can we make the media industry more inclusive?
Belinda J Smith is CEO of Americas at m/SIX, as well as the Global Diversity Ambassador for the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). Belinda is also a diversity activist and has led media and advertising in various organisations throughout her career. She joins Valeria Piaggio to discuss the issue of diversity and inclusion in the advertising industry, following the publication of the first Global DEI Census from the WFA. Why was a survey like this needed, and why does it matter? What are the key themes from the results? What can agencies do differently, both internally and in the content they produce? And what are the barriers to true inclusion? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dec 13, 2021 • 26min
15. Was advertising better in the past?
Patrick Collister is non-exec Creative Director at Ad-Lib, and Editor of Directory Magazine. He is also one of the few people to have had serious Creative Director roles in adland (Ogilvy) as well as in digital organisations (Google). So what has changed over the course of his career? Why do people keep harking back to the good old days – and what has happened to the funny ad? Jane and Patrick talk about the importance of format, the definition of advertising ‘craft’, the emergence of new platforms, and the demise of the ‘big idea’. They discuss how creative and effective advertising (and the role of CMO) may look in the future… and whether any of the big UK Christmas ads this year hit the mark. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 18, 2021 • 21min
14. What can we learn from Shell’s purpose journey?
Shell’s purpose is to "power progress together with more and cleaner energy solutions." But how did that come about? What were the challenges for global VP of the Shell brand, Dean Aragón? How is the purpose embedded in the organisation? Dean shares his advice for establishing a purpose that doesn’t just become a side project, and how you can ensure success through people, partnerships and the personal touch. Learn how UN Sustainable Development Goals feed into the purpose and strategy at Shell, and the specific actions they are taking to bring their purpose to life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 4, 2021 • 24min
13. Why is Mercado Libre such a good place to advertise?
In Kantar’s recent Media Reactions study, it was revealed that ecommerce giant Mercado Libre is one of the most effective places to advertise in Latin America: it was seen as delivering the most ‘relevant and useful’ ads of all media brands in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. What is the marketplace doing to help advertisers, and still satisfy consumers? Juan tells Jane Ostler and Alex Connock about smart targeting, the Direct Integration with Kantar for more effective measurement, the results of Brand Lift studies, and the opportunities they have in the Latin American market. They also discuss how ecommerce ads work with other channels, the importance of being present through the entire customer journey, the ad formats that work best, and the application of new technology – such as AI and machine learning – to help scale and optimise advertising. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.