New Digital Age

NDA Editor Justin Pearse and Publisher Andy Oakes return with another disorganised ramble through a week in the digital media and marketing industry.We discuss retail media, tacos, NDA and Newsworks' comedy quiz show in Manchester, time travel, and the success of the inaugural Possible industry event in Miami, where the likes of Elon Musk, Uber Advertising and Jon Bon Jovi wowed the crowds.And we're joined by special guest Amy Williams, Founder and CEO, Good-Loop, from New York to recap on Possible, discuss the differences between the New York and London media scene and find out impressed she is with the industry's moves towards sustainability. 

Innovation is perhaps one of the most commonly-used words in our industry. But what does it really mean in an industry based on, and fuelled by, tecnical innovation?In a new podcast series, Innovation Leaders, we're sitting down with heads of innovation at agencies and brands to find out. To launch the series, we met with Sarah Salter, Head of Applied Innovation, Wavemaker to discuss why an agency needs a Head of Innovation role in tne first place, what it means to clients, and what the demonstrable, tangible results are for brands like L'Oréal and Audible.

“I would rather do good work with great people than great work with assholes” is the personal motto of Beth Freedman, CEO, Dentsu X, who joins us in the inaugural episode of My Path to the Top, a new podcast series in partnership with Dentsu.In the series, we'll be talking to agency leaders to discover the stories behind their journey to the top of the industry and what lessons others can learn from them. In a disarmingly frank and forthright conversations, Freedman discusses how she manages to balance the demands of her own morality and desire for authenticity with the equally pressing demands of running a large network agency.Expanding on her "no assholes" motto, she says: "I use this as a principle for how I run my business. You never have 100% control but i can hold myself to account. The more senior you get, the more ability you have to behave badly and no one holds you to account but I refuse to ever let that be an excuse for me. I can do that in demonstrating to the people that work for me by, when bad behaviour happens, to call it out and work to make it go away. Most bad behaviour is momentary not endemic but if you let it continue it can become a habit. It's about not being afraid with clients to say we hold ourselves to a high standard, and to have difficult conversations." 

NDA Editor Justin Pearse and Publisher Andy Oakes are back with another easy ramble through the streets of a week in the digital media and marketing industry.In this week's episode, we review the trade press, looking at how the sector is flourishing and the strength of titles like The Drum, Campaign Ad Week and Media Leader, and discuss the latest developments in AI and attention. This week's special guest is Dan Brain, Co-Founder, Madfest. Joining us from a box in London Bridge, he gives us an insight into what's happening at this year's festival and why you should be involved, along with his views on The Elizabeth Line, a recurrent topic on IAMT.

In the latest in our NDA Meets series, we sit down with Christian Muche, the Co-Founder of Beyond Ordinary Events which launches POSSIBLE in Miami Beach, on April 17th-19th.Christian has a track record of creating some of the biggest events in the industry including Dmexco. The conversation looks at what we can expect from Possible, the role of events in the post-pandemic world and the value of bringing people together to exchange ideas.

The NDA podcast It's Always Media Thursday has broken new ground by being published on an actual Thursday. NDA Editor Justin Pearse and Publisher Andy Oakes once again take a gentle stroll through a week in the digital marketing and media industry.This week we're joined by special guest Brand Advance CEO EMEA Deborah Gbadamosi, one of NDA's favourite people at one of our favourite companies and a judge at the NDA Heroes awards.In a kind-of NDA Heroes Awards special episode, we discuss the awards, the value of industry awards, Deborah's starring role in Emu's World, and her new role leading Brand Advance in EMEA.And of course, the welcome return of IAMT's What's On the Desk game.

In the latest in our NDA Meets series, we sit down with Josh Hitchcock. Agency Account Director at Hawk. The discussion covers topics including sustainability in the digital advertising industry, "a topic all of us our learning about on a daily basis and is now front and centre of our industry", omnichannel marketing and the delivery of truly-cookieless digital marketing. 

NDA’s podcast series Digital Leaders meets Heads of Digital, Digital Directors and Chief Digital Officers at brands to find out what the role means today and how they’re using digital to get closer to their customers.Next up is Adrian Harris, Head of Digital at VisitBritain. Adrian's career in digital spans almost two decades including senior roles at companies including Bupa, Tesco, The Conservative Party and The Church of England.The discussion touches on the similarities of his current position to that at The Church of England, where he was "essentially running a startup at a 500-year old organisation, both roles focussed on authentic communication with the audience.He's had a fascinating career, including accompanying The Archbishop of Canterbury to Facebook to talk about ethics in social media.

NDA Editor Justin Pearse and Publisher Andy Oakes are back with another gentle ramble along the paths of a week in the digital media and marketing industry.We celebrate the end of January, the rare lack of illness on Andy's behalf and NDA's plans for Cannes Lions. This week we're joined by special guest industry veteran Charlie Crowe for an indepth discussion on the ups and downs of the events industry in our sector. And Charlie issues a call to arms for Cannes Lions to take its place as the fulcrum of true change in the advertising industry. 

NDA Editor Justin Pearse and Publisher Andy Oakes are back with another shuffling glance at this week's digital media and marketing industry.