Shiny New Object

In her role as Global Digital Transformation Manager at Unilever, Myriam Estanboulie creates links between the technical team and the rest of the business. She strives to simplify how technical processes work and relate them within the broader business picture. Ultimately, this lines up perfectly with her Shiny New Objecti, which is simplifying things. Inspired by Richard Branson's saying that "simplification is the utmost level of sophistication," Myriam thinks that we overcomplicate and make things too complex thinking that would make them better, but this is not the case. Listen to how she advocates for simpler messaging, as well as to her top marketing and well-being tips, in the latest episode.

As Senior Community Manager, DTC Division, at Constellation Brands, Katie Puccio-Williams is an active advocate of TikTok and social media more broadly. Her Shiny New Object is how TikTok saved brand voice thanks to giving the internet a much needed return to levity and shedding light on what everyday people find interesting as opposed to curated, hyper-aesthetic content from other platforms. Listen to her fascinating account of how social media has evolved and what brands need to know about it.

Rustom Dastoor enjoys living between cultures and countries. This has led him to travel the world and experience exciting new opportunities, as he new heads into a new role as Executive Vice President, Integrated Marketing and Communications North America at Mastercard. Through being open to new opportunities and always looking for new challenges, Rustom has discovered that marketing is about connecting with people, and that’s helped him be successful in his career. It’s also connected to his Shiny New Object: loyalty in the post pandemic era. Find out how Rustom sees the brand-consumer relationship evolving and why loyalty will go beyond transactions to include user experience, trust and generosity.

Miguel Magalhães is the Brand Manager for Tampax UK & Ireland at Procter & Gamble, as well as a marketing lecturer passionate about sharing his research and insights with students. Thanks to Miguel's interest in academia, we have a new and interesting Shiny New Object in this episode, in the guise of "market orientation." While not an entirely new concept, Miguel explains why most brands and organisations don't actually act in a market oriented way, or at least not completely. Listen to his advice on how to do so, as well as to Miguel's top tips for students and marketing beginners, in our latest episode. 

Ricardo Rey is the Head of Digital Consumer MAZ at AB InBev, leading the brand's digital consumer strategy in the middle Americas and investing in new technology to connect better with data consumers. As part of this search for a better connection, Ricardo makes great use of AI in A/B testing. This is his Shiny New Object, enabling him to understand what strategies are performing well and learn from themes and data gathered from consumers directly. Find out more about this and Ricardo's top marketing tips on the latest episode of the podcast.

Rebecca Dibb-Simkin is the Global Director of Product & Marketing at the Octopus Energy Group, combining the origination of products with the marketing and having an end-to-end experience of the energy contracts the brand offers consumers. Without having planned a marketing career from the very beginning, Rebecca moved into the industry after having been seduced by an Ogilvy graduate scheme ad. She then became quite critical of what marketing is, shaped a different sort of role, and now her Shiny New Object is “all marketing jargon should go in room 101.” Listen to why that's the case in our first episode of 2022!

The Director of Go-to-Market Strategy for The North Face, Jennifer Mohammed has been working in DTC (direct-to-consumer) for about 16 years, gathering a wealth of experience with brands like Puma, Guess, the Arcadia Group and The North Face. Her Shiny New Object is remote working, as a massive benefit to organisations as well as employees. Jen believes that remote working has enabled brands to access a wider pool of talent, and has also given workers more autonomy. Going forward, the winning combination should be leaving employees to make the decisions about how they work. Listen to Jen give her top marketing advice and tell us why she loves remote working.

For Viktor Nebehaj, investing is becoming normalised. This is why he and Adam Dodds co-founded Freetrade, allowing access to investment accounts for more people. In the future, he thinks, it will be as normal to have an investment account as it is to have a bank account. This is why Viktor's Shiny New Object is crowdfunding, as marketing and fundraising in equal measure. Find out how Freetrade use crowdfunding and why it's part of the future of marketing in our latest podcast episode.

As the Interim Head of Ecommerce Middle East for the PUMA group, Roy Wentzel is currently focusing on building the brand's presence in the region, starting in the UAE and working towards launching in Saudi Arabia. Beyond a very long and illustrious career in e-commerce, Roy is an advocate of progress when it comes to the development of websites for brands' shops and consumer experience. His Shiny New Object is headless e-commerce, a new way to design e-commerce beyond the traditional back and front-end connected by a lot of code. Listen to Roy talk about how e-commerce makes websites more flexible, more consumer friendly and easier to find through Google, as well as about the potential downsides of headless e-commerce, on this latest episode of the podcast. 

Currently the Head of Marketing for Weetabix, Gareth Turner has a long and varied experience leading marketing teams for brands such as Arla Foods' butter products and Heineken. He is a firm believer in the importance of client-agency relationships and mutual respect to produce better briefs and, ultimately, better work. This is why his Shiny New Object is honesty in client-agency relationships. Listen to Gareth explain how collaboration will lead to better marketing outputs and hear his top marketing tips in this latest episode of the podcast.

Having started her career as a DJ in Kenya and developed a career working in entertainment, Monali Shah says she ended up in traditional marketing "by fluke". Her first forays into entertainment marketing and events management offered her a valuable base in learning and building onto an entrepreneurial mindset, however, which she sees the benefits of in her work today. Her current role as Head of Integrated Marketing Experiences for Africa at the Coca-Cola Company has her always considering diversity and inclusion as she builds a team that truly represents the complexity of African culture and heritage. This is why her Shiny New Object is culture, and specifically its role in teams and organisations to help them deliver the message they want to get across. Listen why and how, in our latest podcast episode.

As Head of New Business Development at DraftLine South Africa, Amy is proud to be part of a data led organisation that blends creative energy with hard information. Her Shiny New Object is data led creativity, i.e. using the right data that ensures that creative marketing will also deliver on ROI. Listen to Amy describe how DraftLine use social listening, how she's made use of meditation to ground herself, and what her best marketing tips are.

Rob Bullough's career can be considered a kilt or a patchwork of many different interests, each pursued brilliantly. From working at Tower Records to building websites, teaching himself even more programming as well as making music for video games and ultimately becoming a brand manager within EA, he's done it all. Rob's current role as Director of Global Brand Marketing covers upstream and downstream marketing work, from understanding what motivates players to choose EA games to getting developers excited about creating what audiences look for, and eventually building the communication around that. Rob's Shiny New Object is pressure - an abstract look at brand consistency without ever "dropping the ball." Listen to which brands do this well and other top marketing tips from Rob in our latest episode.

In his rich career, Sir Martin Sorrell has been at the helm of some leading advertising agencies, from being CFO at Saatchi's to CEO of WPP for 33 years. He founded S4 Capital 3 years ago to focus on what he calls the new growth area of marketing: the digital universe. Sir Martin's Shiny New Object is the two worlds of advertising, specifically the split between analog and digital. He finds that the difference isn't being made clear enough, with analog having very little or no growth whereas digital has huge growth potential. Listen to Sir Martin talk about the future of digital, how marketers should adapt their model, and his top tips for those just starting out in the industry today.

Kieran Foley heads up the Partnerships and Licensing department at Danone, headquartered in New York and looking after all major programmes the company runs with NBC Universal, Disney, the NFL, but also charities and more. His career covers exciting sports sponsorship programmes as well as the creation of a cricket league called the CPL T20 which is now second in the world. Kieran's Shiny New Object is the growth potential of women's sport, which has shot up after the pandemic and reflects the change in attitudes and interests across both genders in society. Brands have a huge opportunity to be part of a relevant and exciting movement, with stronger touchpoints and interactivity with consumers. Listen to Kieran talk about cricket leagues, learning from local cultures and more in our latest podcast episode.

Having worked at Kellogg's for seven years, Joe Harper looks after the e-commerce function of the company across all of Europe. He previously held roles across social content creation and many more in sport betting, moving from sports to cereal and from digital to e-commerce. Joe's Shiny New Object may not be "shiny" or "new" to some but it's certainly relevant in his business space: user generated content (UGC). Joe believes that big companies still haven't unpacked the full potential of using UGC especially on social channels. The relatability of user content and its relevance for social media audiences helps it have a bigger impact than any glossy campaign created by a brand or their agency. Listen to Joe talk about harnessing the power of UGC, as well as his top marketing tips and advice for students, in this latest episode of the podcast.

In his agency and brand marketing roles, Rory McEntee has continuously built a career around challenger brands, disruptive and unique campaigns.  Now in charge of brand & marketing at Gymbox, Rory continues to put out daring and intriguing ads while searching for the next big thing in the future of marketing. His Shiny New Object is visual search, where users will be able to upload images to search for items to purchase online. Listen to Rory talk about his views on visual search, his favourite marketing books and his advice for making it in marketing, in our newest podcast episode.

In his role as Director of Strategy & Operations at Google UK & Ireland, Craig Fenton designs and manages how the company operates in these two countries. But he also has a number of "side hustles" that include social purpose driven initiatives like a record company and a film production house that put forward talented individuals from less privileged backgrounds.  This work has taught him the importance of feeling what it's like to be a customer. Craig's Shiny New Object, however, is more abstract: quantum AI and how it can be used to crunch the data in marketing. Listen to Craig talk about using quantum physics principles in data analysis, the benefits for studying human behaviour, and his tips about mindfulness, in this new episode of the Shiny New Object podcast.

The Head of Marketing at Aunt Bessie's, Sam Dolan has an illustrious career in the food industry, having worked with brands like Lurpak and Cravendale previously. Her Shiny New Object is direct mail and the way it can be used to target consumers and combine with other channels to create new and interesting campaigns with a different level of engagement.  Listen to Sam talk about her plans for using direct response advertising as well as her top marketing tips for new marketers, her best purchases for work, and her favourite books as well. 

Jerry Daykin is the Senior Media Director for EMEA and LatAm at GSK, where he looks after brands that help consumers live slightly better and healthier lives. After a roller coaster year during he COVID pandemic, Jerry has discovered more than ever the importance of staying active deliberately. One of his new behaviours is hopping on his Peloton bike every morning. His Shiny New Object is the 6 Ps of digital transformation, a new take on the 4 Ps of marketing looking at the importance of people and passion, measuring performance and running pilots. Listen to Jerry talk about all this and more on this latest Shiny New Object podcast episode.