In this special year-end episode of The Brief, host Ellis Bird looks back on some of her favourite moments from the podcast in 2024. Reflecting on the most impactful discussions and interviews, Ellis revisits key topics that shaped the world of marketing and advertising this year. From groundbreaking campaigns to emerging trends and industry insights, this episode offers a comprehensive recap of the highlights that defined the series.

We’ll be back in 2025 for more insightful conversations on the biggest challenges and opportunities facing marketers.

‘Effectiveness’ feels like the word of the moment in the world of marketing, but it’s so much more than a buzzword. It can bring value and reward to clients, agencies, and the people working in them. But it isn’t something that just lives on a slide in a deck, it needs to be baked into culture to be truly impactful. So, how do you do it and what are the risks of prioritising efficiency over effectiveness?

For this episode, we’re joined by Nick Milne, Chief Effectiveness Officer at The Ignition Room, and Ringo Moss, Chief Strategy Officer at McCann Central, to discuss the what, why and how, of building a culture of true effectiveness.

What we cover in the episode

• What do we mean when we talk about ‘effectiveness’
• Creating value for clients, agencies and people
• Why measurement shouldn’t just be at the end of the process
• Why everyone in a business should undergo effectiveness training – even HR and finance
• How long does it take to build a culture of effectiveness?
• Do agencies or clients own effectiveness culture?
• Why you can’t just 'turn on' effectiveness
• The biggest skill client-side effectiveness practitioners need to have
• Why McCann introduced an effectiveness ‘contract’
• Balancing short term performance with long term effectiveness
• Why the industry has to get back to value and outcomes
• What marketers need to know about effectiveness

About the speakers

Nick Milne is Founder of and Chief Effectiveness Officer at The Ignition Room and Go Ignite. Before founding The Ignition Room and Go Ignite, Nick gained his effectiveness experience at Samsung, where he had responsibility for customer and marketing analytics across Europe, and at O2, where he set up the Marketing Effectiveness function. Nick has also been a member of the IPA Effectiveness Leadership Group since 2016.

The Ignition Room is a marketing community designed to help marketers learn how to build a strong effectiveness culture by building a network of like-minded agency and brand side marketers, and by sharing challenges and experience to help overcome particular effectiveness challenges.

Go Ignite is the consulting arm where the team work directly with brands and agencies to design and embed effectiveness approaches, tools and solutions into ways of working.

Ringo Moss is Chief Strategy Officer at McCann Central. He is a hugely experienced strategic marketing professional with a proven background in shaping and executing award-winning brand & comms strategies. With diverse experience spanning a wide range of communications roles, categories, and global clients, Ringo focusses on empirical marketing science to deliver effective communications and believes in the power of creativity to create unfair commercial advantage whether in B2B or B2C.

AI is one of the fastest evolving technological advancements, and its impact is being felt across multiple touchpoints, including search. Both frontend and backend, AI is changing the game when it comes to SEO and PPC, but what are the big challenges and opportunities?

In this episode, we’re joined by Tracey Pilon, Commercial Director at Microsoft, and UM Birmingham’s Katherine Ray, Business Director and Tom Williams, Senior SEO Director, to break through the jargon and uncover the current state of AI in search, what it means for marketers and brands, and what the future of search might look like.

What we cover in the episode

• The evolution of the SEO landscape
• How Microsoft is harnessing the power of AI
• Will fragmentation in search increase?
• The potential rise of zero-click searches (and why this might not be a bad thing)
• Why marketers need to consider the full funnel
• Using Copilot for creativity

About the speakers

Tracey Pilon is Commercial Director at Microsoft. With over 18 years of experience with one of the world leaders in technology, Tracey is an experienced leader in the digital industry.

Katherine Ray is Business Director at UM Birmingham, part of McCann Central. Kat has significant experience in Paid Search across a range of industries.

Tom Williams is Senior SEO Director at UM Birmingham, part of McCann Central. Tom is a passionate SEO Specialist with more than 13 years of experience, both agency side and in house.