Mike Zeman talks about how marketing is fueling the brand's evolution into a "family super app"

Byron Sharp, author of "How Brands Grow," and director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute of Marketing Science, espouses an approach that flies in the face of much modern marketing wisdom about the importance of media targeting, personalization and incentivizing customer loyalty. He explains his views, including why he thinks brands with the most "physical availability" (i.e. broadest retail distribution) and "mental availability" (top-of-mind awareness) will win.

Former Mediahub CEO John Moore and former BMW CMO Trudy Hardy on how clients and agencies can work better together, including why CMOs should take some control back from their procurement departments. Hardy and Moore, now both with marketing and agency consultancy Harmonium also weigh in on the Omnicom-IPG merger and share their perspective on what agencies can deliver to clients when it comes to AI.

In today's fragmented sports and entertainment economy, brands face unprecedented competition for cultural relevance and authentic fan connection. In this episode, Lou Kovacs, President of Marketing, North America at Octagon, shares how the agency's insight-powered creative approach helps brands break through, shape culture, and unlock new markets around the world.

Lou dives into Octagon's evolution as a creative powerhouse, spotlighting how the agency's integrated Creative, Digital, and Branded Content teams work together to deliver ideas rooted in fan behavior. He also highlights Octagon's industry-leading momentum, including recent recognition from Cannes Lions, Sports Business Journal and The Clios, showcasing how creativity has become a core driver of value in sponsorship and brand storytelling.

The Custom Marketer's Brief episode features a look at Nutrafol's first-ever sports partnership, a category-first campaign with MLB, and a breakthrough example of how Octagon blends creative concepting with high-stakes strategic negotiation.

We also explore the agency's influential role in the rise of women's sports.from creative programs like Delta's "Power Forward" docu-series in partnership with the WNBA, to major sponsorships for brands including NYX and Mastercard, as well as the agency's representation of iconic athletes and personalities such as Simone Biles, Trinity Rodman, Aly Raisman, Hannah Storm, among many others.

For marketers seeking to stay ahead of culture, fandom, and global market opportunity as we prepare for 2026, tune into this episode for a fresh, creative point of view that is redefining what brand impact looks like today.

Susan Coghill, who has been overseeing Australia's tourism marketing since 2019, on how the Come and Say G'day campaign localizes is marketing for the U.S., U.K., China and other countries, including by using local talent. She also updates us on broader tourism trends and how her organization views more people using AI to make travel plans. Plus, how Australia is leveraging wildlife conservationist and "Dancing with the Stars" star Robert Irwin.

Avery Akkineni, VaynerX's chief marketing officer, has tips for CMOs riding the social media lightning, and she tells us why VaynerMedia has not followed the whole industry into an AI rebranding.

Local advertising is one of the most effective methods for brands of all sizes to reach the audiences that matter most, and platforms like Locality's LocalX are becoming industry leaders by enabling advertisers to plan, buy and measure local broadcast and streaming in one intelligent workflow. LocalX was purpose-built for local advertising, and by using real-time insights and unified data, the platform empowers agencies and partners to maximize impact with confidence."

At the end of the day, the reason we're targeting local is to drive a better outcome for our brand in a local community or local space," said Zach Mullins, chief strategy officer at Locality, on a special edition of Ad Age's Marketer's Brief podcast. "By creating unification at scale, we can do that much more effectively in local markets."

Tune in to hear more about how LocalX works to combat the increasing complexity and fragmentation within local markets, advance the local ad-buying ecosystem, and the future the company sees for the local media market.

Debbie Woloshin talks about the brand's generative AI-powered styling tool