What happens when a global brand hands over its creative control to unfiltered customer feedback? In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles speaks with Emily Barfoot, Head of Dove Beauty at Unilever, about a bold and unconventional campaign built on Reddit conversations.

At a time when trust in polished marketing is eroding and AI is reshaping how content is discovered, Dove leaned into one of the internet's most unpredictable platforms. By amplifying genuine, unedited user reviews, both positive and negative, the brand not only drove awareness but also delivered measurable commercial impact. This episode explores how marketers can rethink control, embrace transparency, and tap into community-driven credibility.

How Dove identified an organic Reddit conversation and turned it into a multi-channel campaign
Why Reddit's "unpolished" nature makes it a powerful platform for trust and insight
The strategy behind publishing the first 50 real user reviews without editing or filtering
How Dove balanced positive and negative sentiment to build credibility
The role of social listening in shaping campaign direction and optimisation
How Reddit content was extended into out-of-home, influencer, and experiential marketing
Why transparency and respecting platform culture were critical to success
How the campaign delivered over 260 million impressions and triple-digit growth in the product category
The importance of many-to-many marketing in modern brand building
How Reddit insights fed directly into product innovation and development

Authenticity is not a tactic. It is a strategic commitment that requires letting go of control
User-generated content can outperform traditional creative when it reflects real experiences
Reddit is not just a media channel. It is a rich source of customer insight and product feedback
Brands must respect platform norms and community expectations to earn participation
Balanced sentiment, including negative feedback, increases trust and credibility
Social listening should be continuous and actionable, not just observational
Experiential marketing can amplify digital engagement when it creates shareable moments
AI-driven discovery makes community-led content more valuable than ever
Strong products and existing brand trust are essential before taking transparency risks
Marketing success increasingly depends on enabling conversations, not controlling them

📥 Access the show notes, tools, and links at: https://targetinternet.com/resources/reddit-marketing-case-study-with-dove-turning-real-reviews-into-real-growth

As AI rapidly reshapes how customers discover, evaluate, and engage with brands, marketers are being forced to rethink the fundamentals of the customer journey. In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles speaks with Rachel Thornton, CMO of Adobe Enterprise, to explore what this shift really means in practice.

Recorded just ahead of Adobe Summit, Rachel shares exclusive insights into Adobe's latest thinking, product direction, and how enterprise marketers should adapt to an increasingly AI-driven landscape. From evolving user expectations to the rise of AI as the primary interface, this conversation goes beyond the hype to examine the real implications for strategy, data, and customer experience.

How AI is transforming the traditional linear customer journey into something far more dynamic and unpredictable
Why discovery and consideration are being reshaped by AI-powered interfaces and assistants
What Adobe is announcing at Summit and how it reflects broader industry shifts
How CMOs should rethink customer engagement in an environment where AI intermediates interactions
The growing importance of first-party data and real-time personalisation
How enterprise organisations are adapting their tech stacks to support AI-led experiences
The challenges of maintaining brand consistency when AI is part of the customer interface
What marketers often misunderstand about AI and where to focus instead
How internal teams and workflows need to evolve to keep pace with change

The customer journey is no longer linear. It is fluid, fragmented, and increasingly influenced by AI-driven touchpoints
AI is becoming the primary interface between brands and customers, which changes how influence and trust are built
Marketers need to prioritise high-quality, structured data to enable effective AI-driven personalisation
Speed and adaptability are now critical competitive advantages in digital marketing
Organisations must rethink not just tools, but also teams, processes, and skills
There is a growing need to balance automation with authentic brand voice and human oversight
Experimentation is essential. Waiting for certainty in AI adoption is likely to result in falling behind

📥 Access the show notes, tools, and links at: https://targetinternet.com/resources/the-changing-customer-journey-in-an-ai-first-world-insights-from-adobe-cmo

In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles is joined by Kendall Breitman from Riverside for a practical conversation about how marketers can use video without needing a full production team, a huge budget or a complicated workflow.

Together, they explore why video has become so central to modern marketing, how brands can use it to strengthen SEO and answer engine optimisation, and why authentic, human-led content is outperforming overly polished corporate production. The discussion also dives into practical ways to build a video strategy from webinars, podcasts, customer conversations and expert interviews, then repurpose that long-form content into clips, blog posts, newsletters and more. It is a useful episode for any marketer looking to make video simpler, smarter and more sustainable.

Why video is becoming essential for SEO, AI overviews and discoverability across search and social platforms

How authentic, human-centred video is replacing overly scripted and expensive marketing production

Why social media works better when brands behave more like people than polished corporate entities

How marketers can use customer interviews and user conversations as both research and content

Why webinars, podcasts and expert interviews can become the foundation of an entire month of content

How long-form content can be repurposed into medium-form YouTube videos, short-form social clips, blogs, newsletters and gated assets

Why medium-form video is often overlooked, despite being highly effective for search visibility and website engagement

The most common mistake brands make with video: failing to record valuable conversations and insights in the first place

How video testimonials and advocacy content can support trust, social proof and brand visibility

Where AI is genuinely helping video production, from transcripts and clips to editing support and audio clean-up

Video works best when it feels useful and human, not overly produced.

A single long-form recording can power a much broader content strategy than a series of disconnected short-form posts.

Customer conversations are valuable twice over. They generate insight for the business and content for the brand.

Video strategy should be tied to business goals, whether that is awareness, education, trust or loyalty.

Searchable, practical content such as straight-to-camera answers and product walkthroughs can deliver strong SEO and AEO value.

AI should support storytellers, not replace them. The best use of AI is reducing friction so people can create more authentic content.

Brands that build confidence in video now will be better placed as the format becomes even more central to digital marketing.

The future of video is likely to be more accessible, more efficient and more human, not less.

📥 Access the show notes, tools, and links at: https://targetinternet.com/resources/practical-video-marketing

What happens when you combine practical digital marketing experience with behavioural science? In this episode, Daniel Rowles is joined by Phil Agnew, host of the Nudge podcast and a specialist in behavioural science, to explore eight psychology experiments and principles that can help marketers create more effective campaigns, stronger customer experiences and more persuasive messaging.

Phil shares the original studies behind concepts such as social proof, loss aversion, anchoring and the peak-end rule, then shows how they can be applied in real marketing scenarios, from Reddit ads and SaaS websites to loyalty programmes, pricing pages and customer journeys. The result is a highly practical episode for marketers who want to sharpen their thinking and make better decisions in a world full of noise, automation and increasingly generic content.

Social proof: why it still works, why specificity matters, and why implying popularity can be more powerful than simply claiming it

Loyalty and endowed progress: how giving customers a sense of momentum can make them more likely to complete a journey and stay engaged

Loss aversion: why messages framed around what people stand to lose can outperform those focused only on gains

The pratfall effect: how showing a flaw, when paired with clear competence, can make a brand or person more likeable

Distinctiveness: why standing out matters even more in an AI-saturated content landscape

Anchoring: how the first number, comparison or frame people see can radically shape how they judge value

The peak-end rule: why customers often remember the emotional high point and the ending of an experience more than everything in between

Visible effort: why people value products, services and content more when they can see the work behind them

Real examples from digital marketing: including Reddit ad testing, website messaging, social proof banners, pricing psychology and travel search UX

Behavioural science is most useful when it is translated into practical tests, not treated as abstract theory

Social proof works best when it feels natural and contextual, rather than overly promotional

Small shifts in wording can have a major effect on click-throughs, conversions and retention

Customers do not always judge experiences rationally. They remember moments, contrasts and endings

Showing some humanity or imperfection can make brands feel more credible and relatable

Distinctive positioning is becoming more valuable as AI makes average content easier to produce at scale

Helping customers feel progress, momentum or visibility into effort can improve engagement and loyalty

Marketers should revisit core psychological principles before chasing every new platform or tool

📥 Access the show notes, tools, and links at: https://targetinternet.com/resources/8-psychology-experiments-for-marketers

What happens when clicks get harder to earn, paid media gets more expensive, and audiences spend less time engaging with static content? In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles explores why gamification is moving from a nice-to-have tactic to a serious strategic opportunity for marketers.

This episode is split into two parts. First, Daniel sets out the business case for gamification in today's digital landscape, where AI overviews, rising cost per click and declining organic reach are all putting pressure on traditional marketing performance. Then he is joined by Luke Santamaria from PlaySpark, a specialist in branded interactive games, to look at how brands are using mini-games, playable ads and reward mechanics to build attention, loyalty and conversion.

Why gamification is becoming more relevant as search, social and paid media become less predictable

How owned engagement can become a stronger asset than rented attention

What gamification really means in a marketing context, beyond simply making things fun

How progress tracking, reward loops, challenge and achievement create stronger audience engagement

Why quizzes, assessments, calculators, onboarding journeys and email programmes can all benefit from gamified thinking

How interactive content can outperform static pages on engagement, return visits and conversion

Why the rise of AI tools and vibe coding has made it far easier to create interactive experiences at lower cost

How branded mini-games can support both loyalty and acquisition strategies

What Luke Santamaria from PlaySpark has learned from building interactive campaigns for retailers, hospitality brands and loyalty programmes

Why prizes and rewards can dramatically increase participation and completion rates

How playable ads work across platforms such as Meta and mobile gaming environments

What marketers should measure when testing gamified campaigns, from play rate and completion rate through to redemption and sales

How personalisation could shape the next phase of gamified marketing experiences

Gamification is not just about entertainment. It is a structured way to design more engaging marketing experiences.

As AI overviews and no-click behaviour reshape digital marketing, brands need to offer experiences that search engines and summaries cannot replicate.

Interactive content can help improve conversion efficiency, especially when traffic is harder or more expensive to acquire.

Simple mechanics such as progress bars, unlockable content, rewards and challenges can strengthen repeat engagement.

Gamification can work across B2C and B2B environments, particularly when the incentive is meaningful to the audience.

Mini-games and playable ads can hold attention for longer than traditional ad formats and create more active brand involvement.

Measurement matters. Success should be judged using both game metrics and commercial outcomes.

New AI-assisted creation tools are lowering the barrier to entry, making experimentation far more accessible for marketing teams.

The biggest opportunity may be in combining gamification with owned channels such as email, apps, learning platforms and loyalty programmes.

Brands that start experimenting now may benefit from a genuine early-mover advantage.

📥 Access the show notes, tools, and links at: https://targetinternet.com/resources/gamification-for-digital-marketing

In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles is joined by Emma Tronson, Deputy Director of Marketing at Aston University, for a practical, honest and refreshingly structured look at how to move beyond AI experimentation and into real organisational adoption.

Many teams are stuck in what Daniel calls "pilot purgatory". Everyone is testing tools. Everyone is experimenting. But very few organisations have truly embedded AI into day-to-day operations. Workloads have not reduced. If anything, they have increased.

This episode explores what it actually takes to embed AI into a complex organisation with multiple stakeholders, legacy systems, risk concerns and competing priorities

Emma shares her step-by-step journey of launching an AI task force, securing leadership buy-in, aligning with institutional strategy, and creating a structured framework for adoption that delivered tangible outcomes within a year.In This Episode:

From career setback to AI champion
Emma explains how missing out on a promotion led her to proactively position herself as indispensable by embracing AI learning

Mission AI Impossible
How she pitched a structured AI task force aligned to Aston University's 2030 strategy and secured budget, time and executive support.

Why time matters more than money
Resource allocation and protected "lab time" proved more critical than financial investment.

The six focus areas model
Data and analytics, general work support, copywriting, visual and creative, SEO and web, and social and community. Each task force member owned one domain.

Start small and build confidence
Select staff were upskilled first before launching more widely across the department.

Align AI to real use cases
Experimentation was always tied to live marketing and admissions challenges rather than abstract testing.

Governance before scale
Clear internal guidance helped build confidence in responsible AI usage.

The system integration challenge
Legacy systems and risk aversion slowed deeper embedding, a common challenge across many organisations.

Cohort Two and scaling adoption
Expansion into wider teams with three new priority workstreams: personalisation, data, and custom builds.

Why AI will not replace marketing teams
Instead, it will reward those who actively upskill and adapt.

AI adoption requires structure.

Align initiatives to business strategy from the outset.

Start with a focused pilot group, then scale.

Protected experimentation time is essential.

Bring sceptics into the process rather than excluding them.

System integration and governance are often the biggest blockers.

Innovation must be baked into everyday work, not treated as a side project.

📥 Access the show notes, tools, and links at: https://targetinternet.com/resources/how-to-drive-ai-adoption

In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles sits down with Kipp Bodnar, CMO of HubSpot, to discuss what may be the most disruptive year in marketing history.

Kipp believes that 2026 could represent the biggest single wave of change our industry has ever seen. Weeks feel like months. Channels are fragmenting. Discovery is shifting. AI agents are entering workflows. And traditional attribution models are starting to break down.

From Answer Engine Optimisation to AI agents, rising ad costs to workflow automation, this conversation explores how marketers can stay ahead when the pace of change is accelerating.

Why 2026 may be the biggest year of change in marketing history
Kipp explains why discovery, personalisation and team workflows are being reshaped simultaneously.

Answer Engine Optimisation vs traditional SEO
The shift from short keyword queries to ultra long-tail, conversational prompts of 40 to 60 words changes everything.

Mentions vs citations in AI search
Why brand visibility in ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude is more complex than link-based SEO ever was.

The first mover advantage in AI discovery
Early adopters can make exponential gains because competition is still low and optimisation is immature.

Why AI agents are thriving in customer service but lagging in marketing
Marketing problems are less formulaic and more complex, making agent adoption slower but highly promising.

The practical AI workflow hack every marketer should try
Record yourself completing a repetitive task, upload it to Google Gemini, and ask how to automate it. A simple but powerful shortcut to AI adoption

Why attribution is becoming harder again
The "golden age" of clean click-to-conversion tracking is fading as AI intermediates discovery.

Rising ad costs and the need for new growth channels
With paid media inflation increasing, marketers must adopt emerging channels such as AEO and AI-enabled creative optimisation.

The importance of strategic conviction
AEO cannot be treated as a side project. It must be embedded as a core capability.

HubSpot's approach to AI and context
Positioning HubSpot as the context layer for AI, enabling agents and assistants to work from real customer data.

Discovery is changing faster than most organisations are adapting.

Answer Engine Optimisation requires different content structures, including FAQs and machine-friendly formatting.

Early adoption in AI search offers outsized returns.

AI-assisted workflows are often more impactful than fully autonomous agents in marketing today.

Marketing teams must bake experimentation and innovation into daily operations.

The biggest risk is not AI itself, but failing to evolve working practices alongside it.

📥 Access the show notes, tools, and links at: https://targetinternet.com/resources/the-hubspot-cmo-interview-kipp-bodnar-on-ai-answer-engine-optimisation-and-the-future-of-marketing

AI is accelerating change at a pace most organisations have never had to manage before. For marketers and business leaders, this is not just another wave of innovation. It is a fundamental shift from linear change to exponential change, where familiar planning cycles, transformation programmes, and long-term roadmaps start to break down.

In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles is joined by Geoff Tuff, Consulting Principal at Deloitte and co-author of Hone: How Purposeful Leaders Defy Drift. Together, they explore why traditional transformation initiatives fail so often, and what leaders can do instead to build organisations that continuously adapt without losing their sense of direction. Drawing on real-world examples, behavioural science, and lessons from Geofff's latest book, the conversation reframes change as an ongoing discipline rather than a one-off event, and offers a practical way to respond to the disruption created by AI and other exponential forces .

Why AI represents a shift from linear to exponential change, and why this makes traditional planning models fragile

Why large-scale transformation programmes fail so frequently, and the hidden costs they create for organisations

The concept of "drift" and how companies slowly move away from their original purpose without realising it

The difference between sharpening and honing, and why constant realignment beats radical reinvention

How leaders can "bake in" innovation so it becomes urgent, not just important

Why behaviour, not technology, is the real engine of change inside organisations

The role of management systems as the invisible drivers of culture and decision-making

What Minimally Viable Moves are, and how they help organisations adapt without overcommitting

Lessons from Amazon and Jeff Bezos on designing systems that reinforce the right behaviours

How informal signals from senior leaders can unintentionally shape priorities and outcomes

Exponential change makes waiting for the perfect moment to transform a dangerous strategy

Most organisations drift off course through accumulated small decisions, not dramatic failures

Honing is about continuous, incremental alignment rather than destructive overhauls

Leadership power lies less in vision statements and more in the systems that guide everyday behaviour

Small, testable moves reduce risk and keep organisations responsive in uncertain environments

What leaders praise, question, or ignore can matter more than formal strategy documents

Staying aligned to purpose requires constant attention, not periodic transformation projects

📥 Access the show notes, tools, and links at: https://targetinternet.com/resources/dealing-with-exponential-change-leading-in-an-ai-driven-world