The WARC Podcast

Mercado Libre is Latin America’s largest fintech and e-retailer. CMO Sean Summers joins WARC's Ann Marie Kerwin to discuss the importance of business impact, how the brand's creative makeover won them multiple Cannes Lions, building a culture of innovation, and what effectiveness means in the e-commerce space.
Guests:
Sean Summers, Chief Marketing Officer / EVP - Mercado Ads, Mercado Libre
Ann Marie Kerwin, Americas Editor, WARC
Supporting Resources:
Mercado Libre: Handshake Hunt https://www.warc.com/en/campaigns/mercado-libre-handshake-hunt-55893db2b5e54e0ab2a5dd9d11943261
Mercado Libre: Franco Returns, We All Return https://www.warc.com/en/campaigns/mercado-libre-franco-returns-we-all-return-0a13c404c8414ce7ae146fd017e38c56
Mercado Libre: Coupon Rain https://www.warc.com/en/campaigns/mercado-libre-coupon-rain-a86f034b027248fead5ac3c1b077b0e7
Chapters:
00:00 — Intro: Mercado Libre's Sean Summers joins the pod
01:52 — Mercado Libre's Approach To Marketing Effectiveness, ROI, and Market Share
03:26 — Balancing Short, Mid, and Long-Term Marketing
04:45 — Driving App Downloads, Loyalty, and Customer Lifetime Value
06:00 — Brand Investment and Long-Term Growth
08:07 — Earning C-Suite Trust with Marketing Metrics
11:45 — How Mercado Libre Win Cannes Lions
14:26 — Rethinking Creative Bravery
16:32 — How GUT Challenged Mercado Libre’s Brief
20:57 — Turning the Delivery Promise into a Brand Moment
24:48 — Marketing as a Core Growth Function
27:08 — The Do, Think, Feel Framework for Ecommerce Marketing
32:00 — How Every App Interaction Builds Brand Equity
34:42 — Social Commerce, Affiliates, and Live Shopping
37:44 — Gen AI in Performance Marketing, Creativity, and Operations

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

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At the Insight to Impact event, WARC’s David Tiltman discovers how Mondelez’s insights team is using AI with Pam Forbus, examines the need for “marketing engineers” with Profound’s Matthew Huo, and goes deep on synthetic data research with Tracy Adams from the ARF and Keith Smith from the Marketing Science Institute.
This episode is sponsored by Profound. To learn more, go to tryprofound.com
Guests:
Pamela Forbus, Global Chief of Insights & Analytics, Mondelez
Matthew Huo, Product Marketing, Profound
Tracy Adams, Senior Director of Research & Insights, The Advertising Research Foundation
Keith Smith, Managing Director, The Marketing Science Institute
David Tiltman, Chief Content Officer, WARC
Chapters:
(00:00) Intro: Welcome to Insights to Impact
(02:29) Mondelez: Leading insights into AI’s future
(06:21) Mondelez: Breaking silos with consumer insight
(09:40) Mondelez: AI pilots, synthetic personas, and data foundations
(13:52) Mondelez: Synthetic personas and real consumers
(17:42) Profound: How brands appear in AI answers
(21:46) Profound: Creating original, specific content
(26:53) Profound: The rise of marketing engineers
(34:01) Profound: AI’s impact on marketing jobs
(37:24) The risks of synthetic research
(42:15) Bias, variability, and validation
(43:39) Why small prompt changes matter
(49:06) Matching validation to decision stakes

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

We're digging into new effectiveness research, including new thinking on brand coherence, the resurgence of 'ad awareness' and how to get the most out of sports sponsorships, recorded live at the IPA Effectiveness conference in London. Hosted by WARC's Anna Hamill.
Guests:
Orlando Wood, Chief Creative Officer, System1
Paul Simonet, The Whole Brained Marketer
Rory Natkiel, Founder of Box Count & Chair of the Sponsorship Effectiveness Forum
Claire Humphris, Chief Marketing Officer, British Cycling
Caitlin McRoy, Senior Sponsorship Manager at Sage
Nic Pietersma, Group Director of Analytics, Ebiquity
Anthony Jones, Head of Research, Thinkbox
Jane Christian, EVP - Analytics, WPP Media UK
Anna Hamill, Senior Editor, The WARC Podcast
Chapters:
[00:00] Intro: Live at the IPA Effectiveness Conference
[01:29] Creative coherence: putting brands back on top
[04:57] How the LLM model evaluates brand characteristics
[07:14] Coherent brand character: examples from Red Bull, Guinness, and Cadbury
[11:38] Brand coherence in an AI-driven world
[17:39] Why ad awareness deserves a closer look
[19:41] Ad awareness versus brand awareness
[23:27] Research findings: ad awareness, consideration, and causality
[28:00] Category differences and planning media to drive awareness
[34:45] The sponsorship effectiveness gap
[38:10] Sage’s approach: connecting sponsorship to broader brand goals
[40:18] Three practices for effective sponsorship measurement
[44:04] Long-term partnerships, flexibility, and creative platforms
[47:45] Lessons learned, and research resources

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

Live from the Insights to Impact event, Reddit’s Lore Oxford shares how to get the best insights from the platform, Kraft Heinz’s Doug Healy and Zappi’s Julio Franco share how to make marketers love research, and Newell Brands’ Delicia Cooney discusses the importance of human-centric insights in the AI era. Hosted by WARC's David Tiltman.
This episode is sponsored by Profound. To learn more, go to tryprofound.com
Guests:
Lore Oxford, Head of Insights Product, Reddit
Douglas Healy, Head of North America Insights, The Kraft Heinz Company
Julio Franco, Chief Customer Officer, Zappi
Delicia Cooney, Senior Insights Director, Newell Brands
David Tiltman, Chief Content Officer, WARC
Chapters:
00:00 — Intro: Live from Insights to Impact
02:21 — Reddit: What “insight slop” means
06:30 — Reddit: Curating data and building analysis frameworks
10:29 — Reddit: Trust, human perspectives, and the platform’s growing influence
12:43 — Reddit: How brands can listen and activate authentically
19:26 — Introducing Kraft Heinz and Zappi’s research partnership
20:26 — Kraft Heinz: Moving from overtesting to a learning philosophy
25:54 — Why research shouldn’t feel like a creative report card
29:51 — Kraft Heinz: Flexible testing, business impact, and lessons learned
42:12 — Newell Brands: Rethinking the insights function
47:10 — Newell Brands: Building a human-needs framework
52:17 — Newell Brands: Reframing existing research and choosing clarity

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

The future of AI media still feels uncertain: a goldrush where no one knows where to dig. A new report from WARC Media examines whether fragmenting attention leads to a concentration of monetisation in the advertising market and consider what this might mean for the next era of AI media. WARC's Alex Brownsell discusses the impact with Debra Aho Williamson.
Chapters:
[00:00] — Intro: How AI Media Could Reshape the $1.3 Trillion Ad Market
[01:58] — Why WARC Is Measuring AI’s Impact on Advertising Investment
[03:30] — What Is AI Media? ChatGPT, Google, and Amazon as Ad Channels
[05:00] — Fragmented Consumer Attention and Concentrated Digital Ad Spend
[07:23] — Why Google, Meta, and Amazon Attract Advertiser Investment
[11:42] — Three Scenarios for AI’s Impact on the Advertising Market
[13:58] — Could OpenAI Become a New AI Advertising Leader?
[16:19] — Will AI Expand Digital Advertising or Replace Existing Channels?
[18:45] — Why Incumbent Platforms May Benefit Most From AI
[21:53] — How Consumer Behavior Will Shape the Future of AI Media
[22:45] — Why WARC Used Visual Storytelling for the Sightlines Report
[26:05] — Where to Read Sightlines and Hear the Report Presented

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe