More than one year since the launch of ChatGPT, the media ecosystem is working to understand the concrete outcomes that integrating AI tools could provide for businesses. Emerging #AI tools hold the potential to improve the industry’s understanding of media context and determine the best conditions for a brand to expose an ad. Specifically, AI media solutions for inclusive machine learning are supporting brand suitability, identifying content for brands to avoid – like fake...

Opening Season 3 of The Meaningful Media Podcast, host Ben Downing sits down with Alex Hase, General Manager and Chief Revenue Officer at software-as-a-service solution provider Mirakl and Molly Hop, EVP Market, Havas Media Network to explore how businesses can deliver digital growth by getting the media experience right from all perspectives of ecommerce. Key themes in this meaningful conversation: The evolution of Retail Media “Retail media is not a new concept. Digital retail media is...

Yannick Bolloré, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Havas Group, and Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Vivendi is Ben’s very special guest for the final episode of Season Two. Exploring the outlook in media for 2024 and discussing how media and entertainment converge in culture to create meaningful moments highlights of this fascinating conversation include: ·     On how global versus local plays a role for brands when creating media that matters, Yannick Bollore underlined when he became...

People love podcasts! Listeners doubled in four years from over 200m in 2019 to more than 460m in June 2023, and global listeners are set to blow past half a billion by 2024*.   As brands head into this audio space with its channel-specific challenges, they need effective support; to tackle brand safety; and to lock in listeners through meaningful audio media experiences. Trailblazer Dave Byrne, Director, Global Advertising Platform Integrity at Spotify and an expert in brand safety and brand...

“There are exciting shifts in B2B marketing which is going through a renaissance right now,” underlines Melissa Furze, Vice President, Customer Science and B2B Institute, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, during this fascinating conversation with podcast host Ben Downing as together they examine the shape of meaningful media experiences in the evolving B2B advertising space.   With over 65 million companies on their platform, LinkedIn “sits at a pretty unique space when it comes to understanding...

Fan communities – from gaming and sports to music and festivals – offer unprecedented opportunities for brands to plug into the power of passion – the lifeblood of fandoms.   In this dynamic episode, host Ben Downing sat down with special guests Twitch streamer Vanessa Lopez and Kevin Paskins, Pan EMEA Sales Director, Twitch to explore how creators and fans interact to build communities, and how to create unique media experiences on live-streaming platform Twitch. Providing valuable guidance...

In the first episode in our new The Meaningful Media Leader series, Sarah Mansfield, Vice-President Global Media, Unilever & Vice-President, Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) discusses her professional journey in media, shares vital perspectives on the media industry today and outlines valuable insights for the road ahead with our host Ben Downing.   From the benefits and ‘watch-outs’ of generative AI to driving transparency in cross-media measurement through a collective...

Between constrained advertising models and dwindling consumer attention, the media landscape continues to experience disruption compounded by the evolution of new storytelling formats to engage audiences and expand coverage areas.   In the second installment of our three-part series of episodes recorded at the Havas Café during the 2023 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, host Ben Downing sat down with news and media heavy hitters Ros Atkins, Analysis Editor, BBC News; Carmella Boykin,...

Valued at USD584.91billion in 2021, social commerce is enjoying seismic growth and presenting the fastest growing e-commerce opportunity for brands today. Fundamental to this growth are creators, who provide the right content, in the right context to connect with the right shoppers. But what are the key ingredients to creating engaging, meaningful media experiences? How can brands and creators work hand in hand to build meaningful shopping experiences and successful customer journeys? How can...

Havas Media Network took the podcast out of the studio to the DigiAds stage at London’s MAD//fest event in July 2023 to record an episode before a live audience. Connecting the festival’s theme of “riders of the storm” the macro reality facing consumers, brands and citizens with the need for and consumer desire for ‘responsible advertising” we brought together leading industry voices Jake Dubbins, Founder, Conscious Advertising Network, Hannah Mirza, Founder of The Responsible Marketing...

Emerging media platforms with highly-engaged DEI communities are providing new opportunities for brands to create campaigns – meaningful media experiences - which engage effectively with DEI audiences. In this episode, host Ben Downing, Global Managing Director, Ethical Media and Strategic Partnerships, Havas Media Network and co-host Olivia Dotzek, Strategy Director, Havas Media Network sit down with Robyn Exton, the founder of HER, the world's largest dating and community app for queer...

Now in its 15th year, Havas’ trailblazing research of brand value explores how brands tangibly improve peoples’ lives functionally, enhance their personal well-being, and contribute to wider society. Findings from the latest edition of our Meaningful Brands™ report demonstrate that while brands’ actions to drive societal progress, inclusion and sustainable behaviors have become more important and expected, people are examining everything through the lens of “me” in the face of more...

In this special and fascinating panel audience episode, host Ben Downing, Global Managing Director, Ethical Media & Strategic Partnerships, Havas Media Group and audience panel co-host, Courtney Cherry, Global Chief of Staff, Havas Media Group talk with citizen consumers Cindy Harper, Barbara Lofts, and Charlie Straadecker about the media that matters to them, the role of media in their daily lives, and just how they feel when advertising shows up. What makes this episode extra special?...

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is set to have huge implications for meaningful media and meaningful media experiences. In this timely episode host Ben Downing sits down with his guests Nate V. Rackiewicz, Chief Data Officer, Reset Digital and Umbar Shakir, Partner, Gate One, digital artist and photographer, to unpack what the buzz about AI really means for media experience and the opportunities for brand building.    We explore how ChatGPT is the tip of a Generative AI Iceberg, we...

Welcome back to The Meaningful Media Podcast and the start of our second season! We’re really excited to be back! And what a fantastic selection of guests and themes we have lined up for you!     For this special first episode we took The Meaningful Media Podcast out of the studio and to the iconic L’Olympia venue in Paris, owned by our mother group Vivendi, to record this episode to a live audience.    In our first ever episode of The Meaningful Media Podcast last year, we discussed the...

Slowing global ad spend forecasts, geopolitical instability, a cost-of-living crisis, the continued impact of climate change and more loom large as brands and agencies plan for 2023 and beyond.   For the final episode of Season 1, The Meaningful Media Podcast brought together a panel of visionary CEOs to share perspectives on the challenges and opportunities facing brand marketers and agencies in the year ahead.   Tom Denford, CEO, ID Comms Group, Peter Mears, Global CEO, Havas Media Group...

Creating a media ecosystem that is diverse and inclusive makes strategic sense for all stakeholders, nurturing meaningful media experiences to effectively engage people.   Yet there is historic under investment in the industry in Black and Minority-owned businesses. According to a report from Google, in the UK start-up founders do not have equal access to funding. In 2020, less than 0.25% of venture capital funding went to Black-led startups in the UK and only 38 Black founders received...

🛒 The dynamic world of social commerce, the fastest growing area of ecommerce today, is ripe for growth opportunities for brands. Expected to hit US$2 trillion by 2025 (Statista, September, 2022), social commerce is an emerging shopping place where consumers can explore products and complete transactions, all in the social media app.     📱Ahead of the busiest retail moments of the year - Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the December holiday season – our host Ben Downing, Global Managing...

CALLING ALL BRANDS eager to engage with one of the busiest cohorts on the planet - MOTHERS – this blisteringly good episode is for you!!   What media matters to mothers? How and WHERE should brands show up to engage with this attention-scarce cohort? What media will they pay for? Which media do their Gen Alpha and Gen Z children love? All this and much more in the latest episode of our special series which dives into the media that matters for citizen consumers.   For this episode, we were...

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are at the ‘unfolding edge of digital culture’, shares our special guest Nicolas Roope, co-founder & creative director, PLINFT in this latest episode.    However, it’s a roller-coaster ride for the NFTs marketplace. After staggering speculative interest in 2021 where sales hit US$25bn, in the 2022 third quarter NFT sales fell sharply to US$3.4bn, down from US$8.4bn the previous quarter and $12.5bn at the market's peak in early 2021, finds blockchain tracker...

24/7 news cascades into people’s daily lives, pouring onto all the platforms they engage with, from websites to social media, TV to radio. Not only are people struggling to get through the sheer torrent of around-the-clock content, but they are also questioning whether they can TRUST what they listen to, read, and watch.    Arriving to counterbalance this rising distrust are new media titles. These media are reshaping the news format to inject ‘meaningful’ and win back trust. They are...

“We have a choice. Collective action or collective suicide. It is in our hands,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told leaders of 40 nations at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in July 2022.    As we come to the end of one of the hottest summers on record - dominated by apocalyptic heat headlines – the need for ‘collective action’ to fight climate change has never seemed more urgent.    Contributing to this action is the need for agencies and advertisers to effectively tackle...

We end each Meaningful Media podcast episode by asking our guests about the media which matters to them: five quick-fire questions which we call the Meaningful Media Fast Five. For our Summer Special episode, host Ben Downing, Global Managing Director, Ethical Media & Strategic Partnerships, Havas Media Group, headed out of the studio to ask industry stakeholders their ‘Meaningful Media Fast Five.’    Recorded during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2022, we hear from...

☀️ Cannes Lions ‘In Real Life’ returned in 2022!! And The Meaningful Media Podcast headed to La Croisette to talk about meaningful media experiences and the media that matters!    Recorded to a live audience at the gorgeous and sustainable #HavasCafe, this is the third of three special Cannes episodes of The Meaningful Media Podcast.    From reporting on climate change to fighting disinformation, a key element of the sustainable media ecosystem is promoting high-quality media and journalism....