​Medibank has launched a WeChat channel to better connect with the growing Australian-Chinese population.

Video and mobile advertising increases have driven a 13.2 per cent year-on-year growth in digital advertising according to the Australian Online Advertising Expenditure Report released by IAB/PwC.

Brands must transform the way they plan their communications across media and up the ante on mobile, as a recent report shows media consumption on mobile devices is set to rapidly rise by 2020.

National Australia Bank is working to deliver personalisation in the moment, rather than after the fact, in order to create great customer experiences, its general manager of consumer marketing and customer strategy says.

Australian specialty baby goods retailer, Baby Bunting, is transforming its online retail environment, moving beyond the traditional shopping cart and instead providing what it says are engaging customer experiences.

Compelling customer experiences require “a constant stream” of customer feedback, Slack’s global vice-president of marketing, Kelly Watkins, says. It's sound advice and not overly complicated, but often, it’s difficult for companies to achieve.

Five years ago in May, IDG tasked me with launching CMO as a brand in Australia. It was a decision driven by two factors: One, the exponential growth of technology in the marketing sphere; and two, the rising role of the marketer as an executive leader of influence.

All the latest martech and adtech news this week from Zendesk, Quantcast, OneTrust, FreeWheel, Ziva and more.

In an effort to complete with Oracle, SAP, and Salesforce, Adobe has entered into an agreement to acquire Magento Commerce, thereby adding digital commerce capabilities to the Adobe Experience Cloud.

Customer retention and customer engagement are two key aims of AIA Australia’s Vitality program rewarding a consumer’s healthy lifestyle, according to digital CRM manager, Nathan Cole.

Lego is a brand synonymous with play. Indeed, its name is derived from the Danish words for ‘play well’ – leg godt. So it is perhaps not surprising to hear senior global director at Lego Group, Lars Silberbauer, uses similar language when referring to his own job.

Machine learning has become one of the hottest topics in marketing circles in 2018, as organisations strive to understand what it can do and how it works. But as with most emerging technologies, there is limited experience in market against which to make decisions.

All the latest martech and adtech news this week from Hubspot, Oracle, Tealium, Medallia, MuleSoftand more.

Marketers with blind faith in adtech and martech are at risk of putting advertising in front of people who were going to buy anyway and waste time and money on useless personalisation activities.

​It is often said smell is the most evocative senses, readily resurfacing memories and feelings. But with marketers generally limited in their ability to reach the olfactory organs of most consumers, other senses can still be used to great effect.

Using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and target specific consumer groups via social media insights and loyalty data has seen Australian chocolateria, San Churro, chalk up 6.6 per cent return on investment and a predicted $500,000 in additional in-store spend.

The AANA and Advertising Standards Bureau will join forces at a board level in a move the pair say will future-proof and streamline Australia’s self-regulatory system for advertising while still retaining the independence of the complaints body.

All the latest martech and adtech news this week from Pitney Bowes, Hootsuite, Genesys, engage:BDR, Invigor, OneTrust, dataxu, and more.

​​Organisations need to be careful they don’t look too far forward in their quest for digital transformation and technology innovation and focus on the customer problems of today or risk being paralysed into inaction.

​American Express has taken the Australian wrappers off its first united global brand platform, ‘Powerful Backing: Don’t do business / Don’t live life without it’, a program of activity that includes a $1 million investment into Australia’s music scene.

Marketing automation platform, ActiveCampaign, is set to open its first international office in Sydney in August. It plans to recruit up to 50 people in customer support and market development functions within the first year.