Unilever CMO, Keith Weed, has been crowned the world’s most influential CMO, followed by GE’s Linda Boff and Twitter’s Leslie Berland, all key figures driving transformational change within and outside their organisations.

All the latest martech and adtech news this week from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Zendesk and more.

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

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.

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.

Facebook has seen advertising revenues leap 50 per cent year-on-year to US$11.79 billion, although dip compared to Q4, as it battles ongoing media, political and legal scrutiny around consumer data and privacy practices.

More than 310,000 Australians may have had their data improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, according to a Facebook update overnight.

Three months in to a marketing technology-led transformation to bring voice of the customer in to the Village Roadshow business, digital and customer marketing leader, Clare Smith, rolled out a DMP trial. It was a big mistake.

It’s not hard to find social media influencers to talk about holidays, restaurants and televisions. But what about a gel designed to alleviate vaginal dryness?

News that more than 50 million Facebook user profiles were leaked to controversial political data analytics provider, Cambridge Analytica, should serve as a hefty warning to marketers on the importance of transparency with consumers about how their information is used, and more stringent governance practices around access, usage and sharing.

A firmer desire within the corporate world to better connect with the consumer is driving a marketing renaissance that’s not only exciting, it’s transformative for all game enough to embrace it, Bacardi-Martini’s Jonathan Sully believes.

A new programmatic digital marketing platform is giving Raine & Horne property listings and managed sites up to 17 times more exposure in front of buyers and tenants and 12 times the industry average clickthrough rates.

If marketers aren’t running split-testing on Facebook ads, they're not doing Facebook correctly.

Israeli drinks company SodaStream is beefing up its video presence and social media play in the wake of successful influencer marketing campaigns including ‘Join a Revolution’ featuring ‘The Mountain’ from the Game of Thrones.

KPMG has launched a dedicated Social Media Advisory group, appointing two of Australia’s more notable agency marketers to spearhead its growth and raise social’s profile in the boardroom.

Marketers need to rethink influence marketing in the new year if they want better marketing outcomes and more authentic experiences, otherwise they run the risk of wasting money on simply a ‘gun for hire’, several experts agree.

Facebook users can expect less media and public content in their news feeds and more posts from their families and friends under new plans to make the social media site more “relevant” to users.

The Climate Council has become the latest brand to step into the world of chatbots, launching a new app through Facebook Messenger to better engage the millennials market.

Technology brands including Intel and IBM have been quick to jump into the social conversation with a tongue-in-cheek brand approach after a blackout struck the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

It’s been a year of stellar sales and international expansion, technology advancement and food menu improvements for ASX-listed pizza maker, Domino’s. But equally, consumer data breaches, franchisee complaints and a legal dispute with a technology supplier around its flagship tracking app have made it a difficult year for brand management.

Social media strategy is being increasingly listed by CMOs as integral to boosting customer experience and engagement.