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