Brandweek 2026: Why Brand and Performance Should Stop Fighting ft. Nick Fairbairn

Brand or performance? That’s the wrong question for marketers to ask, according to Nick Fairbairn. Live from the Marketing Vanguard stage at Brandweek 2026, Jenny Rooney sits down with Chime’s SVP of Growth to unpack why brand lift and direct-response accountability belong in the same system, why buying an AI tool does not amount to AI transformation and why scrappy creative may do more brand-building work than marketers want to admit. Nick also gets into TV’s messy shift from linear to streaming, executive conversations around brand investment and why creators should perhaps be a part of every channel. Nick Fairbairn is Senior Vice President of Growth at Chime, where he leads a broad growth organization spanning paid media, organic growth, go-to-market, lifecycle, product, engineering and onboarding. His career started in media buying, including television and radio, before he moved into agency entrepreneurship and then brand-side marketing. Along the way, he’s worked at ProFlowers, helped build acquisition at Dollar Shave Club during the DTC era, led startup growth and later joined Chime to build its product marketing capabilities before moving into his current growth role. What You'll Learn: Why AI adoption needs active leadership instead of waiting for teams to figure it out themselves Why buying another AI tool rarely changes how a marketing organization actually works How Nick measures TV with the rigor of a performance channel Why brand lift and direct-response accountability should sit in the same conversation How data can turn a defensive budget discussion into a stronger case for brand investment Why lower-production testimonial creative can still move brand equity and consideration Why Nick thinks creators should eventually become part of every marketing channel This episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Brandweek 2026 and presented in partnership with Tatari. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.