The Array.

In this episode of The Array by Jacquard, Toby and Jasper sit down with Ariela Nerubay, Chief Brand Officer at Walker Advertising, to unpack why cultural fluency is rapidly becoming one of the most important competitive advantages in modern marketing.Drawing from decades of experience building culturally resonant brands across media, retail, and consumer products, Ariela explains why authentic connection goes far beyond surface-level diversity or stereotypical representation. Instead, brands must deeply understand the lived experiences, values, humor, language, and emotional signals of the communities they want to serve.The conversation explores why “the riches are in the niches,” how fragmented audiences are reshaping brand strategy, and why Gen Z’s multicultural identity is forcing marketers to rethink traditional mass-market approaches. Ariela shares practical frameworks for maintaining a consistent global brand identity while still adapting messaging, creative, and experiences to local cultural realities.Toby, Jasper, and Ariela also discuss the hidden costs of cultural blindspots, why diverse teams are essential for avoiding reputational missteps, and how small cultural “winks” often create stronger emotional resonance than broad attempts at inclusivity.This episode is a powerful roadmap for marketers navigating a future where personalization, cultural relevance, and authenticity increasingly determine which brands grow and which become invisible.What You’ll Learn:Why authentic cultural understanding outperforms stereotypical representationHow “the riches are in the niches” drives stronger brand advocacy and growthWhy Gen Z’s multicultural identity is reshaping the future of marketingThe framework for balancing global brand consistency with local cultural relevanceHow small cultural references and “winks” create deeper emotional connection than generic diversity messagingWhy diverse teams and agencies are critical for culturally intelligent marketingThe hidden business risks of cultural blindspots and reputational misstepsHow brands like McDonald’s and Disney localize successfully without diluting their identityWhy multicultural marketing should be treated as a growth engine not a side initiativeHow fragmented audiences are changing the economics of brand building and customer acquisition Ariela Nerubay is the Chief Brand Officer at Walker Advertising. Throughout her career, Ariela has led brand strategy, marketing transformation, and business growth initiatives across media, retail, entertainment, and consumer products. She previously helped launch Univision telenovelas, the first Univision-branded Spanish-language cable network, and served as a founding executive at TuTv, a joint venture between Univision and Grupo Televisa that culminated in a $110 million acquisition.Known for combining business strategy with deep cultural fluency, Ariela specializes in helping organizations move beyond performative representation toward authentic, emotionally resonant brand building that drives measurable growth.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts. Instructions on how to do so are here.Episode Resources:Ariela Nerubay LinkedInWalker Advertising Website

In this episode of The Array by Jacquard, Toby and Jasper sit down with Sally Barton, Director of Marketing Growth Strategy at Mondelez International, to unpack how iconic consumer brands can navigate the growing tension between hyper-personalization and maintaining a consistent brand identity in an AI-driven world.Drawing on experience across categories ranging from chocolate and snacks to skincare and household products, Sally explains why the strongest marketing strategies are rooted not in product features, but in deeply understanding human psychology, emotional need states, and cultural context. This conversation explores how brands can create one-to-one relevance without sacrificing the distinctive assets, tone, and heritage that make consumers trust and love them in the first place.Sally also explores the evolving role of data, social listening, and retail partnerships in helping brands stay connected to consumers without relying solely on direct-to-consumer ecosystems. Along the way, Sally outlines a practical framework for future-proofing marketing organizations through curiosity, adaptability, and stronger brand foundations.What You’ll Learn:How to build marketing strategies around consumer psychology and emotional need states, not just product featuresWhy strong brand foundations matter more than ever in the age of AI-generated contentThe framework for balancing hyper-personalization with authentic brand identityWhy emotional triggers like taste and nostalgia significantly outperform transactional messagingHow to use AI to scale content production without losing brand voice or consistencyWhy cultural nuance and contextual relevance are becoming critical competitive advantagesHow social listening and retail partnerships help brands stay connected to consumers at scaleWhy agility, curiosity, and continuous learning are more valuable than rigid marketing playbooksSally Barton is the Director of Marketing Growth Strategy at Mondelēz International, where she focuses on driving business growth through strategic marketing, brand building, and capability development across some of the world’s most recognizable consumer brands.With experience spanning categories from chocolate and snacks to skincare, detergents, and healthcare products, Sally has built a career around understanding consumer behavior, emotional connection, and the evolving role of marketing in a rapidly changing media landscape. Throughout her tenure at Mondelēz, she has led brand strategy and equity initiatives across iconic brands including Cadbury, Oreo, Toblerone, Triscuit, and Green & Black’s.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts. Instructions on how to do so are here.Episode Resources:Sally Barton LinkedInMondelēz International Website

In this episode of The Array by Jacquard, Toby and Jasper sit down with Scott Brinker, widely recognized as the “godfather of MarTech,” to explore the realities of AI adoption in marketing and why most organizations are still far from production-ready AI systems.Drawing from insights in his MarTech for 2026 report, Scott explains why AI success starts long before deploying models or tools. Without clean, accessible, and properly governed data, even the most sophisticated AI systems struggle to create measurable business value. This conversation dives into the importance of semantic alignment across organizations, the hidden complexity of context engineering, and why distributed governance is becoming essential for scaling AI without creating operational chaos.Scott also unpacks the rise of agentic systems and introduces the three types of marketing agents reshaping the industry: agents for marketers, agents for customers, and agents of customers. Together, these systems are fundamentally changing customer relationships, brand interaction models, and competitive dynamics.This conversation is a practical roadmap for leaders navigating the shift from AI pilots to real business transformation while preserving creativity, authenticity, and strategic control.What You’ll Learn:Why your data strategy must come before your AI strategyHow poor data governance becomes the hidden bottleneck to AI adoptionWhy experiential language like “explore” and “celebrate” outperforms transactional copy by 46%The three types of marketing agents reshaping the future of customer engagementHow “agents of customers” like ChatGPT are changing brand discovery and decision-makingWhy context engineering is one of the most underestimated challenges in production AIHow distributed governance enables scalable AI adoption without creating organizational chaosThe difference between AI experimentation and production-ready workflowsWhy marketing leaders should embrace continuous discovery instead of trying to master AI overnightHow to balance AI-driven automation with human creativity and brand authenticity Scott Brinker is a globally recognized martech analyst, entrepreneur, author, and advisor widely known as the “godfather of MarTech.” Over the past two decades, he has helped define the marketing technology industry through his influential research, writing, and ecosystem leadership.Scott previously served as VP Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot, where he led the company’s global technology partner programs and platform ecosystem strategy. Before HubSpot, he co-founded ion, a pioneering no-code interactive content platform acquired in 2017.He is also the creator of the renowned Marketing Technology Landscape, which tracks the explosive growth of martech vendors from a few hundred companies to more than 15,000. Through his publication ChiefMartec, conference leadership at MarTech, and bestselling books including Hacking Marketing and The New Automation Mindset, Scott has become one of the leading voices shaping how businesses think about marketing, technology, AI, and organizational transformation.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts. Instructions on how to do so are here.Episode Resources:Scott Brinker LinkedInChiefmartec Website

In this episode of The Array by Jacquard, Toby and Jasper sit down with Rustom Dastoor, EVP, Head of Marketing Communications for the Americas at Mastercard, to discuss how AI is reshaping enterprise marketing, customer relationships, and competitive strategy.Rustom argues that most companies are thinking too small about AI. While many organizations focus on cost reduction and productivity gains, the real opportunity lies in building AI-native enterprises that use data to drive entirely new levels of effectiveness, personalization, and growth.Rustom also explains why brands must prepare for a future where AI agents and algorithms increasingly make decisions before consumers ever interact with a business directly. In that world, companies must optimize not just for people but for machines, APIs, and large language models that act as invisible gatekeepers to customer attention.This episode is a forward-looking blueprint for leaders trying to understand how AI will reshape marketing, enterprise operations, and competitive advantage over the next decade.What You’ll Learn:Why AI’s long-term value goes beyond efficiency and into revenue generationHow AI-native enterprises will fundamentally outcompete legacy organizationsWhy data should become the center of your marketing strategyHow creativity evolves when AI handles analysis, insights, and optimizationThe “Priceless” personalization principle and how AI enables contextual brand relevanceWhy brands must become machine-readable in an AI-driven economyHow AI agents and algorithms are changing customer decision-making behaviorWhy proprietary data is the most valuable strategic asset businesses ownHow companies of any size can start building stronger data foundations todayThe role of human creativity, judgment, and experience in an AI-first futureHow to think strategically about AI adoption without falling into hype cyclesRustom Dastoor is a global marketing and communications executive serving as Executive Vice President, Head of Marketing Communications for the Americas at Mastercard. With leadership experience spanning North America, South America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, he specializes in enterprise growth, marketing transformation, brand strategy, and go-to-market execution.His expertise also spans both B2B and B2C marketing, including brand development, sponsorships, digital strategy, demand generation, communications, public relations, and content. Known for his transformation-focused leadership style, Rustom has been at the forefront of modernizing marketing organizations through AI, data analytics, personalization, and scalable martech systems.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts. Instructions on how to do so are here.

In this episode of The Array by Jacquard, Toby and Jasper sit down with Brian Best, Head of Group (xLOB CRM) at Samsung, to unpack how enterprise organizations are evolving from persona-based journeys to true one-to-one personalization in an AI-driven world.They explore why data unification remains the biggest barrier to personalization at scale, and how fragmented systems prevent marketers from delivering consistent, meaningful experiences. Brian shares how Samsung balances global brand consistency with localized, personalized messaging, proving that personalization doesn’t replace brand strategy, it strengthens it.The conversation dives into the nuances of creative performance, including why overused words like “exclusive” lose impact over time, and how simple shifts like verb-first subject lines can significantly improve engagement. They also unpack the evolving role of AI, not as a replacement for marketers, but as a partner, where human creativity and strategic direction guide AI-driven execution.From building trust with legal and compliance teams to embedding AI into daily workflows, Brian outlines a practical roadmap for turning AI into a true ROI engine. This episode is a must-listen for marketers navigating the complexity of scaling personalization while maintaining brand integrity in a rapidly changing landscape.What You’ll Learn:Why personalization at scale requires both data mastery and creative judgment, not just technologyHow to balance global brand consistency with localized, one-to-one customer experiencesWhy semantic fatigue makes overused words like “exclusive” lose effectiveness and how to refresh messagingThe verb-first subject line framework that can increase email open rates by up to 20%Why data unification is the foundational bottleneck preventing true personalizationHow to use AI as a strategic partner, not just a productivity tool, in CRM workflowsThe importance of building trust with legal and compliance teams to enable faster, more flexible marketingHow “reasons to believe” (RTBs) outperform product-led messaging in building customer trustWhy cultural relevance, like sports and global events, can significantly boost engagementThe first practical step to unlocking AI ROI: creating and “branding” your own AI partnerBrian Best is Head of Group (xLOB CRM) at Samsung, where he drives customer engagement and eCommerce strategy for one of the world’s largest consumer electronics brands. With over 15 years of experience in digital transformation, Brian has generated more than $500M in eCommerce revenue and led CRM strategies contributing to multi-billion-dollar business units.Prior to Samsung, Brian held senior digital strategy roles at Publicis Groupe, where he helped global brands modernize their marketing technology stacks and unlock growth through data and AI. He specializes in leveraging machine learning for “Next Best Action” and “Next Best Product” strategies, as well as building AI-driven CRM ecosystems that deliver personalized, multi-channel customer experiences.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts.  Instructions on how to do so are ⁠here⁠.

What if the biggest missed opportunity in marketing isn’t what you send but what you shouldn’t send at all? In this episode of The Array by Jacquard, Toby and Jasper sit down with George Khachatryan, Head of AI Decisioning at Braze, to explore how reinforcement learning and AI agents are transforming marketing from static, segment-based campaigns into dynamic systems that make real-time, one-to-one decisions for every customer.They break down why traditional A/B testing is fundamentally limited, how AI decisioning continuously balances exploration and exploitation to maximize outcomes, and why true personalization requires more than just the “right message, right time, right channel.” The conversation dives into the importance of knowing when not to engage, the tension between short-term performance and long-term brand identity, and the three key bottlenecks - content generation, data integration, and experimentation, that prevent most organizations from realizing AI’s full potential.This episode also reframes the marketer’s role in an AI-first world: from executing campaigns to managing intelligent agents, setting guardrails, and making strategic trade-offs that data alone can’t solve. For teams looking to move beyond manual segmentation and unlock meaningful ROI from AI, this conversation provides a clear, practical framework for the future of marketing.What You’ll Learn:Why most marketing teams are bottlenecked by content, data, or experimentation and how to identify your weakest linkHow reinforcement learning outperforms traditional A/B testing by minimizing wasted opportunity during experimentationWhy “right message, right time, right channel” is incomplete without knowing when not to send anythingHow AI decisioning enables continuous, real-time personalization at the individual level - not just segmentsThe hidden trade-off between short-term conversions and long-term brand equity and how to manage it with guardrailsHow combining content generation AI with decisioning AI creates exponential personalization at scaleWhy marketers are evolving from campaign operators to “AI agent managers”How autonomous systems balance exploration and exploitation to solve the cold-start problemWhat it takes to move from static creative libraries to infinite, personalized customer experiencesGeorge Khachatryan is the Head of AI Decisioning at Braze, a pioneering platform in AI-driven lifecycle marketing. He specializes in applying reinforcement learning and AI agents to optimize customer engagement at scale, enabling brands to move beyond manual segmentation and rule-based systems toward fully autonomous, one-to-one decisioning.Under his leadership, AI decisioning platforms have helped enterprises dramatically improve campaign performance across use cases like cross-sell, retention, and winback by making real-time, individualized marketing decisions. George is at the forefront of redefining how marketers leverage AI - not just for automation, but for continuous learning, experimentation, and strategic growth.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts. 

Grace Cowlard, creative director and former global brand lead at Adidas, reflects on the rise of AI in marketing—and why it’s led to a growing wave of sameness across brand messaging. But all isn’t lost. Grace shares how emotional intelligence, brand-specific wordbanks, and human nuance are the keys to standing out in an AI-saturated world.Get exclusive insights not shared in episode #008 with this 4-minute bonus episode, “Cut through this sea of sameness.”Want to learn how your brand can break through the noise? Visit Jacquard.com

“It’s not about if we use AI—it’s about how.”“AI should be your accelerator, not your replacement.”“Creativity isn’t getting lost. It’s getting freed up.”Grace Cowlard—Creative Director (formerly of Adidas)—joins The Array to talk about using AI to amplify human creativity, not replace it. Drawing from her experience across fashion, lifestyle, and sustainable brands, Grace offers an honest and hopeful take on where marketing is headed.Together, we explore how enterprise brands can:- Keep emotional intelligence at the heart of creative work (3:57)- Use AI to scale volume—without compromising brand expression (10:12)- Avoid the "sea of sameness" by flexing tone across channels (19:20)- Embrace AI experimentation while protecting what makes your brand human (26:33)Plus, we discuss AI as aesthetic, why creatives should treat AI like an intern, and the debut of “Go Out and Play” as our unofficial 2025 motto.

“I'm starting to believe [AGI] will be possible within the next 5 to 10 years.”Dr. Neil Yager, Chief Data Scientist of Jacquard, charts his journey from AGI skepticism (“This is not a technology that we’ll see in my lifetime, if ever.”) to optimism – before offering his thoughts on what’s required to achieve it, what exactly it is, and what it could mean for our world.Get exclusive insights not shared in episode #007 with this 4-minute bonus episode, “What’s going on behind closed doors.”Want to learn how personalisation can help you deliver your own messaging breakthrough? Visit Jacquard.com

“Don't spam people. Don't over-optimise and send clickbaity stuff.”“You need to be working with technologies that allow you to tailor [content] to yourself, to your own brand voice, to your own image.”“It’s just: who's going to find out how to do that?”Dr. Neil Yager, Chief Data Scientist of Jacquard, joins The Array to offer “a brief history of time as it relates to AI” – mapping the milestones that brought us to where we are, then laying out what lies ahead for enterprise brands as they adopt new technologies.Neil shares a true data science insider’s perspective for marketers and creatives eager to explore 20 years of AI breakthroughs – and what’s needed to continue unlocking its potential (4:28), find out what the evolution of AI imagery could mean for marketers (16:07), and produce high-quality content in an era of “dead Internet” mediocrity (26:03)Then we the return to (almost) everybody’s favourite future-of-employment segment, “Will AI Take Jasper’s Job?” (Spoiler: it’s not looking good for Jasper, but at least his dreams might offer a future revenue stream.)Watch or listen now to “Be willing to take risks.”Want to see why high-quality content goes hand-in-hand with personalised messaging? Visit Jacquard.com

“People actually suck at repetitive tasks.”Warrick Godfrey, Founding Partner of Fuse.cx, looks to the future of marketing and sees transformed team structures – where creatives spend their time “focusing on inventing new stuff and new ways of solving problems” and AI tools take care of repetition and amplification.Get exclusive insights not shared in episode #005 with this 3-minute bonus episode, “Create more remarkable experiences.”Want to learn how you can deliver remarkably personalised experiences? Visit Jacquard.com

“Who's opening those emails anymore?”“Customers are tired.”“You've got these cool tools. Let's use them better.”Warrick Godfrey, Founding Partner of Fuse.cx, arrives to help us kick off season 2 of The Array – with his honest take on the state of customer engagement. (Spoiler: most brands are coasting on old tactics and need to do better. Fortunately, better is within reach.)Get Warrick’s generous insights into how brands can sort the AI and MarTech hype from reality (05:07), address customer fatigue in traditional CRM channels (12:30), and use old and new tools to build more creative customer engagements (20:12).And don’t miss the debut of “Pipeline or Hype Line?” – the new game where we debate whether we’re getting our money’s worth from recent tech innovations.Watch or listen now to “Reimagine how we engage.”Want to learn how you can personalise every customer engagement more effectively? Visit Jacquard.com

How are you planning to bring your brand (and creatives) on the AI journey? Learn how with an inspiring 6-minute investment.Lucy Colback, Tech Writer for The Financial Times, leads the conversation in the final recap episode of season 1 – getting the answers that enterprise brands need to earn creative buy-in and grow more rewarding customer connections.Watch or listen now to “Start with the problem, not the tech.”Want to learn more about how to maximise the value of your AI efforts? Visit Jacquard.com

“This is not a cost-cutting exercise, people. This is a revenue-generating exercise.”Lucy Colback, Tech Writer for The Financial Times, switches things up for the final episode of season 1, taking over The Array to ask some tough questions – on behalf of the companies and creatives trying to find the right way forward with AI.Hosts Toby Coulthard, CPO, Jacquard, and Jasper Pye, CTO, Jacquard, share their AI-insider (and creative background) perspective into the value of seeing AI as an opportunity to scale creativity, rather than outsource it (11:56), enabling brands to speak to consumers the way they want to be spoken to (19:50), showing creatives how AI can empower them (and earning their buy-in first) (22:46), using AI as a tool to help generate revenue, not cut costs (25:41), and figuring out the problem that you want to solve, before choosing the AI tool (28:19).Then stick around for “Around Our World In 80 Seconds” – the game that delivers plenty of TL;DR perspective on good, bad, and bizarre stories from the world of AI.Watch or listen now to explore “AI’s real value to brands and consumers.”Want to see how you can make your marketing more effective? Visit Jacquard.com

Watch the 5-minute recap of our conversation to learn how enterprise brands and creatives can get lasting value from AI technologies.Daniel Head, CEO, Jacquard, joins The Array to explain how the right brand guardrails can help marketers bring their new machinery into compliance, increase performance without creating clickbait, and enable greater human creativity. Watch or listen now to begin “Teaching the machine.”Want to learn more about making new AI technologies work for your brand? Visit Jacquard.com

Automation has “always been about amplifying human ingenuity and creativity.”“Technological development is not going to stop and wait for anyone.”“You have to dive in and have a go.”Daniel Head, CEO, Jacquard, joins The Array to discuss how AI technologies can help experimentation-minded enterprise brands to: Put the best of human creativity into production at scale (11:30) Reach more customers with more relevant content (19:35) Deliver significant and sustainable creative value (22:13).Watch or listen now to tell us why “Marketing’s future waits for no brand.”Then learn more about delivering content that’s always relevant and on-brand. Visit Jacquard.com

Catch up with our 5-minute recap to learn how marketers can increase relevance and performance of their brand messaging through AI experimentation.Jay Pattisall, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester, joins The Array to discuss why generative AI should have a permanent place in the marketing toolkit. This is essential listening for do-more-with-less marketers looking to bring greater efficiency to the creative production process and drive better performance at scale.Watch or listen now to explore “Rethink speed, scale, performance.”Want to learn more about elevating performance at scale? Visit ⁠Jacquard.com

“Is the value of AI to brands too much to ignore?”“Will there always be a place for human creativity?”“What's your advice to people who are cautious about AI adoption?”Jay Pattisall, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester, joins hosts Toby Coulthard and Jasper Pye to share expert guidance into how enterprise marketers can: Build the right combination of people and AI platform into the creative process (09:48) Avoid the “autonomous sea of sameness” (17:57) Safely experiment with generative AI technologies (26:52) Engage with consumers emotionally, functionally, and transactionally (32:48)Watch or listen now to answer the question “Can AI ‘speak’ your brand language?”Then learn more about using AI tools to better promote your brand voice. ⁠Visit Jacquard.com⁠

Short on time? Get expert perspective on personalisation and key takeaways – with our swift 10-minute recap of episode one. Scott Zalaznik, Digital Advisor & ex-CDO of adidas, joins “The Array” to explore the differences between implicit and explicit personalisation, the right way to use customer data, and how brands can leverage technology to better connect with individual customers and drive long-term success, at scale.Watch or listen now to explore “Implicit vs. explicit personalisation.”Want to learn more about effective and impactful personalisation? Visit Jacquard.com

“Who’s doing personalisation well?”“What are the right success metrics?”“You’re winning clicks, but at what cost?”Scott Zalaznik, Digital Advisor & ex-CDO of adidas, joins hosts Toby Coulthard and Jasper Pye on the first episode of “The Array” to offer clear, actionable insights into: Implicit vs. explicit personalisation (5:04) Scalable content production (10:56) The incentivisation of KPIs and how to identify the right success metrics (15:08) Whether AI will take Jasper’s job (31:20).Want to learn more about effective and impactful personalisation? Visit Jacquard.com⁠

“The Array” is the new weekly podcast dedicated to delivering AI clarity to the marketing community. Hosts Toby Coulthard and Jasper Pye connect with informed and inspiring guests to get the kind of fresh perspectives and actionable insights that enterprise marketers can use to better navigate change, make the most of new opportunities, and resonate with customers everywhere. Join us for season one, starting Tuesday, November 12.