Sian Chadwick

Everybody’s talking about AI but are we settling for quantity over quality? As Robin O Connell notes in the Advertising Council Australia, “Everyone’s celebrating AI as the saviour of marketing productivity, but few are asking the harder question: how do we ensure it doesn’t just lead to more of the same, creating content that blends into the background?” Let’s not just use AI. Let’s guide it. Check out the article here for more on how to turn AI from average to exceptional: https://lnkd.in/g53quKhr

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Energised after an insightful and empowering Abundium Sisterhood session with Dr Kellie Nuttall, National Lead Partner, AI Institute, Deloitte yesterday on the state of AI in Australia and what it means for C-Suite leaders! Sharing some reflections: • AI is not just a technology play, it’s a business strategy play. The CEO is the most important driver of adoption and impact. • AI fluency at the top matters, boards and executives must balance ethics, innovation and organisational redesign while keeping human connection at the centre. • The opportunity is bigger than productivity. It’s about reimagining business models, customer relationships and even what a business is. • Loved one of Kellie's practical tips: create your own GPT-powered virtual advisory board of thinkers you admire, a sparring partner in your pocket! The challenge: moving from pilots to scale, from disconnected use cases to true transformation, and from productivity to imagination. The question I left with: Are we ready, as leaders, organisations and a nation to not just adopt AI, but to shape the market before it shapes us? Thank you Kellie for such a rich and future-stretching conversation 🙏 Would love to hear from the LinkedIn community, how are you and your organisation approaching AI right now: as a productivity tool, a growth driver, or a way to reimagine the business? #Abundium #Sisterhood #Leadership #AI #FutureofWork #CourageousLeadership

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𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐃𝐏 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬... I've been following a large amount of analysis on Customer Data Platform implementations, and what continues to be apparent is common patterns we're seeing across the industry. Australia's CDP journey: some of Mi3Australia's research provides candid insights into the post-pandemic CDP adoption wave. Mark Gretton shared an honest observation: "𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘊𝘋𝘗𝘴, 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘊𝘋𝘗𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘴𝘮." This resonates with conversations I've been having across the industry. Balancing ambition with reality, many organisations start with genuine enthusiasm. They want to solve for multiple use cases and leverage every available feature. The challenge arises when this natural ambition leads to complexity that can overshadow the core business objectives. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: ▪️ Organisations often try to migrate more data than they initially need ▪️ Feature-rich platforms can inadvertently encourage over-engineering ▪️ Teams may feel pressure to justify investments by using every capability ▪️ The gap between marketing promises and implementation reality Some organisations are finding real success by taking more measured approaches: ▪️ Accent Group Limited Group achieved 4X their original business case ▪️ NOVA Entertainment reduced acquisition costs by 25-30% ▪️ Compare Club saw 9.5% cost reductions through thoughtful implementation Starting with clear, specific use cases and expanding thoughtfully rather than trying to solve everything at once. The most successful organisations focus on business outcomes first, then let the technology follow. The real value isn't in having the most sophisticated setup, but in creating meaningful customer experiences that deliver measurable results. Sometimes the simplest approach that achieves the goal is the most strategic. What has your experience been with CDP implementations? I'd love to hear different perspectives on what's working well in your organisations - we can do that over a coffee if you like... "Data is soil, it's fertile, it's an ecosystem" Chris Brinkworth Mark Jobbins Damon Mudge Leandro Perez Gabbi Stubbs GAICD Tejas Manohar Heidi Bullock Joseph Stanhope Michael Katz Dave O'Flanagan Andrew Birmingham 🕵️‍♂️ #CustomerData #CDP #MarTech #DataStrategy #CustomerExperience

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𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗔𝗜 𝘃𝘀. 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 - 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗛𝘆𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 Picture this: A room full of CEOs in Sydney, all grappling with the same question: How do we build brands that matter when AI is rewriting the rules? Enter Dave Kane, the strategist who helped MSN grow to be one of the world's most visited news and media portals, ranking #64 globally and #4 in the News & Media Publishers category as of August 2025. The platform attracts approximately 546.9 million monthly visits. His message wasn't what we expected. Instead of the usual "automate everything" narrative, Dave introduced us to Microsoft's secret weapon: Hybrid Intelligence, the art of making AI and humans better together. The proof? MSN increased their daily traffic by:  • Using AI to amplify human editorial decisions, not replace them  • Building trust through transparency about where AI helps and where humans lead  • Creating personalised experiences for billions while maintaining brand authenticity But here's what really hit home: In our rush to adopt AI, we're missing the bigger opportunity. It's not about choosing between human creativity OR artificial intelligence. The magic happens when we design for AND. As leaders, we need to ask ourselves:  • Are we augmenting our teams' capabilities or just automating tasks?  • Does our AI strategy strengthen our brand identity or dilute it?  • Are we building trust alongside innovation? The future belongs to organisations that master this balance. Thank you to everyone from the YPO Marketing Network who joined us for this transformative session. The conversations that followed proved one thing: YPO's ANZ business community is ready to lead in the hybrid intelligence era. What's your organisation doing to embrace hybrid intelligence? Harry Sanders Daniel Sekers GAICD Mitch Cuevas Don Hunton Michelle Laforest Summer Strongman Lorilee Levy Camille Fetter 🎯 David Rodnitzky Steven Joyce

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