Our Monthly Round-up of the key pieces in Marketing for April – we’ve chosen six key articles, and two podcasts, which we hope helps ‘keeps your finger on the pulse’ of Marketing. All our monthly reviews are available on our website. www.haiconsulting.com

Our April highlights:

1. Our top pick this month is a piece by Ivan Fernandes, on ‘The one lever you should pull in the next 90 days’ to build momentum beyond motion – and this is ‘prioritise’. We highly recommend  following Ivan on LinkedIn for his commercial analysis pieces, marketing and advertising overviews. – one to follow.

Here is the link: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7325796870096601089/

2. Secondly, we have picked a piece from Sherilyn Shackell (Founder of the Marketing Academy) on lbbonline, ‘CMO’s must worry less…’ sent to us, by Nina Chande. What a great line: “If you are not prepared to be fired for the thing that you are trying to get that board to elect you for, then I’m sorry that you do not deserve that role, and you certainly will not deserve to become a CEO – because they risk being fired every single day.”

Here is the link: https://lbbonline.com/news/cmos-must-worry-less-about-being-fired-worry-more-about-being-a-good-leader-doesnt-matter-how-crap-you-are-as-a-marketer?

3. Thirdly, we pick a piece from Mckinsey from last month on how organisations are rewiring to capture value. Organizations are beginning to create the structures and processes that lead to meaningful value from gen AI. While still in early days, companies are redesigning workflows, elevating governance, and mitigating more risks.

Here is the link: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai?

4. Fourthly, clients in many cases are looking for: – better – cheaper – faster with AI. Hugo Loriot, part of the Brandtech Group  writes on the 3 steps to get your data ready for Gen ai

Here is the link: https://www.adexchanger.com/data-driven-thinking/is-your-data-gen-ai-ready-here-are-3-steps-for-shaking-up-your-data-strategy/

5. Fifthly, we pick a piece form the Harvard Business Review – ‘How is your team spending the time saved by Generative AI. Generative AI is changing how we work. Tools like ChatGPT and Copilot help people write everything from emails to blog posts to plans for internal analyses 40% faster than they used to, according to a 2023 MIT study.

Here is the link: https://hbr.org/2025/03/how-is-your-team-spending-the-time-saved-by-gen-ai

6. Sixthly, We have been working with a few food brands most recently, notably Rana. We liked this piece from Forbes on transforming staple foods into brilliant new brands.

Here is the link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisoncoleman/2025/04/09/transforming-staple-foods-into-brilliant-new-brands/

Media: Well the news is out – and GroupM moves to WPP Media with client servicing brands and a single P&L. https://www.bandt.com.au/conflict-concerns-reliance-on-big-clients-but-a-boon-for-indies-industry-reacts-to-groupms-reported-global-consolidation-plans/

AI: David Jones CEO and Founder of the Brandtech Group covers the idea of real-time creativity as a result of Gen AI in this AdExchanger podcast. Better – faster – cheaper using the latest technology, but not to replace jobs or make the human potential redundant. Jones advises ‘Ask for a login’. https://www.adexchanger.com/adexchanger-talks/real-time-creativity-with-brandtech-ceo-david-jones/

Podcast: Whilst some have time to listen, some don’t. We pick a podcast each month and here is The IPA’s Ellie Olliff and Tina Fegent.https://ipa.co.uk/knowledge/adtalk-podcasts/business-growth/new-business-diaries-ellie-olliff-and-tina-fegent/

Time for the Work: It’s congrats to PG Tips and NCA Commercial Arts this month for continuing PG Tip’s Monkey’s Media career. ‘Live life one tea at a time’ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/subways-ikea-parody-monkey-returns-pg-tips-very-cmn7e

Back to Henley: Early Summer in Henley – the HRR booms are going back up on the river. Our fortnightly column in the Henley Standard continues where we interview local entrepreneurs. It’s called Let’s Get Down to Business. We were delighted this month to interview Henry Day, Founder  of the Henley Pub co. If you are heading here in the Summer for Regatta or Festival, then The Duke is definitely one for you to book. https://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/home/196294/henry-day-founder-of-henley-pub-co.html

If you’d like to discuss how these insights can apply to your organisation, or have any questions, we’d love to re-connect. Feel free to get in touch.

Kind regards

Will