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Why embracing waste is the secret to marketing innovation and success

PLUS: Insights from Wyclef Jean, Evan Spiegel, and industry leaders this week

Author

Zihan Lyu
September 20, 2025

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Hi there!

Highlights from today's newsletter:
🧠 Why LLM benchmarks matter for creative effectiveness
💡 5 tips from Unilever's CMO on leading with purpose in a performance-driven world
☕ Nespresso's Jessica Padula shares how she leads both marketing and sustainability at an $8 billion brand

EDITOR’S PICK

#EVENT INSIGHTS

When reporting rewards the last click, budgets follow it, and growth gets more expensive. At a recent ClickZ event with Fospha and Google, experts argued that measurement is no longer a tidy report but the operating system for growth.

Fospha’s Dom Devlin warned that mis-measurement leads to mis-spend, while Google’s Brandon Klausner urged marketers to build systems that combine attribution, incrementality, and MMM into one consistent picture. The conversation showed how logging exposures and aligning brand and performance teams on a single plan can turn measurement into a confidence engine - one that a CFO can trust.

#EVENT INSIGHTS

At Smartly Advance, leaders from Amazon, Meta, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest and Smartly made it clear that AI now carries as much responsibility as potential. Alan Moss urged marketers to stop treating brand and performance as separate goals, saying AI gives them the ability to achieve both at once. Judy Toland shared how Meta’s $100B+ investment in AI is levelling the playing field for smaller businesses, while Bill Watkins explained how Pinterest’s move to make under-16 profiles private helped Gen Z grow to half its audience.

TikTok spoke about rebuilding trust, and YouTube showed how its tools cut friction in the creative process. The message running through the event was one of confidence - the biggest players are using AI to design growth models that work for brands and for consumers.

This week, the ClickZ team is on the ground at ADVANCE 2025 and Shoptalk Fall, capturing the top topics discussed by the industry and exclusive insights from brand leaders.
👉 For Shoptalk Fall insights, check our Unofficially Shoptalk.
👉 For ADVANCE 2025 insights, visit our ClickZ website.

WHAT WE ARE READING

Springboards’ benchmark comparing ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and others offers a first look at how well AI performs on creative tasks. The study reveals that results are closer than expected, which means model choice should align with task type and workflow rather than popularity. Marketers should experiment with several models and use AI to explore unexpected directions rather than simply producing faster versions of familiar ideas.

Lego’s latest campaign with Tom Holland shows how a single, high-impact creative decision can elevate a brand story. Using one actor across multiple roles highlights the emotional power of play and makes the concept memorable. Marketers can take note: bold casting or a unifying creative device can turn a campaign into something audiences want to share and talk about.

Marketers are prioritizing flexible, threshold-based ad deals over upfront commitments due to economic instability and tariff pressures, requiring rigorous budget justification to CFOs. This shift toward financial accountability ties spend directly to measurable outcomes and incrementality, ensuring ad dollars generate verifiable value.

INSIDER EVENT SCOOP

💭 Hot Take from ADVANCE 2025 by Smartly

What does the future of shopping look like when creativity, community, automation and measurement all converge?

At Smartly Advance in New York, we heard from:
 🔹 Lorry Destainville, Global Head of Partnerships TikTok
 🔹 Josh Gray, Global Head of Commerce Product Strategy & Ops (TikTok)
 🔹 Diana Rodriguez, Paid Social Growth Marketing Director Nutrafol
 🔹 Moses Velasco, Chief Product Officer (Smartly)
 🔹 Sam Carter, CEO Fospha

Here are five clear lessons marketers should take away:
1️⃣ TikTok is collapsing the funnel. Ads can inspire, inform, and convert in one swipe. The Gap creator collab hoodie showed how culture and commerce now move together.
2️⃣ Creators are the new performance marketers. Nutrafol uses TikTok creators’ diary-style videos both to answer user questions and to drive conversions through search and paid.
3️⃣ TikTok is becoming a search engine. One in four users now search directly on TikTok, making it a channel for direct response, not just awareness.
4️⃣ Automation scales, but humans give it meaning. Smartly’s AI tools help brands create and adapt content faster, but only marketers can bring cultural context and originality.
5️⃣ Measurement is the next battleground. Fospha’s Sam Carter stressed that last-click miss TikTok’s true impact and brands need daily, impression-led, full-funnel measurement that capture sales across DTC and marketplaces like Amazon.

 💭 What Wyclef Jean Shared

“The human could never be replaced if you operate at your highest vibration.”

At Smartly Advance, Wyclef Jean closed the day with a powerful message on AI, creativity, and originality.

He spoke about music as code, the “OM” that drives human creativity, and even a freestyle battle with ChatGPT, reminding the audience that AI can extend our abilities, but soul and vibration remain irreplaceable.

👉 Read our full recap of Wyclef’s talk here: https://www.clickz.com/p/from-carnival-to-code-wyclef-jean-on-creativity-ai-and-purpose

 💭 What Unilever’s CMO Shared

5 tips from Unilever’s CMO on leading with purpose in a performance-driven world.

At Smartly Advance, Esi Eggleston Bracey shared how iconic brands stay relevant and scale without losing sight of values. Her blueprint is a lesson for every marketer:
1️⃣ Anchor growth in purpose. Functional benefits aren’t enough - brands must stand for something that resonates emotionally.
2️⃣ Design for many-to-many. Communities, creators, and consumers now carry your story. Your job is to guide with trust and credibility.
3️⃣ Use AI as infrastructure, not strategy. Digital twins cut cost and speed up campaigns, but it’s human storytelling that makes people care.
4️⃣ Lead with clarity. Attention is scarce - create simplicity for consumers, and clarity for teams navigating a complex media landscape.
5️⃣ Make culture the filter. Use frameworks like Unilever’s “Brand Verse” to know which societal conversations your brand can authentically engage in.

WHAT WE ARE LISTENING TO

🎙 THE CMO PODCAST

Nespresso USA’s Jessica Padula joins The CMO Podcast to share how she leads both marketing and sustainability at an $8 billion brand. The conversation explores what it takes to grow a direct-to-consumer business while staying true to a brand’s values. Marketers will hear how Nespresso approaches innovation, builds purpose into strategy, and keeps its message consistent across 81 countries.

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