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Branding, Strategy and Taylor Swift

The Digital Marketing Podcast

Release Date: 07/11/2025

The Changing User Journey - Lessons from the Travel Industry in the Age of AI show art The Changing User Journey - Lessons from the Travel Industry in the Age of AI

The Digital Marketing Podcast

In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles is joined by Matthew Gardiner from World Travel Market for a special look at how the user journey is being radically reshaped, and why the travel industry offers a powerful lens for understanding the broader changes all marketers now face. From AI-powered search and agents, to disconnected content ecosystems, collapsing funnels, and new expectations for sustainability and meaning, the way users discover, evaluate, and buy has shifted. Whether you work in travel or not, this episode delivers insight into how to adapt your digital...

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The Meta CMO Interview - Digital Marketing Measurement, AI & Why the Basics Still Matter show art The Meta CMO Interview - Digital Marketing Measurement, AI & Why the Basics Still Matter

The Digital Marketing Podcast

In this special episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles sits down with Alex Schultz, Meta’s Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of Analytics, to unpack the future of digital marketing, and why the fundamentals still matter more than ever. Alex shares lessons from his remarkable journey: from running the world’s top paper airplane website to leading growth at Meta, managing multi-billion dollar ad campaigns, and now authoring the industry-defining book Click Here. With high-profile endorsements from Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Daniel Ek, and Matthew Vaughn, the book...

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Regenerative Marketing - The Goose That Thought it was a Chicken! show art Regenerative Marketing - The Goose That Thought it was a Chicken!

The Digital Marketing Podcast

Far beyond a productivity hack or sustainability trend, the regenerative mindset offers marketers and leaders a framework to design work, creativity and impact that helps build value. You'll have to listen to find out about the Goose! Drawing from systems thinking and marketing strategy, Daniel and Ciaran challenge the “hustle at all costs” mentality and instead champion a more humane, resilient and adaptable approach to digital marketing. In This Episode: What is a Regenerative Mindset? Understand the key difference between sustainability and regeneration - why one aims to sustain the...

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Tools and Tips  Special - Navigating AI Search, Ads & SEO in 2025 show art Tools and Tips Special - Navigating AI Search, Ads & SEO in 2025

The Digital Marketing Podcast

In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, hosts Daniel Rowles and Ciaran Rogers return with a fresh round of insights and hands-on tools to help digital marketers adapt and experiment in the evolving AI-driven marketing landscape. From Google's AI Max campaigns to the explosion of generative engine optimisation, Daniel and Ciaran unpack the shifts happening across search, paid media, and SEO. This isn’t just another roundup of shiny tools, this episode explores how to think strategically about the role of AI in search, the real impact on your organic performance, and the mindset...

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ChatGPT Agent and the Future of Digital Marketing show art ChatGPT Agent and the Future of Digital Marketing

The Digital Marketing Podcast

In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles and Ciaran Rogers explore one of the most transformative shifts in digital marketing: the arrival of ChatGPT Agent and the rise of agent-based AI. No longer just about generating content, AI is now taking action on our behalf, logging into websites, filling out forms, analysing data, creating content, and even posting to platforms like LinkedIn. It’s here now, and it’s changing how marketing teams work from the ground up. Daniel shares his firsthand experiments with ChatGPT Agent, from connecting it to Canva to create and...

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The Future of SEO show art The Future of SEO

The Digital Marketing Podcast

In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, hosts Daniel Rowles and Ciaran Rogers explore one of the most pressing questions facing marketers today: what does SEO look like in a world dominated by AI search and generative answers? With Google rolling out AI Overviews and AI Mode, and tools like ChatGPT and Gemini changing how people search, the rules of SEO are shifting fast. Some publishers report traffic drops of up to 60%, while others in e-commerce are holding steady. So is SEO really dead, or just evolving into something new? Daniel and Ciaran dig deep into what’s happening,...

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How to Go Viral – The Science Behind Content that Spreads show art How to Go Viral – The Science Behind Content that Spreads

The Digital Marketing Podcast

In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles is joined by Brendan Kane, viral strategist and author of One Million Followers, for a deep dive into the art and science of making content go viral. Going viral often feels like marketing mythology,something bosses ask for, but few can explain or deliver. Brendan, however, has built a career proving that virality isn’t luck. It’s repeatable, measurable, and rooted in storytelling structures that have worked for decades. Brendan shares the behind-the-scenes thinking that led to his experiment growing an audience of 1 million...

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AI Copywriting and Claude - A Copywriter’s Guide to Getting the Best from AI show art AI Copywriting and Claude - A Copywriter’s Guide to Getting the Best from AI

The Digital Marketing Podcast

In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles sits down with copywriting and AI expert Kerry Harrison to explore one of the most exciting—and often misunderstood—areas of artificial intelligence: AI-powered copywriting. Together, they dive into how Anthropic’s Claude AI compares to tools like ChatGPT and Gemini, and why Claude is quickly becoming a favourite for writers who care about tone, style, and ethical AI. Kerry, a seasoned copywriter and trainer, shares her hands-on experiences using Claude to create high-quality marketing content. She explains how Claude's...

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Branding, Strategy and Taylor Swift show art Branding, Strategy and Taylor Swift

The Digital Marketing Podcast

In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles explores one of the most unexpected but powerful business case studies in modern branding: Taylor Swift! Joined by Kevin Evers, Senior Editor at Harvard Business Review and author of There’s Nothing Like This. Kevin dives into how Swift’s career offers a masterclass in brand strategy, audience connection, and long-term business thinking. Why does a global superstar in a notoriously cutthroat industry continue to outperform and outlast her peers? According to Kevin, it’s not luck or fandom - it’s strategy. Drawing on...

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Digital Marketing & AI News show art Digital Marketing & AI News

The Digital Marketing Podcast

In this special solo edition of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel introduces a new regular feature: a fast-paced roundup of the most critical AI and digital marketing news. With the rate of change accelerating across platforms, tools, and marketing strategy, it’s never been more important to stay ahead, and this episode helps you do just that. Daniel covers the latest developments from Google, Meta, OpenAI, LinkedIn and more, offering practical commentary on what they mean for marketers right now. From ChatGPT’s new operator functions to Google’s AI-powered search evolution, this...

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More Episodes

In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles explores one of the most unexpected but powerful business case studies in modern branding: Taylor Swift! Joined by Kevin Evers, Senior Editor at Harvard Business Review and author of There’s Nothing Like This. Kevin dives into how Swift’s career offers a masterclass in brand strategy, audience connection, and long-term business thinking.

Why does a global superstar in a notoriously cutthroat industry continue to outperform and outlast her peers? According to Kevin, it’s not luck or fandom - it’s strategy.

Drawing on insights from his newly released book, Kevin breaks down the key inflection points in Swift’s 20-year career. From turning down a major label at age 13 to preserve creative control, to executing one of the boldest rebranding and ownership moves in music history with her “Taylor’s Version” re-recordings, this episode examines how Swift embodies the core principles of marketing, product-market fit, and customer obsession.

Daniel and Kevin unpack how Taylor Swift:

Identified a niche audience when the data said it wasn’t viable

Built trust and intimacy into her brand from day one

Embraced user-generated content and fan communities to expand reach

Navigated multiple brand pivots without losing authenticity

Took complete ownership of her brand and intellectual property

Continues to evolve while staying aligned to her audience’s needs

They also explore how her fandom operates as a distributed marketing engine, elevating everything from live streams to lyric analysis and decoding hidden clues. With references to startup thinking, customer experience design, and even parallels with Jobs-to-Be-Done theory, this conversation turns a pop icon into a blueprint for brand building at scale.

Whether you’re a marketer, entrepreneur or brand strategist, this episode offers rare insight into what it takes to build something culturally durable, and fiercely customer-centric.

Key Takeaways:

Brand clarity trumps market data when paired with conviction

Fan communities can become your most powerful marketing asset

Ownership and authenticity are strategic decisions, not just personal ones

Pivoting is easier when you’ve built long-term trust

Obsessing over your audience is a competitive advantage

 

📥 Access the show notes, tools, and links at: https://targetinternet.com/resources/strategy-branding-and-taylor-swift

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