ANZ is starting to fully leverage its $26m investment in ASX-listed Cashrewards. The bank is positioning the loyalty scheme as a key plank of its personalisation and CX strategy in a bid to gain and retain customers – and crucially unlock customer data consent to branch into new areas with other brand partners. Meanwhile, Cashrewards merchants now have the opportunity to target all ANZ customers via the bank’s owned platforms.

As yoghurt companies go, Chobani is big, roaring from nowhere to a 20 per cent market share in less than a decade. For the last couple of years, it has been investing heavily in retail media via Woolworth's Cartology unit. General Manager of Growth, Olivia Dickinson, says there are four reasons why – and she thinks the retailer media companies are only just getting started.

Podcast audiences are booming, up 53 per cent in the last 12 months. But advertiser investment in the channel has not matched that growth, and some are reluctant because the metrics are lacking, say buyers. Others are taking the plunge, buying into engagement and personalities. But podcasts remain comparatively expensive to radio, CPMs can fluctuate widely - and there is no data on individual podcasts numbers. Can the industry solve that problem?

Delivery platform Menulog is putting claims of beefed-up data capabilities from publishers and agencies to the test. A first party data matching trial via CTV with Seven, IPG's Matterkind, Acxiom and LiveRamp has delivered 37 per cent conversion rate improvements and a similar sales boost, which bodes well for life after cookies.

The market is still coming to grips with iOS15, which includes another raft of Apple features that will impact digital marketing and the adtech industry. The Trade Desk says it is unfazed by the changes, and the post-cookie user identity alternative it is promoting - one of numerous options industry is scrambling globally to invent. But Blis, a location-powered programmatic trader, has hit out at Apple, saying while some of the features are welcome, others show no industry consultation and constantly shifting goalposts.

Apple is keeping the heat on brands and publishing – and for some the impacts of its next iOS15 update could be more disruptive than the end of cookies. Adtech firms are also in Apple's crosshairs. Universal IDs may be toast. Fingerprinting, now rebranded as probabalistic tracking, becomes harder. Anyone that does email marketing should probably be worried.

Nine's new deal with Google and Facebook will fund journalism – and other growth – and lead to a net gain of $30m-$40m in FY2021/22 per the publisher. That's the same net result as the Fairfax-Google "deal of the century" also brokered by Chris Janz. Described as transformative for Fairfax then, Nine says the new deal is also a paradigm shift for journalism. But some think Google is the biggest winner.

Independent agency bosses say Australia's small and medium businesses – more than 90 per cent of the economy by volume – are back in market. But while many are seeking quick hits via performance channels, some are finding it's not moving the needle. They are seeking new ideas and pitching for new agencies, and the bigger small firms are turning to brand channels.