Is your brand really standing out, or just blending in? In our latest of MAD//Insight's partner podcast, Shiny New Object, Pete Durant, Interim Head of Brand and Marketing EU at Secret Escapes, reveals why story, not data, is your most powerful marketing tool, and why human insight still matters in an AI-driven world.

You might think you have the best brand in the world, but what does it look like among everything else? How are people reacting to it? AI cannot walk the aisles at Sainsbury's and that's part of what makes the human input so valuable, according to Pete Durant.

Our latest podcast guest is the Interim Head of Brand and Marketing EU at Secret Escapes, but more than that, he is "a brand marketing director and a broader leader that focuses predominantly on story as being the unique proposition that you have with customers."

Pete reminds marketers that the story is the single best tools marketers have in digital or offline marketing. He tells us why we should focus less on data, be ruthless with bullet points, and always look for actionable insights. And he reassures us on the importance of human input as AI is used extensively in marketing.

But how is the job funnel working to continue to attract junior marketers if we outsource so much to AI? What do marketers still have control of in the world of Google's Performance Max and Meta's intent black box? How can you stand out?

Lots of the answers, and many more questions, on the podcast.