Is too much tech undermining your marketing strategy? In an era where there seems to be a tech point solution for everything, hear why it’s critical to build a strong strategic foundation first before layering on technology and automation.
Tash Walker, founder of global research agency The Mix, joins host Noor Naseer to explore how marketers are mistaking data for insight, and why chasing short-term media metrics can derail long-term brand growth. Together, they break down what it takes to craft strong, human-centered strategies in a fragmented media landscape—and why it’s time to rethink how much thinking we’re outsourcing to our tools.
Walker identifies the core problem plaguing modern marketing strategy as “trying to do too many things.” The influx of new technologies and readily available metrics creates an attractive array of tactical options, but it’s also causing a fundamental breakdown in long-term brand building as marketers chase short-term wins instead of committing to bigger ideas.
The brands achieving double-digit growth in challenging markets share a common trait: They have leaders with “a seat at the table” who champion visions over several years. The solution isn’t rejecting innovation—it’s developing the leadership discipline to choose one clear direction and stick with it. This means saying “no” to shiny distractions and “yes” to the hard work of building something meaningful over time and maintaining focus long enough to see real results.
Perhaps Walker’s most striking take is that no one actually knows what “insight” means in today’s marketing landscape. Walker points out that it’s become “a loaded word, often associated with quite significant negativity.” The industry lacks both a clear narrative around what great insight looks like and the training to develop it.
This creates a cascading problem: When marketers can’t spot, write, or implement genuine insights, they default to industry jargon and easily accessible metrics instead of strategy. The solution requires establishing a clear narrative around what great insight actually is, championing industry leaders who provide it, and investing in proper training for identifying, codifying, and applying it. For marketing leaders, this represents both a competitive opportunity and an urgent capability gap for which immediate attention can pay dividends.
While acknowledging that adtech is a phenomenal tool, Walker warns against the industry’s tendency to layer technology on top of weak strategic foundations. The real danger isn’t the technology itself—it’s the outsourcing of core marketing skills that has accompanied its adoption.
When agencies and brands become over-reliant on tools, they lose their intellectual capacity to think through fundamental questions and provide strategic direction. Further, when marketers try to solve strategic problems with technological solutions, Walker says it’s like “building jelly on jelly,” adding people’s discomfort with technology to a shaky marketing foundation in a way that is not additive or beneficial.
The solution is ensuring that marketing fundamentals—understanding strategy, spotting insights, and grasping business realities—remain core competencies rather than outsourced functions.
Great marketing strategy requires leaders who can explain their vision to anyone, remove complexity rather than add to it, and maintain strategic discipline over time. This means choosing the right battles, investing in proper education and training, and developing the business acumen to understand not just marketing principles but the commercial realities they must serve. The future of marketing belongs to those leaders who can best combine technological sophistication with strategic fundamentals, led by voices that have both the vision to see where the industry is heading and the courage to make the hard choices required to get there.
