As the founder of MLA Consulting, Maarten Albarda is a bit like a doctor for brands. He’s looking beyond the surface-level symptoms that slow down the marketing practice and aiming to get to the root cause of disorganization and inefficiency. He joined host Mike Berberich to discuss his approach for “diagnosing” the issues hampering his clients and dove into the steps he then takes to make their marketing organization run more smoothly. The pair also discussed the most common barriers to efficiency among marketing teams and their partners and approaches for measuring the “how” of marketing.

On Scope producer Ryan Dinger also joined the show to share an exciting update and to discuss a new “rule” for listeners.

To check out the full agenda and register for the 2025 ANA In-House Agency Conference, presented by Monday.com, visit www.ana.net/2025in-house.

The On Scope team would love to hear from you! If you have a topic or guest idea for the show, you can email us at onscope@ana.net.

Liberty Mutual CMO Jenna Lebel and Bandits & Friends Founder and Co-Chief Creative Officer Danny Gonzalez joined the show to discuss why insurance brands seem to be so good at humor while other brands kind of suck at it. Along with host Mike Berberich, the trio opined on where most brands go wrong when it comes to crafting humorous creative, what the process of character development and world building looks like at Liberty Mutual, how the brand has used pop culture to amplify its more traditional advertising efforts, and what it takes to write an effective jingle.

On “This Week in ANA Magazine,” Matthew Schwartz discussed a new story examining what might happen with marketing to gen Z if the TikTok ban goes through. He outlined some new strategies brands might consider and highlighted the “Tik-Tok-ification” of media, a term that describes how the video-sharing app has fundamentally changed audiences’ expectations for content, regardless of whether the ban is upheld or not.

To check out the wealth of proprietary research, tools, and great content available from the ANA, visit www.ana.net/mkc.

The On Scope team would love to hear from you! If you have a topic or guest idea for the show, you can email us at onscope@ana.net.