In NDA’s Interviewing the Interviewers series, we catch up with some of the best interviewers in our industry, turning the tables to find out what makes them tick. Next up is Niamh Carroll, Senior Reporter at Marketing Week.
What is your biggest hope and your biggest fear for 2026?
I find myself worrying a lot about AI and how it will impact the world and the way humans learn to think. It feels like we’re at the tip of the iceberg of something that may change the course of humanity.
But when it comes to this industry specifically in 2026, my biggest worry is how some business leaders might use AI to do sweeping culls of staff headcount.
While AI “efficiencies” are unfortunately a fact of life, there’s a danger that some leaders believe that just because chatbots and LLMs have the capacity to do certain things (creating, writing, researching) that they can do it as well as human staff. I worry what this means for people coming into the industry, what route will the CMOs of the future have to take to get where they want to be?
On the flipside, I think this is already happening in many businesses, and my hope for 2026 is that this can be the year when companies take a thoughtful approach to what AI can do for their organisations. It feels like there has been a degree of novelty to AI in recent years, which has led to a bias for adoption without taking a sober look at what it truly means for your organisation and people. I hope in 2026 that this will change.
Who was the most inspirational person you interviewed in 2025?
On my last day at Cannes Lions 2025, when the fatigue of a hectic week on the Croisette inevitably sinks in, I sat down to interview Carlsberg CMO Yves Briantais. I may have been tired but I was definitely sitting up straight as he laid out a no-nonsense and powerful reminder of the purpose of marketing, which is not making nice ads, but delivering business growth.
What one technology are you most excited about this year and why?
Perhaps this is cheating as it’s not just one tool or platform, but I think, thanks largely to technology advances, we’re seeing effectiveness tools that were once the preserve of massive branded organisations start to be more democratised.
Whether it’s creative pre-testing of ads, brand tracking or MMMs, I’m seeing more and more challenger and medium-sized brands feel able to invest in these tools. The ability to draw a line between advertising spend and business growth is something that many smaller brands have struggled to do, widening the gap between themselves and their deep-pocketed rivals.
Whether it’s AI or open-source platforms that enable those brands to access effectiveness tools more, this can only be a good thing for the industry.
What was your favourite ad or media experience of 2025?
Not sure that it’s great that this is the question I struggled most with. I’m not sure whether that says more about my memory or the memorability of ads last year.
I did love the Waitrose Joe Wilkinson/Keirra Knightley Christmas ad. I wish I had something analytical or insightful to say other than it made me laugh.
What is the buzzword or phrase you’d like to ban forever and why?
I don’t want to be controversial as this is one I know a lot of people I really like and respect say, but the phrase “marketeers” as opposed to marketers is something I’d ban.
For many it’s just a slip of the tongue, but it sounds like a hybrid between marketer and musketeer… It gives me the “ick”.
While, like I say, I don’t think most people who say it think about it, the word marketeer makes me feel like marketers are trying to elevate themselves to something epic. I know firsthand just how talented and clever marketers are, spending a lot of my time talking to them.
But the function meant to be the voice of the customer should not be looking to position themselves as epic heroes.
Who’s the one industry figure you’d most like to interview you yet haven’t?
At Marketing Week we love a marketer to CEO story. One person who fits that billing and is faced with a super interesting challenge is new Diageo CEO Sir Dave Lewis. He’s sometimes called ‘Drastic Dave’ following the turnaround he led at Tesco. I feel like there’s a lot to get into there, from his marketing roots to how he intends to transform Diageo.
How could someone persuade you to interview them and what would put you off completely?
A marketer with a demonstrable growth or effectiveness story will always be someone I’m interested in interviewing. Bringing results from work that’s already happened or a business issue to be addressed will also catch my interest.
This is probably the answer for every journalist but generic pitches will receive a generic (and negative) answer. Everything I write is bespoke to our audience and if I get the sense this person with the exact same angle has been pitched far and wide it makes it much harder to do that.
