Key takeaways from Original Thinker, David McNiven

Key takeaways from Original Thinker, David McNiven

What does originality look like when you’re marketing a 40-year-old travel brand, with 550 branches, a huge national audience and customers who still value real human advice?

That’s exactly what we explored in the latest episode of our new podcast, Original Thinking, where we sat down with David McNiven, Head of Marketing at Hays Travel and the North East’s Marketing Leader of the Year.

David has spent two decades in marketing, across media, digital, hospitality and travel, and his view on creativity is refreshingly practical. For him, original thinking is all about understanding people, building trust and knowing when an idea is strong enough to keep going.

Here are three takeaways from David’s episode that every marketer can learn from…

1. The risky move isn’t always doing something new

In marketing, we’re often obsessed with fresh campaigns, new creative and changing things just because a new budget year says we should – but sometimes the bolder decision is to stick with what’s working.

Sometimes it means giving strong creative ideas the time to build familiarity, recognition and trust. In a crowded market, consistency can be just as powerful as novelty, especially when most customers haven’t seen your campaign nearly as often as you think they have.

2. The best ideas don’t just come from the marketing team

The people closest to customers often have the sharpest insight into what’s landing, what people are asking for and what feels relevant in the real world. That’s particularly true on social, where polished brand content has its place, but authentic branch-led content can cut through in a completely different way.

The marketing team should give people enough freedom to bring personality, local knowledge and real customer understanding into the work.

3. AI can’t replace trust

AI is a powerful tool and something that can help teams work faster, scale ideas and create efficiencies, but it can also highlight poor work just as quickly as it can good work.

In industries like travel, where people are making emotional, high-value decisions, trust still matters hugely. Customers might use AI to research a holiday or build an itinerary, but when it comes to booking, many still want the reassurance of a real person, a trusted brand and proper expertise. AI can support this process, but the originality, judgement and human context still have to come from people.

There’s plenty more in the full episode, from brand vs performance, to humour in marketing, to why future marketers will need curiosity and critical thinking more than ever.