About
Intent strategist. Founder. Speaker. Consultant.
Phil Ohren helps brands understand what people actually want, then builds marketing around it.
Phil is the Founder of Intender, an intent-led media and performance agency built on a simple belief: advertising should be useful, not annoying.
Alongside Intender, Phil works as a consultant, speaker, advisor and industry commentator , helping founders, CMOs, marketing teams and agencies rethink how growth works in a world shaped by AI, search, media fragmentation, privacy change and rising consumer avoidance.
His work sits at the intersection of intent, media, search, content, data, AI and commercial growth. In plain English, he helps brands stop guessing.
24 yrs
in search & media
110+
brands worked with
Founder
of Intender
What Phil does
Sharper growth strategy. Better media decisions. A more useful way to reach people.
Phil is often brought in when a business knows it has an opportunity, but needs clearer thinking around where demand is coming from, how customers are behaving, and which marketing moves are actually worth making.
That might mean sharpening a founder's growth strategy. Challenging a channel-first media plan with a CMO. Helping a marketing team understand how search, social, AI, content and paid media should work together. Or showing an agency or board where future demand is hiding.
His approach is built around intent. Not just keywords. Not just clicks. Not just reach.
Why Phil does it
Most marketing starts in the wrong place. Phil starts with the person.
After more than two decades in digital marketing, media and search, Phil has seen how easily advertising can become wasteful, intrusive and disconnected from real people , and how powerful it can be when it's built around genuine relevance.
That's why he founded Intender: to make advertising useful, not annoying. Through consulting, speaking, writing, podcasts and advisory projects, his work is bigger than the agency , it's about helping the industry move away from lazy interruption and towards marketing that earns its place.
How Phil can help
Nine ways Phil earns his place in the room.
01
Find where demand is coming from
Map real customer demand across search, social, AI and word of mouth.
02
Surface the questions and symptoms behind intent
Get to the human signal before the click.
03
Build strategy around people, not platforms
Start with the person. Choose channels last.
04
Sharpen the role of search, paid, content and AI
One growth system, not a stack of disconnected tactics.
05
Kill wasted spend and weak channel thinking
Challenge lazy plans and reallocate to what actually moves the number.
06
Clarify positioning, messaging and journeys
So every touchpoint earns the next one.
07
Connect data, media and content into a system
Useful marketing infrastructure, not another dashboard.
08
Prepare for AI search, GPT ads and retail media
Get ready for the next surface before your competitors notice.
09
Talks, workshops and strategy sessions
For teams, boards and events that need clearer thinking, fast.
Especially useful when you need someone who can move between strategy and execution , from the boardroom to the media plan to the stage.
Speaking & industry work
On stage. In studio. On the record.
Phil is an experienced speaker, MC and commentator on marketing, media, search, AI, crypto, consumer intent and the future of advertising , known for making complex industry change feel simple, useful and human.
Australian Crypto Convention
MC · 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Search Marketing Summit
Speaker · 2022, 2023
iMedia
Speaker · 2025
Child Care Marketing Summit
Speaker · 2024
Retailer Media Summit
Speaker · 2025
SMX Melbourne
Speaker · 2009, 2010
SEO Brighton
Speaker · 2007
Phil speaks on
As seen in
Brands
Selected brands Phil has worked with.
Career timeline
How it happened.
Today
Where the work happens.
Early years
CANDA Systems · JE Consulting · Universal McCann · GroupM
SEO & paid search foundations
The years that shaped how Phil thinks today. Search proved that people reveal what they care about the moment they ask a question, compare options or look for help.
Mid-career
Switched on Media
Search Specialist → Account Director
Moved from the detail of technical search into client strategy and account leadership , connecting performance with brand and commercial outcomes.
Scale
Mindshare
Head of Owned Media → APAC Head of Search
Elevated search from a tactical channel into a strategic planning discipline across some of the region's largest brands.
Global
Louder Online
Chief Operating Officer · APAC / AMER / EMEA
Scaling digital strategy across three regions and connecting operational delivery with commercial performance.
2020 – now
Intender
Founder
An intent-led media and performance agency built on a simple belief: advertising should be useful, not annoying.
Today
Consulting · Advisory · Speaking · Writing
Independent operator
Working with founders, CMOs, boards and agencies on growth strategy, intent, AI search and the future of useful marketing.
Recognition
Recognised across the industry.
30U30
B&T 30 Under 30 winner
MFA
Media Federation Australia Award winner
Purple
Mindshare Australian Purple Person of the Year
APAC
Digital Innovator of the Year, Asia Pacific
Work with Phil
Bring Phil in when you need clearer thinking, sharper strategy, or a more useful way to grow.
Consulting, advisory, workshops, speaking or strategic growth projects. He'll help you understand where demand is coming from, how customer intent is changing, and what your marketing should do next.
Stay in Phil's feed
Follow the daily field notes on LinkedIn.
Attack the day
Field notes from inside the search shift.
Join the list of operators getting Phil's monthly take on SEO, AI search and the strategy that compounds.