Episodes

  • In this episode, we're going to be talking about Compound Creativity, a new report by System1 in partnership with the IPA showing how being consistent with your creative compounds over time. I'm speaking with the author of the report, Andrew Tindall, who explains the core facets of the report and shares some fascinating statistics on the impact of creative consistency.

    And in a double bill, I'm also joined also joined by Dom Dwight, from Yorkshire Tea, and Vickie Ridley, from their partner agency Lucky Generals. Yorkshire Tea have been putting the principles of compound creativity to practice over many years and have been hugely successful as a result. So not only are we talking about the data, we're also talking about the practice.

    Download the Compound Creativity report here.

    Part 1 with Andrew Tindall

    00:00 - Intro
    00:58 - Launching the Compound Creativity report
    01:35 - Coming up with the right name for Compound Creativity
    02:52 - The building blocks of consistency
    05:13 - The value of being consistent
    08:04 - How compounding helps wear in
    09:25 - Power of fluent devices
    12:14 - Collaborating with the IPA for the business effects data
    15:00 - Don’t fire your agency
    16:39 - The 5 most consistent brands

    Part 2 with Dom Dwight and Vickie Ridley of Yorkshire Tea

    18:29 - Intro to Lucky Generals and Yorkshire Tea
    19:25 - Dom Dwight’s history with Yorkshire Tea
    22:28 - Where did the “doing things proper” idea originate
    25:31 - Narrowing 17 ideas down to 3
    26:19 - How to use celebrities well in advertising
    29:57 - Yorkshire Tea Ad with Sean Bean
    32:06 - Yorkshire Tea Ad with Kaiser Chiefs
    38:03 - How does the campaign work across channels
    42:24 - Key to a successful client agency relationship
    48:37 - The results of Yorkshire Tea’s compounding creativity
    52:56 - Advice to clients to get the most out of their agency

  • Mark Ritson is back on the podcast for a review of the most read stories this year. We debate if Liquid Death is more than just water in a can, why Nike’s focus on DTC was a mistake and what we can all learn from KitKat’s perfect positioning. Recorded in a pub in London, expect some uncensored opinions from everyone’s favourite marketing professor.

    00:00 - Start
    05:40 - Mark #5: Brand purpose doesn’t need a commercial excuse
    14:13 - Jon #5: Liquid death article
    21:15 - Mark #4: There's no such thing as performance branding
    25:47 - Jon #4: Nike Winning isn’t for everybody
    29:07 - Mark #3: KitKat's perfect positioning
    34:33 - Jon #3: Compounding interest, relationships and creativity
    39:55 - Mark #2: Why Liquid Death are running into trouble
    45:42 - Jon #2: Outrage is the new s*x in marketing
    48:32 - Ritson #1: Nike’s biggest mistake
    52:44 - Jon #1: Airbnb’s focus on brand

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  • Chris Baker is an award-winning advertising and social change strategist turned entrepreneur. He is the Founder & CEO of Serious Tissues, a toilet roll brand that fights climate change and deforestation by planting trees with every sale. Over 1.2m trees have been planted in just three years. He is also the Co-Founder of Change Please, a coffee brand that has helped hundreds of homeless people off the streets by training them as baristas, and is available in 23 countries. Change Please was named the World’s Leading Social Enterprise in 2018 and in Marketing Week’s 100 Most Disruptive Brands in the World. He has spent 20 years working on the world’s biggest brands including Unilever, Pepsico, Boots, Sky and Alpro whilst winning over 100 strategic and creative awards along the way.

    Find out more about Chris' book, Obsolete, here:
    https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/obsolete-9781399416658/

    00:00 - Intro
    02:09 - The premise of his book
    04:27 - Why Chris called the book Obsolete
    06:41 - Making positive change with small businesses
    18:32 - Being inspired by change brands
    21:53 - How to win against established brands
    27:03 - The advantages of purpose
    29:31 - How Chris started Change Please
    32:48 - Measuring the impact of Change Please
    36:28 - How change brands can be distinctive
    40:14 - Why Tony’s Chocolonely are making an impact
    42:06 - Putting change ahead of profits
    47:06 - Applying a change mindset to other industries
    49:37 - Making an impact commercially and with purpose
    52:55 - How Serious Tissues started
    55:53 - The power of partnerships
    57:49 - Chris’ biggest takeaway from writing Obsolete

  • Elfried Samba is CEO of Butterfly 3ffect. Samba immigrated from D.R. Congo to the UK at age 14 before rising to prominence in the Social media space through his work at global fitness brand, Gymshark.

    Timestamps

    00:00:00 - Intro00:00:52 - Why Elfried Samba wears a hat00:03:49 - Elfried’s dissertation on social media00:10:23 - The skills most in demand in 202400:12:36 - Elfried’s early work at Gymshark00:21:11 - The challenges of scaling up00:26:23 - Elfried’s approach to personal growth00:36:01 - How Elfried approaches finding talented people00:41:59 - Why Elfried left Gymshark00:49:26 - Scaling through influencers and community01:00:52 - Power of personal brands
  • Mark Ritson is back and has convinced me to record in a pub, talking about the top 10 beer ads of all time (while drinking beer) - what could go wrong? We break down some classic ads from Heineken & Stella, Super Bowl hits from Michelob & Sam Adams and round off drinking Britain's favourite pint.

    Timestamps

    00:00 - Intro00:27 - The idea for the beer podcast04:16 - Ad 10: Budweiser08:24 - Ad 9: Budweiser10:43 - Ad 8: Heineken13:56 - Ad 7: Stella Artois18:30 - Ad 6: Corona21:46 - Ad 5: Michelob Ultra25:17 - Ad 4: Carlsberg29:10 - Ad 3: Sam Adams36:36 - Ad 2: Guinness46:05 - Ad 1: Heineken

    Top 10 Ranking (with System1 Test Your Ad Report)

    HEINEKEN DANIEL CRAIG VS JAMES BOND (5.6)GUINNESS IN THIS TOGETHER (5.3)BOSTON BEER SAM ADAMS YOUR COUSIN FROM BOSTON (4.9)CARLSBERG THE SEAL (4.9)MICHELOB ULTRA MESSI SUPERBOWL AD (4.8)CORONA TINY UMBRELLAS (4.8)STELLA ARTOIS REASSURINGLY EXPENSIVE (4.6)HEINEKEN WATER IN MAJORCA (4.5)BUDWEISER WHASSUP (4.3)BUDWEISER OLD SCHOOL DELIVERY (4.2)
  • Kerris Bright is the Chief Customer Officer at the BBC. She was previously Chief Marketing Officer at Virgin Media.

    She is a highly experienced leader, bringing a customer-centred, data driven approach to setting marketing strategy and executing with creative flair. Before Virgin, she held senior marketing positions at British Airways, ICI Paints and Unilever. While at British Airways, she spearheaded the development of ‘To Fly: To Serve’, a new purpose for the organisation and a multi-platform campaign and at ICI Paints she transformed the company from a ‘multi-local’ to global brand building organisation. After gaining a PhD in molecular neuroscience from the University of Sussex, she began her career in marketing as a graduate trainee at Unilever.


    Timestamps

    00:00:00 - Intro
    00:00:26 - Why Kerris has a PHD in molecular neuroscience
    00:04:04 - Getting marketing training at Unilever
    00:09:56 - From Unilever to joining Dulux in crisis
    00:18:33 - How marketers can work closely with commercial teams
    00:22:12 - Purpose led campaigns
    00:31:36 - Lessons from Kerris’ time in Private Equity
    00:42:06 - From British Airways to Virgin
    00:48:42 - Kerris’ role at the BBC
    00:58:32 - The power of the BBC’s editorial independence
    01:01:05 - Marketing the BBC
    01:05:20 - How the BBC makes engaging content
    01:08:13 - Kerris’ advice to aspiring marketers

  • The NFL is one of the biggest sporting entities in the world and it's reaching the biggest audiences it ever has. So in this episode, I'm joined by their CMO Tim Ellis, and Glenn Cole, co-founder of 72andSunny, their agency partner. We talk about the secrets behind a successful 7 year agency-client relationship, how to consistently make groundbreaking, emotional work, and what it takes to create a leading Super Bowl campaign.

    Timestamps
    00:00 - Intro
    00:43 - Tim Ellis career journey
    01:51 - How Tim met Glenn from 72andSunny
    04:20 - Secret to a successful client agency relationship
    08:21 - The compounding effect of a long term agency relationship
    11:51 - Helmets off strategy
    15:09 - You can’t make this stuff up campaign
    17:40 - This is Football Country campaign
    24:41 - Growing the audience for the NFL
    27:22 - The Taylor Swift effect
    34:32 - The growth of flag Football
    39:30 - Growing the sport internationally
    42:35 - How to make a great Super Bowl ad
    49:07 - The power of emotion in advertising

  • In this episode, we're talking about one of my favourite subjects; innovation. And who better to talk about it with than Mauro Porcini, who's the Chief Design Officer at PepsiCo, who is also the author of “The Human Side of Innovation”. We talk about what it takes to make innovation that succeeds, and importantly, what characteristics of people can make innovation that works, (and he really knows, because if you've read the book, there are 24 characteristics that he talks about that are essential).

    Timestamps

    00:00 - Intro
    00:56 - The office of Pepsi’s Chief Design Officer
    02:56 - How Mauro got into design
    07:01 - Why you need to focus on people when innovating
    16:29 - Why so many innovations fail
    23:17 - Hiring the right people to foster innovation
    25:42 - Key characteristics of successful innovators
    33:50 - How to inspire kindness, optimism and curiosity
    40:27 - Finding the balance in character traits
    47:58 - The ideal recipe for innovation
    51:26 - How to cultivate happiness at work
    55:10 - Fighting the dictatorship of normal
    57:00 - Pepsi Rebrand

  • Today I'm speaking with one of the most awarded creatives on the planet, David Droga, founder of iconic agency Droga5, and now CEO of Accenture Song, one of the largest creative groups in the world. Described by David himself as "therapy", this conversation spans topics from his start as life as a copywriter, how he created some of the most creative work on the planet and what it's like to transition from a creative to a CEO.

    00:00 - Intro
    01:58 - How David Droga got into advertising
    07:36 - Working at Saatchi and Saatchi Singapore
    12:19 - Pushing boundaries and making yourself uncomfortable
    14:29 - Moving to Saatchi London
    20:32 - Why David Droga started Droga5
    25:55 - Droga5’s first campaign for Marc Ecko
    31:23 - The first idea Droga5 presented: GE Olympics Campaign
    38:30 - Droga’s Unicef campaign
    43:25 - Droga’s Newcastle Brown Ale work
    46:25 - Huggies Super Bowl Ad
    48:44 - The Coinbase QR Code Super Bowl ad
    52:22 - Characteristics of the best CMO’s Droga has worked with
    56:23 - What it’s like being CEO of Accenture Song

  • In this episode, Antonia Wade, CMO of PwC, turns the tables and interviews our usual host, Jon Evans. From tax intern to marketing podcast host, we delve into Jon's journey through entrepreneurial endeavours at Britvic, through to being fired at Lucozade to finding a successful role in B2B at System1. We also discuss lessons Jon has learned from 150 podcast episodes with CMO's, agency creatives, founders and more.


    Timestamps

    00:00 - Intro00:43 - Jon’s journey from tax to marketing10:18 - Deciding if you’re more suited to corporate or entrepreneurial life12:35 - Why Jon got fired at Lucozade17:15 - Traits of a confident CMO18:35 - How do you go from tax to research?25:21 - Why Jon chose Richard Shotton as his first guest27:10 - Lesson’s we can take from COVID times30:20 - What makes a great CMO36:49 - Do emotional ads really work?39:44 - Favourite campaign that didn’t perform well with System141:19 - Is winning a Cannes Lion worth it or not?44:42 - How important is purpose in advertising?48:37 - Is AI the saviour of creativity?52:35 - What has Jon learned about leadership from Uncensored CMO guests?56:25 - Who would Jon love to have on the podcast?57:34 - Happy 50th Birthday Jon!
  • Welcome to the 150th edition of the Uncensored CMO podcast. To celebrate, I'm joined by Orlando Wood, my colleague at System1 and author of Lemon and Look Out, with the legend that is Sir John Hegarty, iconic founder of BBH. Today we're talking about why they believe a creative revolution is necessary for the industry and why they are collaborating on a new course "Advertising Principles Explained" as the antidote.

    Timestamps

    00:00:00 - Intro
    00:02:22 - Have Oasis created the most effective ad of all time?
    00:16:13 - What can we learn from the history of advertising?
    00:22:43 - The advertising landscape when John started BBH
    00:28:04 - The next creative revolution - Advertising Principles Explained
    00:32:32 - The scientific evidence for emotional advertising
    00:38:38 - Who is doing the best, most effective advertising today?
    00:41:58 - BBH work with Lynx / Axe
    00:44:55 - Why we need more humour in advertising
    00:49:32 - Advice to CMOs for selling in this approach
    00:51:44 - When does Advertising Principles Explained launch?
    00:54:42 - Campaigns that didn’t go well for Sir John Hegarty
    00:57:11 - What role do planners have in the success of the creative
    00:57:33 - How did they sell in flat Eric to Levi’s
    00:58:34 - How to challenge clients to think differently
    00:59:13 - What emerging trends will shape the future of advertising
    01:00:05 - What skills will the CMO of the future need?
    01:02:58 - What trend needs breaking today?

  • Regular listeners of the podcast will know how much I love challenger brands, and Gymbox are one of the best examples of a challenger brand really shaping up their industry. Rory McEntee is the Brand and Marketing Director for the challenger Gym brand, and is responsible for some of the most creative campaigns (which have often come along with a side helping of legal letters) that have really put Gymbox on the map.

    Timestamps

    00:00 - Intro
    00:45 - Rory’s marketing background
    02:27 - Rory’s time at Paddy Power
    08:18 - Why Rory joined Gymbox
    10:11 - The Gymbox founding story
    14:01 - Reframing how people see the gym
    16:05 - Using your constraints to your advantage
    25:15 - Using every touch point as media
    35:11 - Being obsessed with execution
    39:27 - Forgiveness not permission with your marketing
    46:43 - Dealing with taking risks
    48:56 - Why the Gymbox culture is so important
    53:44 - How does the business of a challenger gym work

  • Rebecca Hirst is the Chief Marketing Officer of EY UK, a TEDx Speaker and a winner of Campaign's 40 over 40. Before joining EY and making the switch to B2B, Rebecca was Marketing Director at Samsung and working on brands including Coca-Cola, Schweppes, Kellogg’s, Kleenex, Microsoft, IBM, United Airlines, Lufthansa and Star Alliance.

    Timestamps

    00:00 - Intro
    00:54 - Winning Campaign’s 40 over 40
    04:33 - Being a Ted Talk speaker
    08:01 - Rebecca’s time at Samsung
    13:08 - Why Jon loves being a challenger brand
    17:08 - Working at Coca Cola vs Pepsi
    23:00 - How Rebecca transitioned into a B2B role
    25:46 - The power of compounding
    32:03 - How is B2B marketing different to B2C?
    37:36 - How to influence change at a large organisation
    46:12 - How EY became UK’s strongest brand
    52:14 - Rebecca’s advice to young marketers

  • Michelle Moscone is the VP of Brand and Content at GEICO, one of the most famous insurance brands in the US. Michele's career has spanned from project management at some of the biggest agencies in the world to leading creative at an organisation where creativity is at its core. In this episode we talk about why humour is so important for advertising and why we're so afraid to use it.

    Timestamps

    00:00 - Intro
    01:08 - Michelle Moscone background and career
    08:18 - How Michelle landed at GEICO
    11:20 - Why are there so many characters in insurance?
    21:42 - When insurance goes wrong
    32:34 - Why humour is so important
    36:37 - Why are we afraid of humour?
    41:16 - GEICO’s greatest hits
    49:51 - How to get the best out of your agency
    55:43 - Michelle’s favourite GEICO campaigns

  • Greg Hahn is the Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Mischief. One of the hottest agencies in the world doing work for the likes of Tinder, Tubi and Coors Light. Previous to Mischief, Greg was the CCO of BBDO NY. During that time BBDO was recognized as the most awarded agency in the world by the Gunn Report. It was also named Agency of the Year at The One Show, ADC and The Webbys multiple times.

    Timestamps

    00:00:00 - Intro00:01:10 - How did Greg Hahn get into the advertising industry?00:02:42 - 14 years at BBDO00:03:52 - Getting fired from BBDO00:06:24 - From being fired to creating Mischief00:11:08 - The extraordinary cost of being dull00:14:11 - Why do so many companies play it safe?00:16:36 - Winning a Grand Effie with Tubi00:19:29 - The Mischief mindset00:26:21 - The opposite of a good idea can also be a good idea00:26:59 - How can you use you disadvantage as your advantage?00:30:50 - How can you change the context and reframe things00:34:10 - What would you do if you weren’t afraid00:38:14 - How to make the best out of being fired00:49:24 - What Mischief believes in00:53:49 - How Mischief hires great people00:55:29 - How does Mischief stay sharp as they grow?00:56:29 - Choosing the right clients to work with00:58:55 - What’s next for Mischief?01:00:10 - Hardest part of growing and scaling Mischief01:03:27 - Advice for starting an agency from scratch
  • Kofi Amoo-Gottfried is the CMO of DoorDash, the premier local commerce platform valued at over $40 billion and dominates over 65% of the market for restaurant delivery. In his role as CMO, he is responsible for driving growth and engagement across all three sides of the marketplace. Prior to DoorDash, Kofi was VP of Brand & Consumer Marketing at Facebook, having previously served as the company’s Head of Consumer Marketing for internet.org.


    Timestamps

    00:00 - Intro
    01:03 - What it’s like judging a Cannes lion
    02:34 - DoorDash Valentines Day Campaign
    04:54 - Kofi’s background
    08:56 - Starting an agency in Africa for Publicis
    13:41 - From agency to brand side
    15:13 - Kofi’s role at Facebook/Meta
    18:11 - From Facebook to DoorDash
    20:23 - DoorDash backstory
    28:10 - Navigating through COVID at DoorDash
    33:24 - How DoorDash prepared to IPO
    37:23 - How successful have DoorDash been post IPO?
    39:12 - How DoorDash stay on top of innovation
    44:41 - DoorDash’s Sesame Street Super Bowl ad
    48:40 - DoorDash’s most recent Super Bowl campaign
    54:00 - In house vs external agencies
    55:51 - The culture at DoorDash

  • Greg Nugent was the CMO for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, one of the biggest events ever to take place. The entire world was watching as Greg’s work came to life. Before working on the Olympics, Greg oversaw the move of the Eurostar to St Pancras, which included creating the world’s longest champagne bar.

    Timestamps:

    00:00:00 - Intro
    00:00:51 - How did Greg get into marketing
    00:10:02 - Greg’s time at Eurostar
    00:17:47 - The longest champage bar in the world
    00:22:43 - Becoming the CMO of the London 2012 Olympics
    00:29:49 - How the team was pivotal for putting on the Olympics
    00:34:13 - The importance of the legacy of London 2012
    00:37:53 - Why the Paralympics became so prevalent in 2012
    00:45:38 - What happened after London 2012
    00:50:37 - From Olympics to Rising Pheonix
    01:01:05 - How to execute on big ideas - Magic and Logic
    01:16:35 - The power of persistence
    01:23:24 - Telling powerful stories about those with disability

  • I often get asked why are there not more marketers on boards of companies? It turns out that only around 2.6% of board positions are filled by marketers, so I'm joined in this episode by somebody who really knows what it's like to be a marketer on a board, Chris Burggraeve. Previously he was the Global CMO of AB InBev, he's since been on many boards and has even written a book explaining the playbook for being a successful CMO on board.

    Timestamps

    00:00 - Intro
    01:00 - Chris’ marketing background
    01:43 - What makes a great CMO
    05:08 - Making the case for marketing in the boardroom
    09:48 - How many CMO's have a seat at the table
    14:36 - Why every board should have a marketer
    24:06 - Is there a language problem for marketers in the boardroom?
    30:03 - Stakeholder outreach
    37:00 - What makes a successful board member
    40:00 - Skills that CMO’s need to retain a board seat
    46:26 - How to find board seats to get on
    49:44 - Chris transistion from large to small companies

  • Ellie Norman has been at the top end of some of the biggest organisations in the world, having held senior marketing roles at Formula 1 and Virgin Media. Most recently, Ellie has been the Chief Communications Officer of Manchester United, one of the most high-pressure jobs in the world. In this episode I talk to Ellie about what it takes to drive success at the very top of your game.

    Timestamps

    00:00 - Intro00:48 - Celebrating Southampton FC03:12 - Ellie’s marketing background07:29 - Virgin Media campaign with Usain Bolt12:09 - Why Ellie moved to Formula 115:12 - How Formula 1 owns the brand17:51 - The Drive to Survive partnership with Netflix25:59 - Moving to work for Manchester United29:51 - Goals for the CMO of Manchester United31:23 - When do people choose the club they support32:59 - What role does social media play for Manchester United35:01 - Dealing with scrutiny as a huge brand37:10 - How Manchester United work with huge sponsor deals41:39 - How do you do a great brand partnership47:59 - Ellie’s one peice of advice for marketers
  • In this episode I speak with Tom Fishburne, better known as the Marketoonist. Tom likes to poke fun at our industry through his entertaining cartoons saying what we're all thinking. We recently had him join as as our cartoonist in residence at Cannes Lions, where he shared his experience through a cartoon each day. We also discuss some of Tom's greatest cartoons and why humour is good for business.

    Timestamps

    00:00 - Start01:16 - How Tom Fishburne became a cartoonist05:00 - Why is humour so important in the workplace06:29 - Going full time as the Marketoonist12:42 - Humour in the creative process19:21 - Outdoor ads22:30 - Discussing some of the Marketoonist’s greatest hits23:17 - IoT cartoon26:59 - Customer funnel cartoon33:05 - Shiny new things cartoon34:13 - Covid Cartoon36:32 - AI cartoon39:44 - The Marketoonist at Cannes42:37 - Day 1 Cannes cartoon45:39 - Day 2 Cannes cartoon49:31 - Day 3 Cannes cartoon53:46 - Day 4 Cannes cartoon54:25 - Day 5 Cannes cartoon57:59 - Jon’s own podcast cartoon