Episodit
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In collaboration with TikTok, System1 have launched a new research paper called "The Long and the Short Form of It", explaining how brands can navigate and excel in this of this new world of short form content. In this episode I catch up with TikTok's Head of Business Marketing and Partnerships to discuss the research and help brands succeed on the platform.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
02:05 - Sofia’s marketing career
04:04 - Why B2B marketing needs to be more human
05:36 - TikTok’s marketing journey over the past 5 years
06:48 - How brands can use TikTok
10:47 - How brands can work with creators on TikTok
14:20 - How to make a TikTok that captures attention
18:18 - The TikTok economy
21:18 - Why authenticity pays off on TikTok
22:57 - How people can get started creating on TikTok
25:30 - Is TikTok just for teenagers?
26:51 - TikTok as an entertainment platform, not as a social media platform
27:54 - Romancing the creative vs proving the value
32:00 - Sofia’s leadership lessons -
After 20 unhappy years as a headhunter, it took a near death experience for Sherilyn Shackell to launch The Marketing Academy, a non-profit organisation developing leadership talent in marketing. Launched in 2010, The Marketing Academy now helps marketers become CMOs and CMOs become CEOs. This episode, we focus on exactly how CMOs can get a seat at the table in the boardroom and all the traits they need to do this successfully.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
00:53 - How a near death experience led to the creation of The Marketing Academy
08:29 - Does trauma help founders?
11:27 - What is The Marketing Academy?
15:05 - How The Marketing Academy Fellowship helps CMOs become CEOs
20:08 - Why there needs to be CMOs on boards
27:03 - What CMOs can do to get on boards
35:36 - Why CMOs need to build their own profiles
39:23 - Why CMOs need to invest in relationships
44:16 - Why having a personal brand is a talent magnet
45:48 - The biggest fears and anxieties of CMOs
54:34 - What marketers can learn from the best CMOs in the world? -
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In a bonus live episode from Cannes, Professor Scott Galloway joins renowned CMO Kory Marchisotto (e.l.f. Beauty) and advertising legend Rory Sutherland to discuss three big topics: Is brand dead? Are we too risk-averse? And what is the future of the CMO?
Timestamps
00:00 - Start
00:26 - Is the era of brand dead?
13:54 - Do we need to make better advertising?
20:11 - How CMOs can approach risk
31:09 - The demise of the CMO -
Ben Branson is the founder of Seedlip, a non-alcoholic spirit brand he started in 2015, and sold 3 years later to Diageo. Jon speaks to Ben about the origins of the brand, how the grew so fast, what makes Ben such an impressive marketer (despite him not liking marketing) and how a brand goes from 0 to exit in such a short space of time. We also talk about Ben's new brands and his Hidden 20% charity.
Timestamps
00:00:00 - SIntro
00:01:01 - Where did the idea for Seedlip come from?
00:14:14 - Charging a high price
00:18:47 - How to push through the hard times
00:21:10 - What led to such large growth in the early days of Seedlip
00:24:29 - Planning for success vs making it up as you go
00:27:44 - The power of intelligent naivety
00:29:30 - Creativity within budget constraints
00:31:05 - From innovator to scale up
00:38:05 - Why did Ben Branson and Seedlip sell to Diageo?
00:40:26 - What Ben doesn’t like about marketing
00:41:25 - Why Ben is a masterful marketer
00:48:51 - The Hidden 20%: Ben’s autism story and charity
01:00:35 - Why Ben wants to close his charity, The Hidden 20%? -
The B2B boys Jon Lombardo and Peter Weinberg return to the podcast for a third time, this time wearing their new distinctive assets. They go hard on Professor Scott Galloway, disagreeing with his "brand is dead" statement, suggesting that not only is brand not dead, it's alive, thriving and you need it for your brand to survive. They also give us an update on their synthetic research company, Evidenza, and what the future of brands look like in the age of AI.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
02:07 - How is Evidenza going?
03:36 - Why Evidenza have embraced distinctive assets
08:29 - Why Jon and Peter disagree with Scott Galloway on brand
17:20 - The future of brand in the age of AI
21:21 - The 95:5 rule reinvented
27:48 - Why brand efforts compound
30:00 - Why brand matters more in B2B than B2C
38:49 - The Evidenza jingle
41:03 - What marketing questions can now be answered with AI
55:17 - What is the future of AI for research -
I speak to Airbnb's CMO, Hiroki Asai, fresh off their 2025 Summer Release, where they announced their brand new "Services" and "Experiences" addition to the platform. This now positions Airbnb as the perfect alternative to a hotel when travelling. Hiroki touches on how they have launched this massive new innovation, why they do all their creative work in-house and rounds off with some poignant advice to marketers.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro01:42 - Joining Airbnb at the start of COVID02:44 - Why Airbnb turned off performance marketing but invested in brand04:01 - Airbnb’s origin story as told by their CMO, Hiroki Asai06:31 - The importance of design for Airbnb07:37 - Why all branding and advertising is done in house17:36 - How the new launch helps Airbnb hosts18:33 - What went into such a big launch20:36 - Some of the notable Airbnb experiences21:28 - The big redesign of the Airbnb app23:59 - How Hiroki leads the marketing organisation27:29 - How to launch a big product update29:37 - Revamping the Airbnb host experience31:45 - Hiroki’s advice for aspiring CMOs -
Since Elon Musk acquired X (formerly Twitter) in 2022, the platform has undergone dramatic changes; slashing headcount, losing major advertisers, and redefining its identity. Now, under CEO Linda Yaccarino and marketing lead Angela Zepeda (formerly of Hyundai), X is staging a comeback. Angela joins Jon to discuss her leap from automotive to tech, rebuilding advertiser trust, and the bold vision of turning X into “the everything app.”
They cover the platform's role in breaking news, championing free speech, and why brands are flocking back.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
00:39 - From Hyundai to X: Angela’s leap
03:46 - Leading marketing when everyone has an opinion
05:56 - Free speech and platform identity
07:45 - Why news breaks on X
13:11 - X as a place to think differently
15:58 - The rise of sports on X
19:35 - Helping brands join the conversation
26:16 - Winning back advertisers
34:25 - What advertisers gain from returning
36:06 - How X markets itself
39:58 - The “everything app” vision
42:54 - Integrating Grok AI
47:20 - How advertisers can win on X -
Rankin Carroll is the Chief Brand Officer at Mars, having joined the company in 2002. Mars is responsible for some of the most well-known advertising in the world, for brands including M&M’s, Twix, Snickers, Skittles, and more. Jon speaks to Rankin about long-term brand building vs. performance marketing, how to get the most out of agencies, and what it takes to build a portfolio of incredible brands.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
00:52 - Rankin’s career journey
05:49 - How the Chief Brand Officer role works at Mars
07:37 - Marketing mix spend at Mars – can you implement a fully earned strategy?
13:27 - Brand building vs. performance marketing
15:13 - How Mars stays so consistent with their marketing
19:06 - The power of consistency and longevity at Mars
24:55 - How agencies can get the most out of their clients
32:09 - How Twix became a $1 billion brand
38:41 - Own Goal Snickers AI campaign explained
40:43 - The dominance of M&M’s advertising in the System1 database
44:40 - The power of the M&M’s characters
48:04 - Rankin’s advice to young marketers -
Nicole Parlapiano is the CMO of Tubi, an ad-supported streaming platform taking on the subscription giants. Nicole has previously had her own dating startup acquired by Match Group, before working in private equity, famously being Head of Marketing at WeWork during their crash and most recently VP Marketing for Tinder. Nicole is one of the most entrepreneurial CMOs on the planet, bringing a unique lens to brand building, embracing chaos and driving the business forward with marketing.
Timestamps
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:06 - What makes an entrepreneurial CMO?
00:06:04 - Why Nicole embraces chaos / her career journey
00:11:34 - Nicole’s experience at WeWork
00:15:49 - Dealing with a leaked WeWork email
00:19:16 - Leaving WeWork for Tinder after the crash / how to successfully join a company as CMO
00:24:57 - Marketing’s role in private equity businesses
00:33:43 - Working with Mischief and what would you do if you weren’t afraid?
00:36:20 - Why Nicole joined Tubi (and the streaming wars)
00:38:04 - Working with Mischief to create a brave Super Bowl campaign
00:44:28 - The
00:47:53 - How Tubi markets to their advertisers
00:52:19 - The “Stubios” innovation for fan led content
00:58:33 - Getting creative ideas seen in a corporate environment
01:01:31 - How marketing can help grow the organisation
01:04:03 - Nicole’s advice to aspiring CMOs
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Colin Fleming is a returning guest, and the CMO of ServiceNow, a B2B company ripping up the B2B marketing playbook. It’s not the first time Colin has done this, having previously spent 13 years at Salesforce turning them into a brand to be reckoned with. In this episode I talk to Colin about their new brand campaign with Idris Elba, what the future of marketing with AI looks like and the biggest lessons a CMO can take from a former F1 racing driver.
00:00 - Intro
01:36 - What is ServiceNow?
03:03 - How well is the marketing role understood at ServiceNow
04:26 - How to position marketing for leadership
05:38 - How are B2B buying decisions made
07:49 - Dealing with losing 50% lead volume
10:22 - How Colin is building the ServiceNow brand?
12:00 - ServiceNow’s use of distinctive assets
14:21 - ServiceNow’s ads with Idris Elba
17:07 - Understanding Agentic AI
19:47 - AI agents use cases
20:37 - Why we shouldn’t fear AI
23:10 - The risks of AI agents
24:12 - How to make AI agents work together
26:04 - What skills will CMOs need to win in the next 5-10 years?
27:20 - 5 things B2B marketers are wrong about
29:10 - How ServiceNow are using personalisation at scale
31:53 - Why the data is so important for AI
34:13 - How Colin went from F1 to CMO
35:04 - Lessons from being a racing driver to marketing
36:06 - ServiceNow’s partnership with Aston Martin
37:43 - Most surprising lesson for Colin since he left Salesforce -
In a world first, Scott Galloway and Rory Sutherland go head to head to talk about some of the biggest topics in marketing. They lock horns on Scott's controversial statement "the era of brand is dead" and why most successful companies don't advertise. You'll also hear the two disagreeing on the Jaguar rebrand, at which point Scott may or may not have called Rory sexy...
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
02:15 - Be in an industry you get better at as you get older
05:41 - Does wealth redistribution need to change?
16:22 - Why the most successful companies don’t advertise
22:49 - The era of brand is over
30:39 - Scott’s fear for young men
35:52 - Scott and Rory discuss dating
40:56 - Was the Jaguar rebrand stupid? -
Today, I’m joined by James Kuczynski, Creative Director at Duolingo, and Dan Salkey, Founding Partner at Small World, for a conversation on how to build truly entertaining brands.
Fresh off their SXSW panel titled "Entertain or Die", named after a report by Small World, we explore how Duolingo has built such a standout brand, particularly through the rise (and death...) of their iconic mascot, Duo.
In the first half of the episode, I chat with James about Duolingo’s brand success, why they decided to "kill off" their beloved mascot, and how giving creative autonomy to their team has been key to their growth. In the second half, I speak with Dan about the most entertaining brands in the world today—and the specific traits you can apply to make your own brand more entertaining.
Download the Entertain or Die report here.
Timestamps
00:00 - Start
00:47 - Part 1: James Kuczynski from Duolingo
01:22 - James’ background in marketing
03:23 - How James joined Duolingo
04:18 - What is Duolingo
06:34 - How Duolingo has used gamification to help people learn languages
09:47 - How is AI enhancing Duolingo?
11:20 - Is AI a threat to Duolingo?
12:13 - Why Duolingo created “Duo”, their mascot
15:47 - How the Duolingo owl evolved
17:56 - Duolingo’s April fools plans
20:00 - Why Duolingo killed off their mascot
23:57 - The results of Duo killing their mascot
25:08 - How partnerships have played a role in the success of Duolingo
28:02 - How Duo is bigger than A-list celebrities
29:26 - How Duolingo built such a huge social media following
32:08 - The importance of being in-house for growing Duolingo
33:17 - How Duolingo hires social media talent
34:34 - The thing that makes Duolingo stand out
36:32 - Part 2: Dan Salkey from Small World
37:15 - Why Small World created the Entertain or Die report
38:57 - How they identified the most entertaining brands on the planet
39:30 - What brands are the most entertaining?
40:41 - Why the most boring categories have most space to innovate
42:35 - The entertainment gap
44:07 - How can brands be more entertaining?
49:54 - Final advice on how brands can be more entertaining -
In this episode, we deep dive into the irrational world of customer behaviour with legendary behavioural economist Dan Ariely. Dan reveals why we’re all predictably wrong, how tiny invisible cues can radically change price perception, and why effort makes things feel more valuable. We also unpack the real reason people fall for misinformation, how to rebuild trust in broken industries like insurance, and why letting customers choose their own price might just be your smartest move. If you want to understand what truly drives decisions — and how to use that insight to become a better marketer — this one’s unmissable.
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:50 - The story of Dan Ariely’s half beard
00:07:53 - Dan’s painful introduction into behavioural science
00:11:46 - Reaction to Jon’s house tragedy
00:15:11 - The hidden truths revealed by social science
00:21:43 - Invisible vs visible motivation
00:29:20 - How Dan would change insurance companies
00:33:30 - Lemonade insurance example
00:35:39 - Why the human brain is a vintage Swiss Army knife
00:38:08 - How context radically changes price perception (the relativity effect)
00:45:01 - Why you should let your customer choose their own price
00:47:11 - Why economists donate the least to charities
00:49:58 - Why effort greatly increases your price perception
01:00:06 - The real cause of misinformation and why it isn’t what you might think
01:12:18 - What will be Dan Ariely’s new book?
01:13:38 - Why we are so afraid of mistakes -
Rory Sutherland returns to the Uncensored CMO podcast, tackling the economic crisis with his signature wit and wisdom. As ever, he offers a refreshingly unconventional perspective on the world’s biggest problems — and marketing’s role in solving them.
In this episode, Rory explores why marketing is more like a casino than a science, how to capitalise on your competitors’ blind spots, and what his unexpected TikTok fame has taught him. Expect laughs, left-field insights, and the kind of brilliantly bizarre anecdotes only Rory can deliver.
Timestamps00:00 - Intro
01:03 - Are we looking in the wrong place for growth?
05:33 - Should we slow down our adoption of AI?
09:08 - What marketers and the police have in common
14:40 - Marketing is a casino
17:42 - The most transformative behavioural science insights
19:47 - Take what your competition are doing badly and double down on it
26:20 - Fame is a luck multiplier
32:43 - Why AO add bears to every order
37:19 - How Rory would boost growth in the economy?
47:13 - What has Rory been profoundly wrong about and why -
Scott Galloway (Prof G) has returned to the Uncensored CMO podcast for a second time, in a special live episode. Galloway is Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business and host of the Prof G and Pivot podcasts. He joins Jon in a special live episode in London and lives up to his billing as the most uncensored guest of all time. Scott takes big swings at the advertising industry throughout the episode - despite the audience of CMOs - claiming that the days of the CMO are numbered. He continues with his damning commentary on why the era of brand is dead, why rage is the new sex, why young men are in trouble and what marketers need to do in the age of AI.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
02:15 - How does Scott deal with the online negativity?
09:00 - Why the CEO saviours of social media won’t be turning up
16:13 - Scott’s thoughts on the Adolescence Netflix show
23:51 - Why marketers need to do the hard things
27:56 - How does Prof G assess a business opportunity
33:36 - What corporate employees can learn from entrepreneurship
40:22 - Why the CMOs days are numbered
47:33 - How should marketers approach AI
56:06 - What things has Prof G been profoundly wrong aboutThank you to System1 for making the live event possible.
Credits
Host: Jon Evans
Executive Producer: James McKinven
Director: Kerry Collinge
Event management: Lara Zwirn, Gen Norris
Social media: Sam Price
Event graphics: Colin Jenkinson
Production: Kinura -
Live from Adobe Summit in Las Vegas, in this bonus triple header, Jon speaks with Colin Fleming (ServiceNow), Stacy Martinet (Adobe) and Billy Seabrook (IBM) about the hot topic in marketing today, AI, and what a new wave of agentic AI technology means for marketers.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
00:51 - Part 1: Colin Fleming
01:51 - The things people don’t understand about B2B marketing
03:32 - How AI is having an impact on marketing
05:29 - ServiceNow’s relationship with Adobe
06:21 - Advice to marketers to stay on cutting edge of AI
08:47 - Part 2: Billy Seabrook IBM
09:17 - Where are we on this AI journey
11:31 - Principles of an effective campaign using AI
13:02 - How effective has AI been for IBM
18:16 - What’s next when AI at scale becomes the norm?
21:08 - AI: a threat or an opportunity?
22:06 - Part 3: Stacy Martinet
22:33 - Stacy’s role at Adobe
23:18 - What makes great marketing for marketers?
24:12 - Communicating all the changes in marketing (specifically with AI)
25:15 - What is Agentic AI and what are it’s use cases?
28:27 - How technology is used to enhance creativity
30:31 - Tips on how to utilize agentic AI
31:43 - How to future proof our marketing
32:48 - What goes into creating an event like Adobe Summit
00:00 - Intro
00:51 - Part 1: Colin Fleming
01:51 - The things people don’t understand about B2B marketing
03:32 - How AI is having an impact on marketing
05:29 - ServiceNow’s relationship with Adobe
06:21 - Advice to marketers to stay on cutting edge of AI
08:47 - Part 2: Billy Seabrook IBM
09:17 - Where are we on this AI journey
11:31 - Principles of an effective campaign using AI
13:02 - How effective has AI been for IBM
18:16 - What’s next when AI at scale becomes the norm?
21:08 - AI: a threat or an opportunity?
22:06 - Part 3: Stacy Martinet
22:33 - Stacy’s role at Adobe
23:18 - What makes great marketing for marketers?
24:12 - Communicating all the changes in marketing (specifically with AI)
25:15 - What is Agentic AI and what are it’s use cases?
28:27 - How technology is used to enhance creativity
30:31 - Tips on how to utilize agentic AI
31:43 - How to future proof our marketing
32:48 - What goes into creating an event like Adobe Summit -
Seth Matlins is the Managing Director of the Forbes Forbes CMO Network, where he oversees the annual Forbes World's Most Influential CMOs List, the Forbes Entrepreneurial CMO 50 List, the Forbes CMO Summit, the Forbes European CMO Summit, and an expanding marketing content portfolio. Seth is an award-winning marketer, who has spent a career in and advising the C-suite of dozens of the 100 most valuable brands globally.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
00:45 - Seth’s new podcast
02:58 - Why are there not enough CMOs becoming CEOs
05:28 - Marketing needs much better marketing
07:36 - Seth’s career history
08:00 - Working jobs that have never existed before
11:41 - Scars from being a failed entrepreneur
13:24 - Making unexpected connections between fields
18:23 - Why organisations need to trust their marketers
20:26 - What makes a CMO influential
26:29 - Everyone is a brand manager
28:35 - How CMOs can be more influential
35:13 - The world’s most entrepreneurial CMOs
41:12 - What makes a CMO entrepreneurial
46:22 - Doing a lot with little
47:02 - What is changing for CMOs in 2025 -
Today Jon talks with Eugenia Zalis, CMO for one of the most iconic sweet brands in the world, Oreo. We talk about their "stay playful" positioning, incredible brand collaborations (with the likes of Coca-Cola and Post Malone) and some of the interesting innovations the brand has worked on.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
00:46 - Eugenia’s marketing journey
01:33 - What can we learn from the Unilever approach to marketing?
02:27 - How Dove turned into the brand it is today
05:42 - How Eugenia started with Oreo
06:33 - The “stay playful” positioning
09:49 - The best way to eat an Oreo cookie
11:08 - Managing a 110 year old brand
12:14 - The Oreo playbook for marketing in different regions
15:18 - Oreo’s collab with Coca-Cola
18:49 - Oreo’s approach to innovation
21:14 - System1 testing on Oreo innovations
23:40 - Innovations from around the world
25:23 - The surprising Coca-Cola collaboration
25:52 - Oreo’s SuperBowl ad in 2024
28:34 - Winning a Cannes Lion for a tweet
30:34 - Why is humour not used more
35:37 - Oreo x Post Malone collab
38:07 - Creative process for collabs
39:02 - How to lead a $4.5b organisation
43:57 - Advice to aspiring CMOs -
Cadillac is an iconic American brand who are navigating the shift to electrification in the automotive industry and have partnered up with 72andSunny to launch their brand new campaign “Let’s Take the Cadillac. So today, Melissa Grady Dias, CMO of Cadillac, and Marianne Malina, President of 72andSunny join Jon to talk about working with a new agency and launching their first campaign together.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
03:53 - Marianne’s background
06:49 - How to manage a brand like Cadillac
08:34 - How EV’s are changing the industry
13:53 - How do you change your marketing for EVs
15:08 - Insights and inception of “Let’s Take the Cadillac”
17:56 - Developing the “Let’s Take the Cadillac” campaign
21:41 - How to launch a new car
23:39 - Building the campaign for different formats
25:42 - 72andSunny and Cadillac’s first campaign together
28:11 - Challenging the conformity in car advertising
30:48 - Why brand is so important for car purchasing
32:31 - Leading the marketing agenda inside a big org like General Motors
34:24 - In car Cadillac Car-aoke
35:22 - Melissa’s song
36:13 - Coolest feature about Escalade IQ
38:37 - Creating a luxury experience
39:27 - Choosing your car as CMO of Cadillac
40:57 - Creating a premium vehicle
42:53 - Thoughts on the Escalade IQ -
Rob Mayhew joins Jon for bonus episode, talking about his big move to New York City, becoming a full-time content creator and how brands can work with creators like him effectively.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
01:39 - Why Rob moved to NYC
04:20 - Rob’s new YouTube show
05:47 - London vs New York for marketers
08:00 - Rob’s approach to content in 2025
11:00 - Rob’s view on the future of the social platforms
14:17 - How System1’s ad testing works
17:27 - Rob’s funniest posts on LinkedIn
18:46 - Rob’s process for making content
20:16 - Any trends that are different in the US than UK
21:43 - Thoughts on the creator economy
23:09 - The Poppi vending machine backlash
24:22 - How does Rob plan his content?
25:18 - Different audiences for TikTok and LinkedIn
25:38 - Rory Sutherland’s TikTok
26:48 - Power of B2B content creation - Näytä enemmän
