Episodes
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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.
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!
Timestamps -
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? -
Missing episodes?
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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.
Timestamps00:00 - 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 -
Kory Marchisotto is the Chief Marketing Officer of e.l.f Beauty, a beauty company that surpassed over $1b in annual sales. They're digital first brand builders, taking the internet by storm and connecting closely with their customers. In this episode we talk about why Kory invests heavily in their brand, how every employee is a shareholder and why they collaborated with Liquid Death.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:15 - Kory’s background
06:11 - Founding story of e.l.f
08:39 - How do e.l.f make their products so affordable
11:30 - Why e.l.f are investing in brand building
15:15 - Staying close to your consumer
19:44 - Bringing customer insight into the business
21:23 - Staying agile as a large business
23:43 - Where have e.l.f invested marketing spend
27:28 - The e.l.f customer demographic
30:57 - e.l.f’ x Liquid Death collaboration
33:24 - e.l.f x Chipotle
37:01 - The e.l.f culture and why it’s important
41:00 - Kory’s advice to younger marketers
44:08 - Why Kory shares her learnings so much on LinkedIn -
We're again talking about one of my favourite topics; challenger brands. In this episode we've got one of the most successful challenger brands in the world, Gymshark. They're one of the original influencer and social media creative brands, growing to be Britain's fastest growing Unicorn. I'm joined by their Chief Brand Officer, Noel Mack, to give me the inside scoop on exactly how they did it.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
02:29 - Gymshark Origins
04:49 - How Noel Mack bet Ben Francis
07:59 - What is a Chief Brand Officer?
09:28 - How Gymshark do influencer marketing differently
15:17 - Growing the Gymshark community
20:38 - The benefits of being a newcomer
22:59 - Working at a founder-led company
25:36 - When Ben Francis met the Prime Minister
29:09 - The challenges of scaling up fast
37:21 - Launching the Gymshark flagship store in London
43:22 - What’s it like working with Ben Francis?
46:46 - Career advice from Noel Mack -
Listeners of have shown me time and again that you want more B2B content, so in this episode I'm joined again by the Les and Peter of B2B, Jon Lombardo and Peter Weinberg (previously of the LinkedIn B2B Institute). We discuss why B2B marketing departments need to put their focus on building brands rather than talking about product features, why distinctive assets continue to be an essential part of any brand, and we find out what the B2B boys will be doing now they've left LinkedIn.
Find out more about Jon & Peter's new company here:
https://www.evidenza.ai/Timestamps
00:00 - Start
00:49 - The Les and Peter of B2B
02:34 - The biggest B2B revelations
03:52 - Is B2B really different to B2C?
06:28 - Determining buying cycles
08:25 - The brand building opportunity in B2B
20:05 - Why B2B companies need to create fluent devices
30:48 - Why Jon and Peter left LinkedIn to start a new company
33:37 - What does Evidenza do
38:19 - Why AI-powered market research is going to be revolutionary -
Every year, the advertising industry descend upon the south of France to meet up in Cannes over a glass of rosé to celebrate the power of creativity. So I thought it was about time that I caught up with the CEO of Lions, Simon Cook, to discuss why creativity matters.
The conversation ranges from how can you make the case for creativity in business while budgets are strained, to what you can expect this year from Cannes Lions.
Timestamps
00:00 - Start01:37 - Origins of Cannes Lions03:38 - The scale of Cannes Lions05:19 - Creative marketer of the year07:16 - State of the Nation research09:30 - Friction between agencies and clients12:47 - Jon’s two Cannes Lions with Lucozade15:15 - The return of humour at Cannes17:46 - Trends and themes for Cannes Lions 202418:39 - Will we see an AI category at Cannes?20:01 - Big names at Cannes Lions 202421:14 - Cannes for creative effectiveness, or just celebrating the craft?23:56 - Cannes embracing creators25:27 - Jon’s pitch for a low budget category27:57 - Advice on how to win a Lion30:20 - How Simon Cook got the CEO job at Cannes Lions32:40 - Challenges Simon has faced as CEO35:09 - Dealing with criticism of Cannes Lions37:02 - The Cannes Lions legacy38:06 - Simon’s proudest moment -
In this episode, we talk about one of my all time favourite brands, Cadbury. They're also one of the best performers on the System1 database, consistently creating five star work. To find out more about the work I'm joined by David Boscawen from VCCP, also known as Bosco, and Gui Ferreira who's recently joined Cadbury, bringing an outside perspective on what it means to take over an iconic brand with 200 years of heritage.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro00:46 Gui's background03:27 David's background04:20 How VCCP and Cadbury started working together in 201714:24 David and Gui's favourite Cadbury ads21:08 Compound creativity and consistency31:30 Key to a successful client agency relationship39:55 How to write a good brief47:03 Cadbury business results49:41 Future of the Cadbury brand -
In this episode, we're talking about a very, very serious topic. Humour. It turns out humour is not just funny, but it's good for business. In fact, humour in advertising is one of the most effective things you can do to make people remember you and buy your products.
I'm catching up with someone who knows all about humour. Trevor Robinson was the creative behind some of the most iconic and funniest ads of all time, including Tango from the 1990s. And I caught up with Trevor to find out more about what makes advertising funny, how do you do it, and what are the funniest ads of all time.
Timestamps
00:00 - Start00:48 - How Trevor got into advertising03:50 - Landing the Britvic client05:49 - The Tango Ad11:11 - Haribo kids ad20:00 - You need to entertain for commercial gain28:11 - The importance of talent29:30 - How to direct a great ad38:23 - Have we lost humour in the past few years?41:48 - The funniest ads of all time -
Monzo Bank has fast become Britain's favourite bank, offering a customer focused online banking approach that consumers were craving. When Monzo started in 2015 they managed to challenge the incumbent banks with their distinctive "hot coral" card and referral scheme. 9 years later they are an established brand in the category and AJ Coyne has been tasked with creating emotional advertising to help continue to grow their market share.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro00:44 - AJ’s marketing background02:49 - What can clients learn from agencies07:40 - AJ’s time at Klarna09:48 - Taking the CMO job at Monzo10:49 - The emotion of money14:02 - Focusing on a world class customer experience23:07 - Positioning Monzo as a bank in a sea of neo banks24:09 - Monzo’s new brand campaign27:22 - Embedding Monzo in culture29:15 - Advice for being a young CMO33:05 - How to deal with things going wrong36:33 - Fostering creativity in an organisation37:55 - How AJ is creating the Monzo culture38:45 - AJ’s parting advice -
Colleen DeCourcy is the Chief Creative Officer at Snap, having previously spent over a decade at Wieden+Kennedy as co-president and Chief Creative Officer, working on some of the largest brand accounts in the world. In this episode we talk about Colleen's time at W+K, some of her favourite quotes from Dan Wieden and how she's now tackling brand at Snapchat.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
01:22 - Colleen DeCourcy background
03:30 - Winning creative leader of the decade
06:30 - Colleen’s tenure at Wieden+Kennedy
13:50 - The TIME Interview
18:39 - From retirement to joining Snapchat
21:56 - The challenges of Snapchat
26:49 - Creating happiness in social media
30:02 - The 3D Chess of Being CCO and CMO at Snapchat
36:12 - What’s it like working for Evan Spiegel
39:07 - Advice to young marketers from Colleen DeCourcy -
Scott Galloway is Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business and host of the Prof G and Pivot podcasts. In this episode Prof G lives up to the billing as the most uncensored guest on the podcast ever. We cover lots of ground, including his secret to success with Prof G media, what the #1 skill for all marketers should be, why brand is dead and how to build wealth. We recorded this episode as Scott releases his new book The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula For Success, buy on Amazon UK, or US.
Links
Jon's LinkedInJon's TwitterWatch the Uncensored CMO on YouTubeTimestamps
00:00:00 - Intro00:00:57 - 25 year overnight success00:01:28 - Scott’s biggest failures00:07:38 - How Scott scaled himself00:13:24 - Daniel Kahneman’s impact on Scott00:20:26 - How social media has a negative impact on the world00:28:45 - Scott Galloway on being late00:31:14 - The most important skill for a marketer00:33:32 - The Era of Brand is Dead00:40:19 - Scott’s new book opening Aurelius quote00:42:53 - The power of compound interest00:43:53 - Scott’s advice to young people00:48:33 - Growing your network grows wealth00:56:33 - What does the agency of the future look like?01:03:33 - How to get social media right01:04:50 - Why big firms should stop certification based hiring - Show more
