In this episode, we’re joined by Rachel Massey, Director of Marketing at Huthwaite International. She talks us through one of the most stressful moments of her career and what it was like to deal with it in real time.

We dig into a cringe-worthy marketing mistake involving a high-profile exhibition stand with "sofware" misspelled across the entire structure, leading to three days of anxiety while hiding the error from company executives and thousands of visitors.

• Six-figure exhibition stand at Excel London featured a prominent spelling mistake that went unnoticed by everyone except a competitor
 • Decision to avoid drawing attention to the typo rather than attempting a last-minute correction
 • Psychological impact of spending three full days at an exhibition expecting to be called out at any moment
 • Revelation that many people don't notice spelling errors in familiar words because our brains fill in what we expect to see
 • Additional stories of marketing mishaps including press release errors and mass mailings with embarrassing typos
 • The universal experience of having to sometimes employ the "ostrich approach" when mistakes can't be fixed

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She went globally viral. Overnight, she faced death threats, abuse and media frenzy reaching across continents. This is the story of how PRCA CEO Sarah Waddington rebuilt, refocused and reshaped the PR industry in the middle of chaos.

In this episode of Embracing Marketing Mistakes, Sarah Waddington CBE breaks down the viral moment that changed her life, the hidden pressures of PR leadership and the uncomfortable truths about misinformation, trolls and industry standards.

We cover her journey into strategic advisory, the fight against fake experts, the realities of agency life in a tough economy and the role PR must play in repairing a fractured society.

Whether you’re a PR leader, agency founder or senior marketer, this is essential listening.

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Katie Tucker is a marketing strategist who helps teams truly understand their customers so they can build products that sell. She works with companies of all sizes, offering practical support, training, and discovery sprints that cut through the noise and get results.

But even she’s made the kind of mistake she warns others about. Despite her expertise in customer discovery, she once created a family travel course without doing proper market research, assuming her personal experience and enthusiasm would be enough. It wasn’t. The course never launched, and COVID-19 ended up saving her from what would have been a costly flop. It was a sharp reminder that even seasoned pros can forget the basics when emotion gets in the way of evidence.

• Built a social media following while on a family gap year travel adventure
• Created a comprehensive course teaching others how to travel with children
• Secured prominent media coverage in The Times with a link to the course
• Made the classic mistake of only getting feedback from friends and family
• Felt immense pressure for the venture to succeed after quitting a regular job
• COVID-19 halted all travel plans, inadvertently preventing a potential business failure
• Learned that professional expertise doesn't make you immune to marketing blind spots

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Chris Norton and Will Ockenden of Prohibition PR unpack what modern media interviews really feel like for leaders today. They move past the old PR textbook and talk frankly about hot mic blunders, off‑record comments that never stayed off the record and the way journalists now hunt for viral moments. Their stories make the risks feel real, but the tone stays grounded rather than dramatic.

Let them take you through a practical approach to landing messages with confidence in a digital‑first environment. Chris and Will explain how to prepare properly, handle awkward questions and speak with the kind of clarity that holds up on camera. The advice is direct, usable and built for anyone who represents a brand when the stakes are high and the margin for error is tiny.

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Rich Mullholland, Founder of Missing Link and a presentation company leader, shares how his eloquence led to convincing himself of incorrect strategies that nearly cost him their business after the pandemic. 

His decision to permanently close their unique office space following initial online success eliminated their word-of-mouth marketing engine and created significant challenges.

• Being skilled at persuasion can lead to convincing yourself of incorrect ideas
• During lockdown, the presentation company initially went to zero revenue
• By August, they achieved their best month in 18 months with no live events
• September became their best month in 24 years as presenters needed online training
• They permanently closed their unique office with distinctive features
• The office closure unknowingly destroyed their word-of-mouth marketing engine
• Staff became distributed across multiple locations, making office reopening difficult
• By the time they realised the mistake, they lacked the resources to create a new remarkable space
• The experience taught them about the importance of recognising when a pivot is just a "swinging door"

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A brilliant strategy doesn’t fail because it’s wrong. It fails because people don’t own it and leaders won’t focus. That’s the energising premise of our conversation with Faris Aranki, founder of Shear Ghetto Consulting and former McKinsey advisor, who breaks down why IQ without EQ and FQ leaves great plans to die at sign‑off.

We unpack Faris’s simple but powerful multiplier: IQ × EQ × FQ. IQ is the sharp idea. EQ is your ability to read the room, adapt your message, and turn passive stakeholders into active owners. FQ is focused prioritisation that protects momentum when the calendar floods and politics bite. Faris shares the story of opening a C‑suite presentation with jokes, losing credibility in seconds, and the rewiring that followed. From auditing talk‑time to flipping monologues into questions, he shows how to win trust by designing for receive, not broadcast.

The episode gets practical fast. Learn how to personalise the same strategy for a CFO’s numbers lens and a CMO’s vision lens. Steal the “five degrees askew” technique to make leaders touch the plan so they claim it. See how Faris turns 200 pet projects into Pokémon‑style cards and uses gameplay to help boards cut down to the vital few. We explore ethical influence, feedback that lands, and why live conversations beat email chains for unblocking gnarly problems. On focus, we separate disciplined pivots from magpie syndrome and explain how compounding assets outperform constant novelty, especially in brand‑building and marketing.

If you’ve ever watched a good idea stall in the boardroom, this is a field guide to making strategy stick. Subscribe for more candid lessons from the front lines of marketing and leadership, share this episode with a colleague who needs sharper buy‑in, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.

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Melanie Parker, a university recruitment professional, shares a hilarious mishap when student hospitality staff abandoned their posts at a high-profile university event to get drunk behind a skip. Eight students helping themselves to champagne and wine during a Vice-Chancellor's gathering led to a mortifying call from security and a scramble to manage the fallout.

• Worked at Leeds Becker University running a recruitment business placing hospitality students as event staff
• Students were supposed to be catering and waitressing at an important gathering with the Vice-Chancellor
• The student workers played "mind sweeping" (collecting drinks) "at a whole new level"
• Security called to report that eight students were "mortal" (hammered) behind a skip surrounded by empty bottles
• Had to pick each student up and remind them they were representing the university
• Managed to handle the situation without the Vice-Chancellor finding out
• Reflects that while mortifying, it wasn't as bad as it could have been if it had happened with external clients

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What does it take to turn a simple hashtag into a thriving community of 15,000 marketing and comms professionals? In this episode, Chris Norton sits down with Asif Choudry, founder of Comms Hero, to unpack the journey from a one-off event in Manchester to a nationwide movement. They dive into the early days of superhero-themed conferences, the backlash that almost derailed everything, and why treating a community as a long-term commitment, not a short-term campaign, is the secret to success.

Expect candid stories about embracing marketing mistakes, surviving Twitter trolls, and why authenticity matters more than perfection. From handwritten notes that sparked viral moments to the philosophy behind “Dare to Fail,” this conversation is packed with insights for anyone building a brand, running events, or navigating the ever-changing world of social media. If you’ve ever wondered how to create real connections in a digital age, this episode is for you.

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Ken Robertson, Paddy Power’s former Head of Mischief, was given one job: grab attention by any means necessary. Known for outrageous campaigns and a flair for chaos, he built a career out of toeing the line. But one particular stunt, his most ambitious yet, pushed things further than even he expected.

It all began when Ken Robertson staged a marketing stunt at the Vatican. He had Paddy Power set up betting odds at St Peter's Square during the 2007 papal conclave, which earned hourly coverage on Sky News. When Pope Benedict XVI resigned in 2014, he returned to the scene with a new and provocative promotion: “Money Back if the Pope is Black.”

Then came the curveball.

When Dennis Rodman announced a visit to North Korea with the Harlem Globetrotters, Ken saw a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to blend spectacle with scandal. He arranged for Paddy Power to sponsor a basketball match between the United States and North Korea, set to coincide with Kim Jong-un’s 30th birthday.

What followed was a diplomatic headache.

• Kim Jong-un’s regime carried out a brutal government purge just weeks before the event
 • The stunt drew scrutiny from institutional investors and even the United Nations
 • Paddy Power was forced to pull out at the last minute
 • The match went ahead without branding, and surprisingly, may have contributed to the eventual release of American prisoners
 • The campaign drew inspiration from the “ping pong diplomacy” that once thawed tensions between the United States and China

What started as a cheeky Vatican stunt nearly became an international crisis. This is the story of how Ken Robertson's wildest idea flirted with disaster and might have done some unexpected good.

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Ever sunk thousands into SEO with zero return? Or been ghosted after a pitch you poured your soul into? In this episode, LinkedIn Top Voice and sales trainer Niraj Kapur joins Chris Norton to unpack the brutal truths of modern selling. From reducing ghosting and building trust on LinkedIn to coping with rejection and learning from failure, this conversation is packed with practical advice and raw honesty.

Niraj shares his journey from starting in sales with nothing to becoming a TEDx speaker and bestselling author, plus the painful lessons learned along the way. If you want to stand out in an AI-driven world, sell without sounding desperate, and avoid costly mistakes, this episode is your playbook. Tune in for strategies, stories, and a reminder that being human is still the ultimate competitive edge.

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