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Rachel Massey, Director of Marketing at Huthwaite International, is a brilliant B2B marketing manager with deep experience in leading marketing operations and running fully integrated campaigns that actually deliver on business objectives. She’s worked across both large corporations and SMEs in a range of sectors, and always brings a sharp, strategic edge to everything she does. 

Rachel Massey joins the podcast to share candid stories about marketing mishaps, including a spelling error on an exhibition stand that went unnoticed for three days and a creative brand strategy that was too ahead of its time.

• Starting as a salesperson before transitioning to marketing without a marketing degree
• The current state of B2B marketing is becoming bland due to AI overuse and the need for creativity to stand out.
• Using white papers that offer genuine expertise and deep knowledge to establish authority
• Balancing traditional corporate approaches with more authentic, personal brand storytelling 
• The challenge of selling creative ideas to conservative B2B leadership

If you want to connect with Rachel, you can find her on LinkedIn or visit huthwaiteinternational.com.

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Moving fast in business means making quick decisions that can sometimes lead to significant mistakes, as Jack Sutcliffe, CEO of Powersheds, found out when their website was hacked due to an overly simplistic password.

• Rapid decision-making is part of their business approach, which inevitably leads to some wrong choices
• Poor decisions have included selecting the wrong systems and hiring staff who weren't a good fit
• A major security oversight involved using "jack" as the CMS password
• The website hack resulted in thousands of Japanese pages appearing in Google search results
• Even after fixing the security issue, the compromised pages remained in search results for months

Is your marketing strategy ready for 2025? Book a free 15-min discovery call with Chris to get tailored insights to boost your brand’s growth.

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Chris Simmance, Founder of OMG Centre, opens up about the hard leadership lessons learned through emotional reactions to business setbacks and poor financial management in agency life.

• Letting emotional responses to client departures negatively impact team management
• Acknowledging how leadership mistakes create lasting negative impressions that can't be fixed with apologies
• Taking business losses personally while attributing wins to others
• Failing to properly understand financial numbers despite having management accounts
• Experiencing cash flow crises when client departures coincided with new hires
• Not properly provisioning for expenses like VAT bills
• Learning significant lessons that led to starting additional agencies
• Expanding into multiple businesses outside the digital industry through openness to learning

Is your marketing strategy ready for 2025? Book a free 15-min discovery call with Chris to get tailored insights to boost your brand’s growth.

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Josh Lachovic, ex-startup founder turned growth agency founder, shares his journey from digital marketing roots to founding a wine startup that experienced meteoric growth during the pandemic, only to face the harsh reality when lockdown behaviors proved unsustainable.

• Started in SEO and content writing at a PR agency, combining his tech background with writing skills
• Moved to Pact Coffee before their Series A, experiencing the shift from agency to startup life
• Joined health-tech Thriver as first employee and head of growth, growing from 500 to 100,000 customers
• Launched WineList in 2019, initially as a podcast before evolving into a subscription service
• Went full-time on March 1, 2020, with lockdown creating perfect market conditions initially
• Revenue jumped from £3,000 to £50,000 within months, leading to rapid expansion
• Pandemic success created false impression of product-market fit
• As restrictions eased, retention declined dramatically despite various pivot attempts
• Business shut down in September 2021 after funding fell through
• Reflects that he should have recognized warning signs earlier rather than letting money run out

Is your marketing strategy ready for 2025? Book a free 15-min discovery call with Chris to get tailored insights to boost your brand’s growth.

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Welcome to another Campaign Crunch episode where we take a look at trending campaigns, what they did and the results they gained. This podcast (presented by one of our Account Managers, Becca Quinlan) delves into one of the most fascinating PR campaigns of recent times - the introduction of Evie Pig to the Peppa Pig universe.

From pregnancy announcement to birth, the Peppa Pig team crafted a masterclass in integrated marketing that blurred the lines between fiction and reality. Mummy Pig appeared on Good Morning Britain for an "exclusive interview" announcing her pregnancy, graced the cover of Grazia magazine for a maternity photoshoot, and even had Battersea Power Station lit up pink for a spectacular gender reveal party. The birth announcement, strategically staged outside St Mary's Hospital (where royal babies are presented), completed this remarkable campaign that transcended children's entertainment to become a national talking point.

What makes this campaign particularly brilliant is how it reached parents directly through adult media channels, rather than relying on children to carry the message home. By partnering with the National Children's Trust and treating a cartoon character with the same media approach as a celebrity, the team created something genuinely innovative that sparked conversation across demographics - even causing controversy among farmers concerned about the inaccurate portrayal of pig births!

The episode also features a candid discussion of embarrassing professional mistakes, from accidentally copying competitors into confidential emails to unfortunate verbal slips during presentations. Have you made a marketing blunder? We'd love to hear your story - share it with us for a possible mention in a future episode!

Is your marketing strategy ready for 2025? Book a free 15-min discovery call with Chris to get tailored insights to boost your brand’s growth.

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This clip explores career mistakes and what people learn from them. Andrew shares a memorable blunder from his early journalism career when he nearly became part of the printing machinery at the historic launch of the Today newspaper in 1986.

• Sent to cover the launch of the Today newspaper as his first press assignment
• Instructed to get an exclusive interview with Eddie Shah
• Climbed onto the actual printing press thinking it was a good vantage point
• Was saved when Eddie Shah spotted him and warned him before starting the press
• Became the laughing stock of Fleet Street journalists present at the event
• Eddie Shah kindly sought Andrew out afterward, giving him the interview and photo opportunity
• The embarrassing moment actually created a memorable connection
• Demonstrates how career mistakes can sometimes lead to unexpected opportunities

Is your marketing strategy ready for 2025? Book a free 15-min discovery call with Chris to get tailored insights to boost your brand’s growth.

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Guy Utley from Tall Agency shares his journey from recognising his creative talents at school to founding a digital agency working with global brands like Lego and Shark Ninja, focusing on the critical importance of specialisation in marketing.

• The value of using specialists rather than generalists - "I wouldn't use a painter to fix my roof" 
• How Google's algorithm now prioritises human-first content over AI-generated material
• Understanding your customers deeply leads to product innovation, as demonstrated by Shark Ninja's vacuum research
• The infamous "drunken pitch" story and what it taught Guy about authentic presentations
• Why the traditional pitching process is broken and how paid pitches could create better agency-client relationships
• The importance of flexibility in marketing budgets to adapt to rapidly changing digital landscapes
• How imposter syndrome can actually indicate you're pushing yourself in the right direction

If you're looking to digitise your brand or create better digital experiences that convert, reach out to Tall Agency - they're a small team in Leeds working globally to help brands achieve high performance online.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/guyutley/

https://tall.agency/

Is your marketing strategy ready for 2025? Book a free 15-min discovery call with Chris to get tailored insights to boost your brand’s growth.

👉 [Book your call with Chris now] 👈

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Andy Green shares his biggest professional mistake from his time as deputy head of PR at Yorkshire Water, when he inadvertently angered 120,000 anglers by running a competition featuring a photo that violated pike fishing ethics. 😱

• Angling Times (circulation 120,000) ran a front-page headline: "Anglers in fury over YW competition"
• The fundamental rule in pike fishing is to catch, photograph, and then release the fish

Key lesson: 
When dealing with specialist subjects you're unfamiliar with, always consult an expert who knows the audience and subject matter. While a tad embarrassing, Andy notes his mistake was relatively minor compared to Government mistakes that can impact financial markets

Is your marketing strategy ready for 2025? Book a free 15-min discovery call with Chris to get tailored insights to boost your brand’s growth.

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Ever wondered what makes truly exceptional chocolate? The secret might be sitting right beneath its roots - volcanic soil.

Tamsin Daniel, Head of Marketing at Firetree Chocolate, takes us on a fascinating journey through the world of premium chocolate production, revealing how cocoa grown in the nutrient-rich volcanic soils of remote islands creates distinctively complex flavour profiles that chocolate lovers are increasingly willing to pay premium prices for.

What makes Firetree's approach particularly interesting is their commitment to the bean-to-bar process. Working directly with small-scale farmers in places like the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and the Philippines, they're creating chocolate with nuanced taste notes that challenge conventional chocolate making. 

Tamsin shares insights from her remarkable career working with iconic food brands including Newman's Own, Pataks spices, and Betty's Tea Rooms. Her candid "chickpea disaster" story from an early marketing trip to India with Meena Patak offers a humbling reminder of how even the smallest details can impact marketing success. The conversation explores broader food marketing trends, including the shift toward taste appreciation, ethical sourcing considerations, and how major retailers like Tesco are recognising consumer demand for more sophisticated offerings.

Whether you're a chocolate enthusiast, food marketer, or business owner interested in premium product positioning, this episode delivers valuable insights into how authentic product differentiation combined with distinctive brand positioning creates lasting consumer appeal. 

Is your marketing strategy ready for 2025? Book a free 15-min discovery call with Chris to get tailored insights to boost your brand’s growth.

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Marketing across borders goes far beyond simple translation - it requires genuine cultural understanding and strategic adaptation. In this eye-opening conversation with Shaheen Samavati, co-founder and CEO of Vera Content, we explore the intricate world of multilingual marketing and why so many brands struggle to get it right.

Shaheen reveals how her Madrid-based agency manages content for international brands across 17+ markets by combining local expertise with cohesive brand strategy. Rather than relying on direct translations, they employ freelancers physically located in target markets who understand regional nuances and cultural contexts. This approach solves two common client challenges: consolidating fragmented international marketing operations or efficiently scaling content for new market entry.

The conversation takes a fascinating turn when we discuss how AI is transforming multilingual content creation. Shaheen shares her pragmatic approach to balancing AI efficiency with irreplaceable human expertise. "We've been working on how to leverage AI without relying on it too much," she explains, highlighting the importance of preserving cultural authenticity.

Most memorably, Shaheen vulnerably recounts a costly marketing mistake - failing to record a webinar featuring a major industry influencer after securing 1,000 registrations. This candid story offers valuable lessons about preparation, contingency planning, and recovering from marketing mishaps. We also explore the varying state of influencer marketing across global markets, with Instagram emerging as the dominant platform for such collaborations.

Whether you're responsible for international marketing campaigns or simply curious about cross-cultural content strategies, this episode offers practical insights for creating marketing that truly resonates across borders. Connect with Shaheen on LinkedIn or visit veracontent.com to learn more about effective multilingual content strategies.

Is your marketing strategy ready for 2025? Book a free 15-min discovery call with Chris to get tailored insights to boost your brand’s growth.

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