John Miles has spent forty years in marketing, brand, and strategy. He runs the New Zealand Marketing Association and just released his first book, Sod It, Just Do It, built around a seven-step decision framework distilled from decades of watching organisations overthink themselves into inertia.In this conversation: why leadership change is the single biggest risk to brand consistency, what Gap and Jaguar got wrong, why One NZ's rebrand worked, and why AI won't replace the human judgment brand decisions still require.Timestamps00:00 The biggest danger to any brand is a new CMO00:28 Inside Sod It, Just Do It: why ninety-two pages, not four hundred04:03 The cost of indecision (and why it's an epidemic)04:46 Leading the NZ Marketing Association through COVID07:14 Getting to market in five days07:57 Differentiation: how One NZ turned complaints into a brand story11:24 Step two: research the fuck out of it11:45 What Gap got wrong13:45 Jaguar's rebrand and the cost of losing the product18:39 What "product" means in a services business20:10 Fifty years of NZ advertising: where marketing lost its nerve23:21 The Bud Light case and the pub test29:43 What organisations are avoiding right now: AI33:21 Where to find the bookAbout the guestJohn Miles is CEO of the New Zealand Marketing Association and author of Sod It, Just Do It. Book: soditjustdoit.comAbout Ben on BrandWhere leaders discuss the strategies that drive business growth. New episodes weekly.