Uncensored CMO

Today I'm speaking with Whyte and Mackay Marketing Director Janice McIntosh and Mr President (their agency) CCO Jon Gledstone about the launch of their new campaign for The Woodsman brand. The "Well Earned" campaign score a whopping 4.8 stars on the System1 test and saw the launch of a brand character, Barry the Beaver, in a move that defies convention in the traditional Whisky category. From internal battles to hurdles presented by the regulators, both Whyte and Mackay and Mr President had to overcome some barriers to bring this campaign to life.

Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
01:01 - Inventing The Woodsman
01:42 - Creating a brand dominated by big players
04:00 - Standing out in a product dominated category
05:46 - Balancing demand and supply
06:31 - Availablity of the brand
07:11 - Overcoming perception barriers
09:15 - Coming up with the “Well Earned” positioning
13:06 - How to sell in breaking convention
16:00 - How the agency helped sell the idea
18:29 - Creating a new character
20:02 - Characters vs Celebrities
21:07 - Using humour in a traditional category
23:23 - Creating a physical barry the beaver
24:18 - The importance of craft in the ad
26:07 - Staying on the right side of regulations
28:23 - A good client agency relationship
30:09 - How important is testing and data to back up creative decisions
31:53 - The importance of mental and physical availability
33:32 - The results
35:01 - What’s next for the brand?

Bozoma Saint John is a Hall of Fame Inducted Marketing Executive, Entrepreneur and Author of her memoir, The Urgent Life. Her career has included roles as the Global CMO of Netflix, CMO of Endeavor, CBO of Uber, Head of Marketing of Apple Music & iTunes and Head of Music and Entertainment Marketing at PepsiCo.

Follow Boz

• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X
• Her book - This Urgent Life

Follow Jon

• Jon's LinkedIn
• Jon's Twitter
• Watch the Uncensored CMO on YouTube

Timestamps

00:00 - Start
01:34 - Why Boz wrote such an emotional book
05:02 - The reception to the book
08:32 - Encountering Spike Lee
13:32 - Making decisions based on intuition
16:05 - Working for founder led brands
20:36 - Leading marketing at large organisations
23:55 - Managing the relationship with the CEO and CFO
28:42 - Hire Boz, Get Boz - how to have confidence in yourself
31:57 - Why you shouldn’t “play the game”
33:06 - Dawn always comes; dealing with grief
41:09 - Making the choice to change your life
45:11 - From corporate jobs to entrepreneur
48:24 - What’s next for Boz?

Today we’re diving deep into the high-stakes world of Super Bowl advertising with a very special guest—Ricardo Marques, the VP of Marketing for Michelob ULTRA. Ricardo, a veteran with 19 years at AB Inbev and the marketing maestro behind Michelob ULTRA's growth. He is here to share his playbook on how to score big during the most anticipated advertising event on American television.

In this episode we get an exclusive look at how Michelob ULTRA prepares for the Super Bowl. Ricardo breaks down the importance of the Super Bowl as a platform, not just for audience reach but for creating conversations and excitement around the brand.

But is Super Bowl advertising really worth the investment? Ricardo weighs in on the multifaceted approach to this question, assessing the creative, the conversion, and the long game of brand relevance. Key performance indicators, the intricate balance of novelty versus authenticity, and the seismic impact of this year's Super Bowl on Michelob ULTRA's growth trajectory are all on the table.

Timestamps

• 00:00 - Intro
• 00:55 - Why the Super Bowl is such a landmark event for advertisers
• 03:07 - Ricardo’s background
• 03:56 - The best advertisers in Super Bowl history
• 05:05 - Michelob’s Super Bowl history
• 06:03 - Launch before game day, or on the day?
• 07:23 - Michelob’s Ad for 2024
• 10:04 - Is a Super Bowl ad worth $7m?
• 11:09 - KPIs for a successful Super Bowl Ad
• 11:48 - How involved are distributors in the process
• 12:50 - The 2024 Michelob ULTRA Super Bowl Ad with Leo Messi
• 16:14 - The briefing process for a Super Bowl ad
• 17:25 - Brand positioning for a more premium beer
• 18:39 - The core ingredients for a successful ad
• 21:02 - The impact of celebrities in ads
• 22:46 - Advice for people making their first big budget campaign
• 27:26 - Selling in the campaign internally
• 28:52 - Tying campaigns into global events
• 31:25 - Using AI in activations
• 33:57 - McEnroe vs McEnroe
• 36:35 - Lap Against the Legends
• 38:14 - Blind man commentating on NBA game
• 41:45 - How has the brand performed from the campaigns
• 42:38 - The secret to sustained success as a marketer
• 47:29 - Who is Ricardo supporting for the Super Bowl?

Today we're joined by Jessica Myers, CMO of The Very Group. Previously Jess was CMO at Metro Bank and has since made the transition to the highly competitive retail market. At Very, she has overseen the launch of a brand new fluent device; the pink flamingoes. The campaign featuring the new characters scored a whopping 5.7 stars on the System1 scoring platform, Test Your Ad, amongst the very best ads made this year.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
00:52 - Jess’ background
06:11 - Marketing academy fellowship
07:13 - From big brand to challenger brand
10:46 - The modern marketer
11:57 - From finance to retail
15:31 - Dealing with the challenges of joining a new business
18:03 - Nailing positioning
22:09 - Doing long term marketing in retail
23:39 - Agency selection process for Very
27:22 - Understanding your customer
31:50 - The power of testing creative
36:36 - The increasing standard of advertising
38:28 - Creating a new fluent device - The Flamingoes
43:20 - The future of the brand
46:08 - Jess’ advice to aspiring marketers

Dave Kaufman is responsible for the marketing for one of the biggest tech bets of all time; the Metaverse. As Director of Global Marketing for VR and the Metaverse for Meta (formerly Facebook), it's fair to say Dave has a pretty sizeable task on his hands. He's no stranger to large marketing bets, having been on the marketing team for Google Glass, which ultimately failed. But sandwiched in-between working for Google and Meta, Dave worked for Obama's Whitehouse for the United States Digital Service.

In this episode we discuss if the US is behind the UK in terms of marketing thinkers, why marketing education is overlooked, why Google Glass failed and what the future holds in terms of the Metaverse.

Links

• Dave's LinkedIn
• Dave's viral LinkedIn article
• Jon's LinkedIn
• Jon's Twitter
• Watch the Uncensored CMO on YouTube

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
00:58 - Dave’s favourite episodes of Uncensored CMO
01:50 - Elon vs Mark in a fight
02:31 - US vs UK marketing
03:57 - How to not be full of sh*t in marketing
09:16 - Was Google Glass a failure?
15:50 - Launching the Meta X Rayban Sunglasses
20:28 - Explaining the metaverse
24:02 - How to quantify the success of the metaverse
26:29 - When will the metaverse become mainstream?
30:58 - Making virtual reality more familiar
32:28 - Does tech have a marketing problem?
38:20 - Working for founders
46:39 - Working at President Obama’s Whitehouse
53:35 - Working with low budgets
56:47 - Dave’s bets for 2024

Today I'm joined by Antonia Wade, Global CMO at PwC and Author of The B2B Buyer Journey. This episode is a true B2B masterclass. We break down the importance of brand, reputation and relationships vs what people traditionally think is important in B2B. We also break down each stage of the marketing funnel to find out how best to reach them at every point in the buyer journey.

Links

• Antonia's LinkedIn
• Antonia's Book
• Jon's LinkedIn
• Jon's Twitter
• Watch the Uncensored CMO on YouTube

Timestamps

• 00:00:00 - Intro
• 00:01:10 - Antonia’s background
• 00:06:01 - How does B2B and B2C differ?
• 00:09:25 - How to reach B2B customers
• 00:11:52 - Building B2B relationships
• 00:17:30 - The importance of people in B2B
• 00:20:53 - Why brand and reputation are so important
• 00:24:43 - Why having an online presence matters
• 00:29:39 - Marketing from cost centre to profit centre
• 00:34:14 - Marketing at different stages of the buyer journey
• 00:39:54 - Why people think B2B is boring
• 00:46:30 - Why purpose has a bigger role in B2B
• 00:48:38 - Stage 1: Reaching Horizon Scanners
• 00:51:41 - Stage 2: Reaching Explorers
• 00:55:18 - Stage 3: Reaching Hunters
• 00:57:39 - Stage 4: Capturing the Active Buyer
• 00:59:15 - Stage 5: Marketing post-purchase
• 01:01:18 - How will AI transform B2B marketing

One of the most popular episodes of all time was my first with Sarah Carter and Les Binet, so I'm bringing them back to do a review of 2023. We talk about what makes Les cry and if AI is going to take over our jobs.

Links

• Jon's LinkedIn
• Jon's Twitter
• Watch the Uncensored CMO on YouTube

Timestamps

• 00:00:00 - Intro
• 00:01:05 - Les’ favourite ads of 2023
• 00:04:45 - Sarah’s favourite Christmas ads
• 00:07:15 - Wear out
• 00:12:30 - Why familiarity breeds contentment
• 00:17:42 - Have we rediscovered homour in 2023?
• 00:19:47 - The role of purpose in advertising
• 00:29:17 - Diversity and representation
• 00:34:53 - Kevin the carrot and characters
• 00:41:52 - Fluent devices and consistency
• 00:49:01 - Why do John Lewis run christmas ads every year
• 00:50:40 - How did the first ad to ever air score?
• 00:52:51 - The highest performing advertising categories
• 00:55:04 - Lowest performing advertising categories
• 01:00:12 - Outperforming your category
• 01:03:08 - US Superbowl vs UK Christmas
• 01:04:02 - Les and Sarah’s thoughts on AI
• 01:14:03 - How reliable is ESOV
• 01:15:52 - MMM Models
• 01:19:32 - The best performing Adam and Eve ad
• 01:21:42 - Predictions for 2024

Now in this episode, we're talking about one of the most competitive markets in the world - insurance comparison. Anyone who's followed this market will know just how intense it is. And how do you build a brand when you don't have a product yourself, but you're selling someone else's product? Well, it's one of those situations where marketing is all important and advertising can make all the difference to your success.

I'm catching up with Sam Day, who's been the CMO of confused.com, for the past 6 years, who successfully challenged this market and taken it from 4th to 2nd place on very limited budgets. So I want to find out from Sam the secret behind the success of the campaigns that he's run over the last few years, how he's transformed their business and what his plans are for the future.

Links

• Jon's LinkedIn
• Jon's Twitter
• Watch the Uncensored CMO on YouTube

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
03:53 - Sam’s advice to a young marketer
06:27 - Sam’s greatest failure
08:44 - Management and leadership advice
12:27 - The secret to an extended CMO tenure
19:41 - Getting c-suite buy in with data
22:50 - Consistency
24:26 - Marketing when you don’t have a product
26:01 - Brand vs price
28:43 - Why name the brand after the problem (confused.com)
31:24 - Branding against one of the best branded characters of all time
34:02 - Why there’s no silver bullet for success
37:02 - Spontaneous awareness - how to win an effie
39:50 - Selecting an agency
42:01 - Great examples of populous advertising
44:14 - How agencies should pitch to CMOs
49:39 - What’s next for Sam Day

Today I'm revisiting episode 3, with Adam Morgan, founder of eatbigfish and author of Eating The Big Fish, The Pirate Inside and A Beautiful Constraint to find out what it takes to become a successful challenger. Adam shares his tips for creating a challenger brand, transforming your culture and the power of constraints to driving innovation.

In this episode:

• Why being No.2 is better
• How he turned the anger of his project being shelved into a career-defining opportunity
• Being turned down by Phil Knight and where the idea of a Challenger brand came from
• The importance of over-commitment and being obsessed with execution
• How Tony’s Chocolonely have become a truly challenger brand
• How to be a pirate in the navy without getting fired
• What you can learn from a catwalk show and how constraints can turn into your greatest advantage
• The curse of data and how it leads us to a decline in creativity
• The furtile zero and what to do with no budget
• Adam shares his worst career moment
• Why the meeting is never really the meeting and why the Japanese fall asleep in meetings
• The one thing Adam has never told anyone before

Follow me:

• Twitter | @uncensoredCMO
• LinkedIn

Contact me:

• Website | www.uncensoredcmo.com
• Email – [email protected]

Adam Morgan:

• Twitter | @eatbigfish
• www.eatbigfish.com
• Eating The Big Fish
• The Pirate Inside
• A Beautiful Constraint

Today I'm joined by Phill Agnew, senior product marketer at Buffer and host of Nudge, the only podcast dedicated to consumer psychology, and the other podcast that regularly hits the top spot of the UK marketing charts. In this episode we share 5 behavioural science "nudges" and 5 marketing lessons that we've taken from our respective podcasts and careers.

Links

• Nudge podcast
• Jon's LinkedIn
• Jon's Twitter
• Phill's LinkedIn
• Phill's Twitter

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
01:19 - How did Phill get into podcasting
04:03 - Bonus Nudge - The Halo Effect
06:29 - Nudge 5 - The Labour Illusion
09:40 - Marketing Lesson 5 - The Power of Getting Fired
13:25 - Nudge 4 - The Pratfall Effect
19:26 - Marketing Lesson 4 - The Power of Purpose
24:49 - Nudge 3 - The Curiosity Gap
30:03 - Marketing Lesson 3 - Be Distinctive
35:26 - Nudge 2 - Social Proof
41:14 - Marketing Lesson 2 - The Power of Creativity
45:10 - Nudge 1 - Fresh Start Date
48:59 - Marketing Lesson 1 - The Power of Consistency