Mark Ritson - The s**t, the pipe, and what to do with it

Leo is the founder of Eden Lab, a new kind of consultancy and venture studio, they don't just advise on how to win in the Net Zero future, they build it with you. He's the former CEO and Chief Strategy Officer of ad agency Grey London, founder of Grey Consulting, speaker, writer and start-up mentor.He believes businesses can help shape the planet for the better. To do that he says we need to invent - and reinvent - companies for a post-carbon world. He scouts, designs and assembles new business models, products and services that actively create a better future for all of us.What we covered in this episode:The state of the industryWhy CMO spend so little time on commsHow to ask better questionsSolving every problem with a posterPost Covid hybrid leaving do’sThe biggest challenges the world facesGood intentions vs real actionThe one mission to end all missionsWhat is stopping marketers making a differenceClimate change ignoranceNot all growth is green growthBridging the gap between sustainability and the consumerWhy fear and ignorance is holding us backThe £12trillion cost of saving the planetHow do we create the change we need to seeWhy it’s time to commercialise sustainabilityMoving from shame to seductionThe gap between consumer experience and sustainabilityWhy Backmarket models a customer centric approachThe importance of the green business modelThe tension between costs of living crisis and doing the right thingThe power of an impossible briefWhy brands will be punished in the future for lack of green credentialsThe future value of your customer bookWhat is your clean share of marketPutting creativity into the heart of the problemCommercialising ESG to create changeBuying trainers for lifeWhat every brand needs to do now

22 Sep 202237min

Meghan Farren spent 10 years at KFC UK, spending the last 5 as CMO. What does it take to run a marketing department of one of the biggest consumer brands? What do you do when you run out of chicken as a fast food chicken joint? How do you change your strapline when it involves licking fingers during a global pandemic? And how a strong culture is pivotal for all this creativity to happen.What we covered in this episodeGoing back to KFC after a year - back to school vibeThe realness of working in a KFC restaurantResearch vs real world experienceHow Meg got into marketing in the first placeFrom finance to marketingHow to transition industryExperience vs action and impostor syndromeHow to nail a new jobImportance of cultureHiring the best talentBeing close to the customerMarketing week brand of the yearPower of consistencyThe FCK campaignHow taking a big risk can pay offHow humour in a crisis can helpKFC’s many distinctive assetsHow to do brand innovation wellAdvice for aspiring CMOs

13 Sep 202242min

Now it's the summer holidays, and that means everybody's taking a well earned break from all their hard work. And that includes the Uncensored CMO, but producer James never wants to let me off an episode, And he said, why before you go away, why don't you just do a quick episode. So, I thought, why not do a little bonus episode?It got me thinking, what subject do I know a little bit about that might be useful to my listeners? And, this is where I have to put my System1 hat back on, because what we do better than anybody else is advise people on how to make advertising that works. We like to frame that as how to make a five star ad. So in this special edition episode, I talk about why emotion and advertising matters and how I can prove it. And some of the tips that we give all our customers on how to make advertising that actually works.What I covered in this episode:The crazy amount of money spent on advertsWhy 50% are still a waste of moneyThe data for why your creative mattersWhy Creative is your most important toolWhy emotional beats rational advertisingWhy System1 was createdOrlando Wood and his masterpiecesLemonLook OutWhy we make decisionsESOV and how creativity is an amplifierThe reason to pre test your advertisingRight brain vs Left brain advertisingThe decline in creative effectivenessThe importance of Fluent devicesThe 5 things that make a 5 Star adWhy you should take no notice of awardsA shameless plug for System1

9 Aug 202236min

Do you think the advertising industry has a problem with age now? In my experience, the majority of marketing departments are run by people under 40. Sometimes the majority, even under 30, and that's reflected in creative agencies as well. I think that's a real problem because if you look at the statistics, people over the age of 55 represent the majority of people in the UK, they have enormous buying power, lost disposable income, and often a bit more time on their hands to spend it as well. So it's such a shame that we as an industry are neglecting a very significant part of the population. Recently that MullenLowe have released a new report called "The Invisible Powerhouse", looking at the lives of over 50s and how we can market to them better. In this episode, I speak to MullenLowe UK CEO, Jeremy Hine, about the report and what we can do to address this problem.What we covered in this episode:52 year old Jeremy introduces himselfWhat inspired ‘The Invisible Powerhouse’ report on age diversityWhy age represents the greatest disparity in Advertising representationHow do older people feel about the way in which they are portrayedThe business case for people ‘Feeling Seen’ in advertisingAlmost half the population are over 50 and own 70% of all assetsWhy not all over 50’s are the sameThe age people feel rather than the age they areWhat segmentation by attitude revealsInspiration from the gear lever design in a JaguarThe dominance of youth in the ad industryHow to brief to ensure older representationThe importance of seeing and understanding the older generationWhy Entertainment matters to an older audienceInspiration from the Magnum campaign featuring older peopleThe value of spending time with older peopleWhat we can learn from TikTokThe stereotypes of older people in advertisingTaking inspiration from Top GunWhy women experience an even greater invisibility in advertisingHow Mullen Lowe led the Governments covid responseHow a crisis super charged creative work & collaborationWhere to get more help on marketing to an older audience

3 Aug 202242min

A double header episode as I speak with JP Castlin and James Hankins on the back of their Cannes 2022 talk, in partnership with WARC, "The Gravity of e-commerce".JP Castlin is an independent consultant who coined the term naturalized strategy-making and created the ABCDE framework. JP has been featured in Marketing Week, The Drum, WARC and more, and he also wrote "Strategy in Polemy". James Hankins is the founder of Vizer Consulting & Global VP Marketing Strategy and Planning at SAGE.View JP & James' WARC report here.What we covered in this episode:How the pandemic inspired the Cannes collaborationThe one question everyone was asking at CannesWhat is driving the sudden adjustment in e-commerce valuationsPresenting straight after Gary V’s Cannes talk and our obsession with new thingsThe threat of Stagflation and how it will impact the economyReturning to the 4 P’s for the solution to the problemThe gravity effect of e-commerce and the challenging cost efficiencyDefining the model as a shift from one-to-many from many-to-oneWhy marketers are needed to solve this problemThe real cost of returning e-commerce productsThe long and short effect of guaranteed returnsHow Amazon mitigated the cost of product returnsWhy marketers needs to see the whole picture to solve the puzzleThe Nike business model and how even they struggle to do e-commerceWhy growth-first companies like Uber Eats fail to make a profitThe Vegan Sausage roll principle and the challenge of second-hand car buying platformsWhy fulfilment capability is so critical for e-commerce businessesWhy Cinch are set up to beat Cazoo in the car e-commerce warThe importance of understanding your business model firstUsing creativity to solve the most fundamental commercial challengesWhat we can all learn from the Next annual report and their emergent strategyThe pivotal role of the CMO in a commercial crisis

14 Jul 202242min

Today we're joined by David Hieatt, founder of Hiut Denim Co., and The Do Lectures.What we covered in this episode:How to pronounce Hiut and its originsWhat inspired David to start a jeans companyPitching a business aged 14Raised by wolves at Saatchi and SaatchiSetting up their first business HowiesSurviving without pay for 6 yearsHow it feels to sell your businessThe impact of having a dad in the merchant navyThe importance of making people feel somethingHaving a purpose and bringing your values to workHow to find your purposeWhy saving Britains biggest jeans factory inspired David to create HiutCoping with 6 months orders in one monthWhy a newsletter is your most important communiction toolGetting geeky about newsletter statsTrying to beat your best newsletterWriting a book in 30mins a dayLearning from Paul ArdenThe importance of choosing your boss carefullyFocussing on being the most influential 30 person jeans companyBeing better today than yesterdaySaving the planet with the No Wash ClubCoping with 3 years of repairs in 3 months after offering free repairs for lifeThe 88 hours it takes to win businessThe inspiration behind the DO lectures and the irony of 'doing one thing well'Don't just stand there, do something. Making change happen.Selling tickets to Do lectures out in an hourTalks from a cowshed in west wales

5 Jul 202252min

I've always had a bit of a love, hate relationship with Cannes. It's wonderful that we celebrate creativity with this event, but seeing how the festival rewards a certain type of creativity, particularly short term activation and purpose recently, I'm starting to wonder how effective Cannes Lions winners are in the real world.So who better to talk to about this than Tom Goodwin, who isn't short of uncensored opinions, to find out what he really thinks of Cannes. Is it just a jolly for the industry? or is it something more?-> Listen to my previous episode with TomWhether Web3 is the next big thingHow dis-interested we are in real people’s livesThe cost of luxury opinionsHaving a seat at the Davos tableWhy normal people do all the wrong thingsHow purpose has replaced creativityMaking good advertising that sellsHow big tech stole the creative footballComparing Cannes to previous yearsHow the Cannes experience can varyThe status symbol of Cannes passesThe future of travel to CannesTom’s view on Gary Vee’s talkInventing the perfect CannesThe case for seducing and entertaining

27 Jun 202226min

For the 50th episode of Uncensored CMO, I'm live in Cannes to talk about the triple threat to creative effectiveness. Why effectiveness has been declining over the years, how attention has impacted mental availability and what we can do about it. Fresh off the stage at Cannes Lions 2022, Peter Field, Orlando Wood and Karen Nelson-Field talk us through what they're calling Triple Jeopardy.From Peter Field himself: "Triple Jeopardy is three things: the withdrawal of money from brand and putting it into performance marketing and the short-term on a massive scale. That has drained the mental availability fuel supply, if you like"What we covered in this episodeKaren, Peter and Orlando's triple jeopardy Cannes panelHow effectiveness has progressively declined throughout the yearsWhat's causing the decline? Is it a focus on short term activation vs long term brand building?Why are you calling this triple jeopardy?Why short term activation is damaging mental availabilityMeasuring inwards vs outwardWhy we need to change attention metricsActive vs passive attention85% of ads sit below the attention memory thresholdViewablity metrics are failing usHow the elasticity of attention variesSo how do we solve this? How do we sustain attention?Why we need more right-brained features in advertisingWhat captures attention?Are you paying attention to this very message on this podcast? (and in these show notes?)

22 Jun 202223min