Punks, Purpose & Profit - the biggest marketing stories of 2021 - Russell Parsons, Marketing Week

In this episode I talk with editor-in-chief of Marketing Week, Russell Parsons. We talk about our favourite news stories of the year, the Mark Ritson effect and if we should still be putting "digital" in job titles.

Russell's Bio:
Russell is the award-winning editor of the UK’s most prominent marketing title. He is responsible for leading Marketing Week’s content strategy across several platforms. Russell is also a trusted authority on marketing issues, delivering keynote speeches and hosting and appearing on panels at industry events. He first joined Marketing Week as a reporter in 2009.

What we covered in this episode:

• How Russell became editor-in-chief of Marketing Week
• Making decisions based on effectiveness rather than efficiency
• Discovering purpose back in 2011
• The Mark Ritson effect on Marketing Week
• Why every marketer should claim to be digital first in a job interview
• How Unilever put digital transformation in the CMO remit
• The importance of putting strategy ahead of digital tactics
• Is B2B really that different to B2C
• The one question Mark Ritson always gets asked
• Why we are all B2B marketers but just don’t realise it
• What Peter Field really said about Purpose
• The importance of demonstrating business impact
• How Direct Line have focussed on their real purpose
• The biggest bit of good news for every Marketer
• Putting performance into brand and brand into performance
• Building the world a better funnel with Tom Roach
• Russell’s mission to make Marketing Week as nerdy as possible
• If its fundamental and flawed it gets read
• Why all models are wrong but some are useful
• Fake gold BrewDog cans, ASA bans and employee letters
• Why negative BrewDog stories might create a recruitment problem
• Russell’s favourite Christmas ad of 2021
• The case for Aldi being the quintessential Christmas ad
• Predictions for what we will be talking about in 2022