Uncensored CMO

Byron Sharp is a Professor of Marketing Science and Director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute – the world’s largest centre for research into marketing. His first book How Brands Grow: what marketers don’t know has been called one of the most influential marketing books of the past decade (Warc, 2015) and was voted marketing book of the year by AdAge readers. In 2015 he published the follow-up How Brands Grow Part 2 with Professor Jenni Romaniuk. He has also written a textbook Marketing: Theory, Evidence, Practice which reflects modern knowledge about marketing and evidence-based thinking. The revised 2nd editionof the textbook was published in 2017.Byron has co-hosted, with Professor Jerry Wind, two conferences at the Wharton Business School on the laws of advertising, and is on the editorial board of five journals. What we covered in this episode:Being turned down for a publishing deal for How Brands GrowWhy experts are terrible at predicting the futureMarketers getting distracted by Purpose with little empirical support for itThe ethical reason we should be focussed on the best return on marketingByron responds to Peter Field’s Purpose researchThe top marketing myths exposed by How Brands GrowThe No.1 surprise in How Brands GrowWhy your customers are mostly the same as your competitorsThe law of Double Jeopardy and why we are over exposed to our own brands heavy buyersThe paradox of very small brands having a larger customer base than expectedPhysical and Mental availability overlapHow similar the top brands look vs ten years agoLucozade sugar tax backlash and how that proved the laws of marketingThe surprising importance of light and very light buyersWhy a lot of your sales come from people who haven’t bought you for at least a yearThe importance of not changing your designWhether the laws vary depending on categoryWhy market research is designed to highlight difference rather than similarityThe importance of distinctiveness and being rememberedWhat Levitt, Kotler and Akker got wrong about differentiationWhy even bankers can’t tell their banks apartThe power of pink concrete mixersAsking an 8 year old to tell you what’s different about your brandThe real role of advertising for your brandHow search works just like point of sale to catch people as they fallHow the laws remain the same in B2BWhy Apple isn’t your typical brand when it comes to selling product differentiationWhy Ehrenberg Bass has just own distinctive assetWhy fruit doesn’t need packagingThe biggest unanswered question in marketingPlans for Ehrenberg Bass to make training available to marketersWhat Byron missed out in How Brands GrowThe importance of marketing the research and highlighting the implicationsDescribing Mark Ritson as the best business journalist in the worldWhat Byron thinks about the environment and the role of marketing in it

3 Feb 20221h 6min

Abba is the CMO at the FinTech start up Habito, the fastest growing online mortgage broker in the UK. Prior to Habito, Abba worked as director of strategy at News UK, pioneering the moves towards digital content and as a planner at agencies UM and Carat.What we covered in this episode:Begging Dan the founder for a new jobHow Habito are disrupting the Mortgage marketThe power of anger and frustration to fuel businessConvincing Uncommon to be a founding clientTaking inspiration from Skateboard art and Santa CruzHow to make mortgages ‘gnarly’Switching off advertising due to too much demandHow to measure the impact of your campaignWhy Habito went straight to TV as a channelHow mortgages can ruin your sex lifeProducing the mortgage Karma SutraWriting an erotic novel about mortgagesWhy Habito sponsored the gnarly world of Skateboarding UKWhat it takes to train for an IronmanBusiness lessons from IronmanThe generosity of the UK Fintech sceneAbba’s top advice for getting into TechHow to create ‘strategic serendipity’Where to go for a 7 x salary mortgage

24 Jan 202249min

Kev Chesters is the co-founder of Harbour Collective and co-author of "The Creative Nudge: Simple Steps to Help You Think Differently". Previously Kev has been Chief Strategy Officer at Ogilvy UK, Head of Planning at W+K and Planning Director at S&S.What we covered in this episode:How Kev got sued by Dr DreBumping into famous people in urinalsWhy creativity in business really mattersThe power of advertising to sell jeansWhy creative is not the same as making adsThe creative power of business constraintsHow dancing horses can sell mobile tariffsThe feel good power of internet memesWhy creativity is the underdog’s most competitive advantageHow short deadlines actual reduce creativityWhy nothing good ever came out of a workshopThe importance of never giving upJon’s most creative achievement with no budgetWhat would you do if your budget was your Dad’s moneyThe power of discontent to drive creativityHow being scared signals real creativityThe tyranny of average that holds us back from being braveWhy creative is the only key to progressHow to create the conditions for creativity to thriveWhy anybody can be creative in the broadest senseThe twin conspiracy of biology and societal conditioningThe power of positive dissent and why consensus should be killedWhy ‘the meeting’ is never the actual meetingWhat you can learn from the Devil’s advocateThe importance of failure to our successGetting used to the feeling of fearCreative nudges that will help you become more creativeHow algorithms are great for efficiency but terrible for explorationThe importance of being unreasonableWhat we can all learn from Lady GaGa

6 Jan 20221h 16min

Tony's Chocolonely is on a mission to make chocolate free of child-labour and slavery worldwide. I catch up with Lord Chocolonely III, or Ben Greensmith who runs Tony's in the UK about what it's like to run a mission-focused challenger brand in 2021.About BenBen started his career in food and drink over 20 years ago at IRI and then working for Unilever in a mixture of sales and category management roles. He joined innocent drinks in 2007 and was there for 8 years, holding a number of senior commercial roles and helping build the UK business that was eventually sold to Coca-Cola in 2013 for £0.5 billion. He left in 2015 to join Proper Snacks, most recently holding the position of Chief Operating Officer. Ben has been working for Tony’s Chocolonely since September 2018 as employee number 1 in the UK and is responsible for leading the business in the UK and Ireland. His official job title is Lord Chocolonely iii.About Tony'sAt Tony’s Chocolonely our mission is to make chocolate free of child-labour and slavery; not just our chocolate but all chocolate worldwide. Tony’s has been around for 15 years in our home country, the Netherlands, where we’re now the number 1 brand with a 20% market share. Tony’s launched in the UK in January 2019 and already the 6th biggest chocolate bar brand and the fastest growing.What we covered in this episodeBeing named Lord Chocolonely iiiHow the packaging was invented in 15minsThe truth about inequality in the cocoa supply chainThe food unwrapped programme that inspired Tony’sHow Tony prosecuted himself for crimes against chocolateThe lonely battle to end child labour that created ChocolonelyThe principles that ensure Tony’s helps make production slave freeWhy Tony’s wants the competition to copy themChallenging the removal of an endorsement by Slave Free OrgThe different ways Tony’s are making an impact on living wagesWhy Tony’s bars are created with unequal chunksHow Ben convinced Tony’s to let him launch the brand in the UKCreating a £30m chocolate business in just 3 yearsChallenger brand lessons from Tony’sHow Tony’s rate of sale compares to the Chocolate giantsThe price per gram of Tony’s and how it comparesCreating headline news with an Advent calendarSPOILER ALERT: some days may contain extra chocolateCelebrity endorsement for the calendarCustomer reaction to the missing chocolate on Day 8Getting on Have I Got News For YouWhat should be making the newsResults of Uncensored CMO poll asking whether it was a good moveWhy Tony’ back a sugar tax and High Sugar, Fat & Salt (HFSS) legislationAnswering the challenge of being responsible for making people fatHow to protect your culture as your business growsCrazy about chocolate and serious about peopleThe power of healthy dissatisfactionHow to be more outspoken in 2022The importance of fitness to create energy for the demands of the job

22 Dec 20211h 9min

How do you run marketing for one of the best known insurance brands in the UK, Direct Line? That's exactly what I find out from their CMO, Mark Evans, who has been at the company for a decade. What we covered in this episode:Starting a podcast during lockdownWhere Mark gets his energy fromThe importance of being tuned into your purposeCareer lessons from Jimmy CarrWhy you should always coach from a position of strengthWhat you can learn from a World Cup winning Rugby squadLessons from being made redundant 4 timesWhy you should embrace your failure and learn from itHow Mark survived a decade as CMO at Direct LineWhy you should fire yourself every 18 monthsWhether it’s better to work for a Marketing or Finance CEOWhy marketing needs to be more than the ‘colouring in department’The importance of knowing your numbersWhy Direct Line decided to retire Winston WolfThe success trap - improving your game even when you are winningHow Direct Line positioned itself for successFlipping ‘last brand standing’ to becoming the ‘first brand standing’Discovering the importance of insurance the hard wayHow covid changed the new ‘We’re on it’ campaignTopping the charts on the System1 insurance categoryWhy it’s worth sticking with the same agencyWho is tipped to be the next SuperheroRecord profits in a tough yearHow Churchill make Insurance feels effortlessChurchill’s plans to Chill some more in 2022The power of music to change our the audience feelsMarks most popular podcast episode on ‘oh the places we go’The importance of being true to your audienceFollow me:Twitter | @uncensoredCMOLinkedInContact me:Website | www.uncensoredcmo.comEmail – jon@uncensoredcmo.com

14 Dec 202155min

Dom Dwight former editor & journalist who, just over a decade ago, discovered a passion for doing marketing properly, most notably through Yorkshire Tea but with a growing focus on coffee for Taylors of Harrogate. He's on a mission to prove that brands can connect with consumers in a way that benefits business, people, and (if it's not too ridiculous) the world. What we covered in this episode:What a Proper Yorkshire Tea business card would look likeFrom journalist to CMO of the UK’s best loved Tea brandStarting out on Twitter in 2008 to connect with ex pats who love teaGoing from No.3 Tea brand to No.1 in just a couple of yearsTransforming market share from 13% to 33%Yorkshire Tea for Yorkshire people using Yorkshire waterWhy communication was the strategy to unlock growthHow social media informed Yorkshire Tea’s tone of voiceThe serious case for more humourDiscovering the ‘where everything’s done proper’ idea with Lucky GeneralsWhy targeting new users was critical for brand growthHow well known Yorkshire celebrities helped the brand reach new usersGetting Sean Bean to run the company inductionUsing the Brownlee Brothers for deliveriesAsking Michael Parkinson to do your interviewsHiring Kaiser Chiefs to produce the hold musicFocussing on quality over quantity for Ad productionTurning the Advertising engines off during covid but gaining some useful tailwindsJon tests Dom on his ability to predict which Ad perform best on System1The power of movement to capture our attentionThe importance of creative instincts when making a great adWhy trust is so important when delegating to your teamHow Yorkshire Tea discovered a sense of humourIn house social on a budget vs agency high productionThe power of low ego at Lucky GeneralsInventing the social distancing teapot during lockdownQuietly going carbon neutral and painting the story on packThe importance of culture to the performance of the brandTime invested in genuinely asking ‘how people are; that supports during challengesThe Importance of a stable management team over the long termTurning loyal brand drinks into advocates to recruit new onesCustomer complaints about not screening the full version of the Sean Bean TV adDebating which Christmas ads work and which don’tPraising the power of M&S ‘this is no ordinary’ AdvertisingYorkshire Tea’s ambition take on the World

1 Dec 20211h 19min

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

24 Nov 202157min

Rory's BioRory Sutherland is the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, an attractively vague job title which has allowed him to co-found a behavioral science practice within the agency. ​Before founding Ogilvy Change, Rory was a copywriter and creative director at Ogilvy for over 20 years, having joined as a graduate trainee in 1988. He has variously been President of the IPA, Chair of the Judges for the Direct Jury at Cannes, and has spoken at TED Global. He writes regular columns for the Spectator, Market Leader and Impact, and also occasional pieces for Wired. He is the author of two books: The Wiki Man, available on Amazon at prices between £1.96 and £2,345.54, depending on whether the algorithm is having a bad day, and Alchemy, The surprising Power of Ideas which don't make Sense, to be published in the UK and US in March 2019. Buy the book, Transport for Humans.What we covered in this episode:What Rory thinks of Orlando’s new bookThe danger of big data, economic theory and the assumption of ergodicityThe strangeness of focus groupsWhy we’re all trying to project the ‘right answer’ in public forumsWhy reading novels makes you more attractive to the opposite sexThe appeal of true live crime to womenWhy we should switch mile per hour to minutes per hourAre we nearly there yet? The behavioural science of transportWhat trains should always leave 2mins lateWhy we all need a season ticket from the Isle of White to go anywhere in first classWhy going first class should be based on length of service rather than statusHow Brexit is good for employee benefitsHow the invention of the tube transformed working class access to jobsHow the breakthrough happens when you’re doing what everyone else isn’t doingLucozade Energy and how the perception of change is worse than the actual changeThe real WHY and the hidden WHOBetter for the reputation to fail conventionally than succeeds unconventionallyThe safe course of action in corporate life is always to be boringly conventionalQuality of reasoning isn’t quality of outcomeWhat every second hand car salesman knowsThe case for making decisions when drunkHow behaviourial science can save the planetNever solve a problem based on the averageWhy we should be able to choose our own contribution to the climate crisisThe climate case for a vintage Aston Martin - known as the Kazzoom-brooks postulateThe case for choosing premium brands over cheap onesWhat you can learn from the 4th man in Wales to own a dishwasherWhy you shouldn’t post a picture of your car in social mediaChanging the currency of status signalling to solve climate crisisRory’s favourite ad campaign of the past 10 yearsThe case for Germany as a tourist destinationWhy VW should have put cup holders in their cars in the USWhat we can learn from the German approach to the environmentWhy we shouldn’t politicise the environment otherwise it creates reputational lossWhy winning an argument and holding attention are not the same thing

17 Nov 20211h 35min