Feel better about marketing™
The go-to podcast for anyone trying to make sense of the world of marketing, business and beyond. In an industry that is a minefie...
156: Tom Fishburne on why the best marketers are the ones who can laugh at themselves
This week we deliberately trapped ourselves in a cartoon like the dude from A-Ha in order to cross paths with marketing’s MirthMaster 3000, Tom Fishburne aka The Marketoonist.
Apart from your CEO accidentally getting trapped in his own futuristic private bathroom over the bank holiday weekend, the funniest stuff in marketing usually comes from Tom’s brain. The comic genius behind The Marketoonist, Tom has been skewering this highly skewerable business for years – giving a reassuring chuckle to millions of marketers along the way. As well as being a famous side-splitter he’s also an expert eye-opener, with his Marketoonist agency having persuaded mega brands like Google, Microsoft and even LinkedIn of the value of having (and giving) a laugh. And, in his bid to remove the ‘po’ from the face of marketing, he also shares his wit and wisdom as one of the industry’s most in-demand keynote speakers.
This episode is dedicated to David and Claire Hyatt from Wales, as without these two Tom’s cartooning may never have transitioned from hobby to work.
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Follow Tom on LinkedIn.
Tom Fishburne's website here.
The Marketoonist website here.
Timestamps:
02:14 - Quick Fire Questions with Tom Fishburne
03:21 - Tom's Career Journey: From English Major to Cartoonist
07:00 - Early Influences and Inspirations
08:42 - Observations and Humour in Prague
10:09 - First Office Cartoons and Their Impact
13:49 - Humour in Marketing and Business
17:55 - Finding Material for Cartoons
19:06 - The Role of Humour in Serious Topics
23:21 - Can Any Brand Embrace Humour?
25:18 - Humour During the COVID-19 Pandemic
27:50 - Variety of Brands Tom Has Worked With
29:54 - Consistency of Human Nature in Humour
30:41 - Listener Questions: Balancing Satirical Humour
33:28 - Digital Transformation and Industry Jargon
35:07 - Listener Questions: AI and Humour
38:07 - Listener Questions: Humour Category at Cannes
39:38 - Listener Questions: AI vs. Human Comedians
42:26 - Four Pertinent Poses: Advice to Younger Self
43:23 - Four Pertinent Poses: Banish One Thing from the Industry
Tom's Book Recommendations are:
Orbiting the Giant Hairball – Gordon MacKenzie
School is Hell – Matt Groening
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50:25
155: The mightiness of mininess with Gus Co-Founders Spencer LaVallee and Graham Douglas
This week we shrank ourselves down to Dennis-Quaid-in-Inner-Space micro proportions to catch Spencer LaVallee and Graham Douglas, the co-founders of mega-successful micro creative agency Gus.
Spencer and Graham lead a creative crew leaner than a wildebeest that got banished from its herd last Tuesday for repeatedly messing around. But size means little when you have big ideas, and the agency regularly rubs shoulders with the behemoths of the ad and marketing world when it comes to gongs and glory. From Gus being named Ad Age Small Agency of the Year, to their campaigns winning top honours at the likes of Cannes, Forbes and the New York Film Festival, Spencer and Graham are a testament that brains can beat brawn in this industry. Especially when those brains are inside the heads of a couple of fellas who’ve had such an interesting journey through it.
This episode is dedicated to all the small but mighty creative agencies out there proving that size doesn't limit impact.
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Follow GUS on LinkedIn
Visit their website here.
Timestamps:
(01:54) - Quick Fire Questions with Spencer & Graham
(03:26) - Graham & Spencer’s Career Journey
(10:35) - Spencer's Inspiration from an Outdoor Ad
(12:08) - Working at Campfire and True Blood Campaign
(15:54) - Graham & Spencer's Partnership and Founding of Gus
(18:56) - Strategy and Creativity Silos in Agencies and Clients
(20:32) - The Importance of Singular Creative Statements
(22:33) - The Mural Test for Brand Platforms
(24:56) - Internal vs. External Brand Positioning
(26:36) - The Role of Simplicity in Branding
(28:05) - Optimism About AI in Creativity
(30:01) - The Threat of AI in Strategy and Research
(32:29) - Staying Small on Purpose
(36:18) - The Changing Shape of Agencies
(42:18) - The Gus Grid and Creative Strategy
(43:13) - Breaking Norms with Back Market Campaign
(44:48) - Four Pertinent Poses: Advice to Younger Self
(47:59) - Banish One Thing from the Industry: Lack of Mentorship
Spencer and Graham's Book Recommendations are:
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
The Artists Way by Julia Cameron
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
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1:01:34
154: Moira Creedon on why marketers must learn to love the language of finance
This week we stopped writing 80085 on our pocket calculator and started doing proper sums in order to catch the mathematical eye of one of the world’s leading financial and marketing thinkers, Moira Creedon.
If there’s a fancy, famous and highly respected teaching institute in the world, then Moira has almost certainly been there, sharing the stuff in her enormous brain with students, leaders and top businesses. From Fontainebleau to UCC and the IMI – not to mention the legendary Mark Ritson Mini MBA – Moira has taught at them all, passing on her knowledge and experience as one of the world’s leading financial strategists. Also, as well as being multi-brilliant and multi-nice, she’s multi-lingual and often delivers her talks and lectures in English, Spanish, French and German.
This episode is proudly dedicated to the late and great Gail Gunderson.
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Follow Moira on LinkedIn
Visit her website here.
Timestamps:
(02:19) - Quick fire Questions:
(05:47) - Moira's Career Path: Early Jobs and Experiences
(09:51) - First Proper Job: General Motors
(12:02) - Moira's Extensive Travel Experience
(17:16) - Marketing and Finance: Bridging the Gap
(19:12) - Understanding the Language of Finance
(23:43) - Career Management for Marketers
(25:50) - The Role of CMOs in Organisations
(28:18) - Low Margin Industries and Marketing Budgets
(32:04) - Cultural Differences in High vs. Low Margin Companies
(35:00) - Jaguar's Marketing Strategy Discussion
(39:51) - Perception of Marketing in the C-Suite
(41:06) - Finance's View of Marketing as a Cost Centre
(44:33) - Finance and Marketing Decision-Making
(46:54) - The Role of Finance in Modern Business
Moira’s Book Recommendation is:
The ascent of money by Neil Ferguson
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1:08:50
153: Peter Weinberg on humans, AI and a creative future for B2B
This week we strapped on a Motorola pager and stole a briefcase off our dad in order to look businessy enough to chat to the Batman of the B2B world, LinkedIn legend and co-founder of Evidenza, Peter Weinberg.
Peter Weinberg has effectively grabbed B2B marketing by the ankles and dragged it out of the dull and dreary hole into which it had buried its head. World famous for his time in charge of the game-changing B2B institute at LinkedIn – alongside his pal Jon Lombardo – Peter is now the extraordinary human brains behind AI powered research platform Evidenza, where he continues to be a champion for the kind of B2B that’s never bland.
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Follow Peter on LinkedIn
Here’s his website
Here is Rory Sutherland Eurostar TED Talk
Timestamps
(02:37) - Quickfire Questions
(03:34) - Peter's Career Path
(06:36) - Transition to Advertising
(11:22) - The B2B Institute at LinkedIn
(15:50) - Pivotal Moments in B2B Marketing
(17:37) - Contrarian Views in Marketing
(19:05) - The Role of Synthetic Data
(24:32) - Launching Evidenza
(30:50) - Validating Synthetic Research
(34:13) - Scepticism Towards AI in Marketing
(40:15) - AI and Advertising Effectiveness
(45:45) - Using AI for Strategic Planning
Peter’s Book Recommendations are:
Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
How Brands Grow by Bryon Sharp
Building Distinctive Brand Assets by Jenni Romaniuk
How Not To Plan – Les Binet & Sarah Carter
Antifragile by Nassim Taleb
The Elephant In The Brain by Kevin Simler & Robin Hanson
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1:03:19
152: Ally Owen on why a more diverse creative industry is better for everyone
This week we very tentatively clambered on top of our desks to bellow ‘Oh Captain, my Captain’ to the most inspirational educator in advertising, Ally Owen.
The brains behind one ad-lands most invaluable teaching programmes, Brixton Finishing School, Ally has done more than literally anyone to help young, multicultural and neurodiverse creatives find a way into advertising – kickstarting hundreds and hundreds of creative careers, while most big agencies were sat fiddling with the font on their DEI policy PowerPoints. For most people, transforming all those lives would have been enough – but Ally has also gone on to launch ADcademy, a free virtual programme that provides 2,500 students a year with top-class creative training. Ally is also one of the brains behind Visible Start, an incredible program designed to help women over 45 to re-enter the workforce. So, in a nutshell, just imagine what a huge stinky poo-fire the creative industries would be without her.
In this episode we ponder everything from the real value of diversity and inclusion in all kinds of business, the financial and emotional hurdles she helps young creatives navigate at Brixton and how a Friday-night shift at Portsmouth McDonald's gave her the skills of a UN negotiator.
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Follow Ally on LinkedIn
Visit the Brixton Finishing School website or follow them on Instagram
Head to Career Adventures where tomorrow’s creatives are being inspired
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Timestamps
(04:10) - From Selling Shoes to McDonald's: The Early Gigs
(06:49) - The Skills of a UN negotiator: Friday night in McDonald's Portsmouth
(09:23) - The Great Escape to University
(10:56) - From Pharaohs to Advertising and the House of Stolen Things
(13:39) - Pure Luck or Destiny, The Path to Advertising?
(15:22) - A Relentless Career Pursuit
(18:04) - Setting out to make things better with Brixton Finishing School
(24:13) - Building a Bridge into Advertising
(28:04) - Office Etiquette, Don’t Microwave Fish
(31:36) - How to Support Brixton Finishing School
(33:07) - The Finishing School Foundation: Practical Help for the NEET
(41:19) - Four Pertinent Poses
(45:45) - Honouring Carol Tully
Ally’s book recommendation is:
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman.
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Feel better about marketing™
The go-to podcast for anyone trying to make sense of the world of marketing, business and beyond. In an industry that is a minefield of utter bollocks, we aim to capture our heroes and allies from the front line to have a chin-wag with.
It’s like Pokémon Go, with the single but vital exception that it’s not a short-term bandwagon of shite.
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