Brain Hurt Scale = 2/10. Dealing with creative fills up a good chunk of any marketing department's time. But do you really have a binary choice between in-house vs agency? Or is there a better way? We interview co-founder of Creatively Squared, Scott Thomas to talk about the awkward creative production transition many companies are faced with. From one where a high-priced TVC sits at the core of the campaign. To the modern reality that embraces media fragmentation and takes advantage at scale. If you don't learn something, you haven't been listening.

Brain Hurt Scale = 6/10 - full episode featuring San Redfern from Canva who details how the company transitioned from a digital marketing attribution mindset into something far more world-leading and sophisticated. Where part 1 of the Digital Marketing Apocalypse series focused on the technical and legal changes that have occurred over time. And part 2 uncovered the impact this has had on company's marketing. Part 3 gives us a concrete example of how to successfully transition from the old way of measurement to the new way. Providing a great example of how teams should be measuring and operating. Including all the politics and subtle considerations you need to be aware of along the way. And yes I realize we all don't work for multi-billion dollar tech companies, but you'll pick up some very practical pointers from this episode which you can apply to any firm along the way. So if you're thinking of also making the switch from staring at digital marketing dashboards and spreadsheets....have a listen

Brain Hurt Scale = 5/10. Following on from part 1, we explore a paper that studied thousands of online retailers between 2020 and 2022. The findings from this study have massive implications on the digital marketing industry, decision-makers, executives and investors. They analyzed 100's of billions of digital marketing expenditure and looked at how this affected customer acquisition and growth. Finding that not only have costs increased on average but firms who targeted certain customers and used particular channels realized the greatest drops in yield. So why are so few in the industry talking about something so momentous? There are a few reasons for that which we discuss near the end.

Brain Hurt Scale = 8/10. Why is Apple all about privacy all of a sudden? Why is it so vogue for governments around the world to legislate user data protections? Take a trip back in time all the way through to the present to understand where it all started and where it's going. From the birth of Google Analytics, the cookie, UTMs through to Meta and Google ads, conversion columns and everything else in between. Why do we no longer hear the story about the stay-at-home mom who found online retailing success by mastering Facebook or Instagram? Why was there a mobile app boom that's since fizzled out? In the second half we then talk about the implications of the privacy crackdown. What this means for the industry supply chain and all the participants. Especially digital marketing platforms like Google, Meta and programmatic display. Is everyone operating in time that no longer exists and in denial? Why don't they want to change? Find out answers to all these questions by pressing play

Brain Hurt Scale = 5/10. Want a crash course in AI without the sale pitch? Listen to people who have actually used it for years without the buzzword consulting BS getting in the way. Listen to this episode and get the perfect grounding in what you need to know. The terms you need to know. The history you need to understand in order to be confident talking about it even if you haven't used it very much. How did it start? Where did this new wave come from? What's an LLM? What's a diffusion model? What are the different brands? Is it better than a human? How do you prompt it properly to get results that are actually useful? All these questions answered and more. This summary was even written by AI

Brain Hurt Scale - 2/10 - The first of a world-wide mini-series exposing true life stories behind the number 1 impediment to workplace success - politics. Mike Harris is an accomplished former executive and consultant with deep personal skills in consulting, sales, marketing, operations and product. He gives us three examples from a storied career. The first of which is 30mins about a successful turnaround at Phillips. On the surface all three stories are about political conflict and resolution. But also cover common constraints you'll frequently encounter in the workplace: interdepartmental cooperation, incentive dynamics, culture, capability, alignment and executive communication. But they're also just great examples of basic strategy hygiene: diagnosis, problem identification, objectives and action. A skill Mike says has been lost in the face of a few modern trends that are getting in the way. Even though his first story is from the 90's, the takeaways are perhaps even more relevant today than they've ever been. So no matter what sized business or what position you're in, I'd be very surprised if you don't learn something very valuable by listening to this series of wisdom-laden episodes. Especially if you want to know how to deal with people to get what you need done Let the games begin!

Brain Hurt Scale = 4/10. Why does ChatGPT provide me with terrible responses. Why does DALL-E give me an image that's terrible? Learning how to brief creatives is an art form. After all, their job is to create artwork so this probably shouldn't come as a surprise. But if you've never created something yourself, you'll be oblivious as to how it all goes down. That mismatched perspective can all be fixed by listening to this episode where Brett Friedman goes through start-to-finish the entire process that goes on behind closed doors when you hire an agency. So if you want to be left to your own devices fumbling around using Canva or Photoshop or dealing with Upwork freelancers that's fine. Or if you're an AI creative guru who is adept at prompting the most sophisticated technology on the planet but can't get something back you like... This is the episode you need to listen to. Now

Brain Hurt Scale = 6/10. Republished with permission of an interview John James did with Cognism's Jamie Skeels on The Loop podcast. The Brandingmag articles caused quite a stir and Jamie was keen to dig a little deeper into some of the issues it raised for practitioners. How do we target people to build brand and sales at the same time? Which channels should we use? How do we sell these campaigns (or not) to senior directors and executives? What are the red flags or reasons not to invest in a brand campaign? Is John the antichrist when it comes to brand advertising? All important questions that are answered in this guest interview. Nice one gov-ner!

Brain Hurt Scale = 3/10. A live recording of that time I was invited by James Pember to speak at the inaugural SXSW Sydney 2023. Note: this is a repost with permission of an episode of the Own The Moment podcast by Komo Technologies. James interviews me on-stage in front of 70+people and I try to answer a series of questions completely impromptu. James is a product leader and host of a podcast run by martech firm Komo Technologies. They have a podcast called 'Own The Moment'. Reposting here because I think the questions and answers will be of interest to you all. There were many things I wish I had said or rephrased or prepared for, but I suppose that's the nature of live interviews. What do you think?

Brain Hurt Scale = 5/10. No one in B2B buys based on value. Procurement and buying committees don't operate how you think they do. And why do 50%+ of B2B purchases end in a no-decision? If you want your career to be occupied with creating ads, rely on correlation, work status and manipulate company politics to get ahead. Nothing wrong with that, it's fine. Go for it. You will do well. But if you actually want to affect revenue and profit, this is an episode you can't miss. Dale and John reveal some of the dirty secrets that lie hidden deep within the industry. Use this rare information to get ahead as a challenger brand and succeed in the marketplace if you want to. Learn the history of Salesforce's success. The one that doesn't get talked about. Learn why some of these academic 'laws' of marketing actually work or don't work in real life. Why should you be really skeptical about the propositions ABM vendors and demand-gen platforms sprout? What lies do marketing heads and vendors tell you which you should actually ignore? Start listening to get head. Or be left behind.

Brain Hurt Scale = 2/10. Racing car driver, Marketing Week columnist, retail media speaker and coach to marketing directors. Colin Lewis joins us for the first episode of 2024. While we were supposed to talk about retail media, this was one of those rare chances to tap into someone's mind that's experienced a depth and breadth of experience that's exceedingly rare. Colin's worked in multiple countries. Reinvented his specialty many times over. Put his money where his mouth is with his own businesses and worked for others to pay the bills. Big and small brands. For decades. Colin oozes stoic wisdom in a discussion that everyone from all angles within the industry can appreciate. We explore everything from marketing fundamentals to direct response and brand advertising. So get involved and start learning. Up your game. Start thinking like, a director

Brain Hurt Factor = 4/10. The conclusion and penultimate episode of a 6 part series which explores brand campaigns. Questioning whether Apple's famous Think Different brand campaign was as successful as everyone thinks it is. This episode starts with a short recap of where we left off in 5.2. Then goes into revealing THE key growth factor behind Apple's explosive growth. Before discussing the genesis story behind this entire brand campaign. A story which was difficult to discover. Full of snippets of quotes from Steve himself, YouTube videos, experts in the field and other podcasts. By the end, you'll be able to walk away with a clear view of what the campaign did and didn't achieve. And - WHY it was created in the first place. Which will be likely different to what you believe it is. Make sure you at least listen to or read 5.1 and 5.2, if not all the episodes from part 1-6. Very red pill. Consume now with caution.

Brand hurt scale = 6/10. This is a direct follow on from the previous episode 5.1 which continues the story behind Apple's famous Think Different campaign. Here we go much deeper, analyzing the campaign's impact on Apple financially, both short and long term. Which is hard in audio form because a lot of the visuals are missing. But you'll learn ways you can properly assess any brand campaign and call out brand marketers who think they've delivered value, but haven't. Four expert opinions and three reputable studies are cited which you can use to support your argument either way. So was Think Different really one of the best brand advertising campaigns in history? Exactly how did it impact the company for better or for worse? Ultimately, it's up to you to decide but find out by having a listen and come to your own conclusions by the end. *For more details and visuals go to the Brandingmag website to access the full article.

Brand hurt scale = 2/10. The episode everyone has been waiting for is here. This is the story behind the famous Apple Think Different campaign. Touted as one of the best brand advertising campaigns in history. But is it? This is the first of three parts which explores the history of this campaign and analyzes whether it was as successful for the company as everyone makes out. Deeper analysis will follow in 5.2 before we explore the genesis story and implications from those findings in 5.3. For more details and helpful visuals, go to the Brandingmag website to access the full article. But for now, sit back, relax and have a listen

Brain hurt score = 3/10. If you've been listening to the series so far, you should know what a brand campaign is, where they came from and how advertising and branding works. So what does a brand campaign do? Or not do? In part 4 of the Brand Campaign mini-series we explore 8 legitimate reasons for a brand campaign and 8 red-flags you need to be aware of. By the end of this episode you'll have a very robust filter through which to make an informed decision if you're considering buying into the idea of a brand campaign or rejecting it. 16 for and against reasons are given that include quotes, practical explanations and excerpts from interviews with practicing experts. At the end we summarize part 1 through to 4 and set the scene for the episode everyone wants to listen to - an analysis of Apple's famous Think Different brand campaign where everything you've learnt so far will be put into practice. But before we get to the protein, you need to eat your greens. Come on...have a nibble. What are you waiting for?

Brain Hurt Scale = 2/10. Note - this is the audio version which is an extended yet similar and different version of the written article which includes diagrams and videos. If reading is your thing go here https://www.brandingmag.com/john-james/brand-campaigns-part-2-where-did-they-come-from/ - but this audio version is more story-like so it makes for perfect listening. Why do some people say 'performance marketing' when all really mean is Google search? Why do digital marketers have an allergic reaction when they're asked to use an offline channel? Why do advertising agencies love brand campaigns but hate digital? Why is the Silicon Valley growth discipline deeply ironic? And what's all of this got to do with Brand Campaigns! Sometimes to understand why we use terms we need to understand history. Understand the etymology of these terms. Terms like performance marketing, brand marketing, ATL, BTL, growth hacking, growth marketing, demand generation, demand capture - oh gee I could go on all day. Because there's reasons why all these terms exist, and why we use them - and that history is fascinating. If this episode doesn't give you an 'a ha' moment then no episode will. We leverage the power of memetics and research so you'll learn: How these terms originated Why using them is problematic Why people who do, are unaware how their thinking has been warped subconsiously Why DTC started in 1845 in the US - not the 90s or 2000's Which channel American Expressed used to create an entire category (credit cards) Why advertising agencies started in the first place, and why they still hate 'performance'. WARNING: This episode is not recommended for those who work in the advertising industry - as it will pop bubbles and may negatively affect your ability to sell You've been warned - listening to this episode will alter your perspective forever. So play with caution because this is very forbidden fruit you're about to taste, And there's no going back.

Brain Hurt Scale = 2/10. Learn all the hot topics, struggles and opportunities in the current environment from the perspective of two fractional CMO's. After shooting the breeze about coffee (Skip to 4mins in to miss the coffee talk intro) Gregory Kennedy and John sit down to talk about what they're both seeing on the ground right now. With significant declines in the yields and measurement of various digital media over the years, they discuss different ways to move forward and embrace a revised approach to the marketing function. What's the difference between West and East coast business culture? Why is the crazy valuations in the recent tech boom not even comparable to what happened back in the late 90s? Why is revenue growth and positive economics so important now? How have digital channels changed over the years? Gregory has worked in senior marketing roles at tech companies like InMobi, TapSense, NextRoll, Sojern and Noteable. Embrace the future. Leave the shackles behind. This is an easy listen. That won't leave you in a bind.

Brain hurt scale = 6/10. This is the second half of the former episode which will complete the audio version of Part 3's article. In the former episode we covered in detail the first determinant of effective advertising - reach. In this one, we explain what is 'brand' and how 'branding' actually works or doesn't work. Then we explore the third factor which is all about making products 'easy to find and buy'. Followed by even more myth busting at the end to put everything into a practical context. This is an audio episode version of the first half of part 3's article published at Brandingmag - https://www.brandingmag.com/john-james/brand-campaigns-part-3-how-does-brand-advertising-work/ But some people wanted the audio version. So here you go

Brain hurt scale = 7/10. Isn't it funny how we all think we know how advertising works, but very few of us know about the scientific side. Even fewer have married up science with the practical considerations of what it's like in an applied work setting. Until now! After learning about what brand campaigns are in part 1 and understanding the etymology. We were then left with a gaping hole. How does brand advertising work? And to know how brand advertising works, we first need to understand how all advertising works. What is 'reach'? How do you know if you have it or not? What is 'brand'? How do you know if your ad had branded or not? What is 'advertising'? How do you know what is and isn't advertising? This is an audio episode version of the first half of part 3's article published at Brandingmag - https://www.brandingmag.com/john-james/brand-campaigns-part-3-how-does-brand-advertising-work/ But some people prefer audio. So here you go audiophiles

Brain Hurt Scale = 4/10. Here's a quick synopsis of the first part of six. An article series that tries to answer a very basic question. What is a brand campaign? Go to https://www.brandingmag.com/john-james/brand-campaigns-part-1-what-exactly-are-they/ to read the full article which includes a lot of useful diagrams, videos, links and extended explanation that doesn't make it into this quick 18-minute synopsis. Part 2 is also fresh off the press. So if this perks your interest, follow your nose and read that article also to get the rest of the juicy details. But, if you're more of an audiophile and want some added commentary, this will give you something the written versions don't. Including the story of how it all started and why it's got everyone in a bit of a tizz. See you on the other side

We'll spend thousands of dollars a month on ads yet routinely underinvest in the quality of the creative. Even the biggest agencies do it. They cheapen out on the quality of the audio track. But great music can make or break a movie or TV series. It can also be the difference between advertising and promotions that your audience either remembers or doesn't remember. Raj has recently taken this to the next level. Investing his own money into the production of an entire rap album. I haven't met too many companies who have done that before. Even more interesting is that this album talks about a sector which most would find very boring indeed - B2B SaaS! I this hair-brained creativity gone wild or is there method to the madness. This is something we just had to get the scoop on. It doesn't' matter if you like music, rap or Raj's tracks or not. You'll learn about a few mediums all rolled into one. It starts with audio aka sonic branding, then goes onto how to craft better webinars, then a sales pitch in the context of startups seeking funding, and finishes with events. But don't worry, there's strategy throughout as we discuss how he inserts audio into branded content for maximum gain. And by listening to the full episode, you'll start to understand how all of these things link together - after all - this is one of the hallmarks of good strategy - a coherent set of actions. And yes, you'll also learn how to pitch your startup to investors using his trademarked Que Pasa method. You'll learn how to take your events to the next level. And some of the secrets behind creative production if you wish. But, the more important learning here is exactly how Raj uses this music he's produced to drive value and achieve business goals. And that story is a very interesting one. One that no one else has discussed with him - until now. Want to be GOAT to Market? Yes I do I do I do

You know all those famous authors and people on social media with posts that are wildly successful? You may be surprised to learn, it's probably not them. Most don't even manage their own accounts. But, who's work then are we really reading? Who's DM's are we really slipping into? Today we're going to delve into the murky world of ghostwriting. And it reminds me of that famous scene from Fight Club - because.... It appears, the first rule of ghostwriting is that you don't talk about ghostwriting. And while, today's guest is very tight-lipped about the people he manages, we do get him to spill some beans and expose some of the dark secrets within the industry. And this is all very Wizard of Oz From a hip-hop group who imploded after their ghost-music-writer secret was revealed on stage, to the downfall of a famous business personality who ironically, ran a ghostwriting firm. You'll learn about juniper trees, gin, tonic and why we still treat newborn babies in a particular way. You'll learn why chasing vanity metrics with content and social media is a futile exercise, The difference between high and low-quality content, and much, much, more. The perfect episode for executives and senior leaders as well as anyone in the content industry, social media folk, marketing strategists and of course those running a business. Skip to around the 6 min mark if you want to miss the gin sipping and genesis story and I'll see you on the other side.

Brain Hurt = 6/10. Do you want your effort to translate into maximum reward without change getting in the way? If so, embracing inherent uncertainty in the world is arguably the best way to go about it. Matt Watkinson published his third book this year which explores the concept of probabilistic thinking, systems, determinism and more. We don't really do book reviews, but this one caught the eye of our CEO and needed to be explored. This is Rory Sutherland-esque. In fact, they are both quite close and Rory gives a glowing review of this book. If you don't learn something, you haven't been listening. Start learning...press play

Brain Hurt Level = 2/10. "Great interview...I've often thought someone needed to interview you, put all of that red-pill business and marketing chat into one cohesive conversation. Your definition of marketing should actually be a front-slide of every conversation I have now." Note: This episode best serves the interests of executives, founders, owners and senior management. But, there's takeaways for everyone, especially if you're leading a team or interested in escaping the adland bubble. We can use terms every day and assume everyone knows what they mean. But, answering the most basic questions are sometimes the most difficult. What is marketing? What is brand? Do you need to have a culture built on values like sustainability, equality and saving the world? Meqa Smith, an employer branding expert and executive recruiter interviews John and both discuss how their disciplines intersect. Together they explore how companies misinterpret the marketing function and brand. Which often leads to erroneous hiring plus unfair expectations being placed on people hired for certain roles. Along the way basic terms are defined. Political realities are highlighted and growth constraints discussed. Reposted with permission fom Meqa's recent foray into starting her own series of interviews on modern hiring and employer branding for companies in Australia at https://unforgettable.agency

Brain Hurt level = 5/10. Note: this episode is best for those interested in marketing or growth within the SaaS tech sector. Especially if you work in marketing, growth or as a senior marketing leader or founder. And even more so if that's B2B or Martech. But... With that said, it's rare to find someone who has worked in design, engineering development, product, strategy and marketing. Even rarer again to find someone who's personally managed teams in each of those as well. Shay Howe is the CMO of a marketing tech company called Active Campaign. Each day he's able to see-saw between strategy and tactical execution together with his team of 30. But, he says leading marketing is his most difficult and complex role yet. Hear from the horse's mouth about the current challenges affecting all tech company's marketing and growth departments. The threat and opportunity posed by AI. The rapid proliferation and complexity within the marketing tech industry. Bridging the brand versus performance marketing challenge. Modern measurement. Team management. And the future of the marketing tech stack including a practical critique of the buzzwords and acronyms which can plague sound decision-making. Ready to get your tech on? Want to know what it's actually like to be a CMO inside a tech company? Find out by pressing play.

Baiba’s career is varied to say the least. Starting with a bachelor of visual arts at university where she was dissuaded from pursuing a career in this field, to later attempts at breaking the small glass ceiling of male advertising strategists in her native Latvia. After some account management experience at both Ogilvy and Grey group she landed a strategist role at an agency in the Czech Republic, later working at Kantar Millward Brown. During COVID she started a community dedicated to serving fellow strategists around the world - pushing the profession forward. Now she works mostly freelance in between guest lectures at Miami Ad School and a mix of other pursuits from her new base in Berlin. You couldn’t get someone closer to the front line in the advertising agency world who also has a healthy cross functional chunk of experience.   Sometimes referred to as The Mark Pollard of Europe. She specializes in brand strategy and creative strategy.  In this episode you’re going to get a good grounding in the history of strategists, formerly known as account planners. You'll learn where the role came from. Why it is needed. What the role looks like today (for better or for worse). Why you need access to one when working with an agency and all of the good, the bad and the ugly within the modern world of advertising.   But what also leaks out are some very interesting comments about the modern state of the client agency relationship. The problems on both sides and how we can solve them together aligned in the pursuit of better work. You'll learn how to brief better. How to tell an experienced planner from a junior one (or influencer cult follower). You'll learn which strategy frameworks you can use and which ones are overrated. You'll also learn why insights are not essential for good strategy - and much more. As usual, many common myths will be debunked and if you don’t learn something new, you haven’t been listening.  So what are you waiting for?

A recent article, some skeptical Twitterati and a belated Champagne film scene prompted the two Johns to join forces once again. In this episode, we put some of the doubters at bay. So if Jon Evan's recent Marketing Week article took your fancy, or you don't believe it, then you can hear the extended story of exactly how it all went down right here, right now. Listen and you might be able to pick up some tips on how to extend your budget's runway too. A lesson in the power of constraints, creativity and Champagne. The Uncensored CMO, uncensored again. Listen before someone else does!

Have you ever found it difficult to brief and agency, a copywriter or a designer and get back the words you were expecting? This is really hard when you don't have a messaging strategy which sits at the top of your workflow. Working alongside your brand voice and tone, your positioning, brand story and strategic narrative. It's the missing piece that nearly every company fails to invest in and without it, you'll experience a lot of frustration, back and forth communication, and rejected copy. Failure to work on your messaging strategy especially affects complex, B2B or technical products and services the most. This is because the product offering is often multi-dimensional, highly intangible and technical. Saying what you and your product does can be infinitely more challenging than selling a toothbrush. But, have no fear. You can fix most of that problem right now by listening to 61 minutes of pure messaging strategy bliss. Today we're getting Eden Bidani, a writer turned copywriter and messaging strategist to spill all her secret sauce just for you. To quote one of my favorite lines in Scary Movie, 'What are you waiting for.....what are you waiting for....what are you waiting for?' Press play

Brain Hurt Scale = 2/10 There's a famous quote by Kleiner Perkins' OG John Doer, "Ideas are easy. Execution is everything. It takes a team to win". If you've ever been responsible for bottom line results, you'll agree and nod because you know this quote to be true. Unfortunately, mastering the craft of execution is not politically advantageous. Instead, most companies reward those who are seen as a big picture thinkers not those fussing with details in the weeds. So we talk about higher-level constructs like brand, strategy, mindset, buzzwords, general approaches etc. And then outsource as much of the grunt work as possible to further this image, and as a political hedge. But, it's only when you've done the task yourself and architected operational systems, that you truly appreciate how critical the smallest details are to success. Hundreds of layered details which cascade with compounding effects that have a massive impact on the final result. And this is something that can't be solved with more tech, more planning, new frameworks, more consultants or more close-the-gap meetings. This phenomenon is especially pernicious in the field of sales/marketing/growth. A reliance on third-party vendors (agencies) to execute the work became necessary for political survival. But over time, it's led to an underappreciation of the value and importance of operations. If you work for a large brand, halo effects also hide this importance. It's only when we move to smaller organizations do we fully understand how critical it is to success. If we just took some time to at least know the basics, we would save a lot of miscommunication, misinterpretation, and failure downstream. Which brings us to today's episode with Mike Rizzo, founder of the MarketingOps community since 2017. Whether you want to call it marketing ops, growth ops, sales ops or revops it doesn't matter. Chances are the name will change again in a year or two anyway. This chat with Mike will allow us all to get a crash course in the discipline and hopefully use this knowledge to do better work. Strangely enough, most firms, don't even have a marketing ops hire. And if they do, it's more of a technician without a broader understanding of how everything else fits together into a system guided by strategy. Then there's other marketers who are doing marketing ops without even realizing it. So lets step down a few tiers from the business strategy or functional strategy layers and explore the operational strategy layer. With someone who lives and breathes marketing ops.

What is a brand? How do they work? How do you separate the marketing fluff from fact? If you want to build commercial value from marketing investments this is a mandatory listen. Listen to Dr Ethan Decker. A former ecologist who is now an applied brand science professional based in Boulder, Colorado. Nothing more needs to be said. Skip to the 5-minute mark if you want to skip the intros and Champagne sipping.

Brain Hurt Scale = 9/10. Seen that survivorship bias image floating around on LinkedIn or Twitter? You know, the one with the plane schematic with red dots showing the points where planes in world war 2 got shot. Followed by some sage remark by someone who goes on to say something about not falling victim to survivorship bias? Well, blindly believing this is something Mike says to be wary of. In this debate, I'm on one side of the argument and Mike is on the other. What comes out is not just an intellectual wank. But a conversation that teases out some key learnings which I guarantee will make you think better and make better decisions. Whether that's choosing the best marketing agency, or financial fund or even finding advice you can trust. As Mike says early on, "my views are maybe a little bit radical for the average". So if you enjoy the comfort of simple thinking and heeding LinkedIn-styled platitude wisdom, this is definitely not something you should listen to. But for everyone else, with an open mind and more brain cells than a packet of chips, get on it - and tell me what you think. Now!

In practice, Brent says over 95% of all partnerships fail. But why? And what can we do to increase the odds of success? Brent Annells is a wealth of deep knowledge in the practicalities of partnerships but also much more, courtesy of his storied career.  Starting his career in PR, grounding in core messaging and positioning strategy, it wasn't long before he was testing his chops at a startup in the early web 1.0 days just before the dot-com crash. Then he moved into the advertising agency world with roles at Cummins&Partners and DDB before reveling in Facebook's high-growth phase where he eventually became the 'Head of Brand'. Up next was a Head of Partnerships role for Uber's operations before his career continued to bloom, landing in the web 3.0 world where he is now CMO of Smart Token Labs.  It's this multi-discipline experience across small, medium and large brands that makes him the perfect guest to slice through the heart of what works and what doesn't. And in this episode, he doesn't disappoint.  Even if you're not specifically interested in partnerships or distribution, I highly recommend any entrepreneur, founder, marketer, or growth professional listen to this episode, because there's loads of timeless core wisdom to absorb.  Invaluable wisdom that you can't gain by not listening. So...

Republished with permission from Juan Mendoza, host of the Making Sense of Martech podcast. "In this episode I’m joined by John James. John is the host of the Champagne Strategy podcast, marketing, and technology consultant, and startup entrepreneur. John started working for global ad agencies then went client side, to government (B2G), B2B, B2C. Worked at digital agencies in Melbourne for half a decade in account manager roles and sales, he then started his own agency and ran that for 7 years. Then moved to live in San Francisco working as a growth manager for a startup before returning to AU to channel his energy into architecting a growth marketing platform. John also sits on a number of advisory boards and helps a modest list of privately owned businesses with their growth, sales and marketing strategy. We talk about why you don't always need MarTech and explore John's very unique perspective on why strategy is absolutely critical when it comes to buying tech. We delve deeper into how in most cases, and from what he's seen in his experience, you don't actually need a lot of technology to get the job done. Go here for show notes, links, and resources. Subscribe to The Martech Weekly here. Follow Juan Mendoza on LinkedIn and Twitter. Listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, and everywhere else. You can find John James on LinkedIn."

Brain hurt scale = 3/10. Andres Glusman was experimenting and validating products before the lean startup term was coined. It started in college selling peanuts at baseball games. Progressed to testing ads for the world's first digital agency. He was split testing Winnie the Pooh banner ads manually before ad software existed. Which led to his former agency boss getting him to solve an early traction problem for a startup called Meetup. Lashings of sales hustle and his revolutionary test-and-learn approach helped land Meetup their first round of funding and as they say, the rest is history. But Andres' success was no accident. Raised by a family of scientists and years before behavioral economics even had a name, he combined an early interest in science with psychology and economics. Now, Andres is revered the world over as one of the OG's of the lean startup and experimentation-based product growth method. However, in this episode we challenge the lean startup method as well as the data-driven culture favored by startups the world over. We talk about the importance of context. Using the right approach for the right stage of the business' maturity. Something full of tradeoffs and unavoidable error. But as he says, you need to, '...live with a tonne of error, because the alternative to that error is just more error'. "You want to change behavior. Everyone is trying to get people to behave in a certain way, so understanding behavior first means you're most likely able to, but it [experimentation] can be done wrong and done too much - and I've done both. People got hooked on the sauce." Also, find out which new product Andres is launching this week which will be a potential game-changer for the advertising world So strap yourself in for a ride as we explore the whole dynamic between decision making and political or opinion based decision making. While weaving loads of stories from his career into the mix. There's something in here for everyone no matter how advanced your knowledge. Peanuts....get your peanuts here

Brain-hurt Scale = 5/10. Some marketers believe Apple’s success stems from a series of emotional brand ads. Yet they ignore product strategy, distribution and ecosystems - which I would argue, is the true source of their market power. Some marketers might know what distribution and the power of physical availability is. They may drop the term in conversations, but rarely are they exposed to it or know how to go about affecting it.  Most of us in business will be aware of distribution networks in the physical goods world. Manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. But in the service industry, it's often far more complex and subtle. And almost no one talks about it because it's hidden from sight. It's a growth-driver that firms are cagey about disclosing in public. But, probably the most powerful lever a business can pull, and very defensible once established.  This episode is the last in what is now a three-part mini-series on building distribution networks via partnerships. And there are many forms of partnerships. This is one of the first things we discuss. But, if you're just getting into the partnership side of things, I'd suggest listening to the first in this series, season 2, episode 3 with Ayaan and Peter from Impact on the topic of affiliates, digital partnerships and content. We go through lots of examples including large tech companies like Canva and smaller retailers. We start drawing lines to the natural connection partnerships have with communities, superfans, and advocates. Then listen to season 3, episode 26 where we speak with Brent Annells mostly about strategic partnerships. This is all the big deals you'll make which have the potential to create step-change growth.  In this one, we’re going to cover some of the same territory from both former episodes, but take it a step further to the upper rung of the partnership world. Where we look at scaling partnerships into systems. Specifically partnership ecosystems and communities. With examples that are most relevant to larger enterprise and SaaS tech. But even if your company is small, there's an important genesis story and lots of takeaways if you're have a less mature partnership function. This is because Bryan has created these programs from scratch. So important learnings apply to people working in a less mature partnerships function. There’s a running joke about content marketing which says content marketing works best when marketing isn’t involved. And the core lesson here for anyone that cares, is source message credibility. I.e. a source is more trusted when the brand itself isn’t the direct source of the message. And on that vein, partnerships, communities and ecosystems tend to work best when we create networks where other people becomes advocates and sell our product instead. But setting up these systems requires a lot more skill and strategic thought than simply booking a few meetings and trying to sell them a deal. Which brings us to Bryan and Xero. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you should have heard about Intuit QuickBooks and Xero. Today’s guest, Bryan was one of the original employees who kickstarted the creation of Xero’s partnership ecosystem and community. Which he started pretty much from scratch. Xero is a large multi-billion dollar public company which dominants the category of accounting software in APAC. He has since left but now advises other firms on all the dos and don’ts so they can create their own distributed partner networks. So we go through his process in a reasonable amount of detail. By the end of the episode, you should be easily able to prevent yourself from making rookie mistakes if you’re going to pursue these growth levers yourself. And you'll learn what a Champagne beer is Sound good? Click play to partner

Brain-hurt scale = 4/10. "Don't worry about profit. Just get me more growth. We can always worry about monetization and margins later." This type of statement is quite dominant within Silicon Valley culture and within modern entrepreneurship. But just how valid is this advice? Luckily, Per Davidsson, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Queensland University of Technology can answer that in detail.  But first, what is entrepreneurship and what is growth for that matter? How do we define and measure them? Why does the best business advice come from the people farthest away from you? Why is buying customers almost always a bad idea? If you want to predict the future success of a business or know your odds before you set out on an entrepreneurial journey, or even help decide whether to accept that new job at a 'high-growth' firm...this is an unmissable episode which has something for everyone.  An easy listen which can help you understand some of the macro-laws behind business growth and profit.  I'm now thinking I should be charging for these episodes. Got to increase dem margins...

This is a follow up to a former talk we had with Elisa Choy about market research and predictive AI. We heard she was gearing up to predict the results of the US midterms. This was something I followed closely this time around. Following Elisa's posts and predictions as they manifested leading up to election day.  Here's the story of how she again, got it right. Why she got it right. The major mistakes the Republicans made. And more information on how you could use her method to predict the next election in your own country. 

"You're wrong - Byron Sharp says loyalty doesn't exist." said a person on Twitter recently. This statement then started a string of comments as people started to argue who was right. I found this entire argument strange, because obviously that person has not read the book from the author he was referring to.  One of my first jobs was to research all the loyalty programs in the country and figure out how they worked, what their incentive programs offered, the value of points in fiat currency equivalent and lots more. And I discovered a global points-hacking community obsessed with documenting and exploiting some of these systems. It was fascinating.  But those are points systems. Not loyalty programs. So if you want to learn about loyalty programs, membership programs, points programs, this is the episode for you.  Adam is an independent consultant who has been architecting these programs for businesses large and small for the best part of a decade. And each year he puts out a state of the market report which covers the entire industry in Australia.  So I ask all the hard questions about loyalty, and you get the answers.  And we start with, "Does loyalty even exist?" Want to know what he says?

Have you noticed over the past year or so, all social media content is regressing to the mean of bland, sameness? Content which appears useful at face value but isn't. Feeds and blogs full of posts that all look and sound like each other. Most are wildly popular. But when you dig beneath the surface you'll find them as unhelpful as they are helpful.  We've all been tempted to emulate this style. But what’s being lost in this process is something much deeper. A void has been created. This proliferation of generic sameness presents an immense opportunity for the opposite. High quality, well-thought-out, useful content. But how do you go about doing that?  Well, Flavia did this from scratch for an advertising agency called Sapient before it merged with Publicis and Razorfish. And you'll hear the whole story of how she did this. Including details about her nucleus framework.  And this did this on the side while consulting and running BrandingMag. She's a writer by trade, but also architected content strategy and has a firm grasp on everything brand. This is rare. So we just had to get her take on all things content. And it's her ability to blend brand with content that gives her this practical yet strategically-grounded perspective that’s quite unique. In this episode she eloquently explains how interlinked and essential the relationship is between content and brand But, what is brand? What critical half of brand do most people miss? What’s content for that matter? What’s content marketing? And what’s the difference between high and low quality? You’ll also learn how to do real thought leadership. Powerful pieces that move people versus the fluff you see plastered over Linkedin. So have a listen and Flavia will teach you the exact framework she uses to set up a world-class content ecosystem at any company. And there’s lots of tactical takeaways, from things like how to get time from very senior and busy people within the org to get the content you need. Through to how you can get onside, people internally so make all of this happen.  And of course we talk about Brandingmag's genesis story and where they are heading in the future This is deep and detailed Are you feeling lucky punk?  Well are ya?

A simple idea during 2020s lockdown has now led to Juan being invited on stages around the world, working with Scott Brinker, SVP from Hubspot and consulting opportunities galore. But it all started by creating by creating a simple blog and newsletter. A newsletter which is now one of the most trusted in the world on Martech.  And for the first time, ever, you'll hear from the horse's mouth, exactly how he did it. This is the story of Juan Mendoza's rise to fame which has remained untold until now.  Even if content marketing, owned media or building a media company isn't your cup of tea...there's so much more to gain by listening.  The modern state of marketing is discussed in many facets - both from a philosophical approach, through to strategy and tactics. And what I discovered is that Juan is someone who can talk very eloquently about multiple topics, in considerable depth, on the spot. A rare skill indeed.  A live interview serves as a very effective litmus test for wisdom. You can tap into this wisdom right now....so what are you waiting for! 

Brain hurt scale = 4/10. We've all heard examples of a big brand CMO starting their own business or going to work for a smaller company and it usually ends in tears. Exposed naked, without the halo effect of a big brand, including operational processes and agency support, it can be a confronting, reality-check experience at best. And a complete disaster at worst.  So ,any marketers just stick in their lane. If they start in one sector, they tend to stick to it. If they work at a large brand, they tend to continue seeking roles at similar firms. Vary rarely do they move into completely different environments. But what's lost, is this opportunity to test their own assumptions and uncover marketing first-principles. I'm a personal fan of Jon's podcast, the Uncensored CMO. And we've had a few LinkedIn chats over the years. But when I found out about his own personal experience where he transitioned as the CMO of a large CPG/FMCG firm to the first and only marketing hire at a small regional juice company - the story was so fascinating I just had to get it recorded.  And as we go deep into Jon's career experiences, what washes out of this discussion is pure gold.  It's an easy listen and entertaining story. But hidden throughout for the keen listener, are critical pieces of wisdom that any practicing marketer could benefit from. What barbed nicknames do Ritson and Byron Sharp give each other? What are the key differences between big brand CMO vs small brand CMOs - What three key points can large brand CMO’s take away from small brand experiences. How did he adapt from a $7 million budget and a team of 50 - to $0 and a team of just one.  How did he turn around a situation where he lost 15-20% of his buyers almost overnight.  What do marketing novices and world-class experts have in common Why was he literally blowing-up fruit with explosive charges?  What's the story behind how he started his podcast and how it got to be one of the biggest marketing podcasts in the world. What is the new product System 1 are releasing that could be a game changer How we can use emotional tests to predict future behavior What are the three reasons why everyone hates marketers? Questions...questions...questions...so many questions. Get the answers

Brain hurt scale 7/10. Mike Talor helps us put the last 5 episodes on Marketing Measurement into practical context. Having started a growth agency many years ago and still an active practitioner in the field, there was perhaps no one more appropriate to talk to about this topic.  We've spoke to Elisa Choy about sentiment tracking, Jonathan Rolley about advertising media measurement, Edgar Baum about brand tracking, Michael Kaminsky about MMM and Koen Pauwels about econometrics. But often, what you should do in a perfect world, is very different to the realities of actually implementing these systems within different organizations.  So this episode looks at them all and puts it into context. Political navigation. Firm size and maturity. Different cultures and approaches etc.  We tap into his wisdom at how to go about it.

Brain hurt scale 4/10. Jonathan Rolley is an agency owner who specializes in buying media and executing campaigns for brands who actually want a measured response. Sounds crazy I know. But instead of optimizing for vanity metrics like impressions, reach, brand awareness, brand consideration, brand preference and even salience. He's more concerned about whether it resulted in purchases (the response). Hence his aptly named company, Direct Response Media.  But ironically, because he's concerned about financial outcomes from media spend, most marketing people do not engage him. He deals primarily with CEO's, CFO's and COO's rather than CMOs. Something I can personally relate to as well. Why? Because the truth is that the bulk of CMO's don't care about sales revenue nor the true financial effect from any marketing efforts. That's hard. And it's often less fun than spinning up some creative concepts and sipping martini's  with your agency rep at a media event they invited you to.  We explore this political dynamic which plagues marketing teams' ability to spend resources in a way that contributes to bottom line results. It's also the key reason why marketers don't get a seat at the board table. He uses multiple first-hand stories to illustrate this key point.  In the end, we both land on a key contributing factor which determines whether a firm's marketing team stays in the land of sunshine and rainbows or ventures into the heart of business value-creation. And it's a stark difference between the two. So if you're a marketer who wishes to move on from the land of 'brand' campaigns and active avoidance of financial accountability, and wish to learn how real marketing works - press play.  If you dare. Very red pill

Brain hurt scale 6/10. Did you know? Elisa and her firm predicted the results of the last Australian federal election weeks before it happened? And this wasn't an isolated incident.  Contrary to popular perception, predicting future market behavior is possible. So why don't more organizations do it? This question and many more about the mysterious new wave of the market research world will be answered. But it won't be answered by reading this text. Start listening

Brain-hurt scale 9/10 - Brand tracking. You just track awareness and some other association or brand dimensions over time and if they all increase relative to your competitors, your brand wins, right?  The famous brand tracking companies that all famous agencies use are all highly reputable, use robust measurement methodologies and wouldn't lie to our faces, would they? The more brand awareness we get, the healthier our business' bottom line will be right? Or.. salience and mental availability are the real brand measures we should be tracking if we want the business to earn more revenue and profit, right?  Find out the answer to those questions and more including exposure of all the dirty tricks of the trade which occur in the market research and brand tracking industry. Subterfuge which points many sophisticated brands, who should know better, in completely the wrong direction.  Edgar Baum specializes in connecting the world of brand and finance together. Something even the most famous firms and academics in this area don't do.  The orthodox view in the field of marketing is the assumption that the bigger the brand, the bigger and more successful the business. But this relies on a key assumption that only a marketer trained in mathematics and finance would be able to refute.  Sounds juicy, doesn't it? Well, what are you waiting for?  Dive in if you dare

Brain-hurt scale 10/10 - Marketing Mix Modelling or MMM for short is, to paraphrase Zoolander, 'So Hot Right Now'. It seems every day I see another firm pop up with an AI, ML-powered MMM product that claims to be the silver bullet that will fix our iOS14-induced digital attribution void and transport us back to measurement nirvana. But, as you'll find out by listening to this episode, Caveat Emptor.  In order to make wise choices in this area, it's first necessary to understand some of the basics of MMM. What it is and how it works. What it does, what it doesn't do. It's strengths and weaknesses. How to set it up. What data-sources and metrics to use. How to optimize and improve them over time. And how to judge one MMM vendor from the next.  As a Reforge fan, I stumbled across Recast and again recommended them by Mike Taylor. This wasn't a planned interview, so you'll have to excuse the poor quality, but I trust the depth of the conversation will make up for it. And I found it so interesting that I thought I'd share it with you all. It should give you a really good crash-course in the world of MMM and help you make wiser choices if you're in the market to implement one of these systems in your organization. 

Brain-hurt scale = 9/10. Every day, we hear about new studies in the field of marketing and growth. Industry whitepapers. Academic theories. This law. That law. An industry group finds TV is better than Facebook. The next week, another group finds the exact opposite. Byron vs Binet. Galloway vs Gary V. This study vs that study. It's exhausting, now to sit here and even write about it. Unfortunately, for the rest of us. Everyone is so busy selling their angle, what gets lost in all this radio ga ga is the truth. Then again, does anyone really care underneath? Many famous commentators have built successful personal brands off the back of other people's work. They cherry-picking findings, write an article or two, publishing a blog, post on the socials, wrap it up into a few keynote speeches, and cash out by selling online courses on the side. And these are often very entertaining people. Talented writers and fantastic speakers. They know how to capture our attention, keep it and stay top of mind.  And we'll admit. Some of these findings can sound really good. They can feel right. They might even reinforce our beliefs or suspicions. They're easy to understand and communicate to others. They simplify complexity. But, if you're trying to get closer to the truth in order to make well-informed decisions, there's often just a lot of noise we have to wade through first to get to the answer. So, what works and what doesn't? What's valid and what's just paper-pushing academia or industry lobby hogwash. What's popular thought and what's true?  Well, we though we'd ask Koen Pauwels some of these questions.  His career is interesting to say the least. He started as econometrician. Then mixed this knowledge with marketing and became revered for creating accurate econometric models as an early pioneer of BI dashboards. This was almost a decade before digital dashboard systems hit the mass-market.  But perhaps best of all, he's got a lot of personal experience wrapping all of these academic concepts into actions which businesses can actually use to pre-test their ideas, measure effectiveness and make better decisions. What he found, and what we also know in practice is that context, really, really matters. And the variability of different contexts is often skipped in the broader marketing industry debate.  What works for one business in one territory in one geography, in one product category. Can be completely different to another company operating within the same parameters. Why is that? Especially if there are pretty concrete, broad-brush laws that should apply? Even if you read into EBI's work, you'll notice quite a lot of variation within laws that broadly hold true. Ignoring these edge cases, or variance is a critical mistake. It doesn't necessarily disprove laws, but it's really important to understand all the variables that are at play. This requires delving a bit deeper than all famous industry commentators do.  So strap yourself in and marketing-geek out with this episode.  Learn about beer and Champagne.  Learn how the tradition of spraying bottles of bubbly during car races first started.  Learn the political reality of marketing decision-making.  Sort the academic paper chaff from the wheat.  But most of all, tap into Koen's deep expertise bridging the gap between marketing theory and practice.  Ready?

Brain-hurt scale = 6/10. If you work in the world of advertising or media, especially in Australia or the UK, I'd be surprised if you haven't heard of Karen Nelson Field.  Fresh from an escapade sipping rose and snacking on caviar on the French Riviera, we’re actually not talking to her about attention & advertising measurement. Sorry to disappoint. But, that's been covered in depth already. Instead we're talking about categories and applied marketing/entrepreneurship. All about how she's put theory into practice and the gulf between the two.  As a former academic and researcher at the Ehrenberg Bass Institute, we were especially interested to hear her take on the latter.  What motivated her to strike out on her own and start Amplified Intelligence? How has she crafted her personal brand over the years?  Why focus on the area of attention measurement and where does she believe the firm is heading in the future? In this episode you'll learn how different an understanding Marketing theory and laws is, versus actually implementing this knowledge in a business. Crafting a product offering and creating a category from scratch. Some famous industry commentators like to commentate & criticize from the sidelines. Whereas Karen has put her money where her mouth is. A lot do not. We explore categories. Product categories, market categories. Category creation. Do categories even exist anyway? How bound are we by them? Can we stretch, distort, move outside or even create our own entirely? Along the way, you'll hear her entrepreneurial story which hasn’t been covered in detail before today.  So come behind the scenes.  Behind what you probably know about KNF and discover a different side.  A deep business intellect which many haven’t explored.  Until today. Until you press play.