Uncensored CMO

What we covered in this episode:Why some brands have accelerated their growth with 3 years of market progression in 3 months, while others hit hardHow those brands that have gone dark and said nothing will be worst affectedWhy Brewgooder’s work during the crisis has been impressiveHow brands can do things without looking like they’re just jumping on the COVID bandwagonAre there any signs of things getting better for clients?How has Manifest changed in the past 3 months and what is going to stay permanentWhy they love the officeAdvice - write your brief. There is an opportunity for you to recast your brand in the ‘new normal’. We won’t ever get a chance to hit the reset button again!

In this episode we discuss:Brewdog's hand sanitiserITV's Clap From Our Carers campaignWhy Uncommon are making candlesHow Boris could have handled his messaging betterWhat advice Lucy would give people in advertisingWhy this recession presents an opportunityFollow me:Twitter | @uncensoredCMOLinkedInContact me:Website | www.uncensoredcmo.comEmail – [email protected]

Kate joined ITV in 2019 in the newly created role of Director of Client Strategy and Planning, with a remit to help ITV Commercial build broader and deeper relationships with advertisers. A creative strategist by background and a highly respected and well known strategic leader with twenty years’ experience across a range of communications disciplines from advertising, to PR to digital, Kate has worked across sectors as diverse as automotive, retail, government and public sector, FMCG and financial services. Kate has written / contributed to award winning IPA Effectiveness entries for Co-op Food Retail, Public Health England Tobacco Control and Stoptober.In this episode we covered:What is the impact on the team with remote working?How has TV and ITV in particular changed (programs/advertising/production etc)I see viewing figures up so isn’t this a good thing?Clap for Carers – well done! What was the idea behind thatPeople’s Ad break – tell me more …Are you seeing Advertising changing?Any sign of Advertisers coming back?What advice would you give brands now?

Ian Millner is global CEO and co-founder of Iris - one of the most successful independent agencies in the UK. He set the agency up 20 years ago as a partnership with his co-founders and it now boasts some of the world’s most famous brands such as Samsung and Adidas. A genuine multi-disciplinary agency with offices around the World iris have successfully moved with the times.In this episode we coverIntroduction – how Ian is doing!Impact – how the virus affected businessChallenges – what have been the biggest challenges this crisis has created for the agency, given the budget cutsOpportunities – have there been any opportunities arise from the pandemic?Team – what has been the impact on the team? How should you lead others remotely?Future – how do we look to the future and stay positive?Follow me:Twitter | @uncensoredCMOLinkedInContact me:Website | www.uncensoredcmo.comEmail – [email protected]

Orlando Wood is the chief innovation officer at System1, and author of the IPA's best-selling book, Lemon. He also happens to be my colleague.What we cover:What is Lemon all about?How right-brained attributes in advertising can help long term brand buildingWhat impact will the Coronavirus have on the left-right brained way we think of the world?Should you continue doing the 'Covid-Ads' or should you stick to what you know?Can old Ads really be effective? Should brands go into the archives?Follow me:Twitter | @uncensoredCMOLinkedInContact me:Website | www.uncensoredcmo.comEmail – [email protected]

About the guests:Simon DentSimon Dent is a former sports lawyer and founder of Dark Horses, a sports marketing agency. Simon had experience of mental health problems in his 20s and after launching a couple of failed businesses he finally got it right with Dark Horses. Dark Horses, the sports creative agency, is the fifth fastest-growing creative agency in the world.Ben BidwellBen, otherwise known as The Naked Professor, is a mindset coach, writer & public speaker who is pioneering a revolution to change the stigma about mental health. He invites his audience to connect more with their emotions whilst empowering the men in the room to retain their authentic masculinity.What we discussedIntroduction – who are our guests and how did they get to where they areImpact – how has COVID impacted on a fast-growing agency?Challenges – what have been the biggest challenges this crisis has created for the agency?Opportunities – have there been any opportunities arise from the pandemic?Team – what has been the impact on the team? How should you lead others remotely?Future – how do we look to the future and stay positive?Follow me:Twitter | @uncensoredCMOLinkedInContact me:Website | www.uncensoredcmo.comEmail – [email protected]

Mark Evans is the Managing Director, Marketing & Digital at Direct Line and has been at the company for over 8 years. He's seen some ups and downs but has never seen a challenge such as the Coronavirus. How has the company been impacted, what challenges have they faced and what opportunities can come from this?What do we cover in this episode?Introduction – who is Mark Evans and how did he end up in this positionImpact – how has COVID impacted on DLG? It happened on the tail end of a major relaunch of the Direct Line brandChallenges – what have been the biggest challenges this crisis has created for Direct Line? How are they responding to these?Opportunities – what opportunities have emerged through this? Are people taking insurance more seriously?Media – will Direct Line continue to Advertise? Wil the message change?Team – what has been the impact on the team? How should you lead others remotely?Future – what's the outlook for the economy and their sector? Short v Long termFollow me:Twitter | @uncensoredCMOLinkedInContact me:Website | www.uncensoredcmo.comEmail – [email protected]

Welcome back everybody to the Uncensored CMO in rather different circumstances this time. So we were nicely underway with recording season 2 and we had interviews with Rory Sutherland, we had Mark Borkowski on there, Nils Leonard from Uncommon.But you know what? It just didn't seem right to go out there with season 2 as planned when we're all in the middle of a crisis and our minds quite frankly or are elsewhere.So what I thought I'd do instead was bring you some Covid-related catch-ups with industry leaders from different sectors. PR experts, CMOs running businesses with big P+Ls and thought leaders in the industry people like Orlando Wood, author of Lemon. I really want to hear their perspective on how should we be responding to this crisis?What advice can they give us about how they are managing through what is unprecedented times with high level of uncertainty about what the future is going to hold? So rather than give you the whole hour as I did in season 1 these are going to be tight 20-30 minute interviews with people that can offer their perspective advice.Another thing you'll probably notice is a slightly different sound because we're recording from home, so bear with us this season. It might not be quite the rich experience that you're used to if you listened to season 1, but we'll be doing our very best and producer James will be working his considerable magic from his home office. And on the other side will bring you season 2.

Jessica Butcher MBE is a tech entrepreneur, angel investor, speaker and mentor. She is perhaps most famous as one of the co-founders of Blippar, a pioneer in Augmented Reality which was once valued at over $1billion and described as one of the 20 most disruptive brands in the world. She is the recipient of numerous awards including BBC’s Top 100 women.In this episode:How falling in love led to her big break as an entrepreneurHow Blippar created Augmented Reality and what it was like on board a rocket ship that went from 4 to 350 employees and a valuation of $1billion.Why someone with a degree in history wanted to be a tech entrepreneurWhich client inspired them to create Blippar enabled business cardsHaving 3 children in 4 years and how that changed her prioritiesThe challenge of scaling a business and knowing your limitsHow social media is promoting polarisation, narcissism and infinite scroll time-wasting and how tech needs to become more humaneWe need to identify between healthy and junk technology and treat it as suchPreparing the child for the road not the road for the childThe inspiration behind Tick.Done and how it will help people learn how to do things without getting sucked into infinite scrollThis is part 1 of the interview with Jess and we’ll be returning in Season2 to discuss what it's like being a woman in tech.Follow me:Twitter | @uncensoredCMOLinkedInContact me:Website | www.uncensoredcmo.comEmail – [email protected] Butcher:TwitterTick DoneBlipparThe Coddling of the American Mind

Alex Myers is founder of Manifest who were recently awarded Agency of the Decade for their work making BrewDog famous. Having worked on BrewDog for most of the past 10 years they helped establish the brand as the UK’s most valuable Beer brand (source BrandZ top 75 UK brands) with virtually no paid for media. Manifest have a clear purpose of creating brands that change the world and put their money where their mouth is. In this episode:How Alex started a PR agency with no experience at allNever mind the bollocks here’s Brewdog was Alex’s opening pitch to work for themIts not what you stand for its what you stand up for that countsThere is no such thing as a boring brief only boring creativeFinding inspiration from roof tiles and why Alex believes his job is to find out why people get up in the morningHello my name is Vladimir. Creating a protest beer to promote what BrewDog believe in.How to make brave the new safeHow Twitter went from a platform for collaboration to a platform for outrageHaving a public spat with James Watt over Punk AF and not getting creditWhy pitching doesn’t work for brands and why CMO’s need to do their researchStrategy should come from your belief and not a rationaleManifests vision to create brands that change the worldWhy Awards are easy to game but do provide a Sat Nav for CMO’s on who is doing good workFind out who Alex has a professional crush onWhy doing good and having a positive impact should be synonymous with successWhy the best work comes from making every channel amplify the otherWhat Alex has never told anyoneFollow me:Twitter | @uncensoredCMOLinkedInContact me:Website | www.uncensoredcmo.comEmail – [email protected] Alex:Alex on TwitterManifest TwitterManifest

Ian Millner is global CEO and co-founder of iris one of the most successful independent agencies in the UK. He set the agency up 20 years ago as a partnership with his co-founders and it now boasts some of the world’s most famous brands such as Samsung and Adidas. A genuine multi-disciplinary agency with offices around the World iris have successfully moved with the times.In this episodeWhy agencies get the clients they deserveThe importance of genuine diversity and how it contributes to innovationWhy a good pitcher does not always make a good partnerFinding sources of unfair advantageWhen clients make things they wouldn’t buy from an agencyWhy Ian can’t stand Ad industry awardsWhen it makes sense to in-house your agency and out-source your agencyWhy Campaign should apologise for backing down on the Nigel Farage front coverThe importance of creating cultural assets in today's social media driven ageIan reveals his plans to write a book about unspoken social behaviourFollow me:Twitter | @uncensoredCMOLinkedInContact me:Website | www.uncensoredcmo.comEmail – [email protected] MillnerIan's TwitterIris' TwitterIris Worldwide

Arron is co-founder of The Goat Agency which is the fastest-growing agency in Europe and one of the most successful influencer agencies in the World. He and his co-founders set up the agency 4 years ago with their own money and now employ 130 people around the world and manage around 90 social media campaigns at any one time. Arron has a wonderful personal story and a very compelling pitch for his agency.In this episodeArron’s entrepreneurial roots and creating something out of nothingThe fear of not trying is much greater than the fear of failureWhy more people should realise how hard being an entrepreneur isHow they generated 2,000 responses from a £10 investment in their first influencer What you do when 80% of influencer campaigns don’t workWhy Arron loves the procurement department and he proves the return on investment of an influencer campaignThe benefit of having no experience in your sectorThe importance of recruiting talent without experienceHow an influencer campaign can make your TV campaign more impactfulHow Content & Collaboration are the key to any campaign including B2BArron’s vision to build the world’s largest creative agencyArron reveals his secret new dietFollow me:Twitter | @uncensoredCMOLinkedInContact me:Website | www.uncensoredcmo.comEmail – [email protected] ShepherdArron's TwitterThe Goat Agency TwitterThe Goat Agency

Adam is the founder of the eatbigfish consultancy and author of Eating The Big Fish which reached the Top100 books in the Amazon charts inspiring a whole generation of challenger brands in the process. Adam is a popular speaker and consults with brands all over the world on how to be a challenger. He has also written The Pirate Inside about building a challenger culture within your organisation and A Beautiful Constraint how to turn your limitations into advantages.In this episode:Why being No.2 is betterHow he turned the anger of his project being shelved into a career-defining opportunityBeing turned down by Phil Knight and where the idea of a Challenger brand came fromThe importance of over-commitment and being obsessed with executionHow Tony’s Chocolonely have become a truly challenger brandHow to be a pirate in the navy without getting firedWhat you can learn from a catwalk show and how constraints can turn into your greatest advantageThe curse of data and how it leads us to a decline in creativityThe furtile zero and what to do with no budgetAdam shares his worst career momentWhy the meeting is never really the meeting and why the Japanese fall asleep in meetingsThe one thing Adam has never told anyone beforeFollow me:Twitter | @uncensoredCMOLinkedInContact me:Website | www.uncensoredcmo.comEmail – [email protected] Morgan:Twitter | @eatbigfishwww.eatbigfish.comEating The Big FishThe Pirate InsideA Beautiful Constraint

Richard is author of the No.1 Marketing Book The Choice Factory which was the winner of BBH’s World Cup of Advertising books in 2018 beating some industry heavy-weights. Richard has 20 years of experience in Advertising planning, market research and behavioural science and last year made the big leap to set up a consultancy following the success of his book.In this episodeHow he ended up writing the best-selling marketing book of 2019Why behavioural science should matter to every marketerWhy rhyming phrases are not just more memorably but also more believable tooHow the decline in CMO & agency tenure is impacting on long term effectivenessHow our own experience impacts on our perceptions (the false consensus effect)The impact of social proof on sales and how to use itWhy you’ll spend less on a night out when paying cashHow making something easy is a huge competitive advantageWhy branded glasses make beer taste better and worth moreWhy a 4.5* review beats a 5* review (the pratfall effect)How many of the best ideas happened by accident but were Follow me:Twitter | @uncensoredCMOLinkedInGet in touch:Website | www.uncensoredcmo.comEmail | [email protected] Richard:Twitter | @rshottonThe Choice Factory

When I say CMO what do you think of? I know, for me, I think boardroom politics. I think carefully managed messages. I think slick presentations. But what I don't get is, I don't get an honest answer. I don't get to know what they really think. I don't get to know how have they got where they are today, and what has shaped and influenced their career. And that got me thinking, wouldn't it be great if we had a podcast that asked some of the tough questions that get to the heart of what's going on. One that takes you behind the scenes to see how it really works. That's where the idea of Uncensored CMO came from.I want to connect you to the best marketers on the planet. The people that have founded and run ad agencies, the people that do the most amazing research and the people that influence people through PR. I want to get to those people and find out how it actually works. Tell me the things that have gone well. Tell me the things that have failed. Let me give you a little flavour to season one. I'm gonna be meeting people like Adam Morgan who founded the whole idea of challenger brands. I asked him, "How do you make a great challenger brand?"The whole world of influencers, to me, was quite mysterious, but I went and met Arron Shepherd, he co-founded The Goat Agency, and I asked him about what a successful influencer campaign looks like.Or, someone like Ian Millner, global CEO and founder of Iris. What's it like running a big ad agency? How do you get great work and how do you measure great advertising? What does a modern brand today have to do to stand out and be successful?These are just some of the conversations I've been having, and there are loads more to come.So I really hope you'll listen and subscribe to The Uncensored CMO. I'm gonna be launching this podcast on 16th December so set a notification, remind yourself to subscribe.You can also follow me on Twitter, @UncensoredCMO. I look forward to having a great conversation with you.