How does someone create advertising for a brand that is over 150 years old? That is exactly what Stephen O'Kelly has been tasked with as Global Brand Director at Guinness, one of the most iconic brands in the world. Recorded from the Connoisseur bar at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, this episode of Uncensored CMO is special. Not just because of how much history is involved in the brand, but the fact that Stephen is a fourth generation employee, carrying on the legacy of his family.

Vikki Ross is a copywriting expert. Having worked for some major brand in the past two decades, she knows a thing or two about branding and tone of voice. This episode is a copywriting masterclass. We start by delving into the principles of great copy, before looking at it in action with our very own Copy Safari (where we go out into the world to find real ads), and then round off by asking the big question; is AI going to replace copywriters? Links Eats, Shoots and Leaves book Elements of F*cking Style book Bland Book Vikki's Twitter Vikki's LinkedIn Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:59 - How Vicki got into copywriting 00:03:53 - Advice for people wanting to get into copywriting 00:07:34 - Why are car ads so bad? 00:09:39 - Is copywriting intimidating? 00:11:26 - Why copywriters need a good brief 00:14:50 - When copy goes wrong 00:18:17 - The principles of great copy 00:23:03 - This sentence has five words 00:25:49 - Power of a six word story 00:26:47 - #CopySafari 00:30:13 - Prime - It’s Right Here 00:31:58 - Nurofen and Nuromol 00:35:28 - Why marketers should work with lawyers 00:38:39 - Uber Eats - Just a tap away 00:41:19 - Subway - Saver Subs 00:43:00 - Lebara Mobile - Blady Blah 00:44:27 - Sacla - Spaghetti You Won’t Forgetti 00:45:56 - Monday.com - Meet your power suite 00:47:32 - TFL - See it, say it, sorted 00:49:42 - Greatest copywriting examples of of recent times 00:52:00 - Vikki’s favourite campaigns she’s worked on 00:55:05 - Will AI take copywriter’s jobs? 01:03:28 - Advice for clients on copy

We're doing things a little bit differently this week. I've just recorded a webinar with Mark Ritson on advertising effectiveness with a very special guest, the VP for global marketing, Gui Ferreira from Mondelez. They are responsible for some of the epic Cadbury work that has scored right at the top of the System1 charts. We discussed what makes their advertising so good, what are the principles of advertising effectiveness and what can we learn? Watch the ads referenced in this podcast: Cadbury Garage Oreo Twist Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 03:23 Why creativity matters 04:31 Investing in creativity 08:00 Being forced into short term tactics 10:46 How to write a better brief 14:45 Distinctive assets (Oreo Ad) 20:10 Cadbury Garage Ad 22:07 Orlando Chart 23:21 Cadbury Generosity 27:24 How Cadbury approaches creative development 29:22 Data vs creative judgement 32:53 How to measure creative 40:15 Q&A

Today I'm joined by Mike Cessario, the founder and CEO of Liquid Death, a water brand worth $1.4b. With the use of creative brand marketing and punk aesthetic, Mike was able to break into the biggest beverage category in the US and disrupt market dominated by huge brands such as Coke and Pepsi. This is a truly inspirational story on how you can defy the odds, break convention, disrupt a category and do it all on a shoestring budget. If you're a challenger brand, this is a must listen. Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:10 - Mike’s background 00:06:24 - Mike’s brandy startup 00:10:33 - Navigating regulation 00:12:46 - The benefits of being an outsider distrupting an industry 00:14:57 - Coming up with the idea for Liquid Death 00:19:30 - How to create an innovative brand 00:23:48 - Selling the Liquid Death concept 00:27:08 - Raising money for Liquid Death 00:29:50 - Launching on Amazon 00:30:52 - Generating demand in the early days 00:31:46 - Figuring out distribution networks for the drinks industry 00:35:45 - Why limited budgets helped Liquid Death grow 00:44:11 - Why D2C was pivotal for Liquid Death 00:46:12 - Liquid Death’s unique Super Bowl campaign 00:49:54 - The power of the Liquid Death merch 00:53:00 - Innovation for the future of Liquid Death 00:54:15 - Scaling and exit 00:56:02 - Having famous investors 00:57:29 - Maintaining the challenger spirit 01:01:58 - Mike’s advice to aspiring founders

As Chief Marketing Officer, Michelle Taite leads Intuit Mailchimp’s Marketing teams and is responsible for the business’ end-to-end brand, acquisition, performance, product, and lifecycle marketing activities globally in addition to Mailchimp's in-house creative agency Wink. Joining just after Mailchimp's $12b acquisition, Michelle had the task of integrating their marketing into the wider Intuit team. Intro 00:00 - Intro 00:48 - Starting out desigining sneakers 02:39 - From New Balance to Unilever 04:13 - Doing purpose work for Dove 05:15 - Michelle’s favourite work at Unilever 06:27 - From CPG to SaaS 09:29 - What is Mailchimp and why is it successful 11:06 - Staying close to the customer 13:26 - How to market to marketers 14:54 - Email is not dead 16:15 - Integrating an acquired company 20:40 - Performance vs brand marketing 25:16 - How AI will enhance creativity 29:20 - Mailchimp's distinctive assets 33:21 - How marketing influences the product 35:56 - How to market to marketers 38:35 - Obsessing about the 95% not in market 40:45 - Top CMO advice from Michelle

Jo Shoesmith is the Global Chief Creative Officer at Amazon. She leads lead brand creative, design, production, social, and brand identity functions, as well as agency partnerships, in the largest fixed marketing portfolio investment at Amazon. 00:00 - Intro 01:04 - From rural Australia to Los Angeles 01:58 - From agency to client side 04:44 - That famous Jeff Bezos marketing quote 05:50 - What does the Chief Creative Officer at Amazon do 07:41 - Creating emotional, brand building advertising 09:22 - Using the brand distintive assets 10:33 - Creating inclusive advertising 13:05 - Advice for writing a really good brief 14:43 - Tenets to inform great creative 15:45 - Benefits of having in house creative (and working with agencies) 17:42 - Managing global creative teams 19:36 - What’s it like making a Super Bowl ad 22:42 - Innovation within Amazon 24:12 - Making things happen in a huge business 25:13 - Simplifying complex creative ideas 28:23 - Work Jo is most proud of 31:39 - How Amazon are using AI 33:44 - Advice to a young Jo

Today I'm speaking with Whyte and Mackay Marketing Director Janice McIntosh and Mr President (their agency) CCO Jon Gledstone about the launch of their new campaign for The Woodsman brand. The "Well Earned" campaign score a whopping 4.8 stars on the System1 test and saw the launch of a brand character, Barry the Beaver, in a move that defies convention in the traditional Whisky category. From internal battles to hurdles presented by the regulators, both Whyte and Mackay and Mr President had to overcome some barriers to bring this campaign to life. Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 01:01 - Inventing The Woodsman 01:42 - Creating a brand dominated by big players 04:00 - Standing out in a product dominated category 05:46 - Balancing demand and supply 06:31 - Availablity of the brand 07:11 - Overcoming perception barriers 09:15 - Coming up with the “Well Earned” positioning 13:06 - How to sell in breaking convention 16:00 - How the agency helped sell the idea 18:29 - Creating a new character 20:02 - Characters vs Celebrities 21:07 - Using humour in a traditional category 23:23 - Creating a physical barry the beaver 24:18 - The importance of craft in the ad 26:07 - Staying on the right side of regulations 28:23 - A good client agency relationship 30:09 - How important is testing and data to back up creative decisions 31:53 - The importance of mental and physical availability 33:32 - The results 35:01 - What’s next for the brand?

Bozoma Saint John is a Hall of Fame Inducted Marketing Executive, Entrepreneur and Author of her memoir, The Urgent Life. Her career has included roles as the Global CMO of Netflix, CMO of Endeavor, CBO of Uber, Head of Marketing of Apple Music & iTunes and Head of Music and Entertainment Marketing at PepsiCo. Follow Boz Instagram LinkedIn Twitter/X Her book - This Urgent Life Follow Jon Jon's LinkedIn Jon's Twitter Watch the Uncensored CMO on YouTube Timestamps 00:00 - Start 01:34 - Why Boz wrote such an emotional book 05:02 - The reception to the book 08:32 - Encountering Spike Lee 13:32 - Making decisions based on intuition 16:05 - Working for founder led brands 20:36 - Leading marketing at large organisations 23:55 - Managing the relationship with the CEO and CFO 28:42 - Hire Boz, Get Boz - how to have confidence in yourself 31:57 - Why you shouldn’t “play the game” 33:06 - Dawn always comes; dealing with grief 41:09 - Making the choice to change your life 45:11 - From corporate jobs to entrepreneur 48:24 - What’s next for Boz?

Today we’re diving deep into the high-stakes world of Super Bowl advertising with a very special guest—Ricardo Marques, the VP of Marketing for Michelob ULTRA. Ricardo, a veteran with 19 years at AB Inbev and the marketing maestro behind Michelob ULTRA's growth. He is here to share his playbook on how to score big during the most anticipated advertising event on American television. In this episode we get an exclusive look at how Michelob ULTRA prepares for the Super Bowl. Ricardo breaks down the importance of the Super Bowl as a platform, not just for audience reach but for creating conversations and excitement around the brand. But is Super Bowl advertising really worth the investment? Ricardo weighs in on the multifaceted approach to this question, assessing the creative, the conversion, and the long game of brand relevance. Key performance indicators, the intricate balance of novelty versus authenticity, and the seismic impact of this year's Super Bowl on Michelob ULTRA's growth trajectory are all on the table. Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 00:55 - Why the Super Bowl is such a landmark event for advertisers 03:07 - Ricardo’s background 03:56 - The best advertisers in Super Bowl history 05:05 - Michelob’s Super Bowl history 06:03 - Launch before game day, or on the day? 07:23 - Michelob’s Ad for 2024 10:04 - Is a Super Bowl ad worth $7m? 11:09 - KPIs for a successful Super Bowl Ad 11:48 - How involved are distributors in the process 12:50 - The 2024 Michelob ULTRA Super Bowl Ad with Leo Messi 16:14 - The briefing process for a Super Bowl ad 17:25 - Brand positioning for a more premium beer 18:39 - The core ingredients for a successful ad 21:02 - The impact of celebrities in ads 22:46 - Advice for people making their first big budget campaign 27:26 - Selling in the campaign internally 28:52 - Tying campaigns into global events 31:25 - Using AI in activations 33:57 - McEnroe vs McEnroe 36:35 - Lap Against the Legends 38:14 - Blind man commentating on NBA game 41:45 - How has the brand performed from the campaigns 42:38 - The secret to sustained success as a marketer 47:29 - Who is Ricardo supporting for the Super Bowl?

Today we're joined by Jessica Myers, CMO of The Very Group. Previously Jess was CMO at Metro Bank and has since made the transition to the highly competitive retail market. At Very, she has overseen the launch of a brand new fluent device; the pink flamingoes. The campaign featuring the new characters scored a whopping 5.7 stars on the System1 scoring platform, Test Your Ad, amongst the very best ads made this year. Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 00:52 - Jess’ background 06:11 - Marketing academy fellowship 07:13 - From big brand to challenger brand 10:46 - The modern marketer 11:57 - From finance to retail 15:31 - Dealing with the challenges of joining a new business 18:03 - Nailing positioning 22:09 - Doing long term marketing in retail 23:39 - Agency selection process for Very 27:22 - Understanding your customer 31:50 - The power of testing creative 36:36 - The increasing standard of advertising 38:28 - Creating a new fluent device - The Flamingoes 43:20 - The future of the brand 46:08 - Jess’ advice to aspiring marketers

Dave Kaufman is responsible for the marketing for one of the biggest tech bets of all time; the Metaverse. As Director of Global Marketing for VR and the Metaverse for Meta (formerly Facebook), it's fair to say Dave has a pretty sizeable task on his hands. He's no stranger to large marketing bets, having been on the marketing team for Google Glass, which ultimately failed. But sandwiched in-between working for Google and Meta, Dave worked for Obama's Whitehouse for the United States Digital Service. In this episode we discuss if the US is behind the UK in terms of marketing thinkers, why marketing education is overlooked, why Google Glass failed and what the future holds in terms of the Metaverse. Links Dave's LinkedIn Dave's viral LinkedIn article Jon's LinkedIn Jon's Twitter Watch the Uncensored CMO on YouTube Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 00:58 - Dave’s favourite episodes of Uncensored CMO 01:50 - Elon vs Mark in a fight 02:31 - US vs UK marketing 03:57 - How to not be full of sh*t in marketing 09:16 - Was Google Glass a failure? 15:50 - Launching the Meta X Rayban Sunglasses 20:28 - Explaining the metaverse 24:02 - How to quantify the success of the metaverse 26:29 - When will the metaverse become mainstream? 30:58 - Making virtual reality more familiar 32:28 - Does tech have a marketing problem? 38:20 - Working for founders 46:39 - Working at President Obama’s Whitehouse 53:35 - Working with low budgets 56:47 - Dave’s bets for 2024

Today I'm joined by Antonia Wade, Global CMO at PwC and Author of The B2B Buyer Journey. This episode is a true B2B masterclass. We break down the importance of brand, reputation and relationships vs what people traditionally think is important in B2B. We also break down each stage of the marketing funnel to find out how best to reach them at every point in the buyer journey. Links Antonia's LinkedIn Antonia's Book Jon's LinkedIn Jon's Twitter Watch the Uncensored CMO on YouTube Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:10 - Antonia’s background 00:06:01 - How does B2B and B2C differ? 00:09:25 - How to reach B2B customers 00:11:52 - Building B2B relationships 00:17:30 - The importance of people in B2B 00:20:53 - Why brand and reputation are so important 00:24:43 - Why having an online presence matters 00:29:39 - Marketing from cost centre to profit centre 00:34:14 - Marketing at different stages of the buyer journey 00:39:54 - Why people think B2B is boring 00:46:30 - Why purpose has a bigger role in B2B 00:48:38 - Stage 1: Reaching Horizon Scanners 00:51:41 - Stage 2: Reaching Explorers 00:55:18 - Stage 3: Reaching Hunters 00:57:39 - Stage 4: Capturing the Active Buyer 00:59:15 - Stage 5: Marketing post-purchase 01:01:18 - How will AI transform B2B marketing

One of the most popular episodes of all time was my first with Sarah Carter and Les Binet, so I'm bringing them back to do a review of 2023. We talk about what makes Les cry and if AI is going to take over our jobs. Links Jon's LinkedIn Jon's Twitter Watch the Uncensored CMO on YouTube Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:05 - Les’ favourite ads of 2023 00:04:45 - Sarah’s favourite Christmas ads 00:07:15 - Wear out 00:12:30 - Why familiarity breeds contentment 00:17:42 - Have we rediscovered homour in 2023? 00:19:47 - The role of purpose in advertising 00:29:17 - Diversity and representation 00:34:53 - Kevin the carrot and characters 00:41:52 - Fluent devices and consistency 00:49:01 - Why do John Lewis run christmas ads every year 00:50:40 - How did the first ad to ever air score? 00:52:51 - The highest performing advertising categories 00:55:04 - Lowest performing advertising categories 01:00:12 - Outperforming your category 01:03:08 - US Superbowl vs UK Christmas 01:04:02 - Les and Sarah’s thoughts on AI 01:14:03 - How reliable is ESOV 01:15:52 - MMM Models 01:19:32 - The best performing Adam and Eve ad 01:21:42 - Predictions for 2024

Now in this episode, we're talking about one of the most competitive markets in the world - insurance comparison. Anyone who's followed this market will know just how intense it is. And how do you build a brand when you don't have a product yourself, but you're selling someone else's product? Well, it's one of those situations where marketing is all important and advertising can make all the difference to your success. I'm catching up with Sam Day, who's been the CMO of confused.com, for the past 6 years, who successfully challenged this market and taken it from 4th to 2nd place on very limited budgets. So I want to find out from Sam the secret behind the success of the campaigns that he's run over the last few years, how he's transformed their business and what his plans are for the future. Links Jon's LinkedIn Jon's Twitter Watch the Uncensored CMO on YouTube Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 03:53 - Sam’s advice to a young marketer 06:27 - Sam’s greatest failure 08:44 - Management and leadership advice 12:27 - The secret to an extended CMO tenure 19:41 - Getting c-suite buy in with data 22:50 - Consistency 24:26 - Marketing when you don’t have a product 26:01 - Brand vs price 28:43 - Why name the brand after the problem (confused.com) 31:24 - Branding against one of the best branded characters of all time 34:02 - Why there’s no silver bullet for success 37:02 - Spontaneous awareness - how to win an effie 39:50 - Selecting an agency 42:01 - Great examples of populous advertising 44:14 - How agencies should pitch to CMOs 49:39 - What’s next for Sam Day

Today I'm revisiting episode 3, with Adam Morgan, founder of eatbigfish and author of Eating The Big Fish, The Pirate Inside and A Beautiful Constraint to find out what it takes to become a successful challenger. Adam shares his tips for creating a challenger brand, transforming your culture and the power of constraints to driving innovation. In this episode: Why being No.2 is better How he turned the anger of his project being shelved into a career-defining opportunity Being turned down by Phil Knight and where the idea of a Challenger brand came from The importance of over-commitment and being obsessed with execution How Tony’s Chocolonely have become a truly challenger brand How to be a pirate in the navy without getting fired What you can learn from a catwalk show and how constraints can turn into your greatest advantage The curse of data and how it leads us to a decline in creativity The furtile zero and what to do with no budget Adam shares his worst career moment Why the meeting is never really the meeting and why the Japanese fall asleep in meetings The one thing Adam has never told anyone before Follow me: Twitter | @uncensoredCMO LinkedIn Contact me: Website | www.uncensoredcmo.com Email – jon@uncensoredcmo.com Adam Morgan: Twitter | @eatbigfish www.eatbigfish.com Eating The Big Fish The Pirate Inside A Beautiful Constraint

Today I'm joined by Phill Agnew, senior product marketer at Buffer and host of Nudge, the only podcast dedicated to consumer psychology, and the other podcast that regularly hits the top spot of the UK marketing charts. In this episode we share 5 behavioural science "nudges" and 5 marketing lessons that we've taken from our respective podcasts and careers. Links Nudge podcast Jon's LinkedIn Jon's Twitter Phill's LinkedIn Phill's Twitter Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 01:19 - How did Phill get into podcasting 04:03 - Bonus Nudge - The Halo Effect 06:29 - Nudge 5 - The Labour Illusion 09:40 - Marketing Lesson 5 - The Power of Getting Fired 13:25 - Nudge 4 - The Pratfall Effect 19:26 - Marketing Lesson 4 - The Power of Purpose 24:49 - Nudge 3 - The Curiosity Gap 30:03 - Marketing Lesson 3 - Be Distinctive 35:26 - Nudge 2 - Social Proof 41:14 - Marketing Lesson 2 - The Power of Creativity 45:10 - Nudge 1 - Fresh Start Date 48:59 - Marketing Lesson 1 - The Power of Consistency

Today I'm joined by Susan O'Brien, who is the VP Brand at Just Eat Takeaway. Just Eat are famous for their ads with celebs such as Snoop Dogg and Katy Perry, but are even more well known for their catchy jingle "Did somebody say...?". In this episode we break down Susan's career and how to make such an effective campaign. Timestamps 00:00 - Start 01:16 - How Susan got into marketing 03:43 - Freelancing 07:30 - The secret to longevity as a marketer 09:44 - The realities of being a CMO 14:25 - The CMO’s view on Cannes 16:44 - The “Did Somebody Say” campaign 20:54 - The impact of audio branding 24:11 - Operating in a fiercely competitive market 26:01 - Choosing to invest in celebrity talent / Snoop Dogg 29:06 - From Snoog Dogg to Katy Perry 31:31 - Secret to an effective client agency relationship 32:44 - Coming up with new ideas 35:47 - Using your gut vs using the data 39:35 - Advice to marketers in scale ups

Anselmo Ramos is the co-founder and Creative Chairman of GUT, a global independent creative agency with offices worldwide. He, along with his co-founder Gaston Bigio, opened GUT in 2018 with the goal of being the go-to agency for the world’s biggest brands, including Popeyes, Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Tim Hortons, among others, who are looking to do brave work and long-term bold brand building. Prior to co-founding GUT, Anselmo was the co-founder of award-winning global creative agency DAVID, and he was also previously the Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Brazil. Timestamps 00:00:00 - Start 00:01:04 - Why Anselmo is an ad nerd 00:03:12 - Favourite Ogilvy quotes 00:07:38 - Most proud of from time at Ogilvy 00:17:20 - Founding the DAVID agency 00:18:43 - Founding the GUT agency 00:20:55 - Being an independent agency 00:25:35 - Winning business in the early days 00:30:30 - What makes a great CMO? 00:33:00 - How to find good clients 00:37:30 - Agency of the year 00:40:59 - Stand out Grand Prix winners 00:45:29 - The one line brief 00:47:05 - Who else is doing great work? 00:48:46 - Scaling while staying true to your values 01:02:06 - Expansion

Vicki Maguire is the Chief Creative Officer at Havas London, responsible for some of the best ads of all time. Notably Asda's Elf ad in 2022 which is the happiest ad we've ever seen at System1, and the British Heart Foundation campaign with Vinnie Jones that literally saved lives. Timestamps 00:00 - Start 02:41 - Vicki’s background 07:32 - How Vicki got into advertising 11:53 - British Heart Foundation and Vinnie Jones 20:30 - The Asda Elf Ad with Will Ferrell 35:39 - Taika Waititi and Michael Buble campaign 46:13 - Cannes Lions judging

Nancy King is the VP of Marketing at Airbnb. She leads Airbnb's global brand marketing team, performance marketing, marcom and social media teams. Prior to Airbnb, Nancy 20 years working across a mix of agencies, start-ups and as a founder of a strategy consultancy. Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 00:48 - Nancy’s background as a creative 05:16 - What can people learn from both agency and client side experience 07:08 - Origins of Airbnb 08:42 - The phases of Airbnb 09:54 - Losing 80% of the business overnight 17:47 - Deciding to re-invest in advertising 21:23 - The challenges of not owning your product 25:03 - The best Airbnb ads 26:52 - Making creative in-house rather than using agencies 30:00 - The impact culture has on the work at Airbnb 31:51 - Working in a founder-led business 35:12 - How Nancy’s role has changed 40:12 - Power of industry events 42:00 - The most expensive Airbnb