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© 2025 A Life In Marketing
Description
This is a podcast about working in marketing. In each episode we chat to marketing experts about their careers and experiences. We interview guests from a wide variety of backgrounds, including in-house marketeers, consultants, and senior staff from top agencies. Some are entrepreneurial, some enjoy corporate life, and others enjoy flexible freelancing. We speak to leading voices in public relations (PR), content creation, and a wide range of digital marketing roles covering both business-to-business (B2B) and consumer marketing.
Whether you are mid-career, or just embarking on a life in marketing, our discussions will provide insight, advice, and inspiration for your development.
The podcast is hosted by Dr Hanne Knight (University of Plymouth) and Dr Tom Bowden-Green (Bristol Business School, UWE Bristol). Contact us at Hanne.Knight@plymouth.ac.uk or Tom.Bowden-Green@uwe.ac.uk.
We're also on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanne-knight-36b60041/
17 Episodes
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Suso (Susan) O'Brien has held marketing roles at some of the world's most famous brands, including several years as Brand Director at Sky, and her most recent role as Global CMO at Just Eat. From telephone calls in New York taxis, to hiring Snoop Dogg and Katy Perry to front the Just Eat adverts, Suso talks us through her career - and it's not all glamourous! She explains how she climbed the first rungs on the career ladder, as well as the need to be resilient and focus on long-term brand out...
Melanie Nicholas has held roles that many marketers dream of, including Managing Director at Universal Pictures, Marketing Director at Polygram, and Head of Brand at Odeon Cinemas. Mel is at least part of the reason you know about movies such as Fast and Furious, Despicable Me, and the Jason Bourne series. Mel has worked with, and for, some huge brands and very famous celebrities. She talks us through the challenges and pressures of her various roles, and parellels with wider mark...
Gareth Helm has had a stellar career in marketing, including roles at some of the world's biggest brands. Most recently he was Chief Marketing Officer for McDonalds, and then Chief Marketing Officer at Homeserve. His career though has included roles with Innocent Drinks, Zoopla, Nestle and Unilever among others. Wow! Gareth is now a non-executive director and provides career development and strategic advice through a project called Sideminds. He has also found time to write an award-winning...
Louis Havriliuc has created an amazing digital marketing simulation tool called Simbound. If you want to find out how to undertake an effective digital marketing campaign, Simbound is a great way to learn. The online platform allows learners to create a range of digital marketing tools and experiment with different techniques to understand their effectiveness. We discuss the aims and purpose of Simbound with Louis, and his plans to keep developing the tool to consider aspec...
Jenny Novitzky makes social media content for some of the UK's top TV shows. Her work as a senior digital producer has included content for The Great British Bake Off, The Great British Sewing Bee, The Great Pottery Throw Down and The Piano. In fact, Jenny has appeared on more series of Bake Off than Mary Berry, Mel and Sue! The chances are, many of you have seen and engaged with Jenny's content. We chat to Jenny about the importance of adjusting content to different platforms, se...
We chat with Jon Payne, an entrepreneur in the world of digital marketing. Jon wears various hats, including being the founder of the successful Bristol agency Noisy Little Monkey, a RevOps freelance consultant, the former host of the popular Digital Gaggle events, and now one of the driving forces behind Building Brands. Jon shares some of the lessons he's learned over the years, as well as discussing the origin and growth of Building Brands. He also tells us what RevOps is...
We chat with Stephen Hobbs, an expert in digital storytelling. Stephen is a respected and experienced marketer who has worked with many household brands including Google, Volvo and O2. We discuss the importance of content and storytelling in the age of AI. Stephen tells us that his initial career as a journalist gives him a slightly different perspective on the world of marketing. You can connect with Stephen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shobbsy/ We discuss a couple ...
We chat with Google Analytics expert Jill Quick about the importance of collecting and analysing the right data. Jill tells us why it marketers should take a strategic approach to measurement, and why she called her business The Coloring In Department. You can connect with Jill here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillquick01/ You will also find plenty of further resources on Jill's website: https://www.thecoloringindepartment.com/ Jill also refers to a free online GA4 course on Wix S...
In this episode, recorded in the Bristol Business School studio, we speak to five of the presenters from the Building Brands Conference in Bristol. Each guest gave a quick summary of the main points from their presentations, as well as telling us a little bit about what their work in digital marketing involves. Our guests are (in order of appearance): 1. Heather Murray, AI for Non-Techies: Why AI doesn't need to be daunting 2. Harry Cobbold, Unfold: The importance of user-experience 3. Maret...
This is a great discussion with Vasia Apostolaki, an expert in social media advertising. Vasia is an account director at dentsu international in London, with particular experience working with luxury brands. We discuss why social media advertising is so effective, ethical issues, and areas for future development. As usual we also discuss some interesting academic research in this area. You can connect with Vasia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apostolaki/ Please also share and su...
We sit down with digital marketing consultant, James Vincent, to discuss his expertise in artificial intelligence (AI). James is also a digital marketing lecturer and a PhD student studying the use of artificial intelligence in marketing. James refers to some AI tools that he is currently working with, as well as reflecting on some of the points from his recent TedX Talk about ethics and AI. As always, Hanne and I also discuss some of the latest research relating to this week's topic ...
As always, Hanne and I discuss relevant academic research that caught our attention – this time research looking at how different demographic groups use search engines. We then chat to Luke Whitaker, Senior SEO Consultant at Organic, about search engine optimisation (SEO). Luke tells us about his passion for educating people about SEO. We also discuss recent changes to the Google algorithm, his advice for smaller businesses trying to attract traffic on search engines...
In this episode we chat to a conversion optimisation expert, Ryan Webb, about his work in making websites more commercially effective. With more than 20 years of experience, Ryan is a recognised expert in this field and has worked with a wide range of clients. Ryan shares his 4-point plan for reviewing and improving websites, as well as explaining his decision to become a B Corp and to generally consider the impact of his work from an ethical perspective. As always, Hanne and I also d...
We chat to Ross Middleham, Creative Lead at the Met Office. How does he encourage the Met Office to engage a wide range of audiences creatively? How can he be creative when communicating online around serious issues such as the weather and climate change? How does he deal with negativity around these issues? Does he have any tips for marketers and communicators when trying to think creatively? So many questions, and around 30 minutes to answer them! As al...
In this first full episode we chat to social media expert Luan Wise about her new book. Among our topics of conversation, we discuss the fundamental principles of using any social media platform for marketing, the difference between 'digital immigrants' and 'digital natives', and Luan's own route to becoming a social media consultant. We begin this episode with a quick summary of some interesting academic research that caught our attention, relating to digital behaviour. Luan's book ...
Phil Treagus-Evans is man of many talents. Having harboured entrepreneurial dreams from an early age, he started his social media agency, Giraffe Social, after graduating from university. Running an agency wasn't enough for Phil though! As a voracious reader, he also had an ambition to write a book. So, in 2025 he published Human First Marketing, a book encapsulating his thoughts about social media marketing, supported by references to academic theory and tactical implementation. Phil talks u...
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