Tom Goodwin is back for our first ever live event in London. As uncensored as ever, we cover all things digital transformation to the biggest myths in marketing, this time with some thought provoking questions from a live studio audience.Timestamps:00:00 - Start01:06 - Tom’s background03:21 - Why Tom kept getting fired05:08 - What technology will change our lives?08:34 - We don’t care about consumers10:21 - What opportunites are there?12:45 - Things that aren’t changing16:52 - Jingles18:02 - Are brands dead?20:32 - Questions20:53 - The online advertising emperor has no clothes25:38 - Why are brands not calling out social media companies?28:28 - Biggest barrier to deliver on digital transformation31:45 - Should marketers be more respected?37:04 - How important is trust?42:17 - Why did Tom keep getting fired?44:49 - Is there ageism in marketing?49:22 - Does not having kids make Tom more uncensored?

For a very special edition of the podcast (episode 100!) I'm joined by a very special guest, Rob Mayhew, TikTok sensation and Creative Director at Gravity Road. Rob's witty commentary on the industry comes in the form of his hugely entertaining short-form videos, which often go viral on TikTok and on LinkedIn. Having found himself between jobs during COVID, Rob dug into his comedy roots and started posting up to 8 videos a day on TikTok which have grown in popularity exponentially over the past few years. He now finds himself striking some impressive brand partnerships who all want a slice of his comedy gold.This episode covers the serious to the absurd. From Rob's story of how he got into the industry, to pitching a new British Airways ad to a special guest. I couldn't think of anyone better to have as guest 100.Watch some of Rob's TikTok's if you enjoy laughing.Timestamps00:00:00 - Start00:03:41 - Rob’s backstory00:07:32 - Rob’s comedy background00:09:39 - How Rob got into TikTok00:13:11 - Coming up with content ideas00:16:50 - Rob’s most popular TikTok00:19:25 - Landing a partnership with Pret00:21:12 - The ultimate sponsor00:23:34 - Jon’s pitch horror story00:30:06 - Finding Rob new sponsors00:31:17 - Pitching Nils Leonard Rob’s idea00:37:07 - Sponsor brainstorm00:38:51 - Cannes00:40:39 - Making a career switch at 4000:43:09 - Making a living from making online content00:46:47 - Why Rob called his new agency Dunning Kruger00:49:09 - Struggles of working for yourself00:50:03 - Who are Rob’s heroes00:53:47 - Dealing with inbound volume00:54:39 - Rob’s new book00:56:38 - Agency radio show00:57:34 - Jon’s favourite guests00:59:42 - What guest would Jon like on the pod?01:02:22 - Rob getting fired01:06:58 - The difference a good boss can make01:09:21 - Something Rob has never told anyone else before01:13:50 - How to be good on TikTok01:14:47 - How to make B2B sexy again

Advertising legend Sir John Hegarty returns to the podcast to discuss why he created a course focused on the business of creativity. If you've listened to the podcast before you'll know how important I think creativity is to drive business results, and so when Sir John announced he was creating this course, I had to get him back on the podcast to discuss.Learn more about the course here.About Sir John HegartyHe was a founding partner of Saatchi and Saatchi in 1970. And then TBWA in 1973. He founded Bartle Bogle Hegarty in 1982 with John Bartle and Nigel Bogle. The agency now has 7 offices around the world. He has been given the D&AD President’s Award for outstanding achievement and in 2014 was admitted to the US AAF Hall of Fame.John was awarded a Knighthood by the Queen in 2007 and was the recipient of the first Lion of St Mark award at the Cannes Festival of Creativity in 2011. John has written 2 books, ‘Hegarty on Advertising - Turning Intelligence into Magic’ and ‘Hegarty on Creativity - there are no rules’.In 2014 John co-founded The Garage Soho, a seed stage Venture Capital fund that believes in building brands, not just businesses.Timestamps00:00 - Intro01:37 - Why clients want to see ads05:52 - Sir John Hegarty’s top 5 ads06:47 - Ad 1: Audi - Villas07:41 - Ad 2: K Shoes - Creak08:41 - Ad 3: Levi’s - Launderette11:24 - Ad 4: Xbox - Champagne12:06 - Ad 5: Levi’s - Flat Eric17:16 - Has advertising got too serious?20:22 - The secret to pitching to a more rational audience23:58 - How to make the most of your agency relationship26:34 - Improving the brief29:45 - Have we lost the art of brand building?33:46 - The business of creativity39:39 - Collaborators on Sir John’s Course41:41 - The production of the course44:33 - The legacy of Sir John Hegarty47:26 - The format of the course48:15 - Why training is important50:29 - The case for creatives in leadership52:36 - How would Sir John Hegarty launch a new agency

Marketing waste is one of the biggest issues facing our industry. So when marketing legends Peter Field and Adam Morgan reached out to me to talk about their new work on the impact of dull advertising on brands, I immediately got them on the podcast.In this fascinating episode we discuss why you really can’t afford to bore your audience with your ads anymore. What have Adam and Peter learnt over 40 years about the actual cost of dull marketing to businesses, to brands and even to your career?And for those marketers really hellbent on safety, we discuss the role of danger and a new upcoming mastersclass in how to make the dullest ad ever.Links https://thechallengerproject.com/lets-make-this-more-interesting www.orlandonadvertising.com https://theexaminedlife.org/ - Stephen Grosz https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/b2b-institute Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 01:13 - Who is Adam Morgan? 02:38 - The best challenger brands 03:08 - Has being a challenger changed? 06:25 - The legacy of the long and short of it 11:01 - Who had the higher ranked Uncensored CMO podcast? 11:45 - How Adam and Peter met 12:26 - The inspiration for the extraordinary cost of dull 15:24 - How are there effective, yet dull campaigns (big budgets is the answer) 19:13 - The System1 Data on the cost of dull 22:41 - Why is advertising so dull? 26:21 - Why are the best marketing organisations trending towards more dull? 27:29 - Making demonstratably unskippable ads 30:55 - The role of danger and constraints in getting to great work 33:05 - The % of B2B ads that are dull and the work The LinkedIn Institute is going to reverse this 35:06 - How dull is approached in different categories 39:01 - Orlando Wood’s current research 41:48 - How will AI affect dullness 45:27 - Which categories are doing a good job of being interesting? 53:57 - Why we need a masterclass for dull

How do you create a brand in a sub-category where only a handful of major brands operate a product line, from scratch, having never worked in the industry before? Well, Luke Boase did exactly that when he founded Lucky Saint, the worlds first alcohol free only brand. From finding a brewing partner to create an enjoyable alcohol free beer, raising money from investors to almost losing the business during COVID, this episode has it all.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro01:23 - Life before Lucky Saint for Luke06:02 - Coming up with the Lucky Saint idea08:28 - Creating a new category09:59 - Why do non-alcoholic only?11:36 - Convincing breweries to get on board13:56 - Finding the perfect brewing partner17:07 - The ones who rejected Lucky Saint18:33 - The advantages of being a category newcomer20:27 - When did Luke go all in on Lucky Saint20:55 - Raising money24:35 - Starting over with the brand29:18 - Creating a non alcoholic beer that actually tastes good31:08 - Being a single beer brand33:15 - Some of Lucky Saint’s investors35:29 - Ad execs on the investor team37:07 - Working with Rankin40:06 - Naming the brand Lucky Saint41:35 - How Covid almost wiped them out47:25 - Creating their own pub “The Lucky Saint”50:06 - Alcoholic vs non-alcoholic beverages51:46 - Convincing people to try alcohol free beer57:21 - The secrets to Lucky Saint’s success

Long time returning guest Orlando Wood is back in the hot seat, talking all things advertising. We look back on his two IPA bestselling books, Lemon and Look Out, to discuss how the two sides of the brain attend to the world differently and how this impacts advertising both on TV and digital. We also discuss some of Orlando's favourite recent adverts and why he likes them.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro01:32 - Who is Orlando Wood02:50 - Orlando’s latest work03:54 - Is Orlando only talking about digital?05:18 - How to build brands through digital07:55 - How can advertisers achieve an effective message10:26 - "moto e azione"13:35 - Why Ian McGilchrist’s work was so profound for Orlando14:25 - Right-brain vs left-brain in advertising21:00 - Trends with left and right brained advertising22:24 - Is the change in advertising due to social media?24:13 - The impact of creativity on attention26:29 - How the choice of media can impact ESOV27:22 - Is humour making a comeback?31:32 - Fluent devices35:13 - Orlando’s favourite ads39:31 - Jon’s favourite recent ad43:31 - Orlando’s new course

Emily Kraftman is the Managing Director for UK & Europe for a brand who are disrupting a category no one else thought to, toilet paper. That brand is, of course, Who Gives A Crap. Their quirky nature, fun packaging and strong stance on sustainability are helping them make a dent in a big-brand dominated category. Emily has had quite the career, starting out working on Stella Artois, before leaving the corporate life to join a young Deliveroo to head up their "Rider Marketing" division. She's since made the switch from Marketing Director to Managing Director, learning to deal with all the challenges that come with the broader remit.Watch Who Gives A Crap new TV campaign "Uncrap the World'Timestamps:00:00 - Intro01:07 - Dealing with the challenges of a unique brand name03:26 - How Emily got into marketing05:27 - Emily’s time working on Stella Artois08:26 - How successful was Stella Artois’ innovation in cider?10:37 - From corporate brand to joining Deliveroo12:24 - Not fitting in after a career switch14:37 - Challenges of going from a safe work environment to a crazy one17:39 - The challenges of such fast growth19:40 - Brand positioning in a fast growing market21:35 - From Deliveroo to Who Gives a Crap24:13 - Who Gives a Crap Backstory27:17 - Why go into the toilet paper market30:24 - Power of purpose in marketing32:54 - From DTC to retail35:13 - Growing with small budgets37:20 - Why B2B can help when you have small budgets39:01 - Launching their first TV campaign42:22 - Transitioning from Marketing Director to Managing Director

The return of Uncensored CMO podcast legend Tom Goodwin. In this final flourishing episode recorded from Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, in what has become our annual chinwag, we riff on everything from how advertising thinking can build big businesses to why marketeers invest in celebrities, despite the data not backing the value equation. What would our ideal Cannes festival look like? What would we do differently next year…. and where? And why we want to bring back the Tango Campaign!If you want more Tom, we'll be holding a LIVE Uncensored CMO at The Curzon Soho (not Scunthorpe) with the man himself, on 6th September 2023, discussing the 10 Biggest Myths in the Marketing Industry. Grab your tickets here -> https://system1group.com/uncensored-cmo-liveTimestamps:00:00 - Intro00:46 - What’s Tom been up to in the past year?04:30 - The state of Cannes06:10 - AI has it’s place07:22 - The power of re-using good creative15:26 - How AI can solve customer exeperience17:43 - Catergories that should be in Cannes19:43 - The Zero Budget Category21:11 - Cannes in Margate in February22:23 - Most fascinating relevations from the pod24:35 - The marketing bottom28:54 - The best work in Cannes31:10 - Working with budget constraints33:03 - When to invest in innovation34:16 - What Orlando Wood tells us about how art history can inform great communication strategy36:09 - Why are great adverts only made for the SuperBowl and Christmas…. And then not run for long enough?37:48 - Should you use characters or celebrities in your advertising?40:06 - Most impressive thing in Cannes45:06 - The Giant Cheeto at Cannes48:22 - Why we’ve stopped having fun in advertising54:00 - What will we be talking about at Cannes next year?Links: Winning Cheetos Ad Super Bowl insights System1 analysis of the decline of humour

Nils Leonard is returning to the Uncensored CMO podcast after selling his agency, Uncommon to Havas. We discuss what's next, why he feels it's an investment not an acquisition, what AI means for creativity, culture and more.Timestamps00:00:00 - Intro00:01:11 - Selling Uncommon to Havas00:02:10 - What does partnering with Havas allow them to do?00:08:22 - How did the team react?00:09:50 - Expanding to the US00:12:22 - What’s changing?00:14:42 - Part 2: What’s new with Uncommon?00:16:33 - Keeping creativity alive00:19:20 - Is advertising dead?00:21:21 - Getting Chat GPT to write a new British Airways Strapline00:22:49 - Chat GPT writes an ad for British Airways00:24:46 - What car brand Nils would most like to work on00:27:01 - The work Uncommon actually did for British Airways00:28:52 - The importance of advertising internally00:29:59 - Making 512 different productions for BA00:32:13 - The power of simplicity00:34:26 - Making out of home powerful00:35:22 - What does AI mean for creativity?00:38:09 - Do CMOs understand the value of creativity?00:43:58 - Biggest problems we as an industry need to solve00:47:27 - Demonstrating the value of creativity00:50:57 - Creating culture in a growing agency00:55:11 - Power of generosity00:56:26 - Uncommon’s “faff tax”00:58:45 - The world’s #1 podcast by Jon Evans00:59:59 - 2 Uncommon stories01:02:51 - What what Nils do if he wasn’t running Uncommon?

In this episode, I am talking to one of the titans of our industry, someone who I think has had a bigger impact on our industry than perhaps anybody else. He is Sir Martin Sorrell founder of WPP, the biggest holding company in the world.He has since gone on to set up S4 capital, so now finds himself in the challenger position rather than the dominant player. I wanted to talk to Sir Martin about what he sees as the biggest challenges facing our industry today and what are the disruptions coming down the line that are going to shape our industry in the future?What's his advice to CMOs? What does CMOs need to care about and what should they be doing? What skills they need to deal with the challenges coming at them in the world today. And because this is a special edition recorded live at the Cannes Lions Festival, I wanted to ask him about AI.Timestamps00:00 - Intro01:11 - Background07:18 - How do you assess the state of creativity now?12:02 - what should CMO’s be concerned about?16:08 - How real a game changer is AI?18:34 - Do we lose creativity with AI?26:19 - What skills do marketing teams need to make the most of AI?29:01 - What will be the biggest disruption to our industry in the next 10 years?32:08 - What advice would Sir Martin give his younger self?39:35 - Ethical considerations about how advertising uses our personal data41:26 - Biggest decision Sir Martin regrets making43:01 - What was the secret to the growth of WPP?45:33 - Why start again after exiting WPP?46:21 - How close is Succession to the Murdochs?47:34 - Tell me something you’ve never told anyone48:50 - What would Sir Martin’s fantasy agency look like?

In a special live from MAD//Fest edition of Uncensored CMO, I'm joined by some of the country's top CMO's on a panel about riding the storm in retail. Very’s Jessica Myers, Alex Rogerson from Morrisons, Adam Zavalis (formerly Aldi) and Pete Markey from Boots join me on the panel.But, ladies and gentlemen, there is more! This is a double header of Uncensored CMO, as I also caught up with some people live on the floor at MAD//Fest, including Heineken CMO Michael Gillane and revealing some new research from System1, JCDecaux and Specsavers.Enjoy this bonus, bumper edition of Uncensored CMO.Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:06 MAD//Fest Live 22:46 Break 23:06 Michael Gillane 30:33 System1, Specsavers & JCDecaux 39:55 Outro

In a career that's spanned selling Tea to the British as Marketing Director at Twinings, to now CMO at the largest e-commerce business in Latin America, Sean Summers knows a thing or two about marketing (at all levels). I catch up with him at Cannes to discuss his career, what it's like scaling a business from $300m to $10b in revenue and what he thinks of the latest trends like AI.Timestamps00:00 - Intro01:04 - Why is Sean in Cannes?02:25 - What creates an award winning campaign?03:21 - How to make the most out of your agency06:41 - What is being a CMO actually like?10:01 - Marketing language / business jargon11:35 - The awful 360 campaign14:10 - Sean’s biggest failure20:16 - A tough time: running marketing teams in the UK23:25 - What is Mercardo Libre?26:08 - From $300m to $10b28:49 - Marketing for Mercado Libre31:36 - Working with very constrained budgets34:46 - Managing a multi-faceted company39:57 - Becoming a media owner42:08 - Learnings from running a media business44:19 - The importance of building an online brand offline46:16 - How the pandemic helped them48:06 - Sean’s thoughts on AI

Allessandra Bellini is the Chief Customer Officer at Tesco, the largest supermarket in the UK. Previously she's held roles at agencies, before 21 years at Unilever rising up through the ranks to some very senior positions. Tesco are a huge household brand to represent in the UK, and Allessandra and her team have created some exceptional work over the years, including the well received "Food Love Stories" campaign. We talk all about those campaigns, how they scored on the System1 database and what it takes to run such a large brand.Links Follow Jon Watch UCMO on YouTube Timestamps:00:00 - Intro01:13 - Starting out in advertising03:18 - From creative agency to joining corporate Unilever05:24 - What do you learn in 21 years at Unilever?06:32 - Most challenging and most proud moment at Unilever08:16 - The secret behind uncomfortable conversations10:06 - What is Allessandra most proud of from her time at Unilever?11:26 - From Unilever to Tesco13:28 - How to get close to the customer in such a large organisation15:51 - What are the changed18:15 - Downtrading and uptrading20:44 - The power of Clubcard Data24:57 - Cost of living crisis: every little helps, right?27:47 - How to communicate price30:35 - How much to spend on brand vs activation32:14 - Doing both long and short term advertising33:41 - Food love stories41:11 - Ad 1: Food Love Stories: Eid Mubarak45:31 - Ad 2: Sue’s Crispy Pork Noodles49:43 - Ad 3: Helen’s Homecoming Lamb51:45 - Ad 4: Barbecue54:40 - Being president of the Ad Association

Tom Rainsford has been named as one of the Top 50 creative minds in the country.  After a surprising start to his career (that still stands him in great creative stead even now), Tom has grown a challenger brand into a household name and now leads the Marketing at one of the coolest brands on the planet – Beavertown Brewery.What does Tom see as the magic ingredients for successful brand growth, why does he believe culture and fact-based emotion are they key and how is he going to top his show stopping MadFest opener from last year Dancing your way to a top job in marketing Should you do a marketing degree? The first kickstarter brand? David to Goliath on Giff Gaff: 10 years building a genuinely different business model - how to outsmart the big boys Are great brands emotional or rational? The problems with tech marketing are….. Watch your internal language doesn’t end up in your communications Why Tom believes in In-housing: how to nurture creativity within a company Why creativity is not valued in business. The important questions businesses need to ask themselves about why their creative is wrong The importance of Culture: Does pizza on a Wednesday help? Was COVID a blessing for marketeers? Art and advertising reflecting culture: A discussion about Orlando Wood’s Look Out Why pubs can be the answer the growth. Beavertown Neck Oil: Jon and Tom drink at 11am! Has craft beer jumped the shark? Is consistency important in marketing after all? Why Logan (Robert Plants son) founded Beavertown and what’s it like working in Founder led businesses. Why Beavertown innovation works (according to System1) Why Tom wants you to steal his pint glasses. What makes Beavertown stand out? The importance of a stonking product Shifting to Heineken ownership - have things changed? Ensuring innovation succeeds within a titan mothership Madfest: How Tom is planning to top his mobile phone/trust gig How culture delivers brand trust and helps brands ride the storm Can you learn to do what Derren Brown diss in a month? Why being a CMO can be a lonely affair. The importance of making more noise in bad times Do people do good work when they are knackered? Marketing artists vs marketing scientists The biggest failure in Tom’s career (and what he learnt) The reward of messing up Why the more senior you get the less you know. “To do” lists vs “to think” lists What everyone’s next big business question needs to be……

Live from Cannes, third time returning guest Rory Sutherland gives us his views on just how good this year’s Festival of Creativity is, what should be awarded, AI vs AI, what we should be looking for as marketeers in current trends and the value that behavioural science brings to creativity.He also talks about what he is looking forward to on the road to another great festival – Madfest, and why he is doing his Mad Masters course.What we covered in this episode: Why Rory thinks this Cannes Lions Festival is the most wonderful ever. The backbone that Rory thinks System1 and WARC bring The Campaign for a new Behavioural Science Award Festival of creativity or advertising? The brilliance of ABInbev brewers for bread campaign Rory on re-writing the advertising rules Jon’s 5 most creative moments What excites Rory about behavioural science Rory’s definition of creativity The story at the heart of Crocs growth Should there be a Cannes Lion for zero budget campaigns? Fashions in psychology The problem with chat GPT is…… Outlier vs average impact on creativity The value Artificial Inquisitiveness and Interestingly wrong People’s value in business vs automation System1’s learnings on AI creativity and innovation Why brand partnerships should be awarded. Encouraging people to think more widely about what they should be testing. Does Rory think the world needs Apple Vision? Should Google have persisted with Google Glass? Why all Europeans report to distain automatic cars. Rory’s ideas for the tech world innovation When are people happy being happy cut off from fellow men? The most important economic thing about Zoom meetings. How Rory is plotting to get more cash for creative people Why Rory keeps coming back on The Uncensored CMO The value of “crap creativity” – why the obvious solution could sometimes be better Rory’s Road to Madfest  - what he is looking forward to and why he is doing Mad Masters Links Follow Jon Watch UCMO on YouTube

In this episode I'm joined by three more effectiveness titans in my Cannes special coverage. Karen Nelson-Field, Rob Brittain and fan favourite Orlando Wood join me to talk about the triple opportunity of attention.

Following on from the IPA EffWorks and WARC session on the Terrace Stage in Cannes, I speak to effectiveness legends, Les Binet, Grace Kite and Tom roach to outline the big shifts in advertising effectiveness in the digital era, suggesting that we’re leaving the trough of disillusionment and moving onto the plateau of productivity.Register for the IPA webinar: https://ipa.co.uk/events-listing/the-3rd-age-of-effectiveness Digital once promised so much in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, tracking, and accountability. But the reality didn’t live up to the hype. And now we’re entering a new era - one where the best understanding about things have always worked are being blended with new ways of doing things, and the evidence suggests things are beginning to work better as a result.  They challenge the narrative that creativity is declining and digital is the culprit. On the contrary, analysis of the ARC database shows effectiveness is improving in some places, (less so in others). It will also shine a light on brand-building in the platform world, specifically, creativity within the platforms. Tom talks about how clients, agencies and creators are getting to grips with the new environment, showcasing examples of effective creativity from around the world.

Lex Bradshaw-Zanger is the Chief Marketing & Digital Officer for L’Oréal South Asia Pacific, Middle East & North Africa Region. Prior to this role, Lex was the CMO for the UK & Ireland, held roles in the Western Europe Zone and was Chief Digital Officer for the L’Oréal Middle East and Africa Region. Prior to L’Oréal, Lex was with McDonald’s and Facebook. He is a recovered ad-man having spent over 10 years in the agency world, with both WPP and Publicis – his last role was Regional Director for Digital Strategy & Innovation for Leo Burnett MENA.

Work is fundamentally important to the quality of our lives and we are surrounded by more change and choice than ever before. Our careers have become far less predictable and increasingly 'squiggly'. In this episode I have a chat with Helen Tupper, co-founder of Amazing If and co-author of "The Squiggly Career: Ditch the Ladder, Discover Opportunity, Design Your Career".Subscribe to the podcast on YouTube ->Find out more about Helen: The Squiggly Career Book Squiggly Careers Podcast Amazing If Helen's LinkedIn What we covered in this episode: How Helen and Sarah started their business on napkin Why the career ladder is not necessarily the path to success 5 years of experimentation to develop the Squiggly business How Helen and Sarah went from starting The Squiggly Careers Podcast to 330 episodes How to create a growth flywheel for your brand or business - making content more useful Why creating something of huge value for free is the key to B2B growth - remaining relevant Trusting in reciprocity - why helping people authentically is so important for growth Why you shouldn't worry about your weaknesses The Squiggly Careers Book - The 5 Key Skills you need The importance of deliberately choosing what you want to be known for Your 2 week energy audit - How to discover your core skills and values Jon and Helen's 12 month career high and why it mattered Building high trust teams and emotional safety Less budget =  happy teams Confidence Gremlins and limiting beliefs Teaching yourself to draw on the positive Learning how to fail.... and that this means for success The pressure pedestal - we are not all Simon Sinek! Jon's advice on presentation skills Networking Events - how to reframe the fear Fired? Redundant? How to get back into employment....fast! Why you should only share what you really care about How curious career conversations will set you up well in you next job Creating a constant flow of future job opportunities How to use your mobile phone contacts to find the perfect role Redefining the definition of progression Helen shares whom Squiggly Careers is for and whom it can help Helen's advice on crafting your best career story Follow Jon: LinkedIn Twitter

Edward Pilkington is the Chief Marketing & Innovation Officer at Diageo North America, managing a portfolio of the biggest brands in the world, including Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Baileys, Smirnoff and more. If theres anyone that understands how to run marketing for huge brands, it's Ed, and he certainly brings his wealth of experience to this conversation.