Uncensored CMO

Latest Episodes:

Yum! CMO on cultural relevance, being innovative & creative risk taking (Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut) - Ken Muench Feb 26, 2025

Show notes

This episode is a QSR masterclass. Ken Muench is the CMO of Yum! brands, who own Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut. I speak to Ken about how he started the agency that got acquired by Yum! (The Collider Lab) and his journey to being the CMO of such a large group of brands. We also talk about how all CMOs within Yum! are encouraged to swing big to make impactful campaigns and drive innovation within their brands. Ken is also the co-author of "R.E.D Marketing: The Three Ingredients of Leading Brands" which breaks down why Relevance, Ease and Distinctiveness are essential for QSR brands.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro
01:07 - Ken’s career background
03:44 - In-house vs agency creative
06:39 - Taking bigger swings
07:46 - The secret to the success of The Collider Lab
12:06 - Food is fuel vs experience
14:42 - Why Ken wrote the book: R.E.D Marketing
17:29 - The R.E.D framework
20:51 - How brands grow
23:58 - Why “ease” is an untapped opportunity for marketers
28:26 - The power of distinctive assets
30:31 - Changing the Taco Bell strapline to Live Mas!
32:52 - How Yum! brands approach innovation
37:14 - How Yum! brands innovation scored
41:29 - What happens when innovation goes wrong
44:10 - Saucy by KFC
47:47 - The innovators dilemma
49:44 - Taking chances: KFC FCK campaign
51:48 - Ken’s favourite moments as Yum! CMO
53:01 - How to be a successful CMO at such a large brand
55:44 - What makes a great CMO

Creativity & Consistency: driving growth for the worlds largest beer brands - Marcel Marcondes Feb 19, 2025

Show notes

Marcel Marcondes is the CMO of AB InBev, who run the largest portfolio of beer brands in the world. Stella Artois, Corona, Michelob Ultra and Budweiser are all under the marketing leadership of Marcel. Through creativity and consistency, AB InBev have produced some of the most effective campaigns of the past few years, often topping out the System1 charts. This has led to Marcel and his team to win some incredible awards, including WFA marketer of the year (Marcel) and most effective marketer of the year by the Effies (AB InBev).

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
00:48 - Marcel’s journey to running the biggest portfolio in the world
03:51 - The global beer brands Marcel oversees
04:27 - How to manage such a large portfolio of brands
07:04 - Being the most effective marketing team for the past 3 years
09:39 - The Olympics partnership
13:08 - How important is creativity to deliver effectiveness
16:35 - How to demonstrate the power of marketing internally
18:10 - Why campaign consistency is so important for AB InBev
21:25 - The most effective ad by AB InBev
22:39 - Having 4 brands with Super Bowl ads
24:53 - Stella Artois 2025 Super Bowl ad with David Beckham
30:20 - Michelob Ultra at Super Bowl
33:29 - Executing a campaign across platforms
36:18 - The relationship with creative agencies
40:07 - Marcel’s advice to CMOs

A masterclass on business productivity with Nir Eyal Feb 17, 2025

Show notes

I think one of the biggest problems facing us today is the amount of distraction in our lives. Social media feeds, unnecessary meetings, huge inboxes full of emails you didn't really need. All these things are grabbing our attention and taking us away from doing what we're supposed to be doing.

In this episode I'm talking to Nir Eyal, who's the author of a brilliant book called Indistractable, which is all about how we can reclaim our attention to focus our energy around the things that really matter. Now, as marketers, we can have a massive impact on our brands and our business, if only we can focus our time and effort on the right things. So Nir is uncovering all the tips and tricks for how to do that and how to make sure you're more productive and less distracted.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro
05:12 What is the source of distraction
07:06 How to deal with the internal triggers
12:50 Turning your values into time
18:14 Multi channel multitasking
20:06 Why we need to change meeting culture
26:20 Building a culture of indistraction in an organization
32:20 Imposter syndrome
34:53 Our perception of our quality of sleep
38:03 Luck is a belief set
42:12 Marketers are bad judges of marketing
44:06 Why successful people get more successful

How Pfizer made the highest scoring Pharma ad of all time - Susan Rienow Feb 10, 2025

Show notes

The Super Bowl is the biggest advertising event of the year, with the biggest brands in the world flexing their advertising muscles (and budgets). A new entrant to the Super Bowl in 2024 was Pfizer, and they're back again this year with an ad that has blown the socks off the Pharma category. Their big game ad "Knock Out", scored 4.4 stars in System1 testing, also making it one of the best ads overall. I speak with Pfizer CMO, Susan Rienow about what it takes to create such a successful ad in the most competitive environment.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
01:20 - Susan’s successful career so far
03:19 - What Pfizer does and their mission
04:21 - The Covid vaccine rollout
06:29 - The role of insights for making business decisions
07:36 - Dealing with the complexities of different audiences
10:12 - Managing the impact of fair balance in advertising
14:51 - The role of Pfizer’s advertising
17:04 - Why have Pfizer gone all in with a Super Bowl ad
20:12 - The Pfizer Super Bowl ad in 2025
25:20 - What role does testing play for creating an effective ad
33:31 - The role of testing giving confidence to the board
37:39 - How tiny changes can make such a big difference
39:15 - How to evaluate the impact of a Super Bowl ad
41:22 - What makes a great CMO
46:40 - Advice Susan would give to young marketers

Samsung CMO on Tech Innovation, Flying Ostriches & Doing More with Less - Benjamin Braun Feb 05, 2025

Show notes

Today Jon sits down with Benjamin Braun, CMO at Samsung Europe, for a fascinating conversation that spans from innovative tech demos to Olympic marketing strategies. Benjamin shares insights on Samsung's role as a 40-year Olympic sponsor, demonstrates the latest AI capabilities in Samsung devices, and discusses how the company balances long-term brand building with short-term sales goals. The conversation takes a personal turn as Benjamin opens up about his experience with dyslexia and how neurodiversity can be a strength in business leadership. From product innovation to marketing effectiveness in the boardroom, this episode offers a glimpse into the mind of one of Europe's leading CMOs and the future of consumer technology.

Timestamps
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:50 - Why podcasts are now video
00:03:54 - Samsung’s approach to AI products
00:12:21 - Showing Samsung’s AI photo editing features
00:15:20 - The Samsung Galaxy Ring and the health benefits of tech
00:20:35 - The history of Samsung
00:22:47 - How Samsung have innovated in TV’s
00:27:37 - Having products across all price points
00:29:11 - What can marketers learn from being a Police Officer?
00:36:17 - The mini max approach to marketing
00:42:13 - Samsung sponsoring the Olympics
00:49:18 - The best Samsung ads
00:55:56 - How to be an effective CMO in a large organisation
01:00:37 - Put your CFO and CEO in the shoes of the customer
01:07:22 - How Benjamin manages his dyslexia as a CMO

The Attention Economy: Why not all reach is equal with Karen Nelson Field Jan 29, 2025

Show notes

Dr Karen Nelson Field is a multiple returning guest to the podcast, talking about her book "The Attention Economy: A Category Blueprint" which takes an in-depth look into the dynamic world of marketing and advertising, unveiling the pivotal role that human attention measurement plays in the present and future landscape. In this episode we discuss the history of attention, how the platforms are manipulating our attention, why not all reach is equal, and, ultimately, what we can do about it.

00:00 - Intro
00:49 - Karen’s new book
01:42 - The history of attention
03:20 - The case for attention
04:17 - The difference between active and passive attention
09:37 - Linking attention to memory
11:30 - Linking attention to advertising outcomes
14:12 - The concept of attention elasticity
15:17 - How platforms are manipulating our attention
17:51 - How to measure attention
20:10 - Seen vs served
25:22 - How is the industry progressing?
27:21 - Is there a new metric we can use in place of CPM?
29:10 - How to buy media based on attention
31:25 - Karen’s new course
32:31 - How is Amplified Intelligence going

From Shark Tank to Super Bowl - the story of America's fastest growing beverage (Poppi) with Allison Ellsworth Jan 22, 2025

Show notes

In this episode I'm joined by Allison Ellsworth, founder of the fastest growing beverage brand in the US, Poppi.

Poppi was started as Mother Beverage in 2018 (a nod to the raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar used in the drink) but was rebranded after featuring on Shark Tank in the same year. Now, it's one of the biggest soda brands in the US, outselling Coke and Pepsi on Amazon. I speak to Allison about the journey of creating the brand, how influential TikTok was for their growth, their merch strategy and how they ended up buying a Super Bowl ad. This is a fascinating account of how a challenger brand can disrupt an industry in such a small period of time.

Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
02:08 - Allison’s experience on Shark Tank
05:56 - Funding and rebrand of Poppi
10:36 - Launching the brand during COVID
11:06 - Outselling Coke and Pepsi on Amazon
12:33 - How big is the impact of Shark Tank
13:45 - Growing the brand on social media
17:02 - The influencer and social first marketing strategy
19:45 - How Poppi’s marketing popup worked
22:05 - Why Poppi invested in merch and launching in Target
24:36 - Choosing which flavours to launch with Poppi
28:04 - Approach to retail and growth
29:27 - Breaking into a competitive market
30:29 - Poppi’s Super Bowl campaign
35:30 - The journey from 2 to 200 employees
40:18 - How Allison hires at Poppi
42:05 - The hardest part of the journey at Poppi
44:07 - How Allison would start a new startup today

Mr Bates vs The Post Office - the real story behind the drama with Patrick Spence Jan 20, 2025

Show notes

Mr Bates vs The Post Office is a the most watched drama on ITV of all time. It's the extraordinary story of the greatest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, where hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a defective IT system. I speak to the producer of the show, Patrick Spence, to get a behind the scenes look at the drama, how it was discovered, how it was made and why the country rallied around Mr Bates.

Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
01:09 - The story of Mr Bates
05:33 - Having the film commissioned by ITV
08:59 - How true was the drama
12:04 - How big was the cover up at the Post Office
14:12 - How did this scandal happen
17:21 - Why some people pleaded guilty
19:36 - How has the show impacted real people
22:08 - Why no one has received compensation yet
24:46 - What awards has the show won
26:24 - The reaction from Fujitsu and the Post Office
31:53 - How has the drama translated globally?

The power of personalisation and how to deliver at scale - Mark Abraham, BCG Jan 15, 2025

Show notes

Mark Abraham leads Boston Consulting Group’s Marketing, Sales & Pricing practice in North America. He also launched and leads the firm’s personalization capability. He has built some of the firm’s largest ventures and AI platforms, including Fabriq Personalization AI by BCG X, a personalization platform that accelerates personalization.

Mark coauthored the book Personalized: Customer Strategy in the Age of AI, which helps executives learn how to put personalization at the center of their strategy, accelerate growth, and capture their share of the $2 trillion personalization prize.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
00:49 - Why 2025 is the year of personalisation at scale
01:38 - When personalisation goes wrong
06:04 - Consumer data on our openness to personalisation
07:48 - The $2 trillion opportunity
10:08 - Who is doing personalisation well
14:27 - The competitive advantage of speed and scale
15:50 - How AI is driving personalisation forward
24:15 - The 5 areas to build the framework for personalisation
26:49 - How do you get information about your customer
31:53 - What is the most useful intelligence to gather
37:43 - How to make mass campaigns more targeted
42:36 - Some of the barriers to personalisation
50:19 - Why companies need to embrace AI
53:25 - Parting advice to people on implementing personalisation

How not to plan: what matters most in 2025 - Les Binet and Sarah Carter Jan 08, 2025

Show notes

It's our annual tradition to bring Sarah Carter and Les Binet, authors of How Not To Plan, onto the podcast to discuss the hot topics of the year and what marketers need to know in 2025. We've broken this episode into 8 key discussion points, including why consistent advertising is so effective, why the era of purpose is over and another year of the advertising industry needing to remember they are not the customer.

00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:55 - Reflecting on the agency’s year
00:05:25 - Point 1: You are not the customer
00:19:51 - Point 2: Ignore Price at your peril
00:26:13 - Point 3: Consistency but not a lack of creativity
00:42:08 - Point 4: Never forget the eyeballs
00:50:48 - Point 5: Emotions aren’t just about making people cry
00:55:08 - Point 6: Is the era of purpose over?
01:00:38 - Point 7: Don’t just be in culture, stay in culture
01:03:48 - Point 8: Don’t forget the power of Out of Home

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