Uncensored CMO

Latest Episodes:

How Guinness became Britain's favourite pint - Stephen O'Kelly, Global Brand Director Apr 03, 2024

Show notes

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.

Copy that works, a copywriting masterclass with Vikki Ross Mar 27, 2024

Show notes

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

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

Ritson on Advertising Effectiveness with special guest Guilherme Ferreira VP Global Marketing Cadbury Mar 20, 2024

Show notes

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:

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

How Liquid Death founder, Mike Cessario, created a billion dollar water brand Mar 13, 2024

Show notes

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

Creativity driven performance, CPG lessons for SaaS and the power of distinctive assets - Michelle Taite, Mailchimp Mar 06, 2024

Show notes

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

Amazon’s Chief Creative Officer on the power of emotional advertising, distinctive brand assets and delivering at speed Feb 28, 2024

Show notes

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

How a new brand character challenged Whisky conventions to help The Woodsman double market share Feb 21, 2024

Show notes

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?

Rising from the ashes: the inspirational story of overcoming tragedy with Bozoma Saint John (former Netflix CMO) Feb 14, 2024

Show notes

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.

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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?

The secrets to Super Bowl success with Michelob ULTRA's Ricardo Marques Feb 07, 2024

Show notes

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?

The flamingo effect: how Very made their retail brand sparkle - Jessica Myers Very CMO Jan 31, 2024

Show notes

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

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