The Push
The Push is a podcast for senior marketers eager to hear honest perspectives from peers who tell it like it is. We speak directly to your day-to-day reality and don't bother with superfluous tactics you don't need.
We understand that senior marketing is uniquely frustrating.
- You have to sell the 'why' more than any other department.
- You're held accountable for results beyond your control.
- You're forever dealing with non-marketers who 'know better than you'.
- Stakeholder politics, opinions, and “gut feelings” constantly get in the way.
- You're so busy dealing with stakeholders, there's little time left to conceptualise new strategies and hone your craft.
We bring together senior marketers to candidly share stories, analogies, strategies, and mental models they've used.
You can use these conversations to:
- Explain complex concepts to non-marketers.
- Get more client buy-in.
- Explore new strategy ideas.
- Better articulate your existing knowledge.
- Explain the 'why' behind your strategy.
- Keep your own team engaged.
- Better navigate marketing politics (which are inevitable).
- Remember that you're not alone in your experiences.
No empty buzzwords. No listicles. No generic advice.
Whether you’re in-house, agency-side, or a consultant, you’ll leave feeling empowered to speak up and lead with confidence.
The Push is hosted by Jack Ferguson, a Brand Strategist with 15 years of marketing and brand experience across 20+ industries.
The Push
S3 E65: Why Costco Engineers Against Impulse Purchases, How Honey Collapsed in One Video, and the Quantum Shift Marketing Needs
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Buyers don’t experience brands as funnels. They encounter them mid-scroll, mid-conversation, mid-doubt, mid-purchase, to name a few examples. So why does marketing still plan as if people move predictably from awareness to purchase?
This episode's guest Jelena Veselinovic joins host Jack Ferguson to rally against this phenomenon while drawing on 25+ years of marketing experience, including 18 years at Coca-Cola and 3.5 years as Head of Brand Marketing at Miro.
Now operating as a fractional Head of Brand, she blends classical marketing science with a philosophical background to challenge the deterministic assumptions still embedded in boardrooms. If the world behaves probabilistically, effective marketing must evolve accordingly.
We cover:
- How Honey’s overnight collapse is the best case study on brand promise risk
- Why Costco removes marketing traps and caps margins
- How Coca-Cola institutionalised product as their brand core
- How Newtonian cause-and-effect thinking misreads buyer behaviour
- Why marketing is better understood as shaping conditions rather than controlling behaviour
- How brands lost narrative authority to reviews, creators, and AI
- Why deterministic marketing is both disrespectful and ineffective
- How to build brands that thrive upon contact with reality
Helpful Links:
- Determinism
- Quantum Mechanics
- The Quantum State of Branding Article
- Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam Video
Where to find Jack:
- LinkedIn
- Website
Where to find Jelena:
- Rewire Your Mind Substack
- LinkedIn
Where to find The Push:
- LinkedIn
- YouTube
- Instagram
- TikTok
- Website