Embracing Marketing Mistakes
Welcome to Embracing Marketing Mistakes, the world’s leading irreverent podcast for senior marketers who are tired of the polished corporate b*llshit.
Join Chris Norton and Will Ockenden, founders of the award-winning Prohibition PR, as they sit down with industry leaders to dissect the career-ending f*ck-ups they’d rather forget. The show moves past any pretty vanity metrics to uncover the brutal, honest truths behind marketing disasters, from £30,000 SEO black holes and completely failed companies, to social media crises that went globally viral for all the wrong reasons.
We don't just celebrate the f*ck-ups; we extract the tactical blueprints you need to avoid them yourself. If you are a business owner, or a CMO looking for a competitive advantage that only comes from real-world experience, this is your weekly masterclass in resilience and strategy.
- Listen for: Raw stories from top brands, ex-McKinsey strategists, and industry disruptors.
- Learn from: The errors that cost thousands and the recoveries that saved careers.
- Get ahead by: Turning other people's nasty disasters into your unfair market advantage.
If you have a story to tell and would like to appear on the show, tell us your biggest marketing mistake and drop us a line.
Episodes
198 episodes
Six People Trolled Me. It Felt Like Sixty Thousand
Social media can feel like the best networking tool in the world, until it throws you a curveball. We were joined by Asif Choudry back in episode 96. We talk about the early days of Twitter when it felt like a friendly space for real conversati...
Spending £30k on Influencers for Five Signups
We revisit Andy Lambert back in episode 93 to unpack the influencer marketing moment that changed how he thinks about influence in B2B. Andy explains how his team approached creators like a media buy, treating the partnership as a quick transac...
EP 129: Unbounce's VP Of Marketing Explains What Actually Wins AI Search Visibility Now
A VP of Marketing running two brands at once shares what's working in AI search visibility right now, and admits to one of the messiest direct mail campaigns a B2B marketer has confessed to on this show. Val Riley, VP of Marketing ...
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I Made the Worst Ad in British History
Kevin Chesters reveals the painful truth behind what he calls the worst advert ever made in British history. This is a forensic breakdown of ego, bad process and the lessons every marketer needs to hear.Back in episode 102 of Embracing ...
EP 128: Why CFOs Keep Killing Influencer Budgets
Influencer spend hit $32.55 billion in 2025, and most brands still can't prove it works. In this Prohibition PR webinar, Chris Norton and Will Ockenden break down why influencer marketing keeps losing boardroom arguments, the mistake that turne...
One Tweet About Sleeping Beauty Ended in Death Threats
Back in episode 99 with Sarah Waddington, we dive into the story of a well-intentioned tweet about a Biff and Chip book image, posted during the height of the Me-Too era. What was meant to be a harmless comment, shared in the midst of ...
EP 127: Professor Jim Macnamara Says Most Of The PR Industry Is Still Measuring The Wrong Thing
A professor who built his entire career on communication measurement almost couldn't answer the question that started it all. Professor Jim Macnamara joins Embracing Marketing Mistakes to explain why so much of PR and marketing still confuses o...
He Asked for Honest Feedback. Then Never Spoke to Me
If you have ever watched a brilliant marketing strategy die in a sign‑off meeting, this episode is for you. We unpack the real reasons ideas fail in the boardroom and what senior marketers can do to read the room, create emotional buy in and ke...
EP 126: The Emotion Behind Every B2B Purchase Nobody Markets To - Talia Wolf
Most B2B brands are interchangeable, and Talia Wolf built a career proving it.In this episode, Talia Wolf, founder of GetUplift and creator of the emotional targeting framework, explains why most products test identical on every measurab...
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EP 125: The PR Launch That Cleared The Building
A CIPR fellow with nearly six decades in PR says the industry still protects itself from its own scandals.In this episode, Robert Minton-Taylor, a CIPR fellow recognised at the institute's 70th anniversary and a 24-year PR lecturer at Le...
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EP 124: He Built His Own AI Company Then Shut It Down
A toxic hire nearly cost him his agency. Then he made a similar mistake again, this time trying to build his own AI instead of renting one.In this episode, Roger Hurni, founder and Chief Brand Strategist of Off Madison Ave, whose client ...
EP 123: Why I Recommended the Man Who Fired Me - John O'Keeffe
He ran creative for the world's biggest advertising group. Then his own recommendation to the board cost him the job, and he sold every share he owned the same week.In this episode, John O'Keeffe explains how he took WPP from a "creative...
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EP 122: The Sales Funnel Is a Hundred Years Old and Wrong
KFC and Weetabix both threw away the most famous slogans in their category, and had to fight their way back to them.In this episode, Tom Roach explains how "Finger Lickin' Good" and "Have You Had Your Weetabix" both got dropped while eac...
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EP 121: I Invented a Category, Sold to Diageo, and Almost Lost It All
Ben Branson invented an entirely new drinks category from his kitchen. Then a £1 million hole nearly took it all away.In this episode, Ben explains how Seedlip, the world's first non-alcoholic spirit, grew twice as fast as the industry s...
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EP 120: We Fired 30 People and Nothing Changed
A growth lead at a fast-scaling startup admits the truth: his old company cut a 30-person marketing and sales team, and sales didn't change at all.In this episode, Hector Hughes explains why a year of growth work, SEO, conversion rate op...
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EP 119: Moz Founder: 'I Was Making $50M a Year and Miserable'
Rand Fishkin built Moz into the biggest name in SEO. Then he raised $30 million in venture capital and watched it nearly break him.In this episode, Rand explains why raising venture capital was his biggest mistake, how it led to a battle...
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EP 118: This One Habit Cost Me 100 Million YouTube Views
A top YouTube strategist just revealed the single habit that cost him over 100 million views and then live-critiqued our own channel's titles on air.Leroy te Braak works with creators and brands doing hundreds of millions of views on You...
From Petrified Wood to Pints Social Proof Gone Wrong
Behavioural science meets marketing mishaps back in episode 46 with Phill Agnew. As a specialist in testing what really works in ads, Phill exposes how well intentioned campaigns often push audiences in exactly the wrong direction. ...
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EP 117: 70% of Teams Are Using AI With Zero Oversight. Here’s What Happened
Most companies have bought AI. Hardly any are actually using it properly inside their teams.In this episode, recorded live at the AI for PR conference in London, we break down the real reason AI adoption fails in marketing and communicat...
How a Transparency Slip Sparked a PR Firestorm
In this episode of Embracing Marketing Mistakes, Chris Pharo CEO from 72 Point talks through the controversy that erupted after critics on social media challenged the term guaranteed coverage. What began as a few confused comments q...
EP 116: "SEO Is Dead. It's an $85 Billion Market and It's Over"
Everyone is talking about AI transformation. Almost no one is thinking about whether their brand shows up when customers ask AI what to buy.This episode breaks down the biggest mistake in modern marketing and why PR is quietly becoming t...
The Hangover That Landed Us A Major Client
Our guest, Guy Utley CEO of Tall Agency, shares a candid story about winning a major pitch despite being severely hungover from celebrating a "Best Creative Agency" award the night before. This unexpected success led to a complete ...
EP 115: The Moment Claude Co-Work Replaced 4 Days of Work in 30 Minutes
He handed AI a full marketing project… and it came back finished in 30 minutes.What used to take 4 days of analysis, reporting, and presentation building was done in a single sitting with better insights included.In this episode, ...
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EP 114: We Deepfaked a CEO in 2 Minutes. Here’s What Happened
A finance worker joins a Zoom call with their CFO and colleagues.Everything looks and sounds real. They transfer $25 million. Every person on that call was fake.AI misinformation has moved from theory to real-world crisis, and br...
The Mistake That Burnt Me Out: Staying Too Long Where I Didn’t Belong
Cory Koryczan opens up about the career mistake that nearly broke her.Staying too long in a role that no longer fit. She’d built her identity around someone else’s business and clung to safety until it led to burnout. In this episode, Co...