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.
PodSkip has analyzed 7 episodes of Embracing Marketing Mistakes, averaging 1.9 ads per episode (7% of runtime).
You Waited 15 Minutes for a Taxi. Now Seven Feels Rude
Oct 15, 2026
We return to consumer behaviouralist and CX expert Ken Hughes, first featured in episode 92, to revisit the moment that transformed how he believes brands should approach the customer. Ken explains…
EP 132: Why LinkedIn Reach Is Down And What Still Works
Oct 13, 2026
John Espirian, the self-styled relentlessly helpful LinkedIn guy, joins Chris Norton and Will Ockenden on Embracing Marketing Mistakes to explain why LinkedIn reach is down for almost everyone and…
My TEDx Talk Got 2,000 Views. Everyone Else Got 30,000
Oct 08, 2026
What happens when you pour your heart into a TEDx talk, expect it to skyrocket, and… nothing? We are joined with Niraj Kapoor back in episode 95, and dive into a brutally honest story of resilience…
EP 131: How An SEO Intern Got A Mashable Journalist To Cover Her Pitch
Oct 06, 2026
Britt Klontz started her career as an SEO agency intern, got a Mashable journalist to cover an infographic by following the journalist's own pitching guide, and now runs Vada Communications as a solo…
I Spent 30 Years Building Everyone Else's Brand
Oct 01, 2026
We had Mark Terry-Lush back in episode 94 started his career in the glory days of magazines when Vogue was the size of a phone book and PR was full of big personalities. He worked with some of the…
EP 130: Gerry Hopkinson Sold His Agency, Stayed Five Years, And Became A Cultural Strategist
Sep 29, 2026
A 20-year agency founder built his reputation turning Pizza Express back into a cult favourite, then years later made the mistake he now calls his biggest regret. Gerry Hopkinson, founder of Unity…
Six People Trolled Me. It Felt Like Sixty Thousand
Sep 25, 2026
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…
Spending £30k on Influencers for Five Signups
Sep 24, 2026
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…
EP 129: Unbounce's VP Of Marketing Explains What Actually Wins AI Search Visibility Now
Sep 22, 2026
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…
I Made the Worst Ad in British History
Sep 17, 2026
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…
EP 128: Why CFOs Keep Killing Influencer Budgets
Sep 15, 2026
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…
One Tweet About Sleeping Beauty Ended in Death Threats
Sep 10, 2026
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…
EP 127: Professor Jim Macnamara Says Most Of The PR Industry Is Still Measuring The Wrong Thing
Sep 08, 2026
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…
He Asked for Honest Feedback. Then Never Spoke to Me
Sep 03, 2026
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…
EP 126: The Emotion Behind Every B2B Purchase Nobody Markets To - Talia Wolf
Sep 01, 2026
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…
EP 125: The PR Launch That Cleared The Building
Aug 25, 2026
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…
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EP 124: He Built His Own AI Company Then Shut It Down
Aug 18, 2026
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…
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EP 123: Why I Recommended the Man Who Fired Me - John O'Keeffe
Aug 11, 2026
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…
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EP 122: The Sales Funnel Is a Hundred Years Old and Wrong
Aug 04, 2026
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…
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EP 121: I Invented a Category, Sold to Diageo, and Almost Lost It All
Jul 28, 2026
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…
EP 120: We Fired 30 People and Nothing Changed
Jul 21, 2026
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…
EP 119: Moz Founder: 'I Was Making $50M a Year and Miserable'
Jul 14, 2026
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…
EP 118: This One Habit Cost Me 100 Million YouTube Views
Jul 07, 2026
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…
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From Petrified Wood to Pints Social Proof Gone Wrong
Jul 02, 2026
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…
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EP 117: 70% of Teams Are Using AI With Zero Oversight. Here’s What Happened
Jun 30, 2026
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…
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How a Transparency Slip Sparked a PR Firestorm
Jun 25, 2026
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…
EP 116: "SEO Is Dead. It's an $85 Billion Market and It's Over"
Jun 23, 2026
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…
The Hangover That Landed Us A Major Client
Jun 18, 2026
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…
EP 115: The Moment Claude Co-Work Replaced 4 Days of Work in 30 Minutes
Jun 16, 2026
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…
EP 114: We Deepfaked a CEO in 2 Minutes. Here’s What Happened
Jun 09, 2026
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…
