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.
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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…
The Mistake That Burnt Me Out: Staying Too Long Where I Didn’t Belong
Jun 04, 2026
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…
EP 113: Why Most CMOs Fail at Brand Strategy
Jun 02, 2026
Most marketing fails before a single ad is made. Not because the execution is bad, but because teams leap straight to tactics and skip the strategy underneath. Ben Norman calls the result "busy…
I Took A Team To Paris And Discovered The Brief Was In Spam
May 28, 2026
A missed brief. A room full of decision-makers. A team fresh off the Eurostar waiting to present a tailored proposal that never existed—because the client’s detailed instructions were quietly filed…
EP 112: Author of Decoded Explains Why This T‑Mobile Ad Failed in One Sec
May 26, 2026
Phil Barden, Author of Decoded once led a European brand relaunch that cost millions. The problem was not the strategy, the budget or the agency. The human brain rejected the advert in seconds. In…
The Expedia Pitch Mix-Up: When the Wrong Logo Won the Deal
May 21, 2026
In this episode of Embracing Marketing Mistakes, Sam Benton, co-founder of Mad Masters, joins Chris Norton and Will Ockenden to revisit one of his most unforgettable marketing moments. Early in his…
EP 111: The Typo That Lucy Woolfenden Made It Onto a 96-Sheet Billboard
May 19, 2026
Growth looks exciting from the outside. Inside, it is usually chaotic, opinion-led and full of avoidable mistakes. In this episode, we sit down with Lucy Woolfenden, a former Skype marketer turned…
The Disappearing Pitch: How a Magician Cost Us the Client
May 14, 2026
When James Thomlinson decided to “bring some magic” to a high-stakes pitch for InterContinental Hotels Group, he meant it, literally. The plan? A magician disguised as a team member, ready to wow…
EP 110: Most Creative Directors Are Never Told What Their Job Is | Mick Mahoney
May 12, 2026
Most creative directors are never told what their job actually is. That confusion leads to imposter syndrome, burnout and years of silent mistakes at the top of agencies. In this episode of…
Too Many Topics, Too Few Clients: David's YouTube Marketing Mistake
May 07, 2026
David thought his YouTube channel was flying tens of thousands of views, rapid growth, big smiles all round. But behind the buzz was a costly mistake. By turning his finance channel into a jumble of…
EP 109: The Tweet That Broke Yorkshire Tea with Dom Dwight
May 05, 2026
Dom Dwight joins Embracing Marketing Mistakes to share the reality of building a challenger brand that people genuinely care about. Across 18 years at Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate, Dom helped turn…
The Expensive Mistake of Starting a Shop You Don’t Believe In
Apr 30, 2026
What happens when you pour your heart and money into a business you’re not truly passionate about? In this episode, we hear the candid story of Louise, who launched a bricks-and-mortar craft shop…
EP 108: Why 95% Of Buying Happens On Autopilot
Apr 28, 2026
Most marketers believe customers think carefully before they buy. Behavioural science shows that 95% of buying happens on autopilot, driven by subconscious shortcuts rather than logic. In this…
The Weight We Carry: Authenticity and Mental Wellbeing in Corporate Life
Apr 23, 2026
Mental health neglect emerges as the most impactful career mistake, affecting happiness, security, and stability in both personal and professional realms. Many people recognise mental health issues…
EP 107: Award-winning ads stopped driving growth says Steve Harrison
Apr 21, 2026
Steve Harrison has spent over 40 years in advertising. He rose to Creative Director at Ogilvy, then founded Harrison Troughton Wunderman, building one of the most awarded direct marketing agencies in…
What Losing a £10K Tape Taught This BBC Journalist
Apr 16, 2026
Veteran tech journalist Spencer doesn’t hold back in this refreshingly honest episode filled with media mishaps and marketing missteps. From confidently predicting the iPad would never take off to…
EP 106: Ant Cousins Explains Why Handing Empathy to AI Almost Went Wrong
Apr 10, 2026
In this episode of Embracing Marketing Mistakes features Ant Cousins unpacking a moment where trusting AI with empathy nearly caused real harm. Ant Cousins is Vice President of Product at Meltwater…
The Costly Hiring Habit That Nearly Broke Sarah Clay’s Business
Apr 09, 2026
Ever hired someone just because you clicked with them? You are not alone. In this candid episode, our guest admits to recruiting based on personality instead of business needs. The result was…
How My Coca-Cola Site Tour Ended in Disaster - Richard Shotton
Apr 02, 2026
Marketing mistakes happen to everyone, even the so-called experts. We’ve seen everything from press releases that accidentally went viral for the wrong reasons to brand names so complicated even the…
EP 105: The Email That Destroyed 30 Years Of Customer Loyalty - Roger Dooley
Mar 31, 2026
One email rewrote “lifetime” loyalty and turned Carnival’s most devoted customers against the brand. In this episode, neuromarketing pioneer Roger Dooley breaks down the background to that decision…
How A PR Exec Survived Lads’ Mags, a Riot, And A Near-Top Gun Airspace Incident
Mar 26, 2026
What happens when the person paid to pitch stories decides to live them instead? We pull back the curtain on 90s Soho PR, where relationships were built over ringing landlines, long lunches, and…
EP 104: Why Liquid Death and Guinness Highlight Their Flaws with Phill Agnew
Mar 24, 2026
Behavioural tactics collapse more often than marketers admit. Phill Agnew joins us again to expose the shortcuts that fail, the ones that hold up under pressure, and the science senior marketers can…
We Printed 50,000 Catalogues... With the Wrong Phone Number.
Mar 19, 2026
Ever had that stomach-sinking moment when you realise you've made a massive, irreversible mistake? Try 50,000 glossy brochures printed with the wrong phone number. One poor marketer handed over a…
EP 103: From Fax Nightmares to AI: Staying Future Ready with Alistair Frost
Mar 17, 2026
A single fax almost caused a multimillion pound pricing collapse. Yet the story is only the starting point. This episode goes much deeper into how marketers cope with relentless technological change…
What happens when creativity outpaces strategy?
Mar 12, 2026
On this episode of Embracing Marketing Mistakes, I’m joined by Gareth Turner, founder of Big Black Door and former Head of Marketing at Weetabix. Gareth has over 23 years of experience in food and…
