Uncensored CMO

I speak to Airbnb's CMO, Hiroki Asai, fresh off their 2025 Summer Release, where they announced their brand new "Services" and "Experiences" addition to the platform. This now positions Airbnb as the perfect alternative to a hotel when travelling. Hiroki touches on how they have launched this massive new innovation, why they do all their creative work in-house and rounds off with some poignant adv...

Since Elon Musk acquired X (formerly Twitter) in 2022, the platform has undergone dramatic changes; slashing headcount, losing major advertisers, and redefining its identity. Now, under CEO Linda Yaccarino and marketing lead Angela Zepeda (formerly of Hyundai), X is staging a comeback. Angela joins Jon to discuss her leap from automotive to tech, rebuilding advertiser trust, and the bold vision of...

Rankin Carroll is the Chief Brand Officer at Mars, having joined the company in 2002. Mars is responsible for some of the most well-known advertising in the world, for brands including M&M’s, Twix, Snickers, Skittles, and more. Jon speaks to Rankin about long-term brand building vs. performance marketing, how to get the most out of agencies, and what it takes to build a portfolio of incredible...

Nicole Parlapiano is the CMO of Tubi, an ad-supported streaming platform taking on the subscription giants. Nicole has previously had her own dating startup acquired by Match Group, before working in private equity, famously being Head of Marketing at WeWork during their crash and most recently VP Marketing for Tinder. Nicole is one of the most entrepreneurial CMOs on the planet, bringing a unique...

Colin Fleming is a returning guest, and the CMO of ServiceNow, a B2B company ripping up the B2B marketing playbook. It’s not the first time Colin has done this, having previously spent 13 years at Salesforce turning them into a brand to be reckoned with. In this episode I talk to Colin about their new brand campaign with Idris Elba, what the future of marketing with AI looks like and the biggest l...

In a world first, Scott Galloway and Rory Sutherland go head to head to talk about some of the biggest topics in marketing. They lock horns on Scott's controversial statement "the era of brand is dead" and why most successful companies don't advertise. You'll also hear the two disagreeing on the Jaguar rebrand, at which point Scott may or may not have called Rory sexy... Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 0...

Today, I’m joined by James Kuczynski, Creative Director at Duolingo, and Dan Salkey, Founding Partner at Small World, for a conversation on how to build truly entertaining brands. Fresh off their SXSW panel titled "Entertain or Die" , named after a report by Small World, we explore how Duolingo has built such a standout brand, particularly through the rise (and death...) of their iconic mascot, Du...

In this episode, we deep dive into the irrational world of customer behaviour with legendary behavioural economist Dan Ariely. Dan reveals why we’re all predictably wrong, how tiny invisible cues can radically change price perception, and why effort makes things feel more valuable. We also unpack the real reason people fall for misinformation, how to rebuild trust in broken industries like insuran...

Rory Sutherland returns to the Uncensored CMO podcast, tackling the economic crisis with his signature wit and wisdom. As ever, he offers a refreshingly unconventional perspective on the world’s biggest problems — and marketing’s role in solving them. In this episode, Rory explores why marketing is more like a casino than a science, how to capitalise on your competitors’ blind spots, and what his...

Scott Galloway (Prof G) has returned to the Uncensored CMO podcast for a second time, in a special live episode. Galloway is Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business and host of the Prof G and Pivot podcasts. He joins Jon in a special live episode in London and lives up to his billing as the most uncensored guest of all time. Scott takes big swings at the advertising industry through...

Live from Adobe Summit in Las Vegas, in this bonus triple header, Jon speaks with Colin Fleming (ServiceNow), Stacy Martinet (Adobe) and Billy Seabrook (IBM) about the hot topic in marketing today, AI, and what a new wave of agentic AI technology means for marketers. Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 00:51 - Part 1: Colin Fleming 01:51 - The things people don’t understand about B2B marketing 03:32 - How AI...

Seth Matlins is the Managing Director of the Forbes Forbes CMO Network, where he oversees the annual Forbes World's Most Influential CMOs List, the Forbes Entrepreneurial CMO 50 List, the Forbes CMO Summit, the Forbes European CMO Summit, and an expanding marketing content portfolio. Seth is an award-winning marketer, who has spent a career in and advising the C-suite of dozens of the 100 most val...

Today Jon talks with Eugenia Zalis, CMO for one of the most iconic sweet brands in the world, Oreo. We talk about their "stay playful" positioning, incredible brand collaborations (with the likes of Coca-Cola and Post Malone) and some of the interesting innovations the brand has worked on. Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 00:46 - Eugenia’s marketing journey 01:33 - What can we learn from the Unilever appr...

Cadillac is an iconic American brand who are navigating the shift to electrification in the automotive industry and have partnered up with 72andSunny to launch their brand new campaign “Let’s Take the Cadillac. So today, Melissa Grady Dias, CMO of Cadillac, and Marianne Malina, President of 72andSunny join Jon to talk about working with a new agency and launching their first campaign together. Tim...

Rob Mayhew joins Jon for bonus episode, talking about his big move to New York City, becoming a full-time content creator and how brands can work with creators like him effectively. Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 01:39 - Why Rob moved to NYC 04:20 - Rob’s new YouTube show 05:47 - London vs New York for marketers 08:00 - Rob’s approach to content in 2025 11:00 - Rob’s view on the future of the social pla...

Rare Beauty is a brand built on the inclusive approach to beauty set by their celebrity founder, Selena Gomez. They've taken the US market by storm and so I'm speaking to their CMO, Katie Welch, about how they've done it. From strong positioning and making a difference in mental health across their customer base to growing a strong presence on social media (with a little help from their founder wi...

This episode is a QSR masterclass. Ken Muench is the CMO of Yum! brands, who own Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut. I speak to Ken about how he started the agency that got acquired by Yum! (The Collider Lab) and his journey to being the CMO of such a large group of brands. We also talk about how all CMOs within Yum! are encouraged to swing big to make impactful campaigns and drive innovation within the...

Marcel Marcondes is the CMO of AB InBev, who run the largest portfolio of beer brands in the world. Stella Artois, Corona, Michelob Ultra and Budweiser are all under the marketing leadership of Marcel. Through creativity and consistency, AB InBev have produced some of the most effective campaigns of the past few years, often topping out the System1 charts. This has led to Marcel and his team to wi...

I think one of the biggest problems facing us today is the amount of distraction in our lives. Social media feeds, unnecessary meetings, huge inboxes full of emails you didn't really need. All these things are grabbing our attention and taking us away from doing what we're supposed to be doing. In this episode I'm talking to Nir Eyal, who's the author of a brilliant book called Indistractable, whi...

The Super Bowl is the biggest advertising event of the year, with the biggest brands in the world flexing their advertising muscles (and budgets). A new entrant to the Super Bowl in 2024 was Pfizer, and they're back again this year with an ad that has blown the socks off the Pharma category. Their big game ad " Knock Out ", scored 4.4 stars in System1 testing, also making it one of the best ads ov...

Today Jon sits down with Benjamin Braun, CMO at Samsung Europe, for a fascinating conversation that spans from innovative tech demos to Olympic marketing strategies. Benjamin shares insights on Samsung's role as a 40-year Olympic sponsor, demonstrates the latest AI capabilities in Samsung devices, and discusses how the company balances long-term brand building with short-term sales goals. The conv...

Dr Karen Nelson Field is a multiple returning guest to the podcast, talking about her book "The Attention Economy: A Category Blueprint" which takes an in-depth look into the dynamic world of marketing and advertising, unveiling the pivotal role that human attention measurement plays in the present and future landscape.  In this episode we discuss the history of attention, how the platforms are ma...

In this episode I'm joined by Allison Ellsworth, founder of the fastest growing beverage brand in the US, Poppi. Poppi was started as Mother Beverage in 2018 (a nod to the raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar used in the drink) but was rebranded after featuring on Shark Tank in the same year. Now, it's one of the biggest soda brands in the US, outselling Coke and Pepsi on Amazon. I speak to Allison...

Mr Bates vs The Post Office is a the most watched drama on ITV of all time. It's the extraordinary story of the greatest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, where hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a defective IT system. I speak to the producer of the show, Patrick Spence, to get a behind the scenes...

Mark Abraham leads Boston Consulting Group’s Marketing, Sales & Pricing practice in North America. He also launched and leads the firm’s personalization capability. He has built some of the firm’s largest ventures and AI platforms, including Fabriq Personalization AI by BCG X, a personalization platform that accelerates personalization. Mark coauthored the book Personalized: Customer Strategy...