Canned the Marketing Podcast

The End of Canned? Sort Of. After 39 episodes, two live shows, 11 guests, countless marketing debates and more technical glitches than any podcast deserves, Steph Quantrill and Ben van Rooy are wrapping up Canned: The Marketing Podcast. But this isn’t a dramatic farewell episode, it's a debrief.  From why they started the podcast after Cannes Lions, to what actually goes into producing weekly...

Steph Quantrill and Ben van Rooy unpack the rise of food trends, cultural influence and why brands are obsessed with staying relevant. From matcha and bubble tea to Stanley Cups and Labubu, this episode explores how trends form, where they spread from, and why marketers often mistake short-term hype for long-term opportunity. Broadcasting from Japan and Melbourne, Ben and Steph compare the cultura...

Most marketers obsess over campaigns, but forget about the battleground of the shelf.  In this episode Steph Quantrill and Ben van Rooy sit down with Matt Grantham, Creative Director at OnFire Design, to unpack why packaging is often doing more heavy lifting than your entire media budget. From supermarket psychology to category-breaking brands, Matt brings global experience across FMCG, challenger...

Some brands disappear. Others just go quiet. In this episode, Steph Quantrill and Ben van Rooy unpack the real mechanics behind brand comebacks.  From failed revivals like Georgie Pie to cultural reinventions like Old Spice and Bonds, this is a forensic look at timing, culture, and brand equity.  The importance of knowing what to bring forward and what to leave behind. What You’ll Learn in This Ep...

Steph Quantrill and Ben van Rooy unpack one of the most overhyped and misunderstood areas in marketing, influencer marketing, or as Steph prefers, the creator economy. From Cannes trends to real-world campaigns, they explore why brands are still getting it wrong, where creators actually drive impact across the funnel, and why control is the enemy of effectiveness. If you’ve ever briefed an influen...

Canned the Marketing Podcast Ep. 34 –  Introduction / Hook Agencies spend their lives selling clarity, creativity and growth for clients, yet plenty are strangely average at marketing themselves. In this episode, Steph Quantrill and Ben van Rooy are joined by Kathleen Gunther, founder of Gunther Consulting and a specialist in helping agencies sharpen their positioning, stay visible and back up wha...

Introduction Loyalty is one of marketing’s most overused and misunderstood ideas. In this episode, Steph and Ben unpack loyalty  and challenge whether most programs are building genuine connection or just bribing repeat behaviour. From airlines to supermarkets to cult brands, they explore why some brands earn loyalty while others manufacture it and what that means for marketers navigating rising a...

Live from the B2B Marketing Conference in Auckland, Steph Quantrill (Cue Marketing) and Ben van Rooy (Human Digital) sit down with two operators who actually live the “do more with less” reality. Fiona Taimana, GM Marketing at Noel Leeming, manages a $200M commercial business with just a sliver of budget, while Anna Henwood, CEO of Stickybeak and former Les Mills CMO, is scaling a global SaaS busi...

MarTech is having a moment — again. But between AI hype, bloated tech stacks, and dashboards no one trusts, most marketers are quietly wondering if they’ve overcomplicated things.  In this episode of Canned , Steph Quantrill (Cue Marketing) and Ben van Rooy (Human Digital) strip it back. They unpack what a modern MarTech stack actually looks like across B2B and B2C,  how AI is changing the game (w...

Luxury brands play a completely different marketing game. In this episode of Canned the Marketing Podcast , Ben van Rooy from Human Digital and Steph Quantrill from Cue Marketing unpack the world of luxury marketing and why brands like Louis Vuitton, Hermès and Gucci operate by rules that most marketers would never dare follow. From the origins of European craftsmanship to modern scarcity strategi...

In this episode of Canned the Marketing Podcast , hosts Steph Quantrill (Cue Marketing) and Ben van Rooy (Human Digital) dive into the power of nostalgia marketing. From McDonald’s Friends collectibles to Coca-Cola’s Stranger Things revival of New Coke, they unpack why brands keep looking backwards to move consumers forward. When marketing taps into shared cultural memories, the emotional connecti...

The 4Ps might be Marketing 101, but are we actually using them properly? In this episode of Canned, Steph Quantrill from Cue Marketing and Ben van Rooy from Human Digital go deep on Product, Price, Place and Promotion and why these fundamentals still shape the strongest brands in New Zealand and Australia.  Then in a special guest section, Kaleb Mearns joins to launch a new partnership survey in c...

What does it take to futureproof an entire profession? On this episode of Canned, Ben van Rooy and Stephanie Quantrill sit down with John Miles, CEO of the New Zealand Marketing Association, to unpack how NZMA has evolved from its direct mail roots into a national engine room for marketing capability.  John shares how COVID forced a fast pivot to digital learning, why leadership pathways matter mo...

When you’re up against a giant, you do not outspend them. You out-position them.  In this episode of Canned, Ben van Rooy and Stephanie Quantrill unpack challenger brands versus market leaders and why bigger is not always better. From Pepsi taking on Coca-Cola at the Super Bowl, to Whittaker's holding its ground against Cadbury, and how Skinny emerged in response to 2degrees, this is a sharp,...

Strategy gets talked about a lot in marketing—but is rarely defined well. In this episode of Canned: The Marketing Podcast , hosts Steph Quantrill (Cue Marketing) and Ben van Rooy (Human Digital) cut through the noise to unpack what strategy really is, why so many businesses confuse it with tactics, and how that confusion quietly kills focus, momentum, and results. What You’ll Learn in This Episod...

Customer Experience Is the Brand (Especially When Things Go Wrong) In this episode of Canned the Marketing Podcast , Steph and Ben are joined by Sarah Clearwater , founder of Reframr, to unpack why CX is the delivery of your brand promise — and why the best brands shine brightest when everything goes sideways. This is a practical, no-nonsense conversation for marketers who are tired of talking abo...

It’s 2026, Ben’s back from Rio (minus a phone… plus a backup phone like an absolute psychopath), and Steph’s back from a soggy Coromandel reset. This week, they crack open the crystal ball and give it their best shot at calling the trends for marketers to pay attention to in 2026—brand vs performance, AI slop, agency shake-ups, and why “real” is the new premium. What You’ll Learn in This Episode B...

It’s the Canned Christmas special — and we’re not handing out participation trophies. Hosts  Steph Quantrill (Cue Marketing) and Ben van Rooy (Human Digital) are joined by brand strategist and cultural commentator Eugene Healey for a sharp, no-holds-barred breakdown of the brands that defined 2025 — for better and for worse. From Cannes side-quests to culture-war campaigns, this episode cuts throu...

Steph Quantrill (Cue Marketing) and Ben van Rooy (Human Digital) step outside the scroll and into the real world to unpack why Out-of-Home advertising (OOH) still stops people in their tracks. From billboards and bus wraps to special builds and stunts that earn global attention, this episode is a sharp, practical look at how brands can win attention when screens are saturated. If you think OOH is...

This week, Steph from Cue Marketing and Ben from Human Digital dive head-first into the chaotic, emotional, reputation-threatening world of rebrands - from the corporate phoenix moments (hello, Accenture) to the “no one asked for this” refreshes that get marketers yelled at at BBQs. With real-world stories from Spark, Enviro NZ, Four Square, Griffins, Enron (yes, really), and NZ Post, they unpack...

B2B finally gets its moment in the spotlight. In this episode, co-hosts Ben van Rooy (Human Digital) and Steph Quantrill (Cue Marketing) dive into the misunderstood, often underestimated world of B2B marketing—where long sales cycles, buying committees, and high-stakes decisions make the work both exhilarating and brutal. From the politics behind procurement to the power of brand trust built years...

Hosts Steph Quantrill (Cue Marketing) and Ben van Rooy (Human Digital) dig into one of the most in-demand topics in modern marketing: personal branding. With audiences trusting individuals more than companies, this episode breaks down how personalities are shaping influence, loyalty and commercial outcomes. They highlight industry standouts like Eugene Healy, who commands half a million followers,...

This week, Steph from Cue Marketing and Ben from Human Digital dive headfirst into one of marketing’s most fun playgrounds: brand collaborations. From Balenciaga x Scholl (yes, the bunion shoe brand) to Four Square x Sawmill’s summer IPA, to why Barbie basically owned 2023, this episode hits everything from FMCG smashes to luxury chaos. If you love collabs, hate collabs, or have trauma from the St...

This week, Steph from Cue Marketing and Ben from Human Digital crack open a story you wouldn’t expect from the world of banking; a handcrafted kids’ content series built inside ASB. Yep, puppets, original songs, TVNZ studios… the works. Social & Content Lead Hamish Russell joins the show to unpack how a bank made one of the most delightfully creative education projects in New Zealand. If you t...

This week, hosts Steph Quantrill (Cue Marketing) and Ben van Rooy (Human Digital) sit down with Chanel Clark, founder of The Marketing Club (TMC), fresh off the very first Marketers Day. They unpack how one marketer’s side project turned into a cross-Tasman movement — complete with 1,000-strong Slack channels, sold-out events, and a goody bag that broke wrists. From the courage to start small to t...