Champagne Strategy

Brain hurt scale = 6/10. This is the second half of the former episode which will complete the audio version of Part 3's article. In the former episode we covered in detail the first determinant of effective advertising - reach. In this one, we explain what is 'brand' and how 'branding' actually works or doesn't work. Then we explore the third factor which is all about maki...

Brain hurt scale = 7/10. Isn't it funny how we all think we know how advertising works, but very few of us know about the scientific side. Even fewer have married up science with the practical considerations of what it's like in an applied work setting. Until now! After learning about what brand campaigns are in part 1 and understanding the etymology. We were then left with a gaping hole....

Brain Hurt Scale = 4/10. Here's a quick synopsis of the first part of six. An article series that tries to answer a very basic question. What is a brand campaign? Go to https://www.brandingmag.com/john-james/brand-campaigns-part-1-what-exactly-are-they/ to read the full article which includes a lot of useful diagrams, videos, links and extended explanation that doesn't make it into this qu...

We'll spend thousands of dollars a month on ads yet routinely underinvest in the quality of the creative. Even the biggest agencies do it. They cheapen out on the quality of the audio track. But great music can make or break a movie or TV series. It can also be the difference between advertising and promotions that your audience either remembers or doesn't remember. Raj has recently taken...

You know all those famous authors and people on social media with posts that are wildly successful? You may be surprised to learn, it's probably not them. Most don't even manage their own accounts. But, who's work then are we really reading? Who's DM's are we really slipping into? Today we're going to delve into the murky world of ghostwriting. And it reminds me of that fam...

Brain Hurt = 6/10. Do you want your effort to translate into maximum reward without change getting in the way? If so, embracing inherent uncertainty in the world is arguably the best way to go about it. Matt Watkinson published his third book this year which explores the concept of probabilistic thinking, systems, determinism and more. We don't really do book reviews, but this one caught the e...

Brain Hurt Level = 2/10. "Great interview...I've often thought someone needed to interview you, put all of that red-pill business and marketing chat into one cohesive conversation. Your definition of marketing should actually be a front-slide of every conversation I have now." Note: This episode best serves the interests of executives, founders, owners and senior management. But, the...

Brain Hurt level = 5/10. Note: this episode is best for those interested in marketing or growth within the SaaS tech sector. Especially if you work in marketing, growth or as a senior marketing leader or founder. And even more so if that's B2B or Martech. But... With that said, it's rare to find someone who has worked in design, engineering development, product, strategy and marketing. Eve...

Baiba’s career is varied to say the least. Starting with a bachelor of visual arts at university where she was dissuaded from pursuing a career in this field, to later attempts at breaking the small glass ceiling of male advertising strategists in her native Latvia. After some account management experience at both Ogilvy and Grey group she landed a strategist role at an agency in the Czech Republi...

A recent article, some skeptical Twitterati and a belated Champagne film scene prompted the two Johns to join forces once again. In this episode, we put some of the doubters at bay. So if Jon Evan's recent Marketing Week article took your fancy, or you don't believe it, then you can hear the extended story of exactly how it all went down right here, right now. Listen and you might be able...

Have you ever found it difficult to brief and agency, a copywriter or a designer and get back the words you were expecting? This is really hard when you don't have a messaging strategy which sits at the top of your workflow. Working alongside your brand voice and tone, your positioning, brand story and strategic narrative. It's the missing piece that nearly every company fails to invest in...

Brain Hurt Scale = 2/10 There's a famous quote by Kleiner Perkins' OG John Doer, "Ideas are easy. Execution is everything. It takes a team to win". If you've ever been responsible for bottom line results, you'll agree and nod because you know this quote to be true. Unfortunately, mastering the craft of execution is not politically advantageous. Instead, most companies rew...

What is a brand? How do they work? How do you separate the marketing fluff from fact? If you want to build commercial value from marketing investments this is a mandatory listen. Listen to Dr Ethan Decker. A former ecologist who is now an applied brand science professional based in Boulder, Colorado. Nothing more needs to be said. Skip to the 5-minute mark if you want to skip the intros and Champa...

Brain Hurt Scale = 9/10. Seen that survivorship bias image floating around on LinkedIn or Twitter? You know, the one with the plane schematic with red dots showing the points where planes in world war 2 got shot. Followed by some sage remark by someone who goes on to say something about not falling victim to survivorship bias? Well, blindly believing this is something Mike says to be wary of. In t...

In practice, Brent says over 95% of all partnerships fail. But why? And what can we do to increase the odds of success? Brent Annells is a wealth of deep knowledge in the practicalities of partnerships but also much more, courtesy of his storied career.  Starting his career in PR, grounding in core messaging and positioning strategy, it wasn't long before he was testing his chops at a startup...

Republished with permission from Juan Mendoza, host of the Making Sense of Martech podcast. "In this episode I’m joined by John James. John is the host of the Champagne Strategy podcast, marketing, and technology consultant, and startup entrepreneur. John started working for global ad agencies then went client side, to government (B2G), B2B, B2C. Worked at digital agencies in Melbourne for ha...

Brain hurt scale = 3/10. Andres Glusman was experimenting and validating products before the lean startup term was coined. It started in college selling peanuts at baseball games. Progressed to testing ads for the world's first digital agency. He was split testing Winnie the Pooh banner ads manually before ad software existed. Which led to his former agency boss getting him to solve an early tract...

Brain-hurt Scale = 5/10. Some marketers believe Apple’s success stems from a series of emotional brand ads. Yet they ignore product strategy, distribution and ecosystems - which I would argue, is the true source of their market power. Some marketers might know what distribution and the power of physical availability is. They may drop the term in conversations, but rarely are they exposed to it or...

Brain-hurt scale = 4/10. "Don't worry about profit. Just get me more growth. We can always worry about monetization and margins later." This type of statement is quite dominant within Silicon Valley culture and within modern entrepreneurship. But just how valid is this advice? Luckily, Per Davidsson, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Queensland University of Technology can answer that...

This is a follow up to a former talk we had with Elisa Choy about market research and predictive AI. We heard she was gearing up to predict the results of the US midterms. This was something I followed closely this time around. Following Elisa's posts and predictions as they manifested leading up to election day.  Here's the story of how she again, got it right. Why she got it right. The majo...

"You're wrong - Byron Sharp says loyalty doesn't exist." said a person on Twitter recently. This statement then started a string of comments as people started to argue who was right. I found this entire argument strange, because obviously that person has not read the book from the author he was referring to.  One of my first jobs was to research all the loyalty programs in the country and fig...

Have you noticed over the past year or so, all social media content is regressing to the mean of bland, sameness? Content which appears useful at face value but isn't. Feeds and blogs full of posts that all look and sound like each other. Most are wildly popular. But when you dig beneath the surface you'll find them as unhelpful as they are helpful.  We've all been tempted to emulate this sty...

A simple idea during 2020s lockdown has now led to Juan being invited on stages around the world, working with Scott Brinker, SVP from Hubspot and consulting opportunities galore. But it all started by creating by creating a simple blog and newsletter. A newsletter which is now one of the most trusted in the world on Martech.  And for the first time, ever, you'll hear from the horse's mouth,...

Brain hurt scale = 4/10. We've all heard examples of a big brand CMO starting their own business or going to work for a smaller company and it usually ends in tears. Exposed naked, without the halo effect of a big brand, including operational processes and agency support, it can be a confronting, reality-check experience at best. And a complete disaster at worst.  So ,any marketers just stick...

Brain hurt scale 7/10. Mike Talor helps us put the last 5 episodes on Marketing Measurement into practical context. Having started a growth agency many years ago and still an active practitioner in the field, there was perhaps no one more appropriate to talk to about this topic.  We've spoke to Elisa Choy about sentiment tracking, Jonathan Rolley about advertising media measurement, Edgar Bau...