Embracing Marketing Mistakes

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 CEO couldn’t spell them. But there’s something weirdly therapeutic about sharing these messes. One guest summed it up perfectly. If you’re only testing stuff you already know will work, you’re not real...

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, the Royal Caribbean photo-op disaster, and how AI could have stopped both. For twenty years, Roger has been inside the rooms where these calls are made, teaching companies how real human brains work in...

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 last-minute invitations, and where the distance between press release and personal risk got uncomfortably thin. From beer brands and lads’ mags to editors who wanted proof you’d done the crazy thing you pi...

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 actually trust. Phill is the creator and host of Nudge , one of the most respected behavioural science podcasts in marketing. He is known for turning academic research into practical tools used by seni...

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 random pensioner’s number to the public, then had to hire temps to stick the correct digits on every single copy by hand. It only got worse from there. Mail merge cock-ups that sent rival names to cu...

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 and why so many professionals feel overwhelmed. Allister Frost is the former Head of Digital Marketing Strategy at Microsoft and one of the first people inside the company to shape its early digital an...

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 drink, having led marketing for brands like John Smith’s, Bulmers, Lurpak and Arla. From buying a racehorse for John Smith’s to launching Bulmers fruit ciders and leading the viral Beanz on Bix campaign,...

One advert wiped out a supermarket product in six weeks, and Kevin Chesters was right in the middle of it. He saw the disaster coming, ignored the warning signs and watched the whole thing collapse in real time. Kevin Chesters is a seasoned strategist with more than twenty five years in top flight marketing, including leadership roles as Chief Strategy Officer at Wieden+Kennedy London, Dentsu McGa...

I’m joined by Stuart Bruce, who is internationally recognised as the PR Futurist. He is a thinker, strategist and hands-on practitioner in modernised public relations, communications and corporate affairs. Stuart specialises in AI, communication technology (CommTech), measurement and evaluation, and crisis communications. He helps organisations embrace digital transformation and future-proof their...

Marketers are fighting on too many fronts. Budgets are tight, algorithms change daily and AI is flooding every feed with low grade content. This episode cuts through the noise and lays out the 2026 social landscape with absolute clarity. Chris and Will unpack the 12 trends shaping how brands win this year. The conversation covers AI brand bots, the rise of live shopping, the collapse of SEO into A...

Joining the conversation today is Richard Noble, Head of European Public Relations at Audible. With years of experience managing brand reputation and navigating high-pressure PR situations, Richard understands how quickly things can go wrong when communication within a company breaks down. Today, he shares a story that highlights just how chaotic things can get, complete with a touch of Australian...

A hundred stories in, and the sharpest truths are hiding inside the worst moments. We mark our rather large milestone with a definitive countdown of six unforgettable marketing screw-ups. From an automation update that unleashed 450,000 emails on VIPs in under an hour to a six-figure exhibition stand misspelling “software,” we explore what really fails in campaigns: governance, proofing, and the q...

Let me introduce you to Ann Wright, a journalist, BBC producer and PRCA-approved media trainer with years of experience behind some of the UK’s biggest live events and investigations. She’s had an impressive career, but not without a few wild turns and difficult lessons along the way. While working on "UK's Worst Hair Disasters", Ann went undercover at a Norfolk salon with secret ca...

In this episode, we’re joined by Rachel Massey, Director of Marketing at Huthwaite International. She talks us through one of the most stressful moments of her career and what it was like to deal with it in real time. We dig into a cringe-worthy marketing mistake involving a high-profile exhibition stand with "sofware" misspelled across the entire structure, leading to three days of anxi...

She went globally viral. Overnight, she faced death threats, abuse and media frenzy reaching across continents. This is the story of how PRCA CEO Sarah Waddington rebuilt, refocused and reshaped the PR industry in the middle of chaos. In this episode of Embracing Marketing Mistakes, Sarah Waddington CBE breaks down the viral moment that changed her life, the hidden pressures of PR leadership and t...

Katie Tucker is a marketing strategist who helps teams truly understand their customers so they can build products that sell. She works with companies of all sizes, offering practical support, training, and discovery sprints that cut through the noise and get results. But even she’s made the kind of mistake she warns others about. Despite her expertise in customer discovery, she once created a fam...

Chris Norton and Will Ockenden of Prohibition PR unpack what modern media interviews really feel like for leaders today. They move past the old PR textbook and talk frankly about hot mic blunders, off‑record comments that never stayed off the record and the way journalists now hunt for viral moments. Their stories make the risks feel real, but the tone stays grounded rather than dramatic. Let them...

Rich Mullholland, Founder of Missing Link and a presentation company leader, shares how his eloquence led to convincing himself of incorrect strategies that nearly cost him their business after the pandemic.  His decision to permanently close their unique office space following initial online success eliminated their word-of-mouth marketing engine and created significant challenges. • Being skille...

A brilliant strategy doesn’t fail because it’s wrong. It fails because people don’t own it and leaders won’t focus. That’s the energising premise of our conversation with Faris Aranki, founder of Shear Ghetto Consulting and former McKinsey advisor, who breaks down why IQ without EQ and FQ leaves great plans to die at sign‑off. We unpack Faris’s simple but powerful multiplier: IQ × EQ × FQ. IQ is t...

Melanie Parker, a university recruitment professional, shares a hilarious mishap when student hospitality staff abandoned their posts at a high-profile university event to get drunk behind a skip. Eight students helping themselves to champagne and wine during a Vice-Chancellor's gathering led to a mortifying call from security and a scramble to manage the fallout. • Worked at Leeds Becker Uni...

What does it take to turn a simple hashtag into a thriving community of 15,000 marketing and comms professionals? In this episode, Chris Norton sits down with Asif Choudry, founder of Comms Hero, to unpack the journey from a one-off event in Manchester to a nationwide movement. They dive into the early days of superhero-themed conferences, the backlash that almost derailed everything, and why trea...

Ken Robertson, Paddy Power’s former Head of Mischief, was given one job: grab attention by any means necessary. Known for outrageous campaigns and a flair for chaos, he built a career out of toeing the line. But one particular stunt, his most ambitious yet, pushed things further than even he expected. It all began when Ken Robertson staged a marketing stunt at the Vatican. He had Paddy Power set u...

Ever sunk thousands into SEO with zero return? Or been ghosted after a pitch you poured your soul into? In this episode, LinkedIn Top Voice and sales trainer Niraj Kapur joins Chris Norton to unpack the brutal truths of modern selling. From reducing ghosting and building trust on LinkedIn to coping with rejection and learning from failure, this conversation is packed with practical advice and raw...

Former marketing manager at Prolific North, Natalie Davidson, once accidentally invited 100 people to the wrong day of an event due to a rogue automatic reminder. She discovered the mistake while in the middle of briefing a speaker and was unable to access her laptop for an hour, causing major stress. Miraculously, no one showed up early. Either attendees remembered the correct date or no one had...

Mark Terry Lush spent thirty years chasing every opportunity. Big brands, wild projects, new cultures, he said yes to them all. The problem was that adaptability started to feel like progress, and it cost him focus on his own brand. In this episode, Mark shares what he learned from building everyone else’s success while neglecting his own. We talk about why versatility without direction can derail...