The Accidental Marketer Podcast

In this episode, Tom Spitale, Mary Abbazia, and Sean Welham reflect on pivotal 2023 events impacting B2B. Tom spotlights Disney+'s subscriber surge, Mary delves into Taylor Swift's IP mastery, and Sean explores Barnes & Noble's return to intimacy. All 3 cases come with a full discussion of the learnings and implications for B2B marketers.

The electric vehicle (EV) market has hit a speed bump, catching the attention of marketing leaders seeking insights into the uneven trajectory of industry advancements. Mary, Sean and Tom explore the nuances of slowing EV sales, using a strategic marketing lens to extract valuable lessons for businesses launching new platforms.

In this insightful podcast, Mary, Sean and Tom unravel the mystery behind Barnes & Noble's enduring success in the face of fierce competition from Amazon. The trio dives into what makes Barnes & Noble stand out in an age where traditional bookstores often struggle.

In this thought-provoking episode, the team delves into Claritin's recent innovative ad campaign. Instead of focusing on the product, Claritin talks about its work to reduce allergies, which would actually decrease its sales! Does it work to actually create strategies to reduce the reliance on your products, if it resonates with your audiences’ broader values?

In this third episode about the role of marketing in organizations, the team goes deeper into a discussion about the role of tools in building strategic plans. They emphasize the importance of a structured approach to marketing and how tools can enhance creativity and innovation rather than stifling it. The hosts debunk the misconception that tools replace thinking and creativity, emphasizing that...

There is much talk about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can make work much more efficient. However, in this podcast, the team delves into how AI acts as an amplifier, magnifying the value of your products and services to deliver unforgettable experiences for your customers.

In this podcast, the team goes deeper into a previous discussion about how marketing is done in different organization. The team dives deeper into the need for organizations to be unified in its purpose for marketing; and for marketing to act as the customer advocate while working collaboratively with sales and other departments to drive business success.

In this episode of The Accidental Marketer podcast, Mary, Tom, and Sean discuss Tesla as a case study for pricing strategies in the evolving electric vehicle market. They highlight how Tesla has dropped its prices twice in recent months, resulting in a reduction of over 20% on some models. The hosts explore the reasons behind this pricing strategy, including potential motives such as stimulating d...

In this podcast episode, Mary, Sean and Tom discuss the surprising merger between the PGA and LIV Tour that shocked the sports world. This podcast episode provides insights into the factors behind the merger, highlighting the importance of innovation, competition, and agility in today's rapidly changing business landscape. The team explores the implications of the merger from a B2B perspective, in...

In this episode, the team discusses the strategy behind Disney+ and its impact on the streaming market. The case provides surprising lessons for B2Bs who are considering supplementing their distribution channel with direct-to-end-user communication to create pull-through demand.

The team continues last episode’s discussion about the fight between two professional golf tours and the profound strategy lessons from it. Their analysis looks at how the battle between the PGA and LIV Tours mirrors the competition in many different B2B industries. The group discusses how B2B companies make the decision on whether to be a closed or open ecosystems, and the challenges that come wi...

Many people are passionate about sports, so it’s fun when the business of sports can teach us about business strategy. Such is the case with the fight between two professional golf tours – the incumbent #1 North America-based PGA Tour and its new challenger, the Saudi Arabian government- backed LIV Tour. Over the course of this episode and the next, the team will highlight lessons learned about ec...

There are so many different definitions of marketing that it’s difficult to know exactly what the function is responsible in different organizations. In this podcast the team describes the different roles they’ve seen marketers play in a variety of companies, and the issues that are raised by not having a clear definition of the specific responsibilities marketers should have in a B2B organization...

Can a great strategy change a company’s culture for the better? A healthy strategic process includes a focus on customers, cross-functional participation, debate, great facilitation and aligned decision-making. Companies that want to improve their culture often find that these are the exact things they want to change about the current state. Listen in to hear the details.

In previous episodes, the team discussed the concepts of prioritizing and managing risk. In this third podcast on the topic the team talks about the actions and strategies a firm can take to proactively manage risk, based on which of the four approaches they decide on. A special emphasis is placed on examples of how companies are mitigating risk, because it is the approach that has the widest vari...

So how do you anticipate risks? And once you’ve identified risk, how do you know which are the important ones to focus on? Finally, what do you do to manage risks in your company? In a second podcast on the topic of risk, the team discusses how to brainstorm a wide range of risks. They also introduce a simple two-dimensional framework for classifying risks, and begin a discussion (to be continued...

Wars, inflation, supply chain issues, soaring interest rates, pandemics — it’s easy to look at these current risks as reasons for underperformance. But is that the mindset of a successful strategic marketer? In this Accidental Marketer podcast, the team discusses how risk effects everyone, and how volatility can create huge opportunity.

What can we learn from the wins and the misses of 2022? On a special episode, we at the Accidental Marketer sat down and discussed our favorite stories from this year as we also anticipate what’s to come in 2023.

As inflation continues at a high level, marketers who have created strong brands are reaping rewards. How can marketers improve the strength of their brand image right away, so that they can whether inflationary times and weak business cycles in the future? Mary, Sean and Tom are all over this topic in this podcast episode.

Though many companies have successfully taken inflationary price increases this year, Netflix was not one of them. Earlier this year, Netflix’ seemingly benign campaign to increase fees by a few dollars cost them over 600,000 subscribers and $50+ billion in market cap! What happened? The team discusses what they believe to be the strategic mistakes that Netflix made, and how things could have been...

Inflationary levels not seen since the 1970’s are creating big economic challenges, and many businesses are looking to their marketers for strategic options. This new podcast season explores how inflationary times drive a range of approaches that marketers can use to help their companies navigate in these unique circumstances. Listeners will learn several steps for immediately reducing their risk,...

In this final episode of our short season covering the unification of Sales and Marketing, the team tackles the always interesting topic of metrics. Specifically, are there measures that will drive more Marketing and Sales collaboration in the post-pandemic world? The answer is yes — and the team dives into the specific metrics that should be focused on and evolved in companies that want better fu...

The seemingly permanent increase in virtual B2B sales calls will revitalize needs-based segmentation as a strategy. Marketing and Sales will collaborate better and adjust segmentation strategies to work in “the real world.” When executed well, these segmentation strategies will boost sales, deepens customer relationships and lead to a host of additional benefits.

Despite record sales, Pfizer recently announced big cuts to its sales force. What does this have to do with Marketing? A lot! Virtual sales calls will help marketers participate and analyze what really goes on at the point-of-B2B-sale. This will lead to more practical, powerful marketing strategies that will bolster the entire commercial function.

In this final episode of the “New Frontiers” season, the team examines strategies for scaling a platform business. Suppliers won’t sign on without trusting that the buyers will be there. Buyers won’t participate if there aren’t a significant number of suppliers. The team discusses different ways to solve this early-stage platform problem.