Uncensored CMO Jon Evans

Les Binet and Sarah Carter are planning royalty. Starting out at the iconic BMP, the agency which evolved over time to become adam&eve today, they are the planners behind many famous campaigns. Not least John Lewis which lasted an impressive 14 years. A few years ago their popular myth busting column turned into the well known book ‘How Not to Plan’ taking conventional wisdom and turning it on its head. I catch up with the dynamic duo to pick their considerable brains on the topics they think marketers least understand.
Talking points from this episode:

The real godfather of effectiveness
How John Lewis changed Christmas
Les & Sarah pick a favourite ad
Why vignette ads are a cop out
What the John Lewis econometrics reveals about the campaign
Why you should make people feel something not show them feeling
Jon discovers the Long & the Short of it
The best way to really upset Les
That famous key visual
Can you ever achieve both long & short at the same time
Why consumers don’t give a s**t
How myth busting inspired the book
Being turned down by Marketing Week
Why there are more P’s than Promotion
How to involve planners early
The BMP Philosophy of planning
How not to get caught Short
Why 60% of campaign results are long term
How not to be consistent
Knowing what to change and when to change it
What advertisers can learn from designers
A little plug for Orlando’s fluent device work
It’s only advertising and no-one died
The case for animals and music
How not to make sense
How not to change your pricing
Why EPOS data switched spend from communication to price promotion
Digital attribution is the new price promotion
The more detailed the measurement the worse the marketing has got
Jon shares his only Effie case study
How not to be different
Why how you say something matters more than what you say
Les takes down the idea of loyalty
The one topic which wasn’t covered in the book
Finding things to get angry about

In this episode I'm joined by Sam Conniff, the author of Be More Pirate, creator of Uncertainty Experts and stand-up comedian. I speak to Sam about what marketers can learn from the pirates (which is a genuinely interesting look back in time), how we can deal with uncertain times and find out what his best joke is in his new hobby, stand-up comedy.
To win a copy of Sam's book, you just have to guess the number of books he's sold. Send me a message on LinkedIn with your guess.
What we covered:

 Why hot pink is the colour of a punk rebellion
 Creating a challenger brand pirate operation inside a large soft drink company
 The fear and loneliness of the challenger
 Why piracy inspired a book about being an entrepreneur
 How today is like the golden age of privacy
 The forward thinking nature of Piracy that are relevant today
 How piracy is a creative rebellion
 Pioneering fair pay, equal relationships, insurance scheme, democratic process
 How the pirate flag became the worlds first super brand
 How ‘surrender or die’ was a very effective strap line
 Protecting the pirate brand guidelines
 The power of shared values in victory
 What do you do with no money
 Why values based results never materialised
 How fear drives decision making
 Navigating yourself off the map
 The pirates that work in the Navy
 How the pirate code ensured strong accountability
 The role of advertising in a post consumer society
 The fantasy of the ‘business plan’ compared to lived values
 What are you willing to fight for?
 The best modern day pirates
 How pirates end up becoming the navy
 Turning land-fill firehoses into luxury items
 The 5 Pirate Principles also known as the 5 ‘Rrrrr’s’
 The upheaval that led to becoming an expert on Uncertainty
 What you can learn from gang members in prison
 How the pandemic was predictable
 The truth in most situations is ‘I don’t know’
 There is discovery in doubt
 The profound impact of increasing your uncertainty tolerance
 Sam shares a surprising new talent

Nir Eyal is back for the second part of this 2-part Uncensored CMO series. This episode, we talk about the book that made him famous - Hooked - and how you can apply habit-forming techniques to your own marketing work.
Some more about Nir:Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. Nir previously taught as a Lecturer in Marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. 
Nir co-founded and sold two tech companies since 2003 and was dubbed by The M.I.T. Technology Reviewas, “The Prophet of Habit-Forming Technology.” Bloomberg Businessweek wrote, “Nir Eyal is the habits guy. Want to understand how to get app users to come back again and again? Then Eyal is your man.”
He is the author of two bestselling books, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life.

Bob Hoffman, the Ad Contrarian, speaks to the Uncensored CMO.

Nir Eyal is the author of Indistractable (and Hooked), so I caught up with him to find out how we can focus on the important tasks and not get distracted.

What were the best ads of 2022? I sit down with everyone's favourite uncensored marketing professor, Mark Ritson, to discuss.