The Whole Marketer podcast

Abigail Dixon
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  • Marketing
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Welcome to The Whole Marketer podcast, where we look at the holistic skills that marketers of today need to grow the brands and businesses of tomorrow, whilst ensuring marketers feel supported and empowered to have successful and fulfilling careers and lives as a whole. Hosted by Abby Dixon along with her guest experts and marketing leaders, every fortnight they discuss a key skill impacting marketers and the profession today; from technical skills, latest thinking and soft skills, to leadership and personal understanding so that you can thrive in today's challenging yet rewarding profession. For more information visit www.thewholemarketer.com

  1. 15h ago ·  Video

    Helen Tupper Live: Feedback, Confidence Gremlins and the Skills Marketers Need to Keep Learning

    Episode 171 with guest Helen Tupper, Co-founder of Squiggly Careers  We're kicking off Season 10 with an extra special live episode, as Abby is joined on stage by three-time Sunday Times bestselling author and her good friend Helen Tupper to dig into her latest book, Learn Like a Lobster, co-written with Sarah Ellis.   Recorded live in front of an intimate audience at The Whole Marketer's 'Reflect and Connect' event in London, Helen and Abby unpack what it actually takes to keep learning and growing at work when time, confidence and headspace are all in short supply, including: how to build a "to-think list" that actually gets used, the three-step method for taming your "confidence gremlins", the 'WWWEBI' feedback tool for leaders to reduce fear in team learning and development.  Joining Abby is Helen Tupper, Co-founder and CEO of Amazing If alongside Sarah Ellis, and Co-host of the Squiggly Careers podcast, which has had more than six million downloads. Helen is a three-time Sunday Times bestselling author, with The Squiggly Career, You Coach You and, most recently, Learn Like a Lobster. Helen and Sarah's TEDx talk, The Best Career Path Isn't Always a Straight Line, has been watched by over two million people, and in 2026 they were named among the top 10 most influential thinkers in HR. Helen is also a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, is currently working on an executive PhD, and is a trustee for the Chartered Management Institute.  Key takeaways  The to-think list… We always find time to make a to-do list, but rarely time for a 'to-think' list, so Helen shares how she finds the time Taming your confidence gremlins… Helen's explains the three-step method to quieten the inner voice when you feel imposter syndrome creeping in WWWEBI: What Worked Well, Even Better If… Give this simple, low-formality feedback tool a try, that strips out fear and increases frequency to gather feedback for learning Connection over comfort… How to map your connection circles to learn outside your comfort zone - team, organisation, industry, and then beyond it - and go looking for a few go-to curious questions to ask people you don't already know. Leading is listening… Helen shares some of her own reflections on from writing this book and her advice for marketers of tomorrow    00:00 - Welcome to The Whole Marketer Podcast  00:37 - Kicking Off Season 10 with Helen Tupper  02:42 - The Big Juicy Question: What Is Learning Like a Lobster?  05:01 - Part One: Learning As You Go and the To-Think List  07:23 - Why We Make Time to Do But Not to Think  09:39 - The Post-it Note Method for Finding Time to Think  12:05 - Front of Mind: Moving Into Learning in Hard Moments  14:24 - Confidence Gremlins and the Biggest Learning Gap  16:48 - Three Steps to Caging Your Confidence Gremlins  19:05 - Where Limiting Beliefs Come From  21:18 - Helen's Own Limiting Belief: The Pencil Skirt Story  23:36 - WWWEBI: What Worked Well, Even Better If  25:53 - Why Leaders Have to Go First on Feedback  28:12 - Leading Your Own Learning Through Connection  30:37 - What Helen Learned About Herself Writing This Book  33:01 - Letting Go of Ego to Get the Book Done  35:17 - Career Highs and Grows  37:36 – Advice For Marketers Of Tomorrow    Resources  Learn Like a Lobster - order the book  Squiggly Careers podcast  The Whole Marketer 'Take the reins of your career' resource – free download  https://thewholemarketer.com/resources/    Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigailcdixon/  Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helentupper/    About The Whole Marketer  The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.  Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.  Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build successful and fulfilled marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.  Contact hello@thewholemarketer.com to get in touch with Abby and the team.

  2. Aug 18 ·  Video

    How to Balance Brand vs Performance Marketing: Marketing Effectiveness and the ROI Data Behind the Ratio

    Episode 170 with guest James Hurman, Founder of Previously Unavailable and co-founder of Tracksuit, AF Drinks and Caffeine  This week's technical marketing skill is another on marketing effectiveness as we believe it's a core capability gap we need to close as a profession, so that we can truly be the growth engine of the business and lead the long-term commercial agenda.   Abby is joined by James Hurman to discuss why marketing leaders need to be investing in brand AND performance and avoiding the 'performance trap'. Plus the ROI data behind 60/40 split (Binet and Field's Long and Short of it) now being approximately 50/50 for maximum gains, building a measurement framework that actually connects to commercial outcomes, and the mindset shift senior marketers need to set themselves up for a successful tenure.  Joining Abby is James Hurman, a New Zealand-based founder, entrepreneur, investor, author and leading voice on marketing and advertising effectiveness. He is Founder and Chair of Previously Unavailable and co-founder of Tracksuit, the brand tracking platform fast becoming a go-to among UK marketers, alongside AF Drinks and Caffeine. James is the author of The Case for Creativity and Future Demand, and consults to major organisations globally on marketing and advertising effectiveness.    Key takeaways  Beware the performance trap… We understand the pressure to show quick wins but short-term, visible results can mask an eroding baseline and a shrinking pool of future customers.  The ROI evidence for a 50/50 split keeps stacking up… James discusses four separate data sets across three decades that indicate overall ROI is highest when spend is balanced between brand and performance.  Build a measurement stack… James recommends tracking three levels: campaign metrics (is anyone noticing our advertising), interim metrics (is our brand growing in awareness, consideration and preference) and commercial metrics (sales, profit, market share). Most businesses have the top and bottom covered but are missing the brand dashboard in the middle.  The power of knowledge… The confidence to make the case for the right investment and to hold your own with stakeholders comes from building your knowledge on effectiveness.  Set your foundations early if you want to leave a legacy… Marketing leaders who do the right things for long-term brand building, even if it means a slower start, tend to look far better by the time they leave a role than those who chase quick wins.     00:00 — Welcome to the Whole Marketer Podcast  02:38 — Today's Big Juicy Question: What Is Marketing Effectiveness?  04:02 — Why Marketers Know What to Do but Don't Always Do It  07:33 — The Skills Gap Behind Connecting KPIs, Allocation and Investment  09:09 — Bringing Distributed Marketing Science Together  11:49 — Why It's Fair for Stakeholders to Question Marketing Spend  13:39 — Introducing the Performance Trap  14:18 — What's Fuelling the Shift Towards Performance Marketing  16:41 — The Hidden Cost of Leaning Too Hard Into Performance  18:56 — Why CFOs Should Judge Marketing on Annualised ROI  19:34 — Do You Want to Leave Your Job Looking Good or Not?  22:56 — How the Best CMOs Set Their Foundations in the First 90 Days  26:59 — Why Knowledge Builds Real Confidence  28:36 — Knowledge, Humility and the Power of Asking Questions  32:14 — Explaining Current Demand and Future Demand  34:31 — Why Advertising Doesn't Directly Cause Sales  36:50 — A Framework Marketers and Non-Marketers Can Both Understand  39:51 — The Evidence Behind the 60/40 Rule  42:38 — Four Data Points From 1992 to Today  44:20 — Building a Measurement Framework That Reaches the Boardroom  45:11 — The Three-Level Metric Stack: Campaign, Interim and Commercial  47:11 — Why You Need a Brand Dashboard Alongside Your Performance Dashboard  49:58 — James's Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow    Resources  Future Demand by James Hurman  The Case for Creativity by James Hurman  Tracksuit  Previously Unavailable  The Whole Marketer 'Define your ideal role' resource – free download  https://thewholemarketer.com/resources/    Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigailcdixon/  Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameshurman/    About The Whole Marketer  The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.  Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.  Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build successful and fulfilled marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.  Contact hello@thewholemarketer.com to get in touch with Abby and the team

  3. Aug 4 ·  Video

    How to Build a Marketing Team That Thinks Differently - and Doesn't Need You in the Room

    Episode 169 with guest Mark "Strings" Stringer, Founder and Chair of PrettyGreen  Today's episode explores the leadership and human skills of building genuine diversity of thought within marketing teams and why it matters, including: why teams risk becoming clones of each other, recruiting for diverse thinking, your self-awareness as a leader to build the right teams around you, and why trust and psychological safety creates better work.  Joining Abby is Mark Stringer, known to most as Strings, the entrepreneurial force and founder of agency PrettyGreen. With over 30 years of founding and leading successful ventures, Strings is a seasoned expert in building fame for brands and driving innovation. As founder and chair, he has helped the agency and its sister agency, The Producers, work with clients including Cadbury, Under Armour, LEGO, Audible, Hasbro and Nando's and more. Alongside this he runs PrettyGreen +Ventures, which incubates and acquires founder-led companies, and is co-founder and non-exec CMO of B Corp SkootEco and Metropolitan Spirits  Key takeaways  Diversity of thought is about difference, not just demographics… The value of diverse thinking comes from surrounding yourself with people who think, decide and approach problems differently to you as well as different lived experiences  Know your own strengths, then build around them… Strings shares the parts of the job he loves and the parts he's happy to hand over, and how deliberately bringing in people who are strong where he isn't, has been core to building his teams  Trust is what lets leaders let go… Strings' mantra of needing to "get out of the room" only works because he trusts the people he hands the baton to, both to deliver and to tell him honestly when something is going wrong  Psychological safety turns diversity into better work… Recruiting different thinkers only pays off if people feel safe enough to challenge ideas, call out bias and speak up in the room  Building diverse teams takes deliberate action, not good intentions… Strings is candid that believing in "hiring the best people" wasn't enough until PrettyGreen looked honestly at who was actually in the room and set up a dedicated board to force the change through    00:00 — Welcome to the Whole Marketer Podcast  00:36 — Why Diversity of Thought Matters in Marketing Teams  02:55 — Introducing Mark "Strings" Stringer  05:21 — The Big Juicy Question: What Is Diversity of Thought?  07:43 — Finding People Who Love What You Don't  10:01 — Discovering DISC Profiles and Understanding Difference  12:27 — Founding PrettyGreen and Building the Right Partnerships  14:50 — The Impact of Bringing Complementary People Into the Team  17:01 — Learning to Trust and Get Out of the Room  19:21 — Matching Skills and Zone of Genius to the Work  21:41 — Uncovering Hidden Talent Across Departments  24:04 — Why Representation in the Room Matters  26:23 — Confronting the Agency's Own Diversity Gap  28:35 — Advice for Leaders Starting to Build Diverse Teams  30:54 — Knowing Your Superpower and Building Complementary Teams  33:22 — Handling Conflict With Humility and Vulnerability  35:44 — The Shadow and Light of Leadership  38:04 — Surrounding Yourself With People Who Call You Out  40:27 — Career Highs: Celebrating the Team's Work  42:30 — Career Grows: Getting Through the Hard Times  44:48 — Strings' Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow    Resources  The Whole Marketer 'Define your authentic leadership style' workbook – free download  https://thewholemarketer.com/resources/  The Whole Marketer seven-step leadership assessment – free download  https://thewholemarketer.com/resources/    Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigailcdixon/  Guest: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/strings    About The Whole Marketer  The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.  Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.  Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build successful and fulfilled marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.  Contact hello@thewholemarketer.com to get in touch with Abby and the team

  4. Jul 21 ·  Video

    Marketing Effectiveness: How to Measure What Actually Matters

    Episode 168 with guest Sorin Patilinet, PepsiCo's Global Marketing Effectiveness and author of Marketing Effectiveness: Applying Marketing Science for Brand Growth  This week's episode is a technical skill that is fundamental to marketing leading the long-term commercial agenda – it's marketing effectiveness. We'll unpack what marketing effectiveness really means, the difference between effectiveness and efficiency, the importance of pricing being in marketing's remit and what makes a great dashboard (and why you should resist changing it)  Joining Abby is 'The Marketing Engineer' Sorin Patilinet, Global Marketing Effectiveness Executive and author of the best-selling book 'Marketing Effectiveness: Applying Marketing Science for Brand Growth'. With 20 years' experience in global roles, Sorin has helped shape how some of the world's most iconic brands measure and prove their impact. Previously he built and led the marketing science and testing solutions at Mars for over 14 years before moving to PepsiCo, where today he continues to turn marketing science into business growth.   Key takeaways  Marketing effectiveness is holistic… it's not just ROI and creative excellence but a holistic understanding of the effect of everything marketers do on business results  The biggest barrier is mindset, not tools… Sorin believes marketers need to spend more time identifying which decisions actually drive the biggest impact on the top and bottom line – and then finding the data to support those decisions, not the other way round.  Pricing belongs back in marketing's remit… Sorin argues marketing has lost its voice in the boardroom partly because it has given up pricing and product to finance and R&D.  Effectiveness beats efficiency… efficiency is effectiveness divided by cost, so focusing on effectiveness improves efficiency as a natural by-product.  Don't change a winning dashboard… Sorin measured advertising's sales impact the same way for 14 years at Mars. Consistency of method, even as data and partners evolve, builds the trust and shared language that gets stakeholders to actually act on the numbers.    00:00 — Welcome to the Whole Marketer Podcast  02:02 — Introducing Sorin Patilinet  02:25 — What Is Marketing Effectiveness?  03:40 — Why It's Not ROI or Creative Excellence  04:30 — What Inspired Sorin to Write the Book  07:18 — Bringing the Brand's Voice to Marketing Science  09:41 — Where the Profession Still Has Capability Gaps  11:02 — The Biggest Barrier: Mindset Over Tools  12:49 — Are We Slaves to Data Availability?  14:01 — Ranking Decisions by Commercial Impact  15:23 — Why Pricing Is the Link Between Marketing and the Boardroom  16:22 — Why Marketing Has Lost Its Voice in the Boardroom  19:11 — Have We Given Pricing Up, or Had It Taken Away?  20:44 — Effectiveness vs Efficiency: The Formula That Matters  23:32 — The Only True Measure of Creative Effectiveness  25:05 — Rethinking the 60/40 Rule for Short and Long Term  26:47 — Why Every Business Needs Its Own Time Frame  29:18 — Building the Right Data Sources  29:52 — Why Decisions Should Come Before Data  32:13 — The Case for Experimentation  32:46 — Where AI Actually Helps Measurement  33:05 — Why You Shouldn't Keep Changing Your Dashboard  34:51 — The Hidden Cost of Changing Your Methodology  36:33 — Setting the Right KPIs at the Strategic Planning Stage  36:58 — Finding Your Organisation's Flywheel  38:59 — How Data-Driven Is Your Organisation's Culture?  39:22 — The Balance of Art, Science and Human Intuition  40:36 — Sorin's Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow    Resources  Sorin's book – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marketing-Effectiveness-Applying-Science-Growth/dp/1398621056    Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigailcdixon/  Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patilinet/    About The Whole Marketer  The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.  Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.  Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build successful and fulfilled marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.  Contact hello@thewholemarketer.com to get in touch with Abby and the team

  5. Jul 7 ·  Video

    How to Market Yourself to Find Your Next Role: Honest Reflections from a Senior Marketer on Changing Marketing Roles

    Episode 167 with guest Mays Elansari, Marketing Director at Wasabi  The last in our mini-series on how marketing roles are changing, this episode is a little different as we hear directly from a senior marketer who has recently been looking for - and secured – an exciting new role. But the journey was not easy and we explore with refreshing honesty about what it feels like to suddenly find yourself without a role, reframing your mindset, treating yourself like a brand and how saying yes (to events, to LinkedIn, to new connections) creates visibility that ultimately led to not one but two new opportunities.    Joining Abby is Mays Elansari, Marketing Director at Wasabi, the sushi and bento brand with ambitious growth plans across the UK. A self-described generalist marketeer, Mays brings a wealth of experience across hospitality, QSR and FMCG, having held senior roles at Subway, Penhaligon's and Stonegate, and earlier in her career at BBDO and McCann Erickson.     Key takeaways  The scope of marketing leadership has never been broader… From commercial accountability and data and insight to AI, tech and creativity, the breadth and expectations of what a senior marketer is expected to own has expanded significantly.  The unicorn brief… Are hiring managers are holding out for candidates who tick every single box? Mays and Abby discuss why this risks recycling the same thinking and why transferable experience and fresh perspective are often more valuable than sector-specific credentials.  The power of mindset… Mays reflects openly about finding herself in unfamiliar territory for the first time in her career outside of her control but harnessing the power to control her own mindset.  We need to market ourselves… Mays made a deliberate decision to treat herself like a brand: defining her value, owning her narrative and showing up consistently.   Invest in your network before you need it… Building a genuine community of peers, mentors and industry contacts isn't a nice-to-have but how most senior marketing roles are actually filled.     00:00 — Welcome to the Whole Marketer Podcast   02:40 — What Is the Role of Marketing Leadership Today?  04:12 — How the Scope of Marketing Has Fundamentally Changed  05:49 — How the Senior Seat at the Table Is Shifting  07:24 — Why Senior Marketing Roles Are Disappearing  09:35 — The Unicorn Brief  12:56 — Are We Setting Marketing Leaders Up to Fail?  14:42 — The Case for Transferable Experience Over Sector Credentials  16:09 — Mays's First-Hand Experience of the Job Market  18:28 — Why Most Senior Roles Are Filled Through Relationships  19:34 — Why Your Circle Matters More Than You Think  22:16 — Finding Herself Out of Work for the First Time  24:31 — Saying Yes... How the Queen of Events Was Born  26:59 — Sharing the Journey and Why Vulnerability Matters  27:49 — The Emotional Reality Nobody Talks About Enough  29:33 — Finding the Job Search Strategy That Works for You  30:41 — Treat Yourself Like a Brand and Invest in Yourself Before You Need To  33:15 — Building Your Own Brand Positioning  34:17 — Let Go of What You Can't Control  35:24 — Career High and Grows  36:54 — Mays's Advice For Marketers of Tomorrow   Resources  The Whole Marketer 'Define your ideal role' resource – free download  https://thewholemarketer.com/resources/  The Whole Marketer 'Take the reins of your career' resource – free download  https://thewholemarketer.com/resources/     Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigailcdixon/  Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayselansari/    About The Whole Marketer  The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.   Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.  Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build successful and fulfilled marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.    Contact hello@thewholemarketer.com to get in touch with Abby and the team

  6. Jun 23 ·  Video

    The Skills Getting CMOs Hired: Insights from an Executive Search Specialist on Senior Marketer Roles and AI

    Episode 166 with guest Rowan Fisk, Founder of GrowthKind  The third in our mini-series on how marketing roles are changing, in this episode we hear directly from an executive hiring specialist who speaks to over a hundred senior marketing leaders every month, on the skills that modern senior marketers need to possess (particularly in founder-led, start-up scale up and VC/entrepreneurial businesses) how AI is already reshaping recruitment and marketing org charts, and the job search advice for candidates today.    Joining Abby is Rowan Fisk, Founder of GrowthKind, an executive search company that places senior marketing, digital, and growth leadership roles into high-growth start-ups and scale-ups across the UK and EMEA.  As a trusted advisor to many founders, CEOs, and investors navigating critical leadership hires, he has real-time insight into the trends shaping marketing leadership roles and talent.    Key takeaways  The job market is recovering (not yet recovered)… Vacancies for senior marketing leaders are rising and processes are moving faster, but for anyone currently out of role, the search can still be challenging.  Curiosity is becoming a defining leadership trait… Rowan believes CQ – the willingness to test, learn and adapt – is becoming just as important as IQ and EQ for the next generation of marketing leaders.  AI is reshaping marketing teams… How AI is impacting different departments, but brand and creative roles remain harder to replace.  AI supports recruitment decisions, but doesn't replace judgement… Rowan's firm uses AI to help rank shortlisted candidates objectively, but he's overridden an AI-recommended hire when his own instincts told him something wasn't right.  Networking beats job boards… Abby and Rowan share advice for anyone job hunting to get specific about their professional superpower and share it.    00:00 — Welcome to the Whole Marketer Podcast  02:50 — Introducing Rowan Fisk  03:05 — What's the Real Role of Marketers Today?  05:07 — Marketing Skillset in Founder-led Businesses  09:33 — Moving From Gut Instinct to Insight-Led Decisions  12:06 — Why Performance Marketing Has Dominated Hiring  13:30 — How AI Is Fuelling a Brand Marketing Resurgence  15:30 — Short-Termism and the Case for Creativity  18:19 — Introducing CQ, the Curiosity Quotient  20:50 — Why Leaders Should Embrace Curiosity and Humility  22:53 — AI and Restructures: Growth or Rationalisation?  26:34 — AI in Recruitment: Useful Tool, Not a Replacement for Judgement  31:05 — What's Really Happening in the Marketing Job Market  36:00 — The Passive Candidate Pool Is Starting to Move  37:17 — Why Watching Your Peers Move Changes Everything  38:17 — Sharing the Wins and Getting Employee Value Proposition Right  42:07 — Getting Clear on What You Actually Want From a Role  42:57 — What's Your Superpower?  44:14 — Why Being Known for Something Beats Being Good at Everything  47:30 — Let Your Network Know What You're Looking For  50:30 — Why Most Senior Roles Never Get Advertised  52:33 — Rowan's Advice For Marketers of Tomorrow    Resources  The Whole Marketer 'Define your ideal role' resource – free download  https://thewholemarketer.com/resources/    The Whole Marketer 'Take the reins of your career' resource – free download  https://thewholemarketer.com/resources/    The Whole Marketer 'Develop your authentic leadership style' resource – free download  https://thewholemarketer.com/resources/    Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigailcdixon/  Guest: Rowan Fisk | LinkedIn    About The Whole Marketer  The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.     Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.    Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build successful and fulfilled marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.    Contact hello@thewholemarketer.com to get in touch with Abby and the team

  7. Jun 9 ·  Video

    The Truth About Senior Marketing Roles Right Now - Job Market, CMO Tenure and How to Thrive

    Episode 165 with guest Joel Barnett, Founder of Fortune Hill  The second in our mini-series on how marketing roles are changing, in this episode we highlight what the job market looks like right now, including: why so many senior roles are disappearing or being restructured, what companies are looking for in marketing leaders today, the importance of role clarity and expectations, and job search advice.  Joining Abby is her guest Joel Barnett, Founder and CEO of Fortune Hill, who partners with ambitious organisations to appoint Marketing, Commercial, and HR leaders to supercharge business performance and enhance culture. With decades of experience placing marketing executives across some of the UK's most recognised brands, Joel shares his honest yet optimistic assessment of where the marketing profession currently stands - and what both leaders and organisations need to do differently.    Key takeaways  The CMO title is disappearing… More recruitment briefs are coming through as Chief Growth Officer or Chief Customer Officer, as the CMO role itself is being disaggregated  Why are CMO tenures getting shorter... Joel reflects that marketing leaders share some of the responsibility, through poorly managed expectations, a reluctance to have difficult conversations, and in some cases, overstating what they can and will deliver  The brief is broken… 75% of unsuccessful hires come down to a poorly constructed brief. Companies are hiring to solve a short-term problem, prioritising sector experience over the character traits that determine long-term success.  Tips for leaders... Hire first for character, then capability and finally experience - too often organisations hire the CV but fire what isn't CV-related.  Taking the reins of your job search... The job market is tough and there is a significant supply and demand imbalance right now. Joel's advice: treat your job search like a marketing campaign, be the driver not the passenger, and don't take a role just for the title.    00:00 — Welcome to the Whole Marketer Podcast  02:33 — Introducing Joel Barnett  03:00 — What Marketing Leadership Is Really For  05:12 — The CMO Title Is Disappearing — What's Replacing It  08:00 — The Disaggregation of the Marketing Role  12:28 — Marketing is Being Stretched and Squeezed Simultaneously  14:53 — The Most Important Trait in a Modern Marketing Leader  16:57 — The Leadership Piece People Overlook  19:23 — The Conversations Marketing Leaders Aren't Having  21:37 — Why CMO Tenure Is Shorter Than It Should Be  26:26 — The Cost of Tolerating Average  31:18 — Resilience, Coaching, and Not Going It Alone  33:38 — Why Senior Marketing Roles Are Being Cut  38:03 — The State of the Job Market Right Now  41:00 — How to Search for a Role Like a Marketer  45:28 — On Being Selective — and Knowing It's Never Too Late to Pivot  47:53 — How to Make a Better Senior Marketing Hire  50:19 — Hire for Character Before Credentials  53:00 — Joel's Advice: Learn the Language of the Room    Resources  The Whole Marketer 'Define your ideal role' resource – free download  https://thewholemarketer.com/resources/    The Whole Marketer 'Take the reins of your career' resource – free download  https://thewholemarketer.com/resources/    The Whole Marketer 'Develop your authentic leadership style' resource – free download  https://thewholemarketer.com/resources/    Are Marketers facing a clarity crisis? - Marketing Week article  https://thewholemarketer.com/mw-article-clarity/      Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigailcdixon/  Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelbarnettfortunehill/    About The Whole Marketer  The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.   Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.  Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build successful and fulfilled marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.    Contact hello@thewholemarketer.com to get in touch with Abby and the team

  8. May 26 ·  Video

    What the Data Really Says About Morale, Progression and Burnout

    Episode 164 with guest Charlotte Rogers, Marketing Week's Deputy Managing Editor and Head of Insight  We're kicking off a brand new mini-series about how marketing roles are changing and its impact, and in this episode we discuss this as well as shine a light on widespread and worrying challenges facing marketers today.  Based on the findings from Marketing Week's 2026 Career and Salary Survey (2,300+ respondents) we're discussing expanding remits, senior roles disappearing, burnout, imposter syndrome, stalled progression, a persistent understanding gap at board level – and what we need to do about it.  Joining Abby is Marketing Week's Charlotte Rogers, Deputy Managing Editor and Head of Insight at Marketing Week. Having worked at Marketing Week for a decade, she is fascinated writing about the marketing industry both in the UK and worldwide and leads on the publication's proprietary research projects, as well as the wider features, and is the co-host of the Marketing Week podcast.   Key takeaways  Our marketing profession is in crisis… Marketing roles are expanding and restructuring, often without clear resource or support. Half of respondents said their team had restructured and senior leaders are being cut and not replaced.  Burnout is a real risk… Many marketers feel overwhelmed (65%), undervalued, questioning their skills, facing imposter syndrome, and emotionally exhausted. 53% no longer enjoy work that used to engage them.  There is a persistent lack of understanding of marketing's true value within organisations and marketers are feeling the pressure to defend it… leading to not speaking up about mental health because they're carrying their own issues AND the weight of the profession's perception.   We have a progression crisis… 70% of marketers saw no career progression in the past year. It's hitting parents and women the hardest as 44.6% of mothers said being a parent had harmed their progression, vs 7.6% of fathers.  What do we need to do… the only way out of the cycle is for marketers to start advocating for themselves, setting boundaries, and being honest about what is and isn't deliverable. It's not easy but marketing leaders need to speak up for themselves and marketers in their care.     00:00 — Welcome to the Whole Marketer Podcast 02:33 — Introducing Charlotte Rogers 02:58 — The State of Marketing Right Now What the 2026 Career & Salary Survey is revealing about how marketers are feeling 07:00 — More Responsibility, Senior Roles Disappearing 09:29 — Why Marketing Still Struggles to Prove Its Value 12:47 — Afraid to Move, Unhappy to Stay 15:04 — The AI Pressure and the Skills We Actually Need 16:21 — Burnout, Imposter Syndrome, and Suffering in Silence - Two years of mental health data 19:09 — The Added Weight of Defending the Whole Profession 21:23 — Restructures, Rebrands, and Shifting Job Titles 26:16 — The Cost of Constant Change 30:59 — On Saying No (and Why Pushing Back is So Difficult) 33:21 — The Progression Gap Is Worse for Parents 37:19 — Flexibility as a Right, Not a Favour 40:56 — What Marketers Can Control 44:39 — Charlotte's Advice: Know Your Value   Resources  Blog: Burnout - How Leaders Can Support Those In Their Care - The Whole Marketer  https://www.marketingweek.com/abigail-dixon-marketer-resilience/  Marketing Week - https://www.marketingweek.com/   Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigailcdixon/  Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotterogers/    About The Whole Marketer  The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.   Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.  Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build successful and fulfilled marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.  Contact hello@thewholemarketer.com to get in touch with Abby and the team

    What the Data Really Says About Morale, Progression and Burnout
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About

Welcome to The Whole Marketer podcast, where we look at the holistic skills that marketers of today need to grow the brands and businesses of tomorrow, whilst ensuring marketers feel supported and empowered to have successful and fulfilling careers and lives as a whole. Hosted by Abby Dixon along with her guest experts and marketing leaders, every fortnight they discuss a key skill impacting marketers and the profession today; from technical skills, latest thinking and soft skills, to leadership and personal understanding so that you can thrive in today's challenging yet rewarding profession. For more information visit www.thewholemarketer.com

Information

  • Creator
    Abigail Dixon
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    172
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Labyrinth Marketing 2025
  • Show Website
    The Whole Marketer podcast

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