Sleeping Barber - A Marketing Podcast

Sleeping Barber
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Marketing
  • Updated Weekly

Ready to rethink business strategy and supercharge your marketing game? Join hosts Marc Binkley and Vassilis Douros as they break down big questions at the crossroads of strategy, marketing effectiveness, and creative impact. From real-world case studies to hot-off-the-press business news, each episode dives deep into how modern companies navigate complexity. Plus, interviews with global thought leaders bring you fresh insights and actionable strategies to drive growth and build unforgettable customer experiences. This is your backstage pass to smarter thinking and better business results.

  1. 10h ago

    SBP 221: The PostPod - Lessons from Ty Heath. B2B Marketing is Playing the Game on Hard Mode.

    Ty Heath has a way of making complex marketing ideas feel deceptively simple. After our latest conversation with the former LinkedIn B2B Institute leader, we sat down to unpack the biggest ideas that stayed with us—from why B2B is simply "marketing on hard mode," to why confidence may be the true outcome of great B2B marketing. Along the way we explore: Why the same marketing principles apply across B2B and B2CBuying committees and why complexity changes execution—not human behaviourWhy the best B2B brands build ecosystems instead of campaignsThe power of contrarian thinkingWhy strategy should outlast trendsConfidence, memory and long-term brand building If you've ever wondered whether B2B marketing really plays by different rules, this conversation may change your mind. 00:00 - Welcome Back & First Reactions 01:15 - Why B2B Is "Marketing on Hard Mode" 02:15 - The B2B Institute as a Marketing Cheat Code 03:30 - Buying Committees and What Makes B2B Different 06:10 - Are B2B and B2C Actually That Different? 07:15 - Has B2B Creativity Finally Matured? 09:35 - Campaigns vs. Ecosystems 12:00 - Why Event Marketing Builds Memory 13:30 - The Contrarian Marketer 15:10 - Chasing Trends vs. Building Strategy 17:30 - Objectives Before Tactics 18:10 ⚡ Quick Fire Begins 18:35 - Best Quote 19:15 - Most Surprising Insight 20:20 - Biggest Missed Question 21:45 - Most Practical Takeaway 22:15 - Challenge for Marketers 23:10 - Closing Thoughts

    SBP 221: The PostPod - Lessons from Ty Heath. B2B Marketing is Playing the Game on Hard Mode.

  2. 2d ago

    SBP 220: SBP Interview - B2B Marketing is Playing the Game on Hard Mode. With Tyrona Heath.

    B2B marketing isn't playing a different game. It's playing the same game on hard mode. In this episode, we're joined by Ty Heath, Global Director of Thought Leadership Go-to-Market at LinkedIn and co-founder of the B2B Institute. Fresh off serving as Jury President for the Creative B2B Lions at Cannes, Ty shares what separated the best work from the rest—and why B2B creativity is entering a new era. We discuss: What won at Cannes B2B LionsWhy B2B creativity has maturedThe role of emotion in B2BBuying committees and "viability"Why ecosystems beat campaignsThe origin story of the B2B InstituteLong-term thinking inside LinkedInWhy B2B marketers are playing the game on "hard mode" Whether you work in B2B, B2C, media, or brand strategy, this conversation offers practical lessons on creativity, leadership and marketing effectiveness. Chapters: 00:00 - Welcome Back, Tyronna Heath 00:38 - Tyronna’s New Role at LinkedIn 01:11 - Winning an Effie for “Only on LinkedIn” 02:58 - Becoming Jury President for the Creative B2B Lions 05:24 - Reviewing 355 Cannes Entries 07:20 - Has B2B Creativity Finally Matured? 09:14 - What Effective B2B Creativity Looks Like 12:00 - Why the Best Ideas Can Be Explained in One Sentence 13:24 - What Is Still Missing from B2B Creative? 16:01 - Why Ecosystems Can Be More Powerful Than Campaigns 18:09 - The Role of Emotion in B2B Decision-Making 18:23 - Cannes as a B2B Brand Experience 21:37 - The Origin Story of the B2B Institute 25:25 - How the B2B Institute Built Its Influence 28:05 - Thought Leadership and Betting on What Won’t Change 31:09 - Human Behaviour as the Enduring Marketing Truth 32:43 - Where B2B Creativity Goes Next 34:15 - Why B2B Marketing Is “Hard Mode” 37:07 - LinkedIn’s Long-Term B2B Playbook 38:01 - Building Authority, Credibility and Confidence 39:10 - The B2B Institute as a Marketing Cheat Code 40:05 - Where to Follow Tyronna and the B2B Institute

    SBP 220: SBP Interview - B2B Marketing is Playing the Game on Hard Mode. With Tyrona Heath.

  3. Jul 16

    SBP 219: The Sharp Cut - How Advertising Really Works

    What if almost everything we've been taught about advertising is built on a sales model from 1904? In this Sharp Cut, we unpack six of marketing's most persistent myths—from "digital has no waste" to "last-click attribution tells us what works"—before rebuilding a simpler, evidence-based explanation of how advertising actually works. Rather than relying on theory, we challenge these ideas using our own careers, practical examples, and decades of marketing science from Byron Sharp, Les Binet, James Hurman, Orlando Wood and others. In this episode Why digital isn't actually waste-freeWhy targeting isn't enoughWhy advertising isn't salesWhy creative matters more than many marketers believeWhy personalization has been oversoldWhy ROAS isn't telling the full storyWhy advertising is better understood as planting and harvesting If you've ever struggled to explain marketing to your CFO—or even to yourself—this episode is for you. Chapters: 00:00 Welcome to Sharp Cut 00:15 Why Most Companies Misunderstand Advertising 02:13 Myth #1: Digital Has No Waste 06:36 Myth #2: Target High-Intent Audiences 09:36 Myth #3: Advertising Is Sales Done Over Media 11:03 Myth #4: Creative Is Just Decoration 12:34 Myth #5: Personalization Is The Future 14:29 Myth #6: Last-Click Attribution Tells Us What Works 17:10 How Advertising Actually Works 18:04 Why We're Still Using a Sales Model from 1904 19:55 Advertising Is a Weak Force 20:47 The Two Jobs of Advertising 21:39 Plant vs. Harvest: A Better Mental Model 22:04 The McCain Case Study 23:59 Why Most Companies Still Think Like Salespeople 25:12 Becoming Experts in Our Own Trade 26:20 Les Binet's One-Slide Explanation 27:29 Final Thoughts: Start Planting Supporting Links: Binkley, M., & Douros, V. (Hosts). (n.d.). What marketers still get wrong with Prof. Byron Sharp (No. 215) [Audio podcast episode]. The Sleeping Barber Podcast. Hurman, J. (2026). Future demand. https://futuredemand.com Iwamoto, A. (2024). The origin of AIDA: Who invented and formulated the AIDA model? Japan Marketing History Review, 3(2), 150-166. https://doi.org/10.51102/jmhr.3.2_53 Mulroney, R. (2024). McCain: When the chips are down, margins matter. How a focus on long-term emotional brand-building reduced price elasticity and increased profits for McCain [IPA Effectiveness Awards case study]. WARC. https://www.warc.com/content/article/mccain-when-the-chips-are-down-margins-matter-how-a-focus-on-long-term-emotional-brand-building-reduced-price-elasticity-and-increased-profits-for-mccain/156769 WARC. (2026). The multiplier playbook: The CMO's guide to integrating brand and performance. WARC. Foundational sources (optional, for show notes) Binet, L., & Field, P. (2013). The long and the short of it: Balancing short and long-term marketing strategies. Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. Sharp, B. (2010). How brands grow: What marketers don't know. Oxford University Press. To confirm before air: Hurman subtitle and publisher; the exact platform and date of Binet's How Advertising Really Works video (candidate: the Cannes Lions Advertising 101 course); the publication date of SBP episode 215; and a direct URL for the WARC Multiplier Playbook (produced with Analytic Partners, BERA.ai, Prophet, System1 and the ANA).

    SBP 219: The Sharp Cut - How Advertising Really Works

  4. Jul 14

    SBP 218: The Barber's Brief - The Shelf Life of Competitive Advantage

    What do Netflix, Reddit, AI, M&M's and Lyft have in common? More than you might think. In this episode of The Barber's Brief, Marc Binkley and Vassilis Douros unpack one of the biggest strategic lessons in modern marketing: competitive advantages don't last forever. From Netflix reconsidering binge watching, to Reddit fighting AI generated spam, to the explosion of Martech tools and one of the year's smartest advertising campaigns from Lyft, this episode explores why the brands that continue to grow are the ones willing to challenge yesterday's assumptions. Topics include: Netflix's changing release strategyAI spam and Reddit's responseAre marketers buying too many AI tools?Why one M&M mascot was bannedLyft's brilliant "Save the Money" campaignWhy great advertising dramatizes problems instead of explaining benefits If you enjoy evidence-based marketing, creative effectiveness and challenging conventional wisdom, subscribe for new episodes every week. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:00 Netflix and the Innovator's Dilemma 05:30 Reddit vs AI Spam 10:05 AI Tool Overload 15:30 The M&M Mascot Ban 19:45 Ad of the Week — Lyft 23:20 Coming Next: How Advertising Really Works News Links: Did Netflix Break the Habit It Created? - https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/06/netflix-invented-binge-watching-now-it-may-have-outgrown-it/ Reddit Is Cracking Down on AI Marketing Slop - https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/reddit-cracking-down-ai-marketing-115000368.html 5 questions to ask AI vendors before buying a tool -https://searchengineland.com/ai-vendor-questions-481765 M&M’s brand character gets ad banned under unhealthy food rules - https://www.marketingweek.com/mms-brand-character-lhf-ad-rules/ Lyft. Save the Money - https://youtu.be/7KARBlOzx8E?si=a4ummQl8NvYFmPO8

    SBP 218: The Barber's Brief - The Shelf Life of Competitive Advantage

  5. Jul 9

    SBP 217: The PostPod - Lessons from James Hurman. Ads Don't Persuade People to Buy.

    What if marketing's biggest challenge isn't proving its value—but explaining it? Following our conversation with James Hurman, we reflect on one of the most practical frameworks we've encountered in years: Future Demand. Rather than revisiting every topic from the interview, this Post-Pod explores what the ideas actually mean for marketers trying to influence leadership, defend budgets, and build long-term growth inside their organizations. In this episode: Why "future demand" may be better language than "brand awareness"Why leadership teams naturally prioritize demand captureThe role of marketing during recessions - Why great campaigns wear in—not outWhy dashboards often tell an incomplete storyObjective truth vs. personal truth in marketingHow evidence-based marketing becomes repeatable inside organizations If you've already listened to our interview with James Hurman, this conversation helps connect the dots between marketing theory and day-to-day practice. Enjoy the show! Chapters: 00:00 Welcome to the Post-Pod 00:45 James Hurman’s Core Idea: Advertising Creates Future Demand 01:40 Demand Creation vs. Demand Capture 03:55 Future Demand as a Leadership Conversation 05:00 The Smartphone Example and the 95/5 Rule 07:55 Market Dynamics and Performance Marketing Bias 08:50 Why Brand Matters Most in Recessions 11:05 Campaigns Wear In, Not Out 12:40 The Problem with Platform Metrics 15:15 Objective Truth vs. Personal and Political Truth 17:20 Why Future Demand Is Easier to Sell Internally 19:15 Evidence-Based Marketing and Organizational Buy-In 21:50 Why Repeatability Matters 24:20 Final Reflections on James Hurman’s Book

    SBP 217: The PostPod - Lessons from James Hurman. Ads Don't Persuade People to Buy.

  6. Jul 7

    SBP 216: SBP Interview - Ads Don’t Persuade People to Buy. With James Hurman.

    Advertising doesn't work by persuading people to buy. It works by creating future demand. James Hurman returns to unpack his new book: why the funnel is the wrong model, how the biggest group of buyers isn't in the market yet, why green dashboards can hide a dying brand, and how to make the case for brand spend to a CFO who only sees this year. There are two types of demand in any market: the small group ready to buy now, and the much larger group who will come in later. Most advertising pours everything into the first group, watches the dashboards turn green, and wonders why the business numbers stay red. James Hurman returns to The Sleeping Barber to explain the fix at the heart of his new book, Future Demand. Marc, V, and James work through the two-part funnel that replaces the old model, the myth that great companies don't advertise, why Volvo's Epic Split kept paying off for a decade, and why ads wear in rather than wear out. They get practical on the boardroom case: share of voice, the five to ten percent rule, and how to reframe brand as future cash flow for a finance team. They close on AI: the book's Pocket Advisor app, and how language models lean on brand signals when they choose what to recommend. Enjoy the show. Show note links: Future Demand (book, ebook, audiobook, Pocket Advisor app, community): https://futuredemand.comFuture Demand community: https://community.futuredemand.comJames Hurman (website): https://www.jameshurman.comTracksuit (brand tracking): https://www.gotracksuit.comThe Creative Effectiveness Ladder (Hurman & Peter Field, WARC / Cannes Lions): https://www.warc.comVolvo Trucks: Epic Split feat. Jean-Claude Van Damme (2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7FIvfx5J10 Guest Social: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameshurman/Substack: https://substack.com/@jameshurmanWebsite: https://www.jameshurman.comBook / app / community: https://futuredemand.com Chapters: 00:00 - The two types of demand, and why James rewrote the book 06:25 - Brand isn't a big-company luxury: the 18-month payoff 09:42 - Two types of demand, made visual 14:14 - Why the funnel is the wrong model 16:03 - The great-companies-don't-advertise myth 22:30 - Target tight for now, broad for later 26:32 - Volvo's Epic Split and the milk paradox 31:35 - Ads wear in, they don't wear out 37:21 - Boats and tides: why green dashboards lie 43:30 - The boardroom case: share of voice, budgets, and the CFO 52:51 - Recessions: cut performance, protect brand 56:40 - AI: the Pocket Advisor and how models pick brands

    SBP 216: SBP Interview - Ads Don’t Persuade People to Buy. With James Hurman.

  7. Jul 2

    SBP 215: What Marketers Still Get Wrong. With Prof. Byron Sharp.

    Byron Sharp — Professor of Marketing Science, Director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute at the University of Adelaide, and author of How Brands Grow — joins us at Cannes fresh off his sold-out Bassey Theatre session with Mark Ritson (a thousand people queued to get in). We dig into the five fundamentals he and Ritson agreed on and, more usefully, where the industry keeps getting them wrong. Byron explains why mental availability is not the same as brand awareness, why “search advertising” was a branding con that confuses purchase availability with memory-building, and why your media metrics are lying to you about reach. Along the way: the retail-media gold rush (sorry, Marriott Media), the AI hype bubble he expects to pop, why Elsa buried every other Disney princess, and the “non-artificial intelligence” agent Ehrenberg-Bass is building to stop corporate AI from breaking marketing’s laws of physics. A masterclass in thinking clearly about what your marketing money is actually supposed to do. Chapters: 00:00 - Welcome: Byron Sharp at Cannes, and why impact (not academic prestige) drives Ehrenberg-Bass 01:39 - The “two festivals” of Cannes: creativity awards vs. the serious fringe; the sold-out Ritson session 04:03 - What’s being sold to marketers on the Croisette — and the retail-media land grab (Marriott Media) 05:26 - Fragmentation, monetizing inventory, and why ~80% of this year’s AI vendors will be gone 07:02 -The five things Byron agreed with Ritson on 10:21 - #1 Mental availability — and the critical mistake of confusing it with awareness 12:27 - “You overestimate your reach”: fleeting exposures and inflated media metrics 14:19 - Why calling it “search advertising” was a disservice: purchase vs. mental availability 15:27 - #2 Distinctive brand assets — why a logo checkbox isn’t enough 17:46 - #3 Consistency — everyone agrees, nobody does it 18:50 - The “big idea,” category entry points, and the Frozen/Elsa problem 21:42 - Inside the How Brands Grow executive program 23:46 - “Non-artificial intelligence”: the AI agent Ehrenberg-Bass is building 25:20 - Wrap Links: Ehrenberg-Bass Institute: https://marketingscience.info/ Professor Byron Sharp: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professorbyronsharp/ How Brands Grow Live: https://marketingscience.info/learn-with-us/learning-opportunities/how-brands-grow-live-for-executives

    SBP 215: What Marketers Still Get Wrong. With Prof. Byron Sharp.

  8. Jun 30

    SBP 214: The Cannes Cut - The Gap Between Knowing and Doing: Day 5 Reflections. Featuring David Tiltman.

    After five days, dozens of interviews, countless presentations, and conversations with some of marketing's brightest minds, one thing became clear: The future of marketing isn't about more technology. It's about better thinking. Throughout Cannes Lions 2026, we spoke with leaders from System1, WARC, Ehrenberg-Bass, Amazon Ads, Pinterest, and many of the industry's leading creative and effectiveness thinkers. In this final Cannes Cut, we reflect on the biggest themes that emerged throughout the week, including: Why simplicity continues to outperform complexityHow AI is settling into its rightful role as a tool—not a strategyThe growing danger of the efficiency trapWhy creativity remains one of the strongest commercial advantages a brand can buildThe return of long-term thinking, brand building, and strategic discipline We also sit down with David Tiltman (WARC) to discuss the Multiplier Effect Playbook, organisational barriers to effectiveness, why strategy is becoming more important than ever, and how marketers can bridge the gap between knowing what works and actually doing it. To close out the series, we head back onto the Croisette for one final edition of The Buzz Cut, featuring conversations with: Aaron Starkman (Rethink)Brendan Christie (Strategy Magazine)Ruxandra Papuc (AIN'T) Presented by System1. If you've enjoyed following our Cannes journey, thank you for joining us throughout the week. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 02:15 - Reflecting on an Incredible Week 06:30 - Simplicity Wins 11:05 - AI Finds Its Place 16:10 - The Efficiency Trap 21:45 - Why Brand Experience Matters 26:10 - Is This the Best Time to Be a Marketer? 30:30 - Interview: David Tiltman 52:30 - Final Buzz Cut 58:15 - Wrapping Up Cannes

    SBP 214: The Cannes Cut - The Gap Between Knowing and Doing: Day 5 Reflections. Featuring David Tiltman.
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Ready to rethink business strategy and supercharge your marketing game? Join hosts Marc Binkley and Vassilis Douros as they break down big questions at the crossroads of strategy, marketing effectiveness, and creative impact. From real-world case studies to hot-off-the-press business news, each episode dives deep into how modern companies navigate complexity. Plus, interviews with global thought leaders bring you fresh insights and actionable strategies to drive growth and build unforgettable customer experiences. This is your backstage pass to smarter thinking and better business results.

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