Embracing Marketing Mistakes
by Prohibition PR
Lexus Asked Fans Their Favourite Steering Wheel
About this podcast
Welcome to Embracing Marketing Mistakes, the world’s leading irreverent podcast for senior marketers who are tired of the polished corporate b*llshit.
Join Chris Norton and Will Ockenden, founders of the award-winning Prohibition PR, as they sit down with industry leaders to dissect the career-ending f*ck-ups they’d rather forget. The show moves past any pretty vanity metrics to uncover the brutal, honest truths behind marketing disasters, from £30,000 SEO black holes and completely failed companies, to social media crises that went globally viral for all the wrong reasons.
We don't just celebrate the f*ck-ups; we extract the tactical blueprints you need to avoid them yourself. If you are a business owner, or a CMO looking for a competitive advantage that only comes from real-world experience, this is your weekly masterclass in resilience and strategy.
• Listen for: Raw stories from top brands, ex-McKinsey strategists, and industry disruptors.
• Learn from: The errors that cost thousands and the recoveries that saved careers.
• Get ahead by: Turning other people's nasty disasters into your unfair market advantage.
If you have a story to tell and would like to appear on the show, tell us your biggest marketing mistake and drop us a line.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 207 episodes
- Lexus Asked Fans Their Favourite Steering Wheel · 5 minMat Thomas joined us back in episode 49 as he reveals the surprising social media misstep that held Lexus back for years. He explains how the brand’s social team that's tucked…
- EP 134: The 20-Searches-A-Month Page That Booked Seven Sales Calls · 53 minSam Dunning co-owned an agency with two other founders, has hosted the Breaking B2B podcast since 2020, and now runs Breaking B2B, an AI SEO agency for SaaS brands. In this…
- EP 133: Uber Eats' First Marketing Hire On AI Search · 57 minJenna Hannon was the first marketing hire at Uber Eats, where the team launched the service in roughly a new city every week for about a year and a half. She left in 2020, became…
- You Waited 15 Minutes for a Taxi. Now Seven Feels Rude · 7 minWe return to consumer behaviouralist and CX expert Ken Hughes, first featured in episode 92, to revisit the moment that transformed how he believes brands should approach the…
- EP 132: Why LinkedIn Reach Is Down And What Still Works · 59 minJohn Espirian, the self-styled relentlessly helpful LinkedIn guy, joins Chris Norton and Will Ockenden on Embracing Marketing Mistakes to explain why LinkedIn reach is down for…
- My TEDx Talk Got 2,000 Views. Everyone Else Got 30,000 · 10 minWhat happens when you pour your heart into a TEDx talk, expect it to skyrocket, and… nothing? We are joined with Niraj Kapoor back in episode 95, and dive into a brutally honest…
- EP 131: How An SEO Intern Got A Mashable Journalist To Cover Her Pitch · 52 minBritt Klontz started her career as an SEO agency intern, got a Mashable journalist to cover an infographic by following the journalist's own pitching guide, and now runs Vada…
- I Spent 30 Years Building Everyone Else's Brand · 4 minWe had Mark Terry-Lush back in episode 94 started his career in the glory days of magazines when Vogue was the size of a phone book and PR was full of big personalities. He…
- EP 130: Gerry Hopkinson Sold His Agency, Stayed Five Years, And Became A Cultural Strategist · 56 minA 20-year agency founder built his reputation turning Pizza Express back into a cult favourite, then years later made the mistake he now calls his biggest regret. Gerry…
- Six People Trolled Me. It Felt Like Sixty Thousand · 10 minSocial media can feel like the best networking tool in the world, until it throws you a curveball. We were joined by Asif Choudry back in episode 96. We talk about the early days…
- Spending £30k on Influencers for Five Signups · 7 minWe revisit Andy Lambert back in episode 93 to unpack the influencer marketing moment that changed how he thinks about influence in B2B. Andy explains how his team approached…
- EP 129: Unbounce's VP Of Marketing Explains What Actually Wins AI Search Visibility Now · 47 minA VP of Marketing running two brands at once shares what's working in AI search visibility right now, and admits to one of the messiest direct mail campaigns a B2B marketer has…
- I Made the Worst Ad in British History · 15 minKevin Chesters reveals the painful truth behind what he calls the worst advert ever made in British history. This is a forensic breakdown of ego, bad process and the lessons…
- EP 128: Why CFOs Keep Killing Influencer Budgets · 50 minInfluencer spend hit $32.55 billion in 2025, and most brands still can't prove it works. In this Prohibition PR webinar, Chris Norton and Will Ockenden break down why influencer…
- One Tweet About Sleeping Beauty Ended in Death Threats · 15 minBack in episode 99 with Sarah Waddington, we dive into the story of a well-intentioned tweet about a Biff and Chip book image, posted during the height of the Me-Too era. What…
- EP 127: Professor Jim Macnamara Says Most Of The PR Industry Is Still Measuring The Wrong Thing · 43 minA professor who built his entire career on communication measurement almost couldn't answer the question that started it all. Professor Jim Macnamara joins Embracing Marketing…
- He Asked for Honest Feedback. Then Never Spoke to Me · 7 minIf you have ever watched a brilliant marketing strategy die in a sign‑off meeting, this episode is for you. We unpack the real reasons ideas fail in the boardroom and what senior…
- EP 126: The Emotion Behind Every B2B Purchase Nobody Markets To - Talia Wolf · 48 minMost B2B brands are interchangeable, and Talia Wolf built a career proving it. In this episode, Talia Wolf, founder of GetUplift and creator of the emotional targeting framework…
- EP 125: The PR Launch That Cleared The Building · 54 minA CIPR fellow with nearly six decades in PR says the industry still protects itself from its own scandals. In this episode, Robert Minton-Taylor, a CIPR fellow recognised at the…
- EP 124: He Built His Own AI Company Then Shut It Down · 1 h 0 minA toxic hire nearly cost him his agency. Then he made a similar mistake again, this time trying to build his own AI instead of renting one. In this episode, Roger Hurni, founder…
