Embracing Marketing Mistakes
Welcome to the world's number one podcast on Marketing Mistakes by Prohibition PR. This podcast is specifically for senior marketers determined to grow their brands by learning from real-world screw ups.
Each week, join hosts Chris Norton and Will Ockenden, seasoned PR professionals with over 45 years of combined experience, as they candidly explore the marketing failures most marketers would rather forget. Featuring insightful conversations with industry-leading marketing experts and value-packed solo episodes, the show tries to uncover the valuable lessons from genuine marketing disasters and, crucially, the tips and steps you need to take to avoid them.
Chris and Will bring practical experience from founding the award-winning PR agency Prohibition PR, where they have successfully guided top brands to significant growth through PR strategy, social media, media relations, content marketing, and strategic brand-building.
Tune in to turn f*ck ups into progress, mistakes into lessons, and challenges into real-life competitive advantages. Well, we hope so anyway.
Episodes
122 episodes
EP 90: The Body Shop Line That Haunted Vikki Ross
A single soft line on The Body Shop catalogue haunted copywriter Vikki Ross for six months. Years later, another forgettable line slipped through and ended up across London on billboards. In this episode, I talk to Vikki about how...
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57:44
From helping DJ Bob Sinclair to almost getting fired.
Christopher McKay, Head of Brand Engagement at Hillarys shares his career-defining failure when working at Ministry of Sound, revealing how a creative idea bombed due to lack of audience research and testing.• Started career in journali...
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6:07
EP 89: The Secret Brain Hack Powering the World’s Biggest Brands with Claire Koryczan
What if the key to leading brilliant brand teams was already wired into your brain? Claire Koryczan, founder of Imagine Beyond, has helped FTSE 100 brands and creative agencies unlock smarter ways to lead, create and think. In this ...
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1:00:01
Three PR Nightmares That Cost Brands Millions
Marketing mishaps from major brands reveal the critical importance of PR coordination with marketing efforts and careful forward planning to prevent campaign disasters. • Zara's campaign featuring mannequins with missing limbs was ...
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7:40
EP 88: How I Built a PR Agency from Zero During COVID - Darryl Sparey
What happens when you leave a top PR agency to launch your own business, only for the world to shut down weeks later? Darryl Sparey, co-founder of Hard Numbers and former Hotwire leader, shares how he built an agency focused on proving ma...
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48:28
EP 87: From KFC’s Pricing Error to Expedia’s Deck Disaster: Lessons from Sam Benton on Creative Courage
Sam Benton, co-founder of Mad Masters, shares a career-shaping error many ambitious marketers will recognise: believing you know it all and avoiding help until reality proves otherwise. He explains why pricing is a feeling, not a nu...
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49:08
She controlled her narrative by revealing her darkest secrets first
Today we speak with Greg Matusky, CEO & Founder, Gregory FCA Public Relations. He talks about being a young PR professional. We learn how Auntie Anne Beiler, founder of the famous pretzel franchise, brilliantly managed a potenti...
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10:40
EP 86: When Google’s AI Stole Their Clicks: How Prohibition Turned a Traffic Crisis into GEO Strategy
When Google rolled out AI Overviews, Prohibition PR’s founder Chris Norton and co-owner Will watched something shocking: their clients’ sites still ranked high, but traffic plummeted overnight. The cause? AI summaries stealing clicks before use...
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45:29
Breaking the BBC Homepage: Tales from the Trenches
We explore marketing mishaps and professional blunders that offer valuable life lessons with a bit of humour. Our guest today is Gerry White, SEO, Growth and Product Led Marketing Expert he talks about costly decimal point errors right through ...
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8:20
EP 85: AI-Written RFP Fail: Why Pitches Collapse
What do you do when your big pitch idea quite literally vanishes in front of the client? For James Tomlinson, it involved a magician, a torn-up Financial Times, and the most awkward silence of his career.In this episode of Emb...
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39:15
Knowing When to Fold: A Transatlantic Marketing Lesson
Andrew Bloch shares the challenging story of opening Frank PR's New York office after successful expansion to Manchester, Glasgow, and Sydney. What started as a promising venture with moderate success ultimately became a significant business le...
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9:06
EP 84: Cracking the YouTube Algorithm: Lessons from Raw Data, Not Hype
Forget chasing subscribers and viral videos. It’s time to turn YouTube into a serious lead generation engine.In this episode of Embracing Marketing Mistakes, hosts Chris Norton and Will Ockenden sit down with David Greiner, co-founder of...
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50:46
The Gap Year that Almost Became a Career Gap
Marketing professionals aren't immune to making classic business mistakes, especially when personal projects cloud professional judgment. Our guest Katie Tucker, a Customer Insight Strategist, and Author of Do Penguins Eat Peaches, shares how h...
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4:42
EP 83: Demoted at Deliveroo: Alice Ter Haar's Career-Shaking Failure
Careers rarely implode on schedule, but what you do next can change everything. When Alice Ter Haar was demoted at Deliveroo, right as the rocket ship was taking off she refused to hide. Instead, she told the truth, turned a career low into an ...
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56:57
Webinar FAIL: That Time I Forgot to Record Our Huge Influencer Webinar
Shaheen Samavati, Co-founder and CEO of Vera Content, explores career mistakes through a cautionary tale of a webinar gone wrong during severe storms in Spain. 😱 Shaheen a committed marketing agency owner, shares how forgetting to ...
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7:02
EP 82: Mastering LinkedIn Visibility: Four Steps to Turn Followers into Clients
Think your LinkedIn profile is just a digital CV? Think again. In this eye‐opening conversation with Louise Brogan (Founder, Brogan Partners; LinkedIn: Louise Brogan Ltd. – Video Content Marketing)
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53:08
Direct Marketing Fuck Up that Taught Me Everything Advertising Couldn't
In this mini series where we take a look back to our guest's mistakes they have shared, we have Patrick Collister's marketing mistake.Everyone makes mistakes in their marketing careers, but few are willing to discuss them openly. In this...
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5:09
EP 81: How a Prestige Client Nearly Cost Alexandra Galviz Her Authentic Brand
Alexandra Galviz, better known as Authentic Alex, is a LinkedIn Top Voice and the co-creator of the global LinkedIn Local movement. At just 24, she was leading training for 350 people across 21 offices, while secretly battling imposter syndrome...
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54:38
Food Marketing Gaffe: My Culinary Embarrassment with Meena Patak
Tamsin Daniel, a senior marketing professional and Head of Marketing at Firetree Chocolate, shares her embarrassing culinary f*ck up while supporting celebrity chef Meena Patak during a cooking show filmed in India. What begins as ...
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5:57
EP 80: The 1 B2B Thought Leadership Strategy You're NOT Using in 2025
Only 26 percent of B2B brands see real results from thought leadership, even though 80% are actively producing it. In this episode, we explore why most strategies are falling short in a time when trust in media and corporations is at just 33 pe...
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53:08
Sadie Straw’s Inbox Fail and the Wellness Campaign That Asked Too Much
Wellness initiatives in the workplace often sound ideal, but what happens when they demand more than businesses can give? In this Campaign Crunch mini-episode, we’re joined by guest Sadie Straw to unpack Joe Wicks’ Movement Hour campaign, which...
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19:48
EP 79: Why the BBC's Spencer Kelly Said the iPad Would Fail, Hours Before Its Launch
Back when Apple was rumoured to be about to launch the iPad, BBC presenter Spencer Kelly was already on air confidently predicting that the rumours were nonsense, because tablets were a stupid idea. Just six hours later, Steve Jobs proved him s...
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1:13:24
EP 78: From Zero Clients to LinkedIn Success: Sarah Clay’s Lockdown Marketing Fail
For Sarah Clay, that nightmare became her big break. Pre-pandemic, she was running a social media agency for hospitality brands. Then lockdown hit, and in the space of a week her market evaporated.Instead of wallowing, she made a bold pi...
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54:49
EP 77: Mind Games: Richard Shotton Reveals Marketing's Hidden Secrets
Tired of marketing campaigns that miss the mark? Richard Shotton, bestselling author of "The Choice Factory" and "The Illusion of Choice," reveals why understanding human psychology is the secret sauce behind effective marketing.The gap...
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58:39
PR FAIL: I sent a press release that wasn't approved and made the 10 o'clock news.
Our host, Chris Norton, reveals his biggest career mistake when he joined a new PR agency as an account manager. What started as enthusiasm to impress his new employers quickly descended into a PR disaster when he prematurely distributed a pres...
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5:15