I Booked The Billboards For The Wrong Week And Somehow Didn’t Get Fired Artwork

Embracing Marketing Mistakes

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.

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Embracing Marketing Mistakes

I Booked The Billboards For The Wrong Week And Somehow Didn’t Get Fired

December 18, 2025 • Prohibition PR

0:00 | 3:47

When Lisa, co-founder of Common People and strategist at Wavemaker Manchester, accidentally misbooked an out-of-home campaign linked to a BBC event, it was more than an embarrassing blunder back in episode 41.

It became the moment she started questioning who really gets to thrive in advertising and media. In this episode, Lisa recounts that campaign mishap, a chaotic run of travel mix-ups, a painful pitch-room tumble, and the day she ended up crying at her desk. She then connects those experiences to a bigger issue: how class, confidence and unspoken office rules quietly shut working-class people out of the industry. Lisa shares practical ideas for change, from dropping unnecessary degree requirements and paying real living wages to simplifying recruitment tasks and making workplace norms explicit.

This is a candid, funny and insightful conversation for marketers who want more relatable teams, smarter campaigns and fewer people feeling like they don’t belong.

Click here to listen to the full episode 41.

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SPEAKER_01 1:03

The sh the theme of the show is always about fuck-ups, and we haven't asked you about yours yet. So um it's about marketing fuck-ups and what people have learnt from them. Because the the our listeners like to hear where people have made a mistake and what they did wrong, because they like to have a little giggle and what they've learned from it. And um you sent one through to us, didn't you, Lisa? Do you want to tell us a bit about that?

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Yeah, so I my attention to detail is not good. Um it's the thing that has resulted in all of my mistakes. There was one I remember the first time I'd ever booked an out-of-home campaign, and I'd just not check the dates that the media runner had sent to me, and I'd like the the out-of-home campaign was all for an event. So it like um it was really important, it was live on a certain date, and I just completely booked the wrong dates, and luckily I kind of got away with it because the media owner helped me out. Um so that's a tip. Be nice, like have relationships because there'll be a time when you need it. Um what are the like mistakes?

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Sorry, you're at your out-of-home

Framing The Marketing Blunder Theme

SPEAKER_01 2:07

advert appeared before it happened. Sorry, what happened?

SPEAKER_00 2:11

It was like booked for like it was like there were events that were happening, and there were two events that we were supporting.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Right. Where? Where were they?

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Um one was in l one was in London and one was in Manchester. They were it was when we were working um for the PVC

Lisa’s Out‑Of‑Home Scheduling Error

SPEAKER_00 2:27

and they was it was for Asia Network, um, and there was two um Mellers, so we were buying out of home around it about the coverage, and when they'd when we got the out of home plan, all of the out of home had been booked in two cities but for the same dates. And I remember having this stomach crop moment where I looked at it and was like, I'd signed it off and was like, oh shit, it's not on the right dates. Um so things I've learned is um always check your schedules, or if you're not very good at it, get someone else to check it. But also, actually, it was completely fine. I actually think it ended up being really beneficial because the media runner sort of does have like value and were able to make it work. Um so always have good relationships with the people that you work with.

Chris Norton

Host

Will Ockenden

Host