That's What I Call Marketing

Make Your Mark is a three-part series exploring how marketers build their careers and make a difference to their businesses, their customers and the people around them, in partnership with the Marketing Institute of Ireland.

In this opening conversation, John Kelly, Retail Marketing Manager at Musgrave, joins That’s What I Call Marketing to discuss his 20-year career working predominantly with SuperValu, and what it takes to turn customer understanding into commercial results. John’s experience shows how much you can learn by taking on different challenges within one organisation. From checking promotional prices as a marketing assistant to delivering campaigns across a network of independent retailers, he explains how attention to detail, curiosity and doing what you said you would do build the credibility to take your next step.

We also get into the work behind SuperValu’s “Yes You Scan” campaign. Getting TV, radio, social and in-store communications working together is one challenge; getting the entire business, right down to the checkout, moving towards the same outcome is another.

In this episode, we cover:
– How John deliberately built experience across value, local marketing, loyalty, sponsorship and retail marketing.
– The commercial thinking and business-wide coordination behind Real Rewards prices and “Yes You Scan”.
– What independent retailers know about their communities, and how that knowledge complements customer research and sales data.
– Keeping SuperValu distinctive while competing on value and delivering short-term sales.
– What John learned from micromanaging, and how he now uses trust, accountability and regular feedback to develop his team.
– Why the time AI saves should help marketers get closer to customers, alongside the continuing need for creativity and storytelling.
A useful listen for marketers interested in career development, retail marketing, brand building, customer insight, marketing effectiveness and leadership.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Consumer understanding and storytelling
00:23 Introducing the Make Your Mark series
03:08 John Kelly’s route into marketing
04:00 Musgrave and SuperValu’s retailer model
05:00 Different roles, new challenges and career development
06:23 Commercial outcomes and attention to detail
08:19 Why John’s team hears “never assume”
10:21 Building credibility by following through
11:00 Real Rewards prices and “Yes You Scan”
12:12 Getting the whole business behind a campaign
13:11 Competition, pace and brand differentiation
15:34 Customer insight and the say-do gap
16:47 Short-term sales and long-term brand building
18:21 Learning to lead without micromanaging
20:10 Mentoring and finding answers as a leader
22:19 The attitude and skills John looks for when hiring
25:37 Using AI to get closer to customers
27:00 Demonstrating marketing’s business impact
28:12 Recognising marketing talent through awards
30:24 Make Your Mark and continuous learning

That’s What I Call Marketing is the podcast for marketers who care about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
Follow the show for more conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, professors, authors, thinkers and practitioners.
Find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com

OUR SERIES PARTNER
Thank you to the Marketing Institute of Ireland for partnering with us on this series as part of their Make Your Mark campaign. The campaign recognises that making your mark happens throughout your career: as you develop your skills, grow in confidence, take responsibility and help others progress. Across three conversations with marketers working in different organisations and at different career stages, we explore what that means in practice. The Marketing Institute of Ireland helps marketers build their expertise and professional credibility through its competency framework, professional assessment, certification and ongoing CPD.
That’s What I Call Marketing is where marketers come for real conversations about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
Hosted by Conor Byrne, the show features conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, authors, thinkers and practitioners about what good marketing looks like in practice.

Listen, follow and find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
Connect with Conor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrneirl/
If you enjoy the show, please follow, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more marketers find the conversations.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bella Harrison and Ed Parkin from Tracksuit join That’s What I Call Marketing to discuss Grindr’s push into real-world experiences, On’s entry into football and Walkers’ growing brand preference, exploring what each story tells marketers about building brands and measuring progress.
Three brands, three different challenges: giving people more reasons to use an app, taking a specialist sports brand to a wider audience, and keeping an established favourite relevant. Conor Byrne, Bella and Ed examine the strategies alongside Tracksuit’s brand health data, discussing what is moving, what remains uncertain and which measures matter.
In this episode, we cover:
– Grindr’s “Global Gayborhood” ambition: how a surprise Madonna performance, events and broader services support its move beyond a hook-up app, and why its younger audience deserves closer attention.
– On’s move into football with Kylian Mbappé and Thierry Henry: building on its running and tennis credentials, competing with Nike and adidas, and the questions facing a premium brand entering the boot market.
– The difference between recognising a brand and thinking of it first, and how expanding into another sport could give On more opportunities to come to mind.
– Walkers’ brand refresh, new flavours and football partnerships with Lionel Messi, David Beckham and Thierry Henry, alongside a rise in preference from 29% to 36%.
– Why flat awareness or usage figures do not tell the whole story, and how audience differences, category context and preference can help marketers make a stronger case for their work.
– “What the Actual?”: the discussion around Sydney Sweeney’s Novig campaign, PNC Bank using the Titanic in its advertising, and why the Laughing Cow has stopped laughing.
A useful listen for marketers interested in brand strategy, customer insight, experiential marketing, sports marketing, brand building, marketing effectiveness and commercial impact.
That’s What I Call Marketing is the podcast for marketers who care about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
Follow the show for more conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, professors, authors, thinkers and practitioners.
Find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
THE SINGLES — IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TRACKSUIT
The Singles is our monthly look at the marketing stories getting people talking, using Tracksuit’s brand tracking data to bring evidence and context to the conversation.
A huge thanks to Tracksuit for supporting the series, and to Bella Harrison and Ed Parkin for helping us understand the brand performance behind the headlines.
Explore Tracksuit’s always-on, affordable brand tracking platform: https://www.gotracksuit.com

TIMESTAMPS

01:50 Grindr: real-world events and the “Global Gayborhood”
02:58 Madonna, community and experiences people share
04:08 What the brand data shows for Grindr
05:33 Reaching younger audiences in a changing dating category
06:41 Putting audience and category data into context
07:37 Giving people reasons to use Grindr beyond dating
09:14 On enters football with Kylian Mbappé
10:08 Building on running and tennis
10:53 Premium positioning and the realities of buying football boots
13:06 On’s brand growth and the opportunity to come to mind more often
14:36 Thierry Henry joins On as Director of Football
15:16 Thierry Henry and Ireland’s long football memory
16:10 Walkers: refreshing an iconic brand
17:45 Why Walkers’ seven-point preference gain matters
19:46 Competing across the wider snacking category
21:25 Familiarity, trust and choosing a brand
22:05 Using brand metrics in budget conversations
23:27 What the Actual? Sydney Sweeney and Novig
25:10 PNC Bank’s Titanic advertising
26:08 The Laughing Cow stops laughing: one to watch
That’s What I Call Marketing is where marketers come for real conversations about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
Hosted by Conor Byrne, the show features conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, authors, thinkers and practitioners about what good marketing looks like in practice.

Listen, follow and find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
Connect with Conor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrneirl/
If you enjoy the show, please follow, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more marketers find the conversations.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the day he retires from Goodby Silverstein & Partners, co-founder Rich Silverstein joins That’s What I Call Marketing to reflect on 40 years in advertising, the making of ‘Got Milk?’ and what makes an idea last. Rich takes us back to the early days of the agency, when a project for Electronic Arts helped turn a group of creatives who wanted to do things their own way into a business. We get into the thinking behind ‘Got Milk?’, the E*TRADE monkey ad and the lizards, and ask whether work made for a different media era could be even more powerful today. Rich is candid about the role of craft, humour and client confidence, as well as his concern that AI could make it easier to settle for work that is merely good enough.

In this episode, we cover:
– How Rich, Jeff Goodby and Andy Berlin started the agency, and what they took from their time with Hal Riney
– The simple truth behind ‘Got Milk?’ and how its words and distinctive look came together
– Why the best campaigns build a brand over time, rather than end with one commercial
– What it takes to sell an unusual idea when more people want a say in the work
– Rich’s mixed feelings about AI, and how he is using it to develop a musical
– Why he tells young creatives to study the world and the people in it
A useful listen for marketers interested in brand building, creative effectiveness, advertising craft, agency relationships and AI in marketing.
That’s What I Call Marketing is the podcast for marketers who care about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
Follow the show for more conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, professors, authors, thinkers and practitioners.
Find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com

Timestamps
00:00 – Rich Silverstein and 40 years in advertising
10:01 – Hal Riney, Electronic Arts and starting Goodby Silverstein & Partners
14:28 – Bringing design, journalism and craft together
15:25 – Why Rich skips most advertising
16:31 – AI and the danger of “good enough”
21:46 – What editorial design and Rolling Stone taught him
24:05 – Why great work should still hold up years later
24:26 – The story behind ‘Got Milk?’
26:00 – The E*TRADE monkey ad
28:37 – Creative constraints and the need for confident clients
30:36 – The lizards and building a brand over time
33:15 – Using humour to make an idea last
36:32 – Selling ambitious work and working with clients
37:39 – Research, planning and creative collaboration
40:37 – The ideas Rich loved but could not sell
41:59 – 13 Days, his musical project, and using AI to make it
46:47 – Advice for creatives starting an agency today
49:19 – Why the ideas come faster, but selling them remains hard
51:51 – The advertising Rich still admires
52:46 – Mentors, observation and studying the world

Thanks to Tracksuit for partnering with That’s What I Call Marketing. Find out more about its always-on brand tracking platform at https://www.gotracksuit.com.
That’s What I Call Marketing is where marketers come for real conversations about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
Hosted by Conor Byrne, the show features conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, authors, thinkers and practitioners about what good marketing looks like in practice.

Listen, follow and find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
Connect with Conor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrneirl/
If you enjoy the show, please follow, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more marketers find the conversations.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gemma Craven, Chief Marketing Officer at Scribd, Inc., joins That’s What I Call Marketing to discuss her path to becoming a CMO, the value of building experience across different areas of marketing and what it takes to reshape brands, teams and reputations.

This episode explores how a varied career across PR, social media, technology, agencies, consultancy and in-house leadership gave Gemma the range required to lead marketing across Scribd, Everand, Fable and SlideShare. It is an honest conversation about career choices that did not always make immediate sense to other people.

In this episode, we cover:
– How moving between countries, disciplines and organisations shaped Gemma’s approach to marketing leadership
– Building Social@Ogilvy New York when many people still believed social media would not last
– Why Gemma deliberately moved beyond being known solely as a social media specialist
– How working with CMOs at McCann helped her see CMO leadership as a possible destination
– Why becoming a fractional CMO was initially viewed as a failure by some people
– Restructuring Scribd’s marketing organisation around its products, audiences and areas of expertise
– Managing a portfolio that includes Scribd, Everand, Fable and SlideShare
– Why brands must actively manage their reputations rather than leave customers, reviews and online communities to define them
– Connecting brand strategy more closely with product, engineering, design and customer experience
– The thinking behind Scribd’s “Connect the Docs” campaign and the enduring human satisfaction of figuring something out for yourself

Gemma Craven has more than 25 years of experience building and positioning global brands. Before joining Scribd, Inc., she led marketing at Melissa & Doug, advised senior leaders at companies including Spotify, Nike, Fiverr and Ford, and led digital brand strategy at McCann New York, where she helped make Fearless Girl a global phenomenon. She also built Social@Ogilvy New York into an award-winning, multi-practice division. A useful listen for marketers interested in marketing leadership, career development, brand strategy, organisational design, reputation management, customer experience and the path to becoming a CMO.

That’s What I Call Marketing is the podcast for marketers who care about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.Follow the show for more conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, professors, authors, thinkers and practitioners.
Find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com

This episode is brought to you in partnership with Tracksuit, the always-on brand-tracking platform that helps marketers monitor brand health and bring a clear, shared view of brand performance into the boardroom. Tracksuit tracks brands across more than 25 markets, making ongoing brand measurement more accessible, visible and useful for marketing teams and senior leaders. Find out more at: https://www.gotracksuit.com

The Big Marketing MeetUp Belfast, takes place at ICC Belfast on 5 November 2026, book tickets at: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/bmmubelfast/1935249

Chapters

04:15 – A career shaped by curiosity and working across cultures
06:30 – Moving from London to New York and experiencing culture shock
09:41 – Building Social@Ogilvy New York
16:42 – Why Gemma moved from agency life into technology
19:24 – When becoming a CMO started to feel possible
20:49 – Why varied experience creates better marketing leaders
23:13 – Too ambitious to work for Mick Jagger
24:01 – Choosing the fractional CMO path
28:11 – Restructuring marketing around products and audiences
29:17 – What happens when a brand leaves its story untold
29:48 – Leading teams through organisational change
32:16 – Refreshing the Scribd and SlideShare brands
32:24 – The strategy behind “Connect the Dots”
36:26 – Resisting the pressure to launch a campaign too quickly
38:06 – How brand discovery and reputation are changing

That’s What I Call Marketing is where marketers come for real conversations about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
Hosted by Conor Byrne, the show features conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, authors, thinkers and practitioners about what good marketing looks like in practice.

Listen, follow and find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
Connect with Conor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrneirl/
If you enjoy the show, please follow, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more marketers find the conversations.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Conor Byrne hosts another “Singles” episode with Bella and Ed from Tracksuit, using brand tracking data to unpack the biggest marketing stories of the moment—what’s genuinely driving brand growth, what’s just noise, and where brands are taking real risks. From Monzo’s bold “Get Busy Living” brand campaign in a fiercely competitive banking market, to the clever Heinz x Heineken collaboration built for summer BBQ culture, they explore how creativity and brand equity show up in the metrics. They also break down quick-fire eclipse “culture-jacking” wins from brands like Starbucks, Netflix and Mastercard, before debating the backlash and brand danger around Meta-powered Ray-Ban smart glasses. Finally, they launch “What the Actual?”—spotlighting recent brand missteps from Target and a Callaway/Good Good promo—and invite listeners to submit their own.

02:05 Monzo Brand Campaign
13:02 Heinz Heineken Collab
18:37 Solar Eclipse Marketing
22:55 Meta Ray Ban Glasses
27:28 What The Actual Fails

Check out tracksuit https://www.gotracksuit.com/

That’s What I Call Marketing is where marketers come for real conversations about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.

Hosted by Conor Byrne, the show features conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, authors, thinkers and practitioners about what good marketing looks like in practice.

Listen, follow and find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
Connect with Conor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrneirl/
If you enjoy the show, please follow, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more marketers find the conversations.
That’s What I Call Marketing is where marketers come for real conversations about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
Hosted by Conor Byrne, the show features conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, authors, thinkers and practitioners about what good marketing looks like in practice.

Listen, follow and find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
Connect with Conor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrneirl/
If you enjoy the show, please follow, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more marketers find the conversations.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.