Embracing Marketing Mistakes

Cory Koryczan opens up about the career mistake that nearly broke her.
Staying too long in a role that no longer fit. She’d built her identity around someone else’s business and clung to safety until it led to burnout. In this episode, Cory talks about the cost of over-loyalty, the fear that kept her stuck, and how she rebuilt her courage to finally walk away. She also shares a second big lesson from returning to work after maternity leave. 
Why confidence doesn’t just snap back and how discomfort became her best teacher. It’s honest, raw, and packed with lessons for anyone who’s ever ignored their gut to “play it safe.” 
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Most marketing fails before a single ad is made. Not because the execution is bad, but because teams leap straight to tactics and skip the strategy underneath. Ben Norman calls the result "busy fools": lots of activity, very little impact.
Ben, Strategy Director at Principles Agency and host of Marketing Room 101, joins Chris and Will to break down what brand strategy actually is, why so many senior marketers get it wrong, and how to do it properly without drowning in 20-page decks and brand "salad bowls".
What you'll learn:
The simplest definition of strategy you'll hear, using Ben's "person and product" model
Why diagnosis comes before strategy, and strategy before tactics (borrowed from the ancient Greeks)
The Three Cs framework: customer, company, competition, and why every problem comes back to them
The "bow tie" method for distilling a mountain of insight down to a single word
Why you should think in alternatives, not competitors (a Snickers competes with doing nothing, not just a KitKat)
The McCafé anti-poncery campaign and what makes it a masterclass in positioning
Why "channel neutrality" matters, and why SEO, GEO and AEO are all just "search"
How strategic thinking applies to everything from cleaning your house to running the country
Plus Ben serves up his now-famous Menu of Mistakes, including the £70k pitch that got away, the food shoot where he forgot to book the art director and styled it out by pretending he was one, and the Wally the Whale mascot meltdown at Wetherby Racecourse that ruined childhoods and lost punters their bets.
The conversation closes with the three things Ben would banish from marketing right now: tiny microphones, people misusing the word "omnichannel", and the damage social media is doing to society.
Chapters:

0:00 Intro 
1:15 Building a podcast with Room 101 
4:35 Mini MBA and marketing basics 
7:40 What strategy really means 
12:35 The Three Cs and the bow tie 
17:55 Listening first and field research 
21:00 Knowing when insight is enough 
24:55 McCafé and anti-poncery positioning 
29:10 Strategy thinking in daily life 
34:45 False binaries and channel neutrality 
39:35 What communications means in practice 
42:25 The menu of marketing mistakes 
46:30 Wally the Whale mascot meltdown 
51:05 The missing art director food shoot 
54:40 Three things to banish now 
57:35 Social media harm and regulation
Connect with Ben Norman on LinkedIn
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A missed brief. A room full of decision-makers. A team fresh off the Eurostar waiting to present a tailored proposal that never existed—because the client’s detailed instructions were quietly filed in spam. We tell the whole story with candour, including the costs, the embarrassment, and the uncomfortable gap between personal brand and reality when a simple system failure derails a big moment.

We dig into what professionalism really looks like in sales and agency life: not bravado at the pitch, but the boring brilliance of process. You’ll hear why “creds plus” only works at the right funnel stage, how attendee lists hint at evaluation versus discovery, and where most teams stumble when meetings evolve without explicit re-qualification. We break down practical safeguards—48-hour objective confirmations, shared inbox rules, whitelisting, pre-flight checklists, and backup comms channels—that make important emails unmissable and keep live meetings aligned with buyer expectations.

There’s also the human layer. Pride takes a knock when your edge is process mastery and the basics fail; we talk openly about that ego hit and how to respond without excuse-making. From rapid acknowledgement to a 48-hour turnaround on a tailored proposal, we share recovery moves that rebuild trust and sometimes strengthen relationships. If you sell, pitch, or lead client work, this story will arm you with simple, repeatable habits that prevent single points of failure and turn confidence into evidence.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a teammate who runs high-stakes meetings, and leave a quick review telling us your most expensive lesson learned.
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Phil Barden, Author of Decoded once led a European brand relaunch that cost millions. The problem was not the strategy, the budget or the agency. The human brain rejected the advert in seconds.
In this episode, Phil explains the T‑Mobile campaign that quietly failed and why the creative meant something very different to audiences than it did in the boardroom.
That mistake changed his career. It took him from senior brand roles into behavioural science, neuroscience and decision science, and eventually to writing Decoded, one of the most cited books in modern marketing.
You will hear why perception always beats intention, why first impressions lock in meaning, and why marketers routinely overestimate what audiences will “take out” of an ad.
Phil also breaks down category entry points, mental availability, and why consistency in brand assets often beats constant reinvention.
This episode is essential listening for senior marketers, brand leaders and agency teams who want to understand how advertising is actually processed, not how it is explained in presentations.
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In this episode of Embracing Marketing Mistakes, Sam Benton, co-founder of Mad Masters, joins Chris Norton and Will Ockenden to revisit one of his most unforgettable marketing moments. Early in his career, Sam walked into a major pitch for Expedia only to realise that Experian’s logo was proudly displayed on every single slide. What could have been a career-ending blunder turned into a long-standing client relationship and a story that still gets a laugh today.
The team reflects on the lesson behind the mishap. Sam shares how working alongside Rory Sutherland shifted his perspective from “knowing it all” to embracing curiosity and collaboration. It’s an honest conversation about humility, growth, and the surprising ways that small mistakes can lead to big professional wins.
Whether you have ever sent the wrong deck or just enjoy hearing marketers own their most human moments, this episode is equal parts insightful and entertaining.
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Is your strategy still right in 2026? Book a free 15-min no obligation discovery call with our host: 👉 [Book your call with Chris now] 👈

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