Suso (Susan) O'Brien has held marketing roles at some of the world's most famous brands, including several years as Brand Director at Sky, and her most recent role as Global CMO at Just Eat.

From telephone calls in New York taxis, to hiring Snoop Dogg and Katy Perry to front the Just Eat adverts, Suso talks us through her career - and it's not all glamourous! She explains how she climbed the first rungs on the career ladder, as well as the need to be resilient and focus on long-term brand outcomes.

Suso has held both consultancy and in-house roles and she also explains the pros and cons of each. Whether you are an experienced marketer or have aspirations for a long career in marketing, you'll enjoy listening to Suso's brand insights and career experiences.

You can connect with Mel on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susoltd/

As always, you can also reach us at Tom.Bowden-Green@uwe.ac.uk and Hanne.Knight@plymouth.ac.uk.

Melanie Nicholas has held roles that many marketers dream of, including Managing Director at Universal Pictures, Marketing Director at Polygram, and Head of Brand at Odeon Cinemas.

Mel is at least part of the reason you know about movies such as Fast and Furious, Despicable Me, and the Jason Bourne series. Mel has worked with, and for, some huge brands and very famous celebrities. She talks us through the challenges and pressures of her various roles, and parellels with wider marketing positions.

Mel's career has since evolved to become a maketing 'fixer', working as a consultant, and interim or fractional CMO. We chat with Mel about the highlights of her career, the pros and cons of working in the entertainment industry, and more recent work with hospitality brands.

You can connect with Mel on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanienicholas/

As always, you can also reach us at Tom.Bowden-Green@uwe.ac.uk and Hanne.Knight@plymouth.ac.uk.

Gareth Helm has had a stellar career in marketing, including roles at some of the world's biggest brands. Most recently he was Chief Marketing Officer for McDonalds, and then Chief Marketing Officer at Homeserve. His career though has included roles with Innocent Drinks, Zoopla, Nestle and Unilever among others. Wow!

Gareth is now a non-executive director and provides career development and strategic advice through a project called Sideminds. He has also found time to write an award-winning book - The Marketing Leader's Code.

We chat with Gareth about his career path, navigating huge changes in the digital landscape, and his advice for listeners on how to climb the career ladder.

You can connect with Gareth on LinkedIn here:https://www.linkedin.com/in/thehelm/

As always, you can also reach us at Tom.Bowden-Green@uwe.ac.uk and Hanne.Knight@plymouth.ac.uk.

Louis Havriliuc has created an amazing digital marketing simulation tool called Simbound. If you want to find out how to undertake an effective digital marketing campaign, Simbound is a great way to learn. The online platform allows learners to create a range of digital marketing tools and experiment with different techniques to understand their effectiveness.

We discuss the aims and purpose of Simbound with Louis, and his plans to keep developing the tool to consider aspects such as ESG and the role of AI.

You can connect with Louis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisdoruhavriliuc/

You can also find out more about Simbound on the website: https://www.simbound.com

Jenny Novitzky makes social media content for some of the UK's top TV shows. Her work as a senior digital producer has included content for The Great British Bake Off, The Great British Sewing Bee, The Great Pottery Throw Down and The Piano. In fact, Jenny has appeared on more series of Bake Off than Mary Berry, Mel and Sue! The chances are, many of you have seen and engaged with Jenny's content.

We chat to Jenny about the importance of adjusting content to different platforms, second screen viewing, and the chaos internet among other topics!

You can connect with Jenny on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-novitzky-b4952b2b/

You can also find out more about her work on her website: https://www.jennynovitzky.co.uk/

We chat with Jon Payne, an entrepreneur in the world of digital marketing. Jon wears various hats, including being the founder of the successful Bristol agency Noisy Little Monkey, a RevOps freelance consultant, the former host of the popular Digital Gaggle events, and now one of the driving forces behind Building Brands. Jon shares some of the lessons he's learned over the years, as well as discussing the origin and growth of Building Brands. He also tells us what RevOps is!

You can connect with Jon here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrjonpayne/

And visit Building Brands here: https://www.building-brands.co.uk/

You can contact Hanne at Hanne.Knight@plymouth.ac.uk and Tom at Tom.Bowden-Green@uwe.ac.uk

We chat with Stephen Hobbs, an expert in digital storytelling. Stephen is a respected and experienced marketer who has worked with many household brands including Google, Volvo and O2. We discuss the importance of content and storytelling in the age of AI. Stephen tells us that his initial career as a journalist gives him a slightly different perspective on the world of marketing.

You can connect with Stephen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shobbsy/

We discuss a couple of related pieces of academic research:

Sung, E., Han, D. I. D., Choi, Y. K., Gillespie, B., Couperus, A., & Koppert, M. (2023). Augmented digital human vs. human agents in storytelling marketing: Exploratory electroencephalography and experimental studies. Psychology & Marketing, 40(11), 2428-2446.

Aicha, A. B., & Bouzaabia, R. (2023). The effects of video storytelling advertising on consumers’ online reactions on Facebook: a cross cultural study. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 26(3), 247-268.

You can contact Hanne at Hanne.Knight@plymouth.ac.uk and Tom at Tom.Bowden-Green@uwe.ac.uk

We chat with Google Analytics expert Jill Quick about the importance of collecting and analysing the right data. Jill tells us why it marketers should take a strategic approach to measurement, and why she called her business The Coloring In Department.

You can connect with Jill here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillquick01/

You will also find plenty of further resources on Jill's website: https://www.thecoloringindepartment.com/

Jill also refers to a free online GA4 course on Wix Studio Academy: https://www.wix.com/studio/academy/courses/google-analytics-4

She also refers to a good book on analytics: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lean-Analytics-Better-Startup-Faster/dp/1098168186/

We discuss a couple of related pieces of academic research:

Many people don't use Google Analytics to its full extent: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3578503.3583601

Need to map analytics to the consumer journey: https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41270-020-00098-0

You can contact Hanne at Hanne.Knight@plymouth.ac.uk and Tom at Tom.Bowden-Green@uwe.ac.uk