Scratch: CMO Interviews

Why do some businesses grow faster than others? What do the marketers leading them do differently? How can we learn from them to grow our own businesses and careers? Scratch explores the world of challenger marketing - the thinkers and doers questioning the status quo and rewriting the marketing rule book ‘from scratch’. Each episode will dive deep into the experience and perspective of an industry thought leader to understand the unique insights and ideas that have powered their success. We will interview some of the biggest names in the marketing world - the people with the most interesting stories to tell. We’ll hear from the CMOs of the biggest brands in the world, but also the entrepreneurs building hyper-growth start-ups to really understand the full spectrum of challenger marketing today. We’ll get into the nitty gritty: the details of how they think and what they do differently in order to deliver simple, clear, and actionable lessons for all marketers. Scratch is the ‘How I Built This’ of marketing - we hope to inform and inspire a generation of marketers to grow their businesses and their careers like true challengers ‘from scratch’ every day.

Scratch: CMO Interviews is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 120 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Scratch: CMO Interviews, a business show with 120 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #117

  The Death of Average: What Jumeirah Knows About Luxury That AI Doesn't

  Jul 29, 202649 min

  In the latest episode of Scratch, Alexander Robertson of Jumeirah breaks down why "luxury is madness," and why the brands that win in an AI-saturated market are the ones with the strongest point of view, not the loudest one. As AI creates a convergence around “average” for everything related to brand-building, Jumeirah's big bet is to lean into creating a brand so distinct, and a guest experience so uniquely consistent across seven thousand touchpoints that “convergence” can't touch it. The key takeaways: Average is the enemy, not effort - AI has made "pretty good" accessible to everyone. That flattens the middle of the market. The brands that win won't be the ones using AI the most, they'll be the ones with a distinct enough point of view that AI can't replicate it. Luxury brands need permission to be irrational - Jumeirah's philosophy of "madness" isn't about excess. It's about giving teams license to design experiences nobody's seen before, then laddering every idea back to a clear brand foundation. Your brand doesn't rise to your best moment, it falls to your worst - With 7,000 points of guest interaction per stay, Jumeirah's focus isn't chasing peak delight. It's raising the floor so the lowest-quality moment is still exceptional. GEO is this era's dot-com fluff - Alexander's biggest pet peeve right now is generative engine optimization. His view: LLMs surface brands with real editorial weight built over time, not brands that fiddled with keywords. Scale is the real test of a challenger brand - Plenty of brands can break in. Few can scale without losing what made them different in the first place. The brands that fail are the ones that scale faster than their standards can keep up. Scratch is a production of Rival, a marketing innovation consultancy. Hosted by Eric Fulwiler, featuring Alexander Robertson of Jumeirah. Find Rival: www.wearerival.com Find Eric: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericfulwiler/ Find Alexander: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderrobertson/ Say hi: media@wearerival.com Rival is a marketing consultancy for brands that want to challenge convention in their category. We’re on a mission to understand what challenger brands do differently to grow in categories that are being disrupted, and use a challenger playbook to deliver outsized impact through an integrated, tech-enabled approach. Past guests include CMOs from Mastercard , GE , Shell , Hyperloop , Adobe , PepsiCo , and Papa Johns . If you’re interested in learning more about marketing from successful CMOs, we compiled a list of the top 5 CMO podcasts to listen to in 2024; check it out here   https://www.wearerival.com/content-hub-articles/cmo-podcasts-you-cannot-afford-to-miss-in-2024

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  Episode #116

  How Ladder became Apple's favorite app and made Hilary Duff the face of fitness

  Jun 24, 202653 min

  In the latest episode of Scratch, Philip Edsel , VP of Brand & Creative at Ladder, breaks down why most marketing misses the mark and what separates brands that feel cultural from those that feel tone-deaf. As fitness platforms multiply and algorithms fragment audiences, Ladder's strategy isn't to chase trends. It's to listen obsessively to what members actually want—and let that drive every creative decision. We get into: → Why cultural relevance can't be outsourced (or bought from a report) → How to build culture listening into your creative process without overthinking it → Why structuring teams around culture matters more than having the right budget → The brands that win: Skims , Bandit , Nothing -and why art direction is strategy → What happens when you listen to members instead of investors The key takeaways: Self-awareness is the number one attribute of great marketing - Most work fails because it lacks it. It's not about being clever. It's about understanding how your brand is actually perceived and what conversations are happening around it. Culture listening is structural, not magical - Put 30 minutes on your calendar every week . Get obsessed with what your audience actually cares about. Make it non-negotiable. By the time most brands catch on, they're six weeks too late. Either you have the people or you don't - You can't bottle up cultural taste. Either your team feels the pulse of what's moving culture, or it doesn't. If you don't have those people, recruit differently or organize differently. Yeti structured their entire team around communities. Most brands didn't even think of it. Listen to what your members want, not what trends are screaming - Ladder runs 45-minute surveys by the thousands. They're drowning in feedback about what members actually want. That drives product and creative not investor mandates. Simplify your language - Bad copywriting is Philip's biggest pet peeve. If it's a teaser that says "something's coming"—that's meaningless. Use words you'd actually use at dinner. Momentum is found too late for legacy brands - Challenger brands can move faster because they're willing to take creative risks informed by audience data. The inflection point is real. You have to be willing to swing. Watch this episode: ▶️ YouTube: https://youtu.be/pYQH4xUeU9o Scratch is a production of Rival , a marketing innovation consultancy. Hosted by Eric Fulwiler , featuring Philip Edsel of Ladder . Find Rival: wearerival.com | LinkedIn Find Eric: LinkedIn Find Philip: LinkedIn Find Ladder: joinladder.com Say hi: media@wearerival.com Rival is a marketing consultancy for brands that want to challenge convention in their category. We’re on a mission to understand what challenger brands do differently to grow in categories that are being disrupted, and use a challenger playbook to deliver outsized impact through an integrated, tech-enabled approach. Past guests include CMOs from Mastercard , GE , Shell , Hyperloop , Adobe , PepsiCo , and Papa Johns . If you’re interested in learning more about marketing from successful CMOs, we compiled a list of the top 5 CMO podcasts to listen to in 2024; check it out here 🔗  https://www.wearerival.com/content-hub-articles/cmo-podcasts-you-cannot-afford-to-miss-in-2024

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  Episode #115

  Checkout.com’s Playbook for Beating Global Giants: Pick One Fight.

  Jun 10, 202640 minS0

  <p>Rory O'Neill, CMO of Checkout.com, doesn't just solve for payments- he's solving for brand preference in a crowded payments space. And he's doing it by competing on what's different, not what others do better.</p> <p>That insight changes everything, from how you position payments to how you build a team that can sustain growth as a challenger.</p> <p>In the latest episode of Scratch, Rory breaks down the playbook that lets Checkout compete with global giants. Brand preference wins 95% of B2B deals before salespeople ever show up- so your marketing owns the invisible 60% of the...

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  Episode #114

  The CMO Who Faked a Data Breach for Black Friday. The Payflex Playbook.

  May 27, 202645 minS0

  <p>In the latest episode of Scratch, Tracey-Lee gets into what it really takes to build trust in a controversial space, how she sells brand investment to a CFO who only speaks performance, and the Black Friday campaign where Payflex faked a data breach and somehow lived to tell the tale.</p> <p>The key takeaway: </p> <p>1. Radical honesty is not a risk, it's a requirement In a controversial category, you have to be as loud with your rebuttals as your critics are with their attacks. Silence reads as guilt.</p> <p>2. BNPL customers aren't who the headlines say t...

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  Episode #113

  Social Is Becoming a Revenue Channel. Most CMOs Aren't Ready

  May 13, 202642 minS0

  <p>In this episode of Scratch, Viren sits down with Misbah Uraizee from Nectar Social to dismantle one of marketing's most persistent myths. The truth? Organic and paid media are complementary engines, and brands that still silo them are leaving serious growth on the table.</p> <p>Misbah breaks down the post-iOS 14 reality and reveals the exact playbooks modern challenger brands are using to scale today.<br><br> In this episode, we cover:</p> The Post-iOS 14 Reality: Why the entire class of brands built on cheap paid ads simply no longer exists. Year-One CPG Playbooks: What the fastest-growing brands actually...

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