I have come down from Harrogate to London today for #THECALLING2026 with my good friend
@UncensoredCMO. I am hoping to meet a lot of cool people and learn a bit more about marketing today to take back to my clients.

Me neither but it is very annoying.

that is completely nuts. They have no awareness. We don't want to hear all about it.

What the actual?

I detest it. Some people are just full of their own self-importance.
Quite apart from anything else, some clearly don't value their own privacy. A few months ago a young man sat opposite me on the train conducted a job interview via speaker phone, gave his salary details and everything 🙄

People on their speaker phones on trains or buses thoughts pls?

#speakerphones

A shop in San Francisco is being run entirely by an AI called Luna. It lied to a journalist, pretended to be human in job interviews, and told an art vendor it would pop by their studio. I've spent 20 years telling clients that honesty is non-negotiable. Nobody told Luna.

It's starting: Snap to cut 1,000 jobs as AI reshapes operations

www.msn.com/en-us/news/i... #AI

50 Best Keynote Speakers for Texas Associations (2026) | Jonno White WI-DG-TE Most Texas association conferences book speakers the same way they book venues. They browse a bureau list. They pick a name they recognise. They cross their fingers and hope the room stays engaged. The problem is that celebrity recognition and association conference effectiveness are almost entirely uncorrelated. A speaker who electrifies a mandatory corporate kickoff for 500 people at a Fortune 500 company will often fall flat with 300 voluntary members who paid their own registration fee, took time away from their organisations, and came expecting something they can actually use on Monday morning. Association audiences are different. They are more sceptical. More experienced. More politically diverse. And far less forgiving of content that does not earn their attention. I put together a list of the 50 best keynote speakers for Texas association conferences in 2026. The list covers speakers across every budget range, every major sector the Texas conference...

So proud to be mentioned in the 50 best keynote speakers for Texas association conferences in 2026. Shame it was the wrong Chris Norton. 🙈🤣

#mistakes

www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

YOUR BEST MARKETING TRICK IS PROBABLY LYING TO YOU. Hi Guys, First things first. I owe you a bit of an apology.

Tip for your next pitch: stop hiding your weaknesses.

Small agency? Say it. Small means you get the founders, not the juniors. Slow process? Own it. Slow means thorough.

The science behind this is 👇

www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-b...

YOUR BEST MARKETING TRICK IS PROBABLY LYING TO YOU. Hi Guys, First things first. I owe you a bit of an apology.

Guinness is now the UK's number one pint. Their entire brand strategy is built around making you wait longer than everyone else at the bar.
The flaw is the feature.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-b...

#prstunt

YOUR BEST MARKETING TRICK IS PROBABLY LYING TO YOU. Hi Guys, First things first. I owe you a bit of an apology.

Liquid Death ran a Facebook ad using their worst customer review. It outperformed everything.

My newsletter breaks down why your flaws might be your best pitch.

The Crisis Communications Mistake Every Brand Is Making With AI AI can sound more empathetic than a human. Deepfakes can move markets. And brands are now being punished for staying silent. This live episode breaks down wh...

Just dropped a new episode.

We talked about deepfakes, AI empathy, and how brand risk has quietly levelled up while most teams are still reacting like it is 2019.

Ant Cousins brings real world perspective from public safety, AI, and crisis comms.
Worth a listen if brand trust is part of your job.

Firm accused of creating fake AI PR chief hires comms agency Insolvency, advisory and restructuring firm Coots & Boots has hired a retained PR agency after it was accused of employing a counterfeit communications professional.

Firm accused of creating fake AI PR chief hires comms agency prweek.co.uk/article/1953... via
@PrweekUK

Businesses scramble to get noticed by AI search Firms are changing the way they present information on their websites, so they get noticed by AI.

The creators of Web traffic identification are now officially struggling with web traffic due to AI: Hubspot has just revealed they lost 140M web traffic last year

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

How AI Is Exposing the Biggest Customer Communication Mistakes Brands are still getting customer communication badly wrong and Roger Dooley explains exactly why. Roger is one of the original neuromarketing thinkers. He’s...

Just dropped a conversation with Roger Dooley on how AI and behavioural science can stop brands tripping over their own messaging. Some brilliant lessons here on loyalty, tone and avoiding self‑inflicted disasters.

Why Popular Behavioral Tactics Fail in Real Campaigns Marketers built whole strategies on this one psychological principle. Then researchers tried to replicate it and everything crumbled.We break down why some b...

Phil Agnew hiked a marathon and a half so his audience would feel the effort behind his talk. It worked. The new episode digs into why effort bias still matters.

Meta replaces moderation staff with AI, expands access to AI support bot The company says that its AI systems are getting better at performing moderation tasks.

Shock horror: Meta replaces moderation staff with AI, expands access to AI support bot

www.socialmediatoday.com/news/meta-re...

How One Fax Nearly Cost Millions and What It Teaches Us About AI and Staying Future Ready Allister Frost is the kind of guest who makes you sit up. He was Microsoft’s first digital marketing strategy leader and one of the people who helped shape t...

New episode out today. A simple shift. Stop surviving your workload and start upgrading it. One small fix at a time.

I enjoyed our chat with Emeric Enoult, Agorapulse's CEO, so much. We discussed the reality of building a social platform for 15 years without any VC money, not paying yourself for years, and the people mistakes that hurt the most.

#founderstories

So Will and I are chatting with the author of this book at 1pm.

Does anyone have any burning questions for him? #adland

How One Ad Destroyed a Brand in Six Weeks and What Marketers Must Learn You know that moment when you watch an ad and instantly think who on earth signed this off? Well, Kevin Chesters did. And to be fair to him, he’s turned owni...

Kevin Chesters joined us to unpack how one ad collapsed a product launch in weeks. Brutal honesty and proper strategy lessons in this one.

Watch the full episode now.

I need a hand, we are Number 1 in Apple's UK Marketing Charts, but to ensure we keep getting better, I am looking for some brilliant female marketers who would make great guests with interesting stories. Who do you think we should speak to next?

Thanks for your help.
Chris

Ever tried running your projects like Pokémon cards?

Turn each project into a card with stats, play it in the boardroom, and the “weak” cards become obvious. Then there’s a simple fix: remove them and your deck improves.

Watch the full episode on our YouTube Channel.

#DecisionMaking #Leadership

LinkedIn articles are increasingly cited in AI responses. This means our PR efforts 👋 are not just shaping human chatter; they are influencing machine outputs too.

So if AI prioritises LinkedIn over traditional media, does that make us, less reliant on journalists too?

#GEO #AEO

From SEO Disasters to Pink Batman: Lessons from the UK's Number 1 Marketing Podcast The Illusion of ChoiceWe Hit Number 1 Marketing Pod Happy New Year, guys. What a couple of weeks we have already had this January.

Just posted: what hitting a UK #1 really felt like. Its far messier than you know it.

Full post down below:

www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-s...

Would you like automatic entry into our prize draw to win a free copy of the best‑selling marketing book, The Illusion of Choice, by our very good podcast friend, the brilliant Richard Shotton

👉 Start the 2‑minute survey: www.surveymonkey.com/r/P2HZCLC

We hit number 1 marketing podcast in the UK this week. Thanks so much for the support, guys, we really appreciate it.

My mum will be thrilled. 🤣 Thanks to all of the guests and to everyone who works on the show, even Will.

#marketingpodcast #applepodcast

Prestige Gifting appoints Leeds agency - Prolific North Prestige Gifting has turned to Prohibition as its retained communications agency.

Prestige Gifting has turned to Prohibition 👋 as its retained communications agency.

www.prolificnorth.co.uk/news/prestig...

#pr #comms

Marketers love saying the data is clear.

Then the numbers clash with your gut.

On Embracing Marketing Mistakes, Richard Shotton said his first move is to interrogate the research.

How was it gathered, who was asked, were answers forced?

If it is shaky, trust your gut. The skill is knowing whe