The Cambridge Marketing Podcast

If You’re Not Testing, You’re Guessing

Data doesn’t kill creativity; it sharpens it. Brook Shepard of Mason Interactive explains why starting with clear goals and basic data matters. Test what you put out, learn what works, and build from it. Used properly, data helps you make better creative and prove what’s actually working—so you can keep improving, not guessing.

Why Ticket Prices Change: The Truth About Dynamic Pricing

In this episode of the Cambridge Marketing Podcast, ticketing expert Richard Howle, founder of RH Insights, explores the realities of dynamic pricing in live entertainment. Drawing on decades of experience with major productions and events, he explains how pricing balances demand, psychology, fan loyalty and commercial risk, revealing how ticketing strategy underpins marketing and the long-term success of shows.

Opinionated Marketers on: WARTIME STRATEGY

With War in the Gulf, this week our Opinionated Marketers discuss what marketers should be doing now and for the future.  Kiran Kapur and Charles Nixon discuss.

Customers First: The Strategy Behind Games Workshop’s Success

This week we look at how Games Workshop built Warhammer into a hugely profitable global business by putting customers first.
Kiran Kapur speaks with Richard Kendrick about community, lore, retail experience and lifelong fans – and why focusing on the hobby and the people who love it is beating quick wins, cost-cutting and AI hype.

Opinionated Marketers on: CRISIS MANAGEMENT

This week our Opinionated Marketers highlight a textbook case of crisis management from the UAE.  Hosted by Kiran Kapur and Charles Nixon.

The Cheese Scale: Why You Feel Like a Fraud (and How to Stop)

In this episode, Dr Kate Atkin explains why high achievers often feel like frauds despite their track record. She ditches the "syndrome" label for "phenomenon" and uses a clever cheese analogy to help you measure your self-doubt. Learn how to update your self-image and stop the cycle of overworking.

Opinionated Marketers on: POSITIVITY

As the sun begins to shine here in the UK, Kiran Kapur and Charles Nixon digest some of the most positive stories from the world of marketing and beyond.

When Customers Are 90% Decided: Rethinking Marketing’s Role

Paul Smith, Marketing Director at Hendy Group, shares what automotive can teach marketers about trust, complexity and modern buying behaviour.
When customers arrive 90% decided, marketing’s job shifts from persuasion to reassurance. We talk brand architecture, managing multiple audiences, ethical finance, reputation tracking beyond NPS, and why customer experience is a system... not a moment.

Opinionated Marketers on: ADVERTS

This week Kiran and Charles talk about the Super Bowl ads and why they matter so much. They look at OpenAI bringing in advertising, a rival ad from Claude that questions bias, and Ring’s dog-finding campaign that many people found unsettling.

Opinionated Marketers on: LOSING YOUR WAY

This episode looks at what happens when brands forget who they’re for.
We start with Prestat, the old Piccadilly chocolatier that lost its way after being bought by venture capital, cutting range, pushing expensive boxes and drifting from the customers who loved it. From there we discuss Bass securing the first UK trademark, NatWest chasing “mass affluence”, and why understanding your market still beats clever strategy every time.
 
[The book referenced towards the end of the episode is called How Africa Works: Success and Failure on The World's Last Developmental Frontier by Joe Studwell.]