The Push

By Jack Ferguson

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Category: Marketing

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Episodes: 128

Description

The Push is a podcast for senior marketers eager to hear honest perspectives from peers who tell it like it is. We speak directly to your day-to-day reality and don't bother with superfluous tactics you don't need.


We understand that senior marketing is uniquely frustrating.  


  • You have to sell the 'why' more than any other department.
  • You're held accountable for results beyond your control. 
  • You're forever dealing with non-marketers who 'know better than you'.
  • Stakeholder politics, opinions, and “gut feelings” constantly get in the way.
  • You're so busy dealing with stakeholders, there's little time left to conceptualise new strategies and hone your craft. 


We bring together senior marketers to candidly share stories, analogies, strategies, and mental models they've used. 


You can use these conversations to:


  • Explain complex concepts to non-marketers.
  • Get more client buy-in.
  • Explore new strategy ideas.
  • Better articulate your existing knowledge.
  • Explain the 'why' behind your strategy.
  • Keep your own team engaged.
  • Better navigate marketing politics (which are inevitable). 
  • Remember that you're not alone in your experiences.


No empty buzzwords. No listicles. No generic advice. 


Whether you’re in-house, agency-side, or a consultant, you’ll leave feeling empowered to speak up and lead with confidence.


The Push is hosted by Jack Ferguson, a Brand Strategist with 15 years of marketing and brand experience across 20+ industries. 


Episode Date
S3 E75: The First 2.5 Years as a Marketing Consultant: Setbacks, Clients, Growth, and Reality
Oct 11, 2026
S3 E74: Crocs, JCPenney, and MoviePass's Discount Vulnerabilities: Cannibalisation, Dependence, and Profit Erosion
Sep 12, 2026
S3 E73: Where Marketers Thrive: The Four Growth Stages and the Marketer Suited to Each
Jul 21, 2026
S3 E72: What Marketers Wish They Could Say
Jun 23, 2026
S3 E71: Brand Strategy Reddit: Five Companies in a Trench Coat, Brand Drift, and Positioning Problems
Jun 02, 2026
S3 E70: When Great Marketing Execution Still Fails: Understanding Buyers, Markets, and Risk
May 19, 2026
S3 E69: The Ontology of Brand (Pt 3): Building Distinctive Assets and Smashing Your Brand
May 05, 2026
S3 E68: The Ontology of Brand (Pt 2): Strategy Outputs, Decision Infrastructure, and Scenario Modeling
Apr 07, 2026
S3 E67: The Ontology of Brand (Pt 1): How It’s Measured, First Principles, and Why Buyers Buy
Mar 24, 2026
S3 E66: Where Marketers Contribute the Most Value: Identifying Demand and Innovation
Mar 10, 2026
S3 E65: Why Costco Engineers Against Impulse Purchases, How Honey Collapsed in One Video, and the Quantum Shift Marketing Needs
Feb 24, 2026
S3 E64: Using AI to create Audio Brand Assets, Magnum ASMR, and Sonic Spillage
Feb 10, 2026
S3 E63: How 150 Brands Achieved Disproportionate Growth, Making Bluetooth a Household Name, and The Category Fallacy
Jan 27, 2026
S3 E62: Play-Doh’s former VP of Marketing, Leigh Anne Capello, on the brand’s distinctive scent, future thinking, and sensory branding
Jan 13, 2026
S3 E61: Evolved Brand Building: The Case for Immersion as the Multiplier
Dec 30, 2025
S3 E60: Christmas’ Brand Heritage: Ritualistic Architecture and How Brands Culturally Embed
Dec 23, 2025
S3 E59: Positive Wastage: The Brand Growth You Didn’t Intentionally Create
Dec 16, 2025
S3 E58: Building Your Personal Brand as a Marketer: Job Proofing Yourself and Navigating a Tactic-Obsessed Marketplace
Dec 09, 2025
S3 E57: One Brand, 28 Retail Stores Launched: Marketing Tactics Are Overrated; What Really Drives Growth
Dec 02, 2025
S3 E56: How Marketers Are Made: The Origin Story of Two Professionals Who Didn’t Plan This
Nov 25, 2025
S3 E55: Career Doubt in Marketing: Setback Stories, and How to Persevere (with Chanel Clark)
Nov 11, 2025
S3 E54: Rogue Brand Building Stories feat. Bumble, Red Bull, and Jeep
Nov 04, 2025
S3 E53: Marketers vs Scope Creep: When Projects Unravel, and How to Hold Them Together (with Ben Reeves)
Oct 28, 2025
S3 E52: How Play-Doh’s brand distinctiveness was discovered, not created
Oct 21, 2025
S3 E51: The Friends Theme Song: The Perfect Distinctive Brand Asset
Oct 14, 2025
S3 E50: Lessons from 50 Podcast Episodes: Production Costs, Most-Downloaded Episodes and How Podcasts Attract Clients
Oct 07, 2025
S3 E49: Marketing’s Turbulent People Puzzle: How Recruiters Win While Marketers Burn Out (with Gerard Doyle)
Sep 30, 2025
S3 E48: Should You Bother Making Your Brand Unique?
Sep 23, 2025
S3 E47: When Marketers Market Themselves: The Pressure to Be Perfect and Why Self-Promotion Feels Unnatural (with Chanel Clark)
Sep 16, 2025
S3 E46: The Marketing Objectives Paradox: Promises Get Remembered
Sep 09, 2025
S3 E45: Marketers vs. Client Beliefs: Why Alignment Outperforms Persuasion (with Ben Reeves)
Sep 02, 2025
S3 E44: The Referral Drought: A Service Portfolio Issue, Not a Promotion Problem
Aug 26, 2025
S3 E43: Marketing Spend vs. Agency Overheads: How Pastries, Drinks Trolleys, and Ticket Clipping Bloat Your Invoice (with Gerard Doyle)
Aug 19, 2025
S3 E42: Uber, Kit Kat, and Laptop Bags: A Simple Way to Explain Differentiation and Distinctiveness to Stakeholders
Aug 12, 2025
S3 E41: When Marketers Hit Burnout: Navigating Boundaries, Workload, and Identity (with Chanel Clark)
Aug 05, 2025
S3 E40: Queensland, Thrills, and Brands: How To Explain Positioning to Stakeholders
Jul 29, 2025
S3 E39: When Marketing Is Reactive: You Ship, You Pivot, You Drift
Jul 22, 2025
S3 E38: Short-Term B2B Sales: A Go-To Playbook
Jul 15, 2025
S3 E37: Proving Brand Drives Growth: Metrics That Change Minds (with Chanel Clark)
Jul 08, 2025
S3 E36: When Marketing Transparency Backfires: Share Outcomes, Not Ammo
Jul 01, 2025
S3 E35: The Theatre of Pitching: How Agencies Win, Lose, and Burn Budget (with Gerard Doyle)
Jun 24, 2025
S3 E34: Brand Building Buy-In: What Changes Stakeholder Minds
Jun 17, 2025
S3 E33: 6 Marketing Campaigns That Backfired: When Interdependencies Break (with Ben Reeves)
Jun 10, 2025
S3 E32: Marketing Partnerships: More Than Business Tinder
May 27, 2025
S3 E31: A Brewery Isn’t a Pub: How Company Competency Shapes Marketing
May 13, 2025
S3 E30: Why Your Marketing Job Feels Unsatisfying
Apr 29, 2025
S3 E29: Not-So-Rapid Fire Q & A: Senior Marketer Edition
Apr 15, 2025
S3 E28: Same Goal, Different Game: Promoting Products vs. Services
Apr 01, 2025
S3 E27: Marketing to Your Boss: Let’s Pull Teeth!
Mar 18, 2025
S3 E26: Peddling Poison: When the product sucks, can marketing save the day?
Mar 04, 2025
S3 E25: Effectively Selling Marketing Expertise; Tales, Tactics, and Frameworks!
Feb 18, 2025
S3 E24: Breakup Advice for Marketers; When to Leave Your Employer
Feb 04, 2025
S3 E23: Pricing Debate: How high is too high?
Jan 28, 2025
S3 E22: Lessons from 22 Podcast Episodes; Building Parasocial Relationships, Crafting Stories, and Repurposing Content Effectively
Dec 31, 2024
S3 E21: Taming unrealistic expectations (The marketer’s survival guide (Pt 2))
Dec 17, 2024
S3 E20: Taming Unrealistic Expectations: The Marketer's Survival Guide (Pt 1)
Dec 03, 2024
S3 E19: Could the Fyre Festival Work for B2B SaaS?
Nov 19, 2024
S3 E18: The Hidden Costs of Bad Customers! Are You Losing Money?
Nov 05, 2024
Growth Playbook: Lessons from Zoom, Netflix, Hubspot, Figma…..and Travolta 🤔
Oct 22, 2024
Why Your Marketing Isn’t Delivering Quick Wins
Oct 08, 2024
Outsource Your Marketing Wisely: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why
Sep 24, 2024
How to Slash B2B Sales Cycles and Manage Investor Expectations
Sep 10, 2024
Unusual, Effective Marketing and Sales Tactics for B2B Companies
Aug 27, 2024
So, you're getting ghosted after the demo?
Aug 13, 2024
Is CAC A Waste Of Time For Mid-Sized Companies?
Jul 30, 2024
Should you hire a lead gen agency?
Jul 16, 2024
Ask your customers these questions to make more money!
Jul 02, 2024
What should a startup's marketing budget look like?
Jun 16, 2024
Who the F*$^ do we target?
May 28, 2024
Marketer: Can we hire a product positioning consultant? CEO: Why???
May 14, 2024
CEO: What marketing and sales metrics should I be tracking?
May 07, 2024
Product Manager: I'm not talking to customers. CEO: F&$*
Apr 30, 2024
Marketing and Sales: We don’t know what to do!!! Help!
Apr 22, 2024
'Our startup is under board pressure to make sales. Help!'
Apr 16, 2024
Marketing: "We want to focus on branding." Sales: "How about No??"
Apr 10, 2024
A Short Story: How I Got My First Customer
May 02, 2022
Decoupling, Waking up at 3am, and Filling The Void, with Toby Jenkins
Apr 07, 2022
First Hires, Working Exclusively With People You Like, And How You Make Sure You Get Paid, with Cameo Ashe, Founder of Lemonade Beach
Jan 29, 2022
A Short Business Story: What It's Like To Be On The Bottom Of A Social Media Pile On
Nov 20, 2021
Riding the Tech Startup Rollercoaster, Managing Chronic Fatigue, and Surviving a Sharp Downturn, with TalentVine Founder Justin Falk.
Oct 06, 2021
Buying a Business at 22, Rejecting Luck, and Walking a Mile In Someone Else's Shoes with Dan Scougall, Founder of Next Level Taxation
Sep 08, 2021
Doubling Your Revenue, When Niching Goes Wrong, and How Forgiveness Grows Your Business, with Mitch Hills, Founder of Mastered Marketing.
Aug 18, 2021
Starting a Company During Covid, Improving Financial Literacy in Business Owners, and Refusing To Wear Ties with Morgan Wilson, Founder of Creditte
Aug 04, 2021
The 3 Year Rule, Persevering When You Want To Shut Your Business, and What Your Startup Will Do For Your Personal Growth, with Switchnode Co-Founder Nathan Smith.
Jul 08, 2021
Teaching 1 Million Kids How To Play Chess, and Achieving Success Against The Odds, With Chess Mates Founder Ash Reddy
Jun 04, 2021
Surviving Covid In Hospitality, Early Business Lessons, And Knowing What Advice To Take, with Snag Studio Founder Sala Rankine
Apr 28, 2021
Finding Your Voice, Going Viral on TikTok, and Voquality, with Voice Coach Sally Prosser
Apr 14, 2021
Profit By Design, Customer Centricity, And Segmenting Your Customers on What They Value, with Mark Hocknell
Mar 31, 2021
You're Not Selling What You Think You Are, Outsmarting The Incumbents, And Sales Meetings Gone Wrong, with Gavin Tye, Founder of Sales Market Fit
Mar 17, 2021
Building A Business As A Teenager, Firing Your Customers, And Becoming An Author, With Jason Andrew, Co-Founder of SBO Financial
Mar 03, 2021
Why Marketing Plans Are Dead, Saas, Sass, And Building A Consulting Business With Louise Flynn, Co-Founder Of Bright Canvas
Feb 17, 2021
Building 3 Companies, Succeeding Young, and The Importance of Healthy Living with Sarina Eggers, Director of Business Kitz.
Feb 05, 2021
Navigating The Travel Industry During Covid, Chaotic Clients, And Creative Startup Tactics, With Jack Buscombe And Gauranga Magriplis of Airshare
Jan 21, 2021
A near death experience, manifesting your own redundancy, and a year of no buying with Rachel Smith
Apr 03, 2018
Selling your house to bet it all on a Startup, earning no revenue for 6 months, and lessons learned from 2 deployments in the army with Tim Walmsley
Mar 20, 2018
Closing Down 2 Tech Companies, Challenges Hiring Agencies, And The Benefits Of A Distributed Team With Holly Cardew
Mar 06, 2018
A Cold Calling Nightmare, Getting Promoted Before You're Ready, and Business to Enterprise Selling with Gavin Tye
Feb 20, 2018
When your world falls apart, the pain of losing clients, and the art of leadership with Sonia McDonald
Feb 06, 2018
A Challenging Experience on Stage, How Facing Your Fears Is Overrated, And How Enmeshment can affect your career with Jack Ferguson
Jan 23, 2018
When the GFC hits, Logistical Nightmares, and when taking on a big industry goes wrong with Gerard Doyle
Jan 09, 2018
Teaching Entrepreneurship to Children, Juggling 3 Major Roles, and when Public Speaking Goes Wrong with Sharon Hunneybell
Dec 15, 2017
When Relying on Others Goes Wrong, Questioning Whether You Are On The Right Career Trajectory, And The Importance of Strong Hires with Demetrio Zema
Nov 15, 2017
Bouncing back from Bankruptcy, the Imposter Syndrome, and the struggle of maintaining culture as your company grows with Chad Renando
Oct 31, 2017
Discontinuing a Tech Startup, The Solopreneur Life, and deciding not to do medicine with Dr Emily Vertege
Sep 19, 2017
Fil Cristaldi on why you shouldn't do what your clients ask, awkward on-stage experiences, and the struggle of managing your pipeline.
Sep 05, 2017
Matt Tomlins on why he isn't seeking a mentor, why he doesn't rely on anyone else, and what it's like to try to have someone try and kick you out of your own company.
Aug 01, 2017
Paul Bennetts on making Superannuation interesting, why Ideas are underrated, and how he partnered with High Profile Investors.
Jul 13, 2017
Justin Falk on Starting a Business in an Industry you haven't worked in, Micro KPI's, and rebelling against society's expectations.
Jun 27, 2017
Philip Sheen on Mental Health in Business, the Evolution of the Music Industry, and the Art of Storytelling
Apr 08, 2017
Toby Jenkins on Negative Visualisation, Seeking Discomfort in Partnerships, and his experience as an Olympian
Mar 08, 2017
Mark Hocknell on Customer Centricity, Net Promoter Scores and Managing Your Team.
Mar 01, 2017
David Kaity on using psychographics to profile your customers, writing a book to educate the market, and why you don't need a Real Estate agent to sell your house.
Feb 25, 2017
Rhonice Ferguson on what school is for, why strikes are often unproductive, and the importance of encouraging men to become teachers.
Feb 08, 2017
Graeme Ferguson on how stress nearly wrecked his career, why you shouldn't give second chances and timeless principles learned from 40 years in the workforce.
Feb 01, 2017
Holly Tattersall on Women in Digital, Embracing Salesmanship, and the Diversity Catch 22
Jan 25, 2017
Matthew Kelly on the difficulties of building a company when you‘re not a salesman, firing a rockstar employee, and the importance of iterative marketing.
Jan 18, 2017
Nicholas Heaney on the dangers of outsourcing Tech, dealing with social stigmas and the rollercoaster of raising capital.
Dec 02, 2016
Chris Macaulay on how the Lean Startup Failed him, the pain of multiple pivots and the art of Enterprise Sales.
Nov 24, 2016
Gail Creighton Davies on communication skills learned through adversity and growing up in Northern Ireland
Nov 17, 2016
Dr Glen Richards on Financial Adversity, Surviving within your own company and Entrepreneurial Seizures.
Nov 10, 2016
Steve Baxter on Shark Tank, The NBN and the state of Entrepreneurship
Oct 26, 2016
Joe Fox on Marketing Ad Spends, Branding and Managing Stress
Oct 19, 2016
Paul Davies on B2B Sales Tactics
Oct 05, 2016
Dr Catherine Ball on the future of Drones, Innovation Fusion and turning down Q and A
Sep 27, 2016
Mitch Hills on Starting a Business at 16, Building an App without investment and knowing when to quit
Sep 20, 2016
Tanya Williams on Tradigital Marketing, conquering Self Doubt and the role your Digital Footprint plays in your Career
Sep 04, 2016
Tres West on Lean Startup, Chasing Investment and how the Startup Ecosystem Operates
Aug 18, 2016
Nathan Hoad on Coding, Internal Communication and Productivity
Jun 18, 2016