Episodes

Most people look at acquisitions through a spreadsheet lens. Of course the financials matter for mergers and acquisition deals, but when viewed through a category design lens, acquisitions look very, very different. In this episode, we break down the differences using the Salesforce / Slack Deal as an example and Google purchasing YouTube way back 2006. Two Types of M&A Deals First one is category consolidation deals, which is usually done in market categories that are slow or have no growth. Th...

In today’s episode, we dig into two how two companies approached a viral situation. First, Ocean Spray’s positive trendjack in response to Nathan Apodaca’s viral TikTok video. Second, is how Sherwin-Williams fired an employee who created viral Tiktok videos mixing paints. We ask the seminal question, how can you be more like Ocean Spray? Marketing Wins and Fails When Nathan Apodaca’s Tik Tok video went viral (he was skateboarding, drinking his Ocean Spray, singing Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”), new...

At a time when career uncertainty is high and the need for economic security has maybe never been higher, let’s talk about three ideas on how you can have a legendary marketing career to 50 and beyond. If you’re younger or older than 50, Chris has got some ideas for you in this episode. Ageism In Business During the last episode with Dave Gerhardt, CEO of Privy, there was a question that popped up around the possibility of having a career in marketing past the age 50. Chris thinks there’s ageis...

In this episode, one of the most high profile CMOs in the tech world, Dave Gearhart, aka DG, CMO of Privy is here. We have a fantastic conversation from marketing, planning to category, design, and more. Christopher recently guested on his podcast, which is called B2B Marketing Leaders. In a lot of ways, this conversation is a continuation of that conversation. It’s one younger CMO with one older CMO, we’ll let you decide who’s who. He’s also got an awesome new marketing group on Facebook calle...

This is a super fun episode. Christopher Lochhead talks about what was almost for sure, the most fun marketing trendjack of 2020. On September 25th, Nathan Apodaca was going to work when his truck broke down. He grabbed his longboard skateboard and his bottle of Oceanspray and shot a video of himself going to work, drinking his juice while smiling and singing Fleetwood Mac’s classic song “Dreams.” The video went viral and Oceanspray and Fleetwood Mac just pulled off a feel-good trendjack of 2020...

Every time a tech company launches a successful IPOs, we end up hearing a lot of negation from the media. Claims such as “I can’t believe this company is worth so much” or “so much money invested it must be crazy because they hardly have any revenue” or “they hardly have any profits or they rent.” So in this episode, Christopher gives us a low-down on why market cap or valuation (the value of a company) is not only a function of financial metrics. He also talks about the crucial role marketing ...

In today’s episode, Christopher Lochhead’s answer addresses a listener question, “what kind of CMO should we hire?” He further discusses what’s the difference between a fighter and a farmer CMO and what you, as a marketer, should keep in mind when you plan to pursue this role. Get Clear On What You Want Christopher discusses two things: first, identify the background of the CMO. This is highly specific based on the company and the current stage of the company and its category. Secondly, Christo...

Today, we go deep on a big powerful idea called Movement Marketing with a legendary entrepreneur, category designer, and company builder turned venture capitalist, David Sacks, from Craft Ventures. He’s written this blog post recently on this idea and it’s a simple, powerful idea that legendary innovators don’t just market a company or a product or a service, they create a movement that changes things. Frankly, it’s a seminal part of designing and dominating a new category. If you care about cha...

Welcome to Lochhead on Marketing. In this episode, Christopher Lochhead answers the question, what is the most important skill for marketers to have? Sales Skills Christopher shares that his frequent answer to the most important skill for marketers to have is sales skills. He says that a lot of marketing people have no sales experience at all. “Marketing is actually sales at scale.” – Christopher Lochhead The Best Marketers Are Salesmen Christopher recounts that the best marketers he know ar...

As this theme kept on coming up in Follow Your Different episodes, whether he spoke with entrepreneurs or venture capitalists, Christopher decided to finally talk about the purpose of business. Specifically, he dives into what his friend Gil Spencer calls a noble purpose and how noble purpose can tie to building categories companies brands. Mission-Driven and Mercenaries A noble purpose is a cool way of thinking about things that we do hear about in business and entrepreneurship. Sequoia Capita...

Today, Chris goes deep on how to design a legendary category, company product, and brand with his super special guest, Michelle Stacy. Michelle is a living consumer product marketing legend, honing her craft with brands such as Gilette, Oral B, Keurig, and now, HydraFacial. Putting Consumers First Michelle spent many years honing her craft at Gillette where she led Oral B. She launched a number of great new products including the Pulsar battery powered manual toothbrush. She was the President o...

One listener writes: “This is such a confusing time and people are on edge. There’s a lot of arguing and mistrust in the US. It seems like we see more people acting out. In our case, we’ve had some customers behave really badly. When is it okay to turn a customer away?” In this episode, Christopher shares his views on this matter about your right, as a business, to refuse service to customers. What The Law Says The law states that you are allowed to refuse anybody’s service, but you can’t do i...

For the first time ever, we are dropping an episode from one of Christopher’s favorite podcast, Marketing Over Coffee, with host John Wall. Recently, they did an episode with the legendary author, Kevin Maney. Kevin, as you probably know, is a multi-time successful, bestselling author. He’s one of the co-authors of Play Bigger with Christopher. In this episode of Lochhead on Marketing / Marketing Over Coffee Crossover, Kevin talks about his recent book Unscaled. They also talk about what that m...

In this episode, Christopher answers an email question from an entrepreneur who wants to become an author. We dive deep into the process of becoming an author, from pitching to publishers or agents, to actual writing, to marketing and promoting. He also talks about the pros and cons of self-publishing versus or seeking the help of top-tier publishers. The Process of Becoming An Author Christopher shares the question he recently received: “Did you write a book proposal before getting started on ...

We are on our 30th episode of the World’s First PodStorm! We would like to thank everyone who went through the storm with us! Today, Lochhead on Marketing producers Jason DeFillipo and Jaime Jay joins us and takes us behind the mic. We go deep into the challenges, the wins, and the lessons in creating this PodStorm. We talk about a lot of other matters which you’ll find relatable! Challenges with Production Making a podcast comes with its challenges, even more so if it’s the world’s first 30-d...

https://lochhead.com/peanut-butter-lightning-sandwich-a-new-model-for-marketing-execution/ We get a shit ton of marketing messages a day. Some experts say we get 40 to 60,000 messages a day if you include everything — from banners on the internet emails, logos on coffee cups, t-shirts, you name it. Today, let’s talk about the typical marketing execution. It’s predicated on a model called reaching frequency. It’s a very old idea that states the more people see our brand, hears our message, hear...

During the PodStorm, we’re doing a live Facebook Question and Answer session, every Friday, 11:30 a.m. PST. We are now on our last week for PodStorm Q&A and we hope to hear from you if you want us to do more live Q&As! Today, podcast living legend Jason DeFillippo of Grumpy Old Geeks joins us to answer some questions about the importance of internal communications, how public relations and investor relations should work together, and a whole lot more! Importance of Internal Communications One ...

During the PodStorm, we’re doing a live Facebook Question and Answer session, every Friday, 11:30 a.m. PST. We are now on our last week for PodStorm Q&A and we hope to hear from you if you want us to do more live Q&As! Today, podcast living legend Jason DeFillippo of Grumpy Old Geeks joins us to answer some questions about social cause marketing, lightning strikes, and a whole lot more! What have you learned after Calling For Unity? Christopher shares that he received a number of backlashes af...

In this episode, Christopher Lochhead shares a secret hack to become a #1 author and podcaster in 13 minutes or less. Basically, the secret hack is to hire a 16-year-old Tiktoker and let her create funny content for you. You can also explore posting provocative poses, drinking provocative drinks, and being in provocative places. If you know Christopher well, you will be certain, there is sarcasm in the above paragraph. Today, he will discuss the real deal on reaching the top of your game. It do...

https://youtu.be/eCp9QLs340s In this episode, let’s talk about the magic triangle — how the company, the product, and the category come together to make you the category queen or category king in your market category. Product Design Product design is the purposeful building of a product and an experience that solves a problem. Most companies, though, opt for a product-market fit. Christopher believes it a dangerous idea because it insinuates that there’s a market out there who would automatica...

https://youtu.be/Rk9HcOU80Rs In this episode, an incredibly important topic, we discuss how to be a category designer. Moreover, we dig into how to become the person that drives a new strategy for your company and introduces the world to something new, something different, something that makes a giant difference. Category Design: A Discipline Christopher narrates a portion of the book Play Bigger which states: “Category design is the discipline of creating and developing a new market category ...

https://youtu.be/vzkEJSwqotU Have you ever noticed how people talk about market categories? People involved with the business perpetuate one of the biggest lies in business. As published in a lot of major publications, these “business writers” say market categories are like the weather, we cannot control it. Today, we will dig into why Christopher thinks its a lie standing in plain sight. We’re going to talk about how we can actually design market categories and not be the victim of them. Thi...

https://youtu.be/ZNBeBX2n-Io In this episode, let’s take a look at Mark R. Kramers’s article for Harvard Business Review article entitled The 10 commitments companies must make to advance racial justice. Mark is a senior lecturer at Harvard University. Although Christopher does not agree with Mark’s article in its entirety, he believes these are very powerful ideas worth discussing and advancing inside our companies. Frankly, these commitments should be a must for all business people. Racial ...

During the PodStorm, we’re doing a live Facebook Question and Answer session, every Friday, 11:30 a.m. PST. This is the sixth part of the series. Today, podcast living legend Jason DeFillippo of Grumpy Old Geeks joins us to answer some questions about the gig economy, key traits of a good marketing professional and staging a lightning strike. Gig economy as displaced creative hubs The term gig economy has received a lot more negative heat. Christopher says he agrees and disagrees with Jason’s op...