Embracing Marketing Mistakes

In this episode of Embracing Marketing Mistakes features Ant Cousins unpacking a moment where trusting AI with empathy nearly caused real harm.

Ant Cousins is Vice President of Product at Meltwater and has spent over 25 years working across defence, public safety and AI. He previously advised the UK Ministry of Defence in Iraq and Afghanistan, worked in counterterrorism and strategic communications, and later led AI efforts to combat misinformation.
Broadcasted live, the conversation captures the unfiltered reality of how AI decisions play out under pressure. Ant draws on experience from defence, counterterrorism and modern AI product leadership to explain why empathy is one area where automation still struggles.
From deepfakes and crisis communications to a powerful real-world incident involving emergency response, this live discussion shows both the value of AI and its limits. The key lesson is about responsibility, judgement and knowing when human intervention must stay firmly in place.
This episode is essential listening for senior marketers, comms leaders and anyone using AI in sensitive or high-risk situations.
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Ever hired someone just because you clicked with them? You are not alone. In this candid episode, our guest admits to recruiting based on personality instead of business needs. The result was duplicate roles, major skill gaps, and tough decisions that still sting years later.
From letting go of an “amazing assistant” before the pandemic, a decision they still regret, to realizing the need for complementary skills over similar personalities, this is an honest look at one of entrepreneurship’s most common and costly mistakes.
The turning point came when they recognized the problem and invested in professional hiring help, creating stronger and more balanced teams. Whether you are making your first hire or managing a growing company, this episode offers lessons that can help you avoid the same pitfalls.
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Marketing mistakes happen to everyone, even the so-called experts. We’ve seen everything from press releases that accidentally went viral for the wrong reasons to brand names so complicated even the CEO couldn’t spell them. But there’s something weirdly therapeutic about sharing these messes. One guest summed it up perfectly. If you’re only testing stuff you already know will work, you’re not really testing. The risk is tiny when something flops. The reward if it works is huge. So why are so many marketers still playing it safe?
Of course, we also got the juicy stuff. Richard Shotton once missed a 9am Coca-Cola site tour because he was too hungover to move. Another guest won a pitch he was too foggy to remember. You couldn’t make it up. These stories aren’t just funny. They’re honest. They show the grit behind the gloss. The recovery after the cock-up. That’s what this podcast is about. 
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One email rewrote “lifetime” loyalty and turned Carnival’s most devoted customers against the brand.

In this episode, neuromarketing pioneer Roger Dooley breaks down the background to that decision, the Royal Caribbean photo-op disaster, and how AI could have stopped both.
For twenty years, Roger has been inside the rooms where these calls are made, teaching companies how real human brains work in marketing, loyalty and crisis communication. He shares how, until recently, only big brands with behavioural science teams and neuromarketing labs could afford this level of insight, and why generative AI has blown that wide open.
They chat through the emotional history behind loyalty schemes, the symbols that make customers feel seen, and how a single cold message can feel like the end of a long relationship. They walk through Carnival’s loyalty “update”, Royal Caribbean’s eight-second helicopter video that ruined luxury cruises, and what happened when Roger ran those communications through AI.
If you lead marketing, CRM, loyalty or customer comms, this episode gives you a practical playbook to AI-proof your emails, stress-test crisis statements and avoid turning loyal fans into vocal critics.
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What happens when the person paid to pitch stories decides to live them instead? We pull back the curtain on 90s Soho PR, where relationships were built over ringing landlines, long lunches, and last-minute invitations, and where the distance between press release and personal risk got uncomfortably thin. From beer brands and lads’ mags to editors who wanted proof you’d done the crazy thing you pitched, we trace how a career at the edges turned into a catalogue of hard-won lessons.

The ride starts with hedonistic newsroom camaraderie, then swerves into a series of commissions that demanded nerve over notes: witnessing a Boca Juniors vs River Plate riot in Buenos Aires, chasing the feeling of landing Tony Hawk’s 900, and even the absurd hustle of visiting twenty-six massage parlours in a day. The stories escalate toward a 30-day bid to earn a pilot’s licence in San Diego—only to hit sea mist, lose all visual anchors, and drift into Miramar airspace, a live parachute zone, and an unintended step toward Mexico. Mayday calls, a wrong airfield landing, uniforms closing in, and a second takeoff later, the final lesson lands: curiosity without judgment is roulette.

We unpack why those scars matter for modern comms work. Curiosity fuels ideas and access, but judgment prevents spectacle from turning into liability. Risk translates into instinct—how to read a room, how to name danger early, how to keep the energy without burning the plan. If you’ve ever wanted to know how chaotic experience can become a professional edge, this is a field manual disguised as a joyride. Listen, share with someone who loves a near-miss story, and leave a review with the boldest lesson you learned the hard way.
Click here to listen to the full episode 94.
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