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The Push

The Push

By: Jack Ferguson
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About this listen

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.

© 2026 The Push Career Success Economics Marketing Marketing & Sales
Episodes
  • S3 E63: How 150 Brands Achieved Disproportionate Growth, Making Bluetooth a Household Name, and The Category Fallacy

    S3 E63: How 150 Brands Achieved Disproportionate Growth, Making Bluetooth a Household Name, and The Category Fallacy
    Jan 27 2026

    In this episode, Brand Strategist Jack Ferguson hosts Strategic Growth Architect Mats Georgson, former Global Brand Director at Sony Ericsson, to discuss how brands achieve large, sustained growth and how most category-based thinking caps it.

    Mats was the first marketer to work on Bluetooth, giving him deep, practical insight into rapid global adoption, and years later completed a research project analysing how 150 brands achieved disproportionate growth. Together, Jack and Mats explore why some brands defy gravity, while others struggle to break free of their category constraints.

    Jack and Mats discuss:

    - How brands grow via Demand Point Constellations

    - How the iPhone leveraged demand points to grow

    - Launching Bluetooth and the story behind its overwhelming success

    - How Mats saw a client quickly jump 20% in revenue without advertising

    - Uber’s Demand Point Constellation

    - How to escape the gravitational pull of a category

    - Why innovation is hard for marketers and what can be done about it

    - Why few brands grow primarily through gaining market share

    - The problem with comms and advertising being asked to do things they can’t do

    - Why marketers need to think like detectives

    Helpful Links:

    Mats’ Demand Point Constellation Thesis

    Links to Jack:

    Jack's LinkedIn Profile

    Jack's Website

    Links to Mats:

    Mats’ LinkedIn Profile

    Mats’ Website

    Links to The Push:

    The Push LinkedIn Page

    The Push on TikTok

    The Push on Instagram

    The Push on YouTube Music

    The Push Website

    Referenced in Episode:

    Blue Ocean Strategy

    Ehrenberg Bass Institute

    Apple losing its App Store trademark case

    Category Entry Point

    Jobs to be Done Framework
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 5 mins
  • S3 E62: Play-Doh’s former VP of Marketing, Leigh Anne Capello, on the brand’s distinctive scent, future thinking, and sensory branding

    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

    In this episode, Jack Ferguson hosts Leigh Anne Cappello, former VP of Marketing for Play-Doh and one of the leaders during its 50th anniversary period, to discuss how scent, memory, and brand DNA combined to create one of the most recognisable brands.

    From the Play-Doh perfume release to prescience calendars to the penetration of the brand's scent, this episode is an exploration of what it takes for a brand to stick.

    In this episode Leigh Anne discusses:

    • Why the Play-Doh perfume product was created
    • The considerations that went into Play-Dohs 50th Anniversary
    • The numbers behind Play Doh’s distinctive smell penetration
    • A product that didn’t have the desired commercial impact because Brand DNA wasn't considered
    • How marketers can use prescience calendars for stronger cultural relevance
    • Moments of failure are often the strongest opportunities to build lasting customer relationships.
    • Design Thinking and its benefits to marketers
    • How Play Doh started off as an accidental innovation
    • How to utilise Brand DNA and Brand Essence to improve commercial outcomes
    • How large organisations can create safe spaces for real innovation (without betting the company)
    • Why prototyping, learning in public, and “getting it wrong” often leads to better brand outcomes
    • Her unique business model and why she operates that way

    Links to Leigh Anne and Jack:

    - Leigh Anne's Blog

    - Leigh Anne's LinkedIn Profile

    - Jack's LinkedIn Profile

    - Jack's Website

    Links to The Push:

    - LinkedIn Page

    - Website

    - YouTube Page

    - Instagram Page

    - TikTok Page

    Referenced in this Episode:

    - Brand Sense by Martin Lindstrom

    - Watts Wacker

    - Georgina Melone

    - Gary Serby
    Show More Show Less
    36 mins
  • S3 E61: Evolved Brand Building: The Case for Immersion as the Multiplier

    S3 E61: Evolved Brand Building: The Case for Immersion as the Multiplier
    Dec 30 2025

    This episode explores disproportionate leverage and how it shows up when immersion is treated as critical brand building work, not a nice-to-have.

    Rather than chasing deliverables or premature answers, your hosts examine immersion as a diagnostic imperative, the strength required to defend it, and the consequences of bypassing it.

    This episode is co-hosted by Brand Strategist Jack Ferguson and Brand Identity Designer Tutai Marongere.

    In this episode, you’ll hear:

    • Why Tutai deliberately told a client the work would take “as long as it takes”

    • How Tutai did three months of immersion without producing a single output, but then created an output that ended all debate instantly

    • How Jack sees immersion as a way of articulating the unsaid

    • How Tutai believes dreaming about a brand became his signal that the work was finally ready to be done

    • How Tutai sketched a concept on a fogged-up shower screen as the result of immersion, not inspiration

    • How Jack uses recorded customer interviews to reveal truths that transcripts and summaries consistently miss

    • Why both Tutai and Jack believe that “when you know, you know” is a real diagnostic threshold, not a creative cliché

    • Why both Tutai and Jack believe the brand work that lasts is always found in the details

    Helpful Links:

    - Find Jack on LinkedIn here

    - Find Tutai on LinkedIn here

    - Visit Jack’s personal website here

    - Follow The Push on LinkedIn here

    - Follow The Push on YouTube here

    - Follow The Push on TikTok here

    - Follow The Push on Instagram here

    - Visit The Push website here
    Show More Show Less
    24 mins
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