What happens when you combine a gorilla, Phil Collins, and chocolate marketing genius?

Phil Rumbol joins us to share the story behind one of advertising's most memorable campaigns. With an impressive career spanning from InBev's award-winning Stella Artois work to his groundbreaking tenure at Cadbury, Phil knows what it takes to build brands that stick. At Cadbury, he faced a critical challenge: the iconic chocolate brand had lost an entire generation of consumers, with anyone under 40 showing less affinity for the brand than their older counterparts. His solution? A seemingly random but strategically brilliant advert featuring a gorilla playing drums to Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" – a campaign that would become a cultural phenomenon and demonstrate the power of emotional marketing over rational messaging.

Key topics you'll explore in this episode:

• Learn why brands live in consumers' minds, not in company boardrooms, and how this fundamental truth shapes successful marketing strategies

• Discover the six-month internal battle Phil fought to get the gorilla advert approved, including how he convinced risk-averse executives after a major product recall

• Understand how to measure brand building ROI using econometrics – a statistical modeling approach that only 20% of marketers use but can prove marketing impact over time

• Explore the balance between staying authentic while remaining relevant, and why brands need to work harder than ever to earn consumer attention in today's crowded marketplace

• Uncover practical advice for startup CMOs on building charismatic brands from scratch, including when to use agencies versus building internal marketing capabilities

Phil doesn't just tell war stories – he breaks down the strategic thinking behind seemingly creative decisions. From understanding that chocolate triggers actual endorphin releases to recognizing Cadbury's "Willy Wonka" brand essence, every choice was rooted in consumer psychology and business logic. He reveals why the song choice was everything, how early social media shaped their viral strategy, and what it really takes to shift from short-term sales activation to long-term brand building. Plus, he shares his current brand crush and explains why mathematical modeling should be every marketer's secret weapon.

Tune in to discover how one of advertising's most talked-about campaigns came together, and walk away with practical frameworks for building brands that people actually care about.

Connect with Phil:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Maxime Barbier’s journey is anything but typical. A serial entrepreneur from Paris, Maxime built his first business at just 22, later selling it to national television in France. But what came after was even more transformative. Faced with the question of “what's next?” after a successful exit, he took 100 coffees with 100 strangers - an experiment that reshaped his view of purpose, connection, and what people truly crave. This quest ultimately led to Timeleft, a social dining platform that has already brought half a million people together across 300 cities worldwide. In this episode of the Curious Customer podcast, Maxime shares the emotional, surprising, and sometimes messy path that led him to turn simple dinners into powerful social experiences.

“We are like a dating app who sell you love, but only give you first date.” — Maxime Barbier

In this episode, you will:

• Learn how a list of 100 personal dreams and 100 coffees with strangers sparked the birth of a global platform.
• Discover why Maxime believes loneliness isn’t the real problem - it’s a lack of meaningful, in-person connections.
• Understand how Timeleft’s unique group matching algorithm uses age, personality type, and even conversation dynamics to build strong social tables.
• Find out why Timeleft's users - whether in Tokyo, London, or São Paulo - keep returning not for love, but for authentic friendship and emotional connection.
• Hear how Maxime’s own father, facing post-accident isolation, found healing and friendship through the very platform his son created.

Tune in to hear how Maxime and the Timeleft team are proving that sharing a meal with strangers might just be one of the most meaningful things you do this week.

Connect with Maxime:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

What happens when a young lawyer realizes that adult friendships are slowly fizzling out because time becomes a luxury? Neil Tanna found himself watching his social connections fade as the demands of professional life took over, and instead of accepting this as inevitable, he decided to build a solution.

As CEO and co-founder of Howbout, Neil has created something that's resonating powerfully with Gen Z – a social calendar app that's attracted 5 million users in just five years. Unlike traditional social media platforms that have become entertainment feeds filled with strangers and brands, Howbout brings the focus back to what really matters: your actual friends and the time you spend together. Neil's journey from frustrated lawyer to startup founder offers a fascinating look at how one person's personal pain point became a platform that's changing how an entire generation maintains their friendships.

“We have lowered the barrier of entry to maintaining friendships, which is why our platform is so powerful and it doesn't need to be performative.” – Neil Tanna

In this episode, you will:

• Learn how Neil identified the "Chief Friendship Officer" persona in every friend group and used this insight to solve the cold start problem that kills most social apps
• Discover why Gen Z is surprisingly comfortable sharing their private calendars with close friends, despite older generations' concerns about privacy
• Understand the clever growth hack involving Instagram meme pages that helped Howbout acquire their first 1,000 users without traditional advertising
• Explore how calendar data from 100 million user entries is being used to understand what Gen Z actually does with their time, from date night debriefs to Sunday planning sessions
• Uncover why Howbout's retention rates doubled after shifting focus from utility-first planning to social-first engagement, and what this means for the future of friendship apps

Neil's story challenges the assumption that successful social platforms need to be entertainment-focused or rely on performative content. Instead, Howbout proves that authenticity and genuine connection – even in small, private networks of 5-15 close friends – can drive massive engagement and growth. With ambitious plans to reach 40 million users by 2026, Neil's approach to building "a world where friendships never go on pause" offers valuable lessons for anyone interested in consumer social products and the evolving nature of digital relationships.

Tune in to hear how one lawyer's frustration with fading friendships became a social calendar revolution that's redefining how young people stay connected.

Connect with Neil:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website