Phillip Oakley
Host, The PO Show & Founder, Common Giant
Pilot Episode · September 9, 2026Why “The PO Show!”
Before the first guest ever shows up, our host makes his case for the podcast, the name, and why good marketing needs both a sprint and a marathon to build a brand people want to buy.
Worth a look
Some of the goodies mentioned, just one click away.Show Transcript
COLD OPEN / WHY A PODCAST Phillip Oakley: Hello, hello, and welcome to The PO Show. I'm your host, Phillip Oakley — and if we haven't met yet, my nickname is PO.
Phillip Oakley: Now, I already know what you're thinking: why in the holy hand grenade does the world need yet another podcast? Especially another podcast about branding and marketing? And that's a fair question, because there are so many smart people out there doing it quite well.
Phillip Oakley: Here's my honest answer. I didn't start this because the world was missing a podcast. I started it because I love to talk to fascinating, smart people from around the world about brand and business and marketing. And I wanted an excuse to do more of it out loud — so I thought I'd share what I've learned with whoever's curious and likes to learn from other sources.
NICKNAME → DISTINCTIVENESS Phillip Oakley: A quick note about the name of the show. The PO Show isn't from a brand-naming exercise — it's an old nickname that's followed me around for about thirty years. It's on my email address. It shows up on the back of my soccer jersey. It just stuck, for a lot of people, in different ways.
Phillip Oakley: So here's why I kept it for the show instead of picking something industry-specific: distinctive brand assets really matter. A name, a color, a sound — anything that's unmistakably yours — is worth more than something clever that anyone could own. PO is mine. Mix it with custom graphics, some fun music, and deep cuts from the 80s and 90s, and nobody's confusing it with anybody else's show. That's the whole game.
THEME SONG CREDIT Phillip Oakley: Speaking of distinctive assets — that theme music you just heard, it's built entirely around one idea: memory. Because if people don't remember you, then you're making it harder for them to actually buy from you. A huge thanks to the pros at Audio Content Lab for the sonic branding — specifically to my friends Jacob Sanders and Ant Henderson for helping me bring it to life.
THE LONG AND THE SHORT (CREDIT: LES BINET & PETER FIELD) Phillip Oakley: Alright, so let's talk about why this show has two formats. There's a well-known idea in marketing from Les Binet and Peter Field. You might know it as the 60/40 rule, or the long and short of it.
Phillip Oakley: The short version: your marketing budget needs to do two different jobs. Short-term activation — the stuff that gets someone to buy right now — and long-term brand building, which helps people actually think of you, hopefully in a buying moment.
Phillip Oakley: Here's why that matters. Picture a sales meeting. Somebody's ready to buy, budget's approved, they're comparing vendors. Now imagine two versions of that same meeting. In one, they've never heard of you — you're spending the whole conversation just explaining who you are. In the other, they already know your name. Maybe they've seen your work somewhere. Other people in the office have talked about you. They knew who you were before you walked in the door. Which sales conversation would you rather be in?
Phillip Oakley: And that's a B2B example — but there's also a B2C version, and it's actually easier. A customer is walking down the aisle, looking for some new product, and there happens to be a good price comparison — maybe their usual product is empty on the shelf. If they've actually heard of your product and understand why it benefits them, they're more likely to buy it.
Phillip Oakley: That's brand building. It doesn't close the deal today — it makes the deal easier tomorrow. Both jobs matter, and neither one works alone.
PO NOTES + THE BRAND BUILDER Phillip Oakley: Which brings me to the show itself. Every episode of The PO Show comes in two lengths. There's PO Notes — ten, fifteen minutes long, just the sharpest takeaways from the conversation, for when you need the goods and you need them fast. And then there's The Brand Builder — the full conversation, where you get the whole story, the tangents, the personality. Short-term and long-term, activation and brand-building, packed into one show. Pick your format. Some days you want fast, some days you want the long drive — it may just depend on the guest and what they specialize in.
Phillip Oakley: Sometimes you may want to start with the short, listen to the nuggets, and if you find that person really interesting, tuck into the longer show.
WHO YOU'LL HEAR FROM Phillip Oakley: So who's actually going to be on the show? Founders who've built brands from nothing. People who've worked the agency side and the client side — sometimes both, in the same career. Freelancers who left the traditional path to do it their way. Real people, real experience, and zero patience for jargon.
WHERE TO FIND IT Phillip Oakley: You can find every episode of The PO Show wherever you already listen to pods — Apple, Spotify, YouTube, take your pick. Head to thePOshow.co for show notes, transcripts, and everything each guest mentioned, all in one place. We'll do our best to put everything in the show notes, give you lots of links, and try to repay our guests for the time they spent with us.
CTA + SIGN-OFF Phillip Oakley: And if any of this sounds like your kind of thing, hit follow or subscribe so you don't miss what's coming. Thanks for being here for the pilot of The PO Show. I hope you'll tuck into the first two episodes — they're going to be a lot of fun.
Keep It Coming
