In 1981 I went to Edgbaston Cricket ground to watch the fourth day of the Ashes test match against Australia with my mum, two brothers and a Spanish boy called Alfonso.
Ian Botham took five wickets for a single run in a 28 ball spell and England won a famous victory. We poured on to the pitch, shouting and chanting: "There's only one Ian Botham!" etc.
(Amusingly it became clear on the way home that Alfonso had no idea who had won).
Shortly afterwards I saw an advert with Ian Botham using a Duncan Fearnley cricket bat - which I then bought. Good enough for Beefy, good enough for Tom.
But I felt a bit cheated when I realised later that he had been paid to promote that bat. Not a big deal - but I remember it now, 35 years on.
Tom Goodwin makes a similar point: Influencer marketing is all about trust, if you lose that trust, you lose influence. In B2B marketing, with longer relationships, this is all the more true.
/Passle/53d0c8edb00e7e0540c9b34b/MediaLibrary/Images/2025-06-24-15-50-59-531-685ac963d81bf11b7522dd8e.png)
/Passle/53d0c8edb00e7e0540c9b34b/MediaLibrary/Images/2025-12-18-10-52-26-493-6943dceac311190ddba15d64.jpg)
/Passle/53d0c8edb00e7e0540c9b34b/MediaLibrary/Images/2025-12-16-15-16-25-843-694177c9190f803408651724.jpg)
/Passle/53d0c8edb00e7e0540c9b34b/MediaLibrary/Images/2025-12-09-11-05-31-284-6938027b1b6076d9d8980f1e.png)
/Passle/53d0c8edb00e7e0540c9b34b/MediaLibrary/Images/2025-12-04-20-27-35-105-6931eeb7f170698845c6b19b.jpg)


