Marketing often falls into the same trap: copying what looks successful instead of asking what actually works for your audience. This talk unpacks the idea of “cargo cult marketing” — campaigns built on surface-level imitation, not strategy. We’ll explore why so many B2B brands end up writing for each other instead of their customers, and what happens when we prioritise cleverness over clarity. Through real stories, historical oddities, and a few painful truths, you’ll learn how to recognise cargo cult behaviour in your own work… and how to escape it.