Released weekly, the show focuses on subjects related to entrepreneurship, business, culture, and innovation through the lens of an experienced leader sitting on a boat in his home office on a webcam. Freddie, and many of his guests, have been involved in numerous businesses throughout their careers, with both notable successes and failures. “Oh Ship!” is about celebrating the failures, sharing those stories, learning, and laughing along the way.
About The Host: Freddie Laker
Freddie Laker takes an entrepreneurial approach to problem-solving, helping clients transform their businesses through unconventional thinking, shaping culture, and driving innovative growth strategies. These pillars form the foundation of Freddie’s success with both startups and established global brands for over 20 years.
Inspired by his desire to support CEOs and investors by providing executive leadership, he created Chameleon Collective in 2015. He has held interim marketing leadership roles at several Private Equity-backed organizations spanning a wide range of industries, always leveraging his expertise in digital marketing and eCommerce. Notable positions have included serving as the Chief Digital Officer of Bugaboo, the SVP of Consumer Marketing & eCommerce at Nixon, VP of Marketing for Backyard Discovery, and the CMO of World Airways.
Before providing interim marketing and digital leadership roles to companies, Freddie had served as a CEO three times, a CMO twice, and a VP of Strategy for one of the world’s largest digital marketing agencies.
Notable achievements in the earliest parts of Freddie’s career include founding an ISP and web development studio and co-creating one of the world’s first Internet radio stations. He used this experience to launch iChameleon Group in 2004. This notable digital advertising agency produced award-winning work for a long list of global brands including Coca-Cola, Fanta, Burn, NBC, Guinness, Taco Bell, Becks, Kyocera, Motorola, Virgin Mobile, Mentos, and Toyota. Freddie was deeply involved in the strategic, creative, and business development process. With Freddie’s passion and talents, he transformed the company into a three office operation spanning Los Angeles, Miami, and London.
In 2008, Sapient acquired iChameleon Group’s talented team to expand its creative offering. Freddie was responsible for driving digital marketing and business development with SapientNitro’s global clients. He brought to the role unique global perspectives gained from living and working in North America, Europe, and Asia. During his time with SapientNitro, he drove some of its most innovative work for clients like Coca-Cola and Unilever working widely across their portfolio of global brands.
By 2014, Freddie had moved away from the agency and consulting business and stepped into his first CMO role. He led marketing at the leading men’s interest publisher Scout, driving a $90mm member and eCommerce business spanning 350 websites. Then he served as the head of marketing at Kairos, a Facial Biometrics company, where he significantly grew their inbound marketing platform. These experiences inspired Freddie to focus his efforts on interim leadership roles, which lead to the creation of the Chameleon Collective.
An inspiring leader, he’s passionate about his work and his desire to make a meaningful impact on companies undergoing periods of transformation.