Fresh Ears

It’s time to re-write the myth that kindness is a weakness. It’s a strategy. Because empathy, equity and inclusive leadership aren’t just nice-to-haves – they're what the future is built on. It's been a while since we posted on Fresh Ears, so we wanted to share another great podcast we've been working on, one we know Fresh Ears listeners will be interested in. The Empower P...

This week, Jainnie Cho, VP of BBC StoryWorks at BBC Studios joins Fresh Air Founder, Neil Cowling and Director of Content, Michaela Hallam. They discuss where the BBC and brands cross over to make compelling content with great storytelling. We also discuss recent audio news, and there's a podcast recommendation from Jainnie herself. To find out more about how Fresh Air can help you create a podcas...

Dan Misener and Jonas Woost, from the data-driven podcast growth agency Bumper, sit down with Fresh Air's Director of Content, Michaela Hallam, and Director of Marketing, Richard Blake. Together, they delve into how the Bumper dashboard can help brands and businesses make sense of their podcast data to drive growth Plus the usual chat about recent audio news, and there's a podcast recommendation f...

Raquel Bubar, Managing Director at T Brand Studio - The content studio of New York Times Advertising sits down with Fresh Air Founder Neil Cowling and Director of Content Michaela Hallam. They explore the opportunities for luxury brands in podcasting and discuss their recently released partnership project: This Is Not A Beauty podcast from L’Oreal Groupe. Plus the usual chat about recent audio new...

Lizzy Pollott,  Acast's Chief Communications and Brand Officer,  sits down with Fresh Air Founder Neil Cowling and Director of Content Michaela Hallam. Together they discuss how brands can work with podcasting on a commercial basis and the value Acast can deliver to enable this. Plus the usual chat about recent audio news, and there's a podcast recommendation from the Fresh Air team. To find out m...

This week, Steve Pratt, Founder of Pacific Content, Consultant and Author joins Fresh Air Founder Neil Cowling and Director of Content, Michaela Hallam. Together, they delve into how and why brands should strive to be more daring to earn their own attention. And how bypassing media companies and building your own audience is the way forward. All this and a chat about recent audio news, in addition...

Fresh Ears is going fortnightly! Fresh Air Founder Neil Cowling and Director of Content Michaela Hallam sit down with Zoe Bruton, Commercial Director at Say It Now, who are bringing voice-response to podcasts. Together, they explore how voice AI is giving consumers the ability to interact with an ad via their smart speaker, reducing the cognitive load, and creating a seamless, interactive exchange...

Dan Geneen is the Head of Mass Acquisition for the British Heart Foundation. He sat down with Fresh Air's Director of Content, Michaela Hallam at Media360 in Brighton to talk risky moves and turning to the unlikely world of gaming to re-engage younger audiences in their mission.   This episode is part of Fresh Air's Media360 series. Follow to hear from some of the top CMO's in the UK. See omnystud...

Zoe Harris is the Chief Customer Officer for On The Beach. She sat down with Fresh Air's Director of Content, Michaela Hallam at Media360 in Brighton to discuss the bold risks they took during the pandemic and how they've built the brand since. This episode is part of Fresh Air's Media360 series. Follow to hear from some of the top CMO's in the UK. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

Clare Chapman is the CEO of EssenceMediaacomX. She joined Fresh Air’s Director of Content, Michaela Hallam at Media360 in Brighton to explore how they encourage their clients to be innovative, balancing risk with a brand’s core message and mission. This episode is part of Fresh Air's Media360 series. Follow to hear from some of the top CMO's in the UK. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

Introducing our newest baby. Our Director of Content, Michaela Hallam and Director of Marketing, Richard Blake sat down to talk through Fresh Air’s newest offering, Fresh Air Media. For years, we’ve helped build your brand’s own audio with podcasts, and now we are helping you to build your brand through audio. From building a brand's audio strategy, to launching your own show, to running bespoke c...

Susanne Nowak is the Senior Brand Manager at Mondelez. She joined Fresh Air’s Director of Content, Michaela Hallam at Media360 in Brighton to talk about using stark insights to create meaningful work that brings awareness to the issues that matter in society. This episode is part of Fresh Air's Media360 series. Follow to hear from some of the top CMO's in the UK. See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...

Helen Saul is the Head of marketing at Shelter. She joined Fresh Air Production's Director of Content, Michaela Hallam at Media 360 in Brighton to talk about disrupting people’s experiences to incite meaningful and much-needed conversations on the matters that matter. This episode is part of Fresh Air's Media360 series. Follow to hear from some of the top CMO's in the UK. See omnystudio.com/listen...

At Media 360 in Brighton, Director of Brand & Marketing at OVO, Alice Tendler joined Fresh Air Production's Director of Content Michaela Hallam to talk about her attitude towards risk, tech innovation and blurring the boundaries of media and creative at OVO. All whilst encouraging people to go green with their energy consumption. This episode is part of Fresh Air's Media360 series. Follow to h...

For ten years Sam McAlister was the interviews producer on BBC 2’s flagship news programme Newsnight, securing head-to-head pieces with Silicon Valley CEOs, world leaders and Hollywood stars. A former barrister, she turned to journalism after a successful career in criminal law and has since negotiated with everyone from Buckingham Palace to the White House, Facebook to Tesla. Sam is now a Visitin...

One of our favourite podcasts that shows the power of pushing boundaries and taking risks, is Upfront from financial services software provider IRESS. From its origin, IRESS were determined to change the narrative around financial services and encourage listeners to get passionate. At its core, Upfront shows how creative you can be when creating a podcast. From music to host, artwork, content appr...

In the final episode of our Media 360 Mini-Series, Fresh Air's Director of Content Michaela Hallam chats to Marketing and Media Manager of BT Business Simon White about audio identity within the B2B market. Simon also talks through and shares the results of BT's recent campaign with The News Agents podcast and the insights they learned.  This episode is part of our Media 360 series, recorded on lo...

Marketing Director Sam Taylor helms Direct Line Group, a company with a rich heritage of audio branding from Churchill to Green Flag and Direct Line. Sam chats with Fresh Air's Director of Content Michaela Hallam all about the evolution of each of his brand's sound and how they amplify them. This episode is part of our Media 360 series, recorded on location in Brighton. To find out how Fresh Air c...

Jennifer Carey is the Head of Media at Channel 4 - a brand with one of the clearest remits and most distinctive tones of voice in the UK. In fact, their latest audio identity is deliberately played on a broken piano. Michaela Hallam - Fresh Air's Director of Content - has a long history of creating audio identities for TV channels, so was keen to find out how the brand team go about capturing the...

Nadine Young leads Starcom as CEO, an agency that focuses on building momentum and delivering meaningful growth for it's clients. Before Starcom, Nadine held leadership roles in the industry, including Mindshare and Vizeum during a nine-year period in New York. Nadine and Michaela Hallam - Director of Content at Fresh Air - met at Media360 in Brighton to chat about how the advertising industry has...

Fresh Air were delighted to spend two days at The Podcast Show, an annual highlight of the podcasting community, along with 6,000 attendees in The Design Centre in Angel, London.  Assistant Producer Clara Kavanagh chatted with a whole host of delegates and exhibitors to talk all about the booming business of podcasting.  Take a listen to hear the perspectives from: David Terris (Head of Radio at S...

Matt Bushby is the CMO of Rightmove, and previously the UK Marketing Director for Just Eat, so he know a fair amount about the power of audio in brand marketing. Matt and Michaela Hallam - Director of Content at Fresh Air - met at Media360 in Brighton to chat through the role that audio can play in building a brand's presence across multiple media. They also discussed his vision for the future of...

 Liam Dolan, Head of Digital Strategic Partnerships at Sky Media sat down with Fresh Air's Director of Content, Michaela Hallam, to discuss how and why Sky are investing in podcasting. They talk about the benefits of long form audio and the engaged communities it creates.  They also uncover how Sky is refining its podcast strategy and the monetisation models they're using to get the most value for...

Marketing Director at Yorkshire Tea, Dom Dwight, chatted to Michaela Hallam - Fresh Air's Director of Content - to discuss what defines his brand's tone of voice. Dom talks about how content is either useful or entertaining, and why they usually choose the latter. They also discuss about the Yorkshire Tea's brand voice and how they fill it with warmth, authenticity and quirkiness, consistently acr...

Gideon Spanier, Editor-in-Chief at Campaign, and Maisie McCabe, UK Editor at Campaign, joined our Head of Content Michaela Hallam at Media 360 to discuss their reflections and highlights of the two-day event. One of the key takeaways from Media 360 was trust, they delve into its importance and the habits people form around each media channel. Their conversations also covered how audio is different...