MediaCat UK Podcast

In this episode of the MediaCat UK podcast, we speak to James Hart, the founder of strategy consultancy Be More Jack. He talks about why strategists should adopt a multi-disciplinary and generalist approach and the need for more inbetweeners in the industry.

In this short podcast episode, MediaCat UK editor James Swift explains why the fit between a brand and a rightsholder is the most important aspect of any sponsorship. He also shares what the research has to say about planning a sponsorship around specific marketing objectives. If you'd like more insights on sponsorship, download our report , featuring insights from industry expects, a manifesto fo...

MediaCat UK's deputy MD, Selin Ozkan, sat down with reporters Elliot Wright and India Stronach to discuss the findings from our Q1 earnings-call report , how brands are using media to grow and how platforms are competing to win marketing spend.

Last month, Dentsu X published its Creator Catalyst report in partnership with Meta. Drawing on industry insights and real-world experience, the report examines how creator marketing has evolved and what brands must do to unlock long-term value from the channel. In this episode of the MediaCat podcast, brought to you in partnership with Dentsu X, we chat to the agency's global head of strategy, Ji...

There are many causes for concern for media planners and buyers. AI is threatening jobs, platforms are hogging clients' budgets and looking for ways to disintermediate agencies, and principal-based media buying is greying the purpose of the discipline. And yet, if you speak or listen to many practitioners, they'll insist that there's never been a better time to be a planner because we're living in...

'Technology is going to make the open web as efficient as the walled gardens, but still allow it to keep its independence.' Stephanie Himoff is bullish on the future of the open web. As EVP for publishers at Teads, it's practically in her job description. But in this episode of the MediaCat podcast, Himoff talks about why she thinks the immediate future of the open web has promise, from new techno...

A substantial proportion of the advertising that people see and hear now does not come from the ad industry but from other sources — sources that don't care much whether the content is legal, decent, truthful or honest. The markets, and the platforms that host a lot of the scam ads, won't fix this problem by themselves, argues media agency veteran Nick Manning. Only legislative intervention can do...

In this episode of the MediaCat UK podcast, editor James Swift talks content marketing with Carlotta Rossi Spencer, head of branded entertainment business development at Banijay. Banijay is the world's largest independent production company (and it might be about to get even bigger), with titles including MasterChef and Peaky Blinders in its library. As media commentators predict that more brands...

Why is TikTok adding new social features, and what does it have to do with watching TV with robots? In this podcast episode, editor James Swift and reporter India Stronach discuss how social media platforms may be pivoting to combat doomscroll fatigue and digital isolation. You can find more about the stories referenced here and here .

Craft Media London doesn't buy or make ads. The agency provides clients with comms strategy, filling the hole that exists between media and creative agencies, but nothing else. Given the agency's neutral position, we thought it'd be fun to ask Craft's co-founders, Sally Weavers and Jenny Jones, to weigh in on a bunch of the biggest media debates of the year. And we were right — it was a lot of fun...

The state of social media depends very much on the perspective you take. Financially speaking, it's in rude health. WARC predicts that brands will spend $300bn on the channel in 2026, which would represent something like a quarter of global advertising expenditure. It's no less prevalent than it was, either. According to Ofcom, 60% of news consumption now takes place on 'online intermediaries', wh...

Nick Manning has got principal-based media buying in his sights. The former media agency co-founder — who has begun a movement to help the industry ‘get its mojo back’ — has published a paper on the money-making practice, called A World of Pain . Principal-based media buying is sometimes presented as a win-win-win situation for everyone involved: agencies get extra income, advertisers get cheaper...

For this podcast MediaCat's Opinions Editor, Mike Piggott, spoke to Dan Calladine , head of media futures at dentsu, and Grace Letley , head of strategy UK at iProspect, about dentsu's new report, The Year of Impact: 2025 Media Trends . They went through the report, section by section, discussing the rapid evolution of the media landscape and how they now believe the industry to be moving into the...

For this podcast MediaCat 's Opinions Editor, Mike Piggott, spoke to Tom Gent , founder and Head of Creative at award-winning content agency, Founder Creative . With a career spanning two decades in the media and entertainment industries, Tom has done a lot. He’s worked for the BBC on a plethora of sports content, produced Top Gear for a year, directed a film for UEFA, and worked as Global Creativ...

For this podcast our Editor Mike Piggott spoke to Bob Sheard , co-founder of brand design agency FreshBritain. They discussed how Bob got into brand design, and how he was quite possibly the first man in Yorkshire to own a certain pair of adidas trainers. They talk about how he got into buying and selling denim, and how he was once brought on board to 'unfuck Levi's' ... in the words of the client...

In this podcast MediaCat's Opinions Editor Mike Piggott spoke to Simon Akers (founder and partner at Archmon) and Jaz Poke (Business Development Director EMEA at Omnicom Media Group), co-founders of new industry initiative, Neurodiversity in Media (NDIM). They discussed how the initiative got started and why there is a need for it in the industry, NDIM's Manifesto and what change and action they'd...

In this podcast MediaCat 's Content and Social Media Editor, Svilena Keane, speaks to the founder of The Empowered Author and Meet The Booktokers , Samantha Missingham. They discuss the evolution of book marketing and the idea behind the newly-launched platform, Meet The BookTokers. This interview has been shortened for clarity and length. Hi, Sam. Please introduce yourself to our readers My name...

On this week's episode, MediaCat's Head of Content and Partnerships Selin Ozkan and Content and Social Media Editor Svilena Keane take over the MediaCat Magazine Podcast to discuss Future of Media, Adwanted's annual conference looking into the future of commercial media. Selin and Svilena give an overview of the event, identify the trends from the talks and dig deeper into specific sessions.

In the latest MediaCat Magazine podcast our Editor Mike Piggott chats to the Global Head of Research & Insights at We Are Social, Paul Greenwood , about their latest report, Next Gen Influence — trends defining a new era of brand and creator collaboration. They discuss each section in detail, from 'relatable realism' to 'extreme influence'. They talk about cosiness, redemption arcs for creator...

For the latest MediaCat Magazine podcast our editor, Mike Piggott, spoke to Grace Francis , Jamie Mancini and Katy Collins — co-founders of new independent creative studio, Wonderful Things . The theme of this pod mirrored the magazine's August theme of 'Doing Things Differently', where Grace, Jamie and Katie discussed why they started the agency in the first place, looking to be more nimble, and...

For this podcast we had a guest host, regular contributor to the magazine, author and co-founder of Genius Steals, Faris Yakob , take control. His guest was VP of Creative at Liquid Death, Andy Pearson . They discuss Liquid Death's creative process and how not getting bogged down in details helps creatively, as long as everyone agrees that what they're doing is a good idea and can be brought to li...

In this pod our Editor Mike Piggott chats to regular MediaCat Magazine contributor, Emily Fairhead-keen , Senior Strategy Partner at Wavemaker who, in her career, has also worked at MediaCom, Vizeum and Starcom MediaVest. They talk about an award-winning paper Emily wrote in 2015 (and subsequent MediaCat article ), where she made the argument that brands need to be more superhuman and godlike. The...

Why copywriters and creatives need to go premium in the age of AI AI makes things easier. It does the grunt work quicker. It’s a machine. This isn’t speculation, it’s just the way it is. It means copywriters need to focus on what makes them unique, what makes them employable beyond the grunt work. This is something direct-response copywriter and The Fix co-founder, Nick O’Connor , talks about with...

The shifting reality of AI for boutique marketing agencies Perceptions of how AI will influence advertising and marketing are shifting on an almost daily basis and staying ahead of the curve can seem like an almost impossible task. That's especially true of small and boutique marketing agencies. Thankfully, in this podcast, copywriter and co-founder of Mac+Moore, Natalie Moores , explains how you...

Do you need to be a technical person to take advantage of AI? Not according to Heather Murray. In this podcast copywriter Glenn Fisher interviews AI for Non-Techies founder, Heather Murray about AI, why she’s so excited about it and what she recommends less technically-minded people do to get the most out of it. This is the second in a series of episodes MediaCat Magazine are doing in partnership...