Start-up marketing stories: The Marketing Hustle

Welcome to Brand of the Match, a new series from The Marketing Hustle. Lottie Unwin is joined by co-host Joel Bjarni Marlinarson (founder of Coldest Creative) to debate which brands are playing the partnership game best, red cards, yellow cards and all. This week's category: Partnerships. Lottie and Joel go head to head on Diet Coke x The Devil Wears Prada, Kit Kat's "stolen lorry&quo...

Today’s guest is Sara Tateno, founder of Happity – the platform helping parents find baby & toddler classes while powering thousands of small but mighty businesses behind them. Sara didn’t come from tech, but a second pregnancy, a house move and the panic of “how will I cope this time?” led her to spot a huge, overlooked problem: why was it still so hard to find local classes in the age of sma...

Today's guest is Jade Howes, Brand Marketing Lead for Little Freddie and an experienced marketer who parented through different corporate environments. In this raw and honest conversation, Jade dives into the difficult and often isolating journey of working motherhood. She shares her experience navigating formal and informal support systems at both a massive corporate business (Unilever) and a...

This episode's guest is Jo Wong - a commercial leader turned founder whose career spans Estée Lauder, People Care Planet Care, and now a consultancy supporting Black women to access capital and grow their businesses. But this conversation isn’t just about career success. It’s about what happens when life stacks everything at once, and you still have to keep going. Jo found out she was pregnant...

This episode The Maternity Hustle is called “Getting Pregnant Was Her Best Leadership Decision” and we’re thrilled to be joined by Amelia Christie-Miller, founder of Bold Bean Co. Amelia was  around six weeks away from her due date and deep in the most intense version of “the messy middle”. Amelia was at that very specific founder crossroads: the business was growing, big brand moments were landin...

Luna Daily CEO & co-founder Katy Cottam joins The Maternity Hustle to talk about fundraising while pregnant, building a maternity plan A/B/C, and why you don’t need to apologise for a life stage that can actually make you a better founder. Expect real talk on gender politics, returning to work, and the systems that make stepping back possible. Welcome to our first interview in this season of T...

Motherhood is a hot mess of love, guilt, change and tiny decisions… and it turns out an “agile marketing mindset” might be one of the most useful tools you’ve got. In this episode, Anna from Sticky Beak flips the script and interviews you on cognitive load, mum guilt, identity shifts, and why building a village matters more than perfect routines This episode kicks off a slightly different kind of...

She’s built one of the most beloved food brands on the planet and she’s done it without spending big on ads. Shona Campbell, Chief Marketing Officer of Ottolenghi, shares how she’s turning global awareness into commercial success through partnerships, storytelling and an obsession with earned media. Welcome to the Marketing Hustle - a podcast about the real work behind building bold brands. We go...

What does it take to build a creative culture that lasts ? CMO Sandie Dilger shares how Proper turned culture into a commercial advantage - from lunch-table rituals to balloon-filled pitch decks. Welcome to the Marketing Hustle - a podcast about the real work behind building bold brands. We go behind the scenes with founders and marketing leaders to hear honest, unfiltered stories of what actually...

Oddbox has rescued over 60 million kilos of wonky fruit and veg, but their real story is one of brand, mission and heart. Former CMO Gaston Tourn reveals how Oddbox scaled purpose without losing soul and why doing good doesn’t mean growing slow. Welcome to the Marketing Hustle - a podcast about the real work behind building bold brands. We go behind the scenes with founders and marketing leaders t...

Butternut Box is on track to become Europe’s #2 pet food brand, but still feels like a “secret discovery brand.” Interim Brand & Creative Director Sarah Keegan reveals how she’s using her mat leave cover to reset the brand platform, overhaul design and prepare Butternut for its next decade. Welcome to the Marketing Hustle - a podcast about the real work behind building bold brands. We go behin...

What happens when a former L’Oréal fragrance manager takes on men’s grooming? Rock Face CEO James Wilkinson shares how he’s reshaping the category with a retail-first strategy, refillable innovation and a bold mission to redefine modern masculinity. Welcome to the Marketing Hustle - a podcast about the real work behind building bold brands. We go behind the scenes with founders and marketing leade...

An in-house agency at a bakery? Gail’s Head of Brand, Charlotte Gunn, reveals how she codified the brand, built a creative studio from scratch and turned bakeries into brand experiences. Welcome to the Marketing Hustle - a podcast about the real work behind building bold brands. We go behind the scenes with founders and marketing leaders to hear honest, unfiltered stories of what actually drives g...

60% of traffic. 1.6 billion views. A YouTube celebrity in-house. Carwow CMO Ben Carter reveals how they built a content machine so powerful, it became their moat and their moneymaker. Welcome to the Marketing Hustle - a podcast about the real work behind building bold brands. We go behind the scenes with founders and marketing leaders to hear honest, unfiltered stories of what actually drives grow...

In this bold, brilliantly honest episode, Marketer and Founder of Sprowt Carly Osman Holmes turns the tables on Brand Hackers founder Lottie Unwin for a no-holds-barred chat on marketing’s biggest problems and possibilities. From the rise of tactical fluff to the cult of hot takes, Lottie opens up about what’s broken, what’s working and how we fix it. Together, they pull apart the myths around per...

He drove Fever Tree's growth from 50 million to over 250 million, expanding from the UK to 93 global markets. Now Marketing Expert Vince Lawson unveils the strategic insights and challenges behind this remarkable journey to Biotiful CMO. From doubling sales annually to venturing into new businesses during the pandemic, Vince shares his candid experiences of taking calculated risks, handling fa...

She built not one, but three businesses - and now she’s planning to step away. In this special episode, Brand Hackers founder Lottie Unwin gets grilled by Koru Kids CEO Rachel Carrell on the messy truth of scaling, letting go and leading with impact. From how to not be that annoying founder, to the AI shifts no one’s ready for – this is a raw, witty and essential listen for anyone building somethi...

He scaled a mission-led brand from 50 million to 120 million users. Now he’s revealing the truth behind it all. Former Too Good To Go CMO Ivo van den Brand opens up about imposter syndrome, emotional leadership, and why most people misunderstand what a CMO actually does. Bold, honest and essential listening for anyone building a brand. Welcome to the Marketing Hustle - a podcast about the real wor...

"Marketing is the growth engine of every business…” Welcome back to The Marketing Hustle , the podcast that brings you unfiltered stories from bold brand builders. This week, your host Lottie chats with Anna Henwood, CEO of Stickybeak—a consumer insights tool changing the way brands test campaigns, packaging, and new launches. Anna’s career has taken her from global tourism marketing at 100%...

This week’s hot take: Most people don’t plan to become founders—and even fewer are ready for what it actually takes. In this solo(ish) episode, we flip the mic and put Lottie in the hot seat. She’s joined by Brand Hackers’ own Social Media Executive, Dani, for a behind-the-scenes chat on everything from Shakespeare to startups. Lottie shares how she accidentally fell into marketing, the culture sh...

This week’s hot take: Wild didn’t just get lucky. Their £230M exit to Unilever was the result of laser-focused strategic thinking from day one. In this episode, James and I unpack what made Wild stand out - from choosing the right high-margin category, to treating influencer marketing like a performance channel, and blending creativity with ruthless commercialism. We explore the intentionality beh...

Most marketing teams don’t talk enough about what’s actually working. So in this episode, we’re pulling back the curtain on one of our favourite campaigns - from idea to execution - and unpacking the real reasons it delivered. James and I take you inside the strategy, creative, and chaos of a campaign we ran for a challenger brand that was big on personality, small on budget, and laser-focused on...

This week’s hot take: Activism isn’t just a marketing gimmick - it can be the heartbeat of a brand. Lottie and James unpack what makes Ben & Jerry’s the gold standard for activist branding, from fighting for legislative change to structuring their business around social impact. They dive into the difference between “purpose” and true activism, and how Ben & Jerry’s has kept their mission a...

This week’s hot take : Most hiring processes are broken. Companies focus on the wrong things, overlook the right talent, and end up with marketing teams that don’t actually deliver. James and I have seen it all - hiring wins, hiring disasters, and those moments when you realise you’ve brought in the wrong person for the job. So, we’re breaking it all down. From writing job descriptions that actual...

This week’s hot take : Most brand-agency relationships fail—not because the agency isn’t good, but because the partnership is set up to struggle from the start. James and I have had many moments lately where we’ve sat in meetings thinking, “This could have been avoided if…” So, we’re unpacking it all. From the weird power dynamics of brand-agency relationships to the absolute musts for making it w...