The Fuel Podcast

For our 200th episode we thought we’d celebrate in style with some fun, party games and laughter provided by our friend Chris Miller – the copywriter with his own strapline. Chris is the bloke who’s recently been lampooning the advertising industry and poking fun at its foibles using his hilarious cartoon-strips ‘Ye Olde Creative Shoppe’ and ‘The Dashed Creative Agency’ which have been met with ra...

Kelly Molson, founder of Rubber Cheese, sold her agency and is now an agency consultant and successful podcaster. She shares her 21-year journey building a lifestyle-focused web development agency that she started with just £1,500. She advocates for founders to prioritise life over aggressive growth, defining success on personal terms rather than industry standards. Only 4% of agencies ever sell,...

"Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters." The number one rule for any successful business deal is trust. So why do we keep supporting media that people don’t trust? Alice Buttling is the leader of UK media company Attinger Jack and her career arc is a superb demonstration of walking the talk when it comes to trust and expertise. We explore The...

How to bottle your brilliance in 6 words or less! The creative marketing business is built around the idea of hooks. Anna McLoughlin of inkspiller whose business ‘hook’ is ‘Helping founders bottle their brilliance in 6 words’ – using her skills as a storyteller to uncover business founders’ unique perspectives, stories and value, to distil it into a practical messaging toolkit. How to solve proble...

The independent creative marketing agency community is set for an explosion of growth. Big agencies are struggling to adapt to the new climate; CMOs are buying and building their own customized marketing stack and only the very best in each discipline will do.   Clive Mishon an advertising industry veteran now heads up the Alliance (the Alliance of Independent Agencies) – a global resource of the...

How do we earn keep and maintain trust in our working relationships? Over the next 3-5 years it’s going to be the only thing left that separates us from the robots. David Meikle is here to discuss the role that trust plays in the world of advertising and marketing communications. Trust isn’t just a critical driver of efficiency and revenue, but it’s also essential for innovation, mental fortitude,...

A totally new interview with audio drama expert Aaron J Reardon, recorded in time for Halloween - on video. And if that's not weird enough.. In this show, we discuss the massive growth of the audio drama genre. How creative effort beats budgets every time. Aaron's two biggest hits Plant Murder and Selene have already won awards for innovation and production and he continues to develop each one. Al...

Mystery writer, podcaster, and indie studio head focused on immersive mysteries - Aaron J. Reardon is here to shine an eerie light on a new entertainment format that actually predates TV but is enjoying a renaissance as podcasts on digital channels. And we're not talking about a cottage industry - oh no. Audio Drama is a massive category of entertainment that hasn't even broken into the mainstream...

This show is all about how to build rapport with your clients – from the first meeting, to the pitch and beyond. My guest for this show is self-confessed risk-taker Matt Webster, whose never-say-die approach to selling makes most people blush. Spoiler alert: It’s all about confidence and observation and in this show, Matt teaches us all how to notice the little things to build chemistry and rappor...

The 5 Ds of Succession Planning How do you prepare your agency for life after you? If it’s built in your image, round the work that only you control, how can someone else grow it after you’ve moved (or passed) on? Talking about succession plans is like talking about making a will and like with families, if you exit - for whatever reason – and leave it intestate, dozens of careers will be left hang...

Amy Taylor - former Red Bull CMO - in charge of one of the world’s most memorable brands made her own daring leap become CEO of a publicly listed Good For You drinks company Zevia which has ambitions to be verbified for all types of positive, healthy food and beverage products.   We discuss her 20+ year career at Red Bull and her transition into the mainstream soft drinks market to meet the needs...

Tom Salmon and his team at Agency by Agency are modern-day marketing Magellans, charting the contours of the communications sector in the UK. Along the way, they’ve uncovered so many useful and fascinating facts about its agencies. This indispensable show is an exclusive look at the way we all view ourselves, what helps us stand out and what hurt us by making us all look the same. Unbland your age...

If you want to keep your agency thriving, you’d better do everything you can to understand your audience. 75% of regular, everyday buying experiences are emotion-driven and Rob Harrison-Plastow’s company SourceNine has created a tool called the Empathy Framework. This tool helps companies build customer engagement strategies that foster trust, deepen loyalty, enhance satisfaction, and create conne...

When is your dream client going to hold a pitch? Richard Robinson, Executive Director of Ingenuity+ and one of the ten most influential Leaders in Digital & Tech is here to help us understand how to navigate the incredibly complex marketing, advertising, digital and PR agency landscape. It’s a science - and science needs facts. Richard Robinson knows pretty much everything there is to know about t...

Web design using no code software. Learn how to make your digital brand campaigns sing, soar and smash by listening to the wisdom of Hannah Springett – founder and CEO of HLabs – a trailblazing no code design studio that counts some of the world’s biggest companies as its clients.   No code is what it sounds like, it uses visual interfaces to replace lines of code, meaning that the aesthetics take...

Can the world’s richest man - Elon Musk, get away with treating the US government like a startup, throwing out Nazi salutes and behaving like the citizens of the world are under-performing employees in one of his  companies, with no damage to the Tesla brand? How much damage can one man cause for his shareholders and does he really care? Rachel Konrad, Esben Pedersen and Craig Davis were all early...

Creative agency procurement expert Tina Fegent explains how her process helps CMOs navigate their marketplace and get the right solution and the best value.   We discuss the power of independent agencies and how they can compete against the big HoldCo agency networks.   Why diversity is an agency superpower, how to increase the odds of getting on the short list, the importance of creativity, how p...

Keeping the conversation going. New research – and evidence from hundreds of thousands of client and creative agency pitch processes, shows that it can take up to 21 months for a pitch to take place from the initial meeting of a prospect. So what tips can you learn to help keep the client engaged, other than sending them annoying “Just checking in” emails every few weeks or risking being accused o...

We are on the cusp of a fundamental shift in the role that journalism plays in our lives. Terms like “Fake News” exist to downplay scandal, social media has unchained hate and negativity and allowed those with the most money to have biggest voice and to punch down on anyone who speaks out against them. Public Relations stands at the vanguard of democracy right now, defending free speech, diversity...

Are you winning enough business? And when you do win business, is it regular enough and is it the right kind of business? Have you been ghosted? Are clients not revealing budgets until the last minute? Have you had your pitch ideas stolen? Above all – how do you know how much business to win? All these questions and more are addressed in the new blockbuster PR agency new business report from the P...

Everything you need to know about how to target, grow and thrive in China and the Far East with expert consultant Domenica Di Lieto of Emerging Communications agency. You’ll learn how important it is to develop a bespoke approach to planting and growing your business in a market governed by a completely different value system. You’ll hear predictions for business in the Chinese New Year of the sna...

Peter Souter legendary copywriting genius of the advertising industry and now Co-Producer of Netflix’s animated Christmas hit ‘That Christmas’ with ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ and ‘Love Actually’ Director Richard Curtis.   It’s an epic production starring Brian Cox, Bill Nighy, Jodie Whittaker, Fiona Shaw, India Brown and a galaxy of talent, including musical assistance from Ed Sheeran.   And Pe...

TEDx luminary, leadership mentor and coach, now book author, Peter Anderton is on the show to give us a historical lesson in great leadership.   In this show, Peter reveals the simple methods that anyone can learn about how to be a great team, business, sporting, family or company leader.   The secret hacks that will improve your leadership style, learning from the greats of the past.   Peter expl...

How can AI help creative agencies win business and get up to speed on any sector or area of business fast? Justin Wohlstadter is the inventor and founder of Waldo, one of the leading AI-powered research and analytics tools, used by some of the world’s leading creative agencies. Our sponsor – The Advertist has been using Waldo for some time and it’s given the new business platform a massive advanta...

What makes podcasting such a great advertising platform? Should you make your own podcast or advertise on existing ones? Is your story compelling enough to build an audience or is it better to leverage any one of the established 4 million plus podcast hosts? How podcasts can be used to train your people and help build a remote workforce. Jason Falls is the CEO of Marketing Podcast Network (www.mar...