The Fuel Podcast

Clare Sutton, Managing Partner at Public Relations agency Clarion, part of the WPP Group, is a specialist in the food and drink sector. Recently, the agency released its ‘state of the sector’ report on the latest trends and influences in the Food and Beverage industry. It’s a quick analysis of the latest innovations and developments in what is one of the UK’s biggest economic drivers. Clare is a w...

New business expert and comedian Jeremy Davies stops by to share a glass of eggless eggnog and pull a cracker or two. Before we get too drunk on liqueur chocolates, we discuss what we can all learn from sales in other sectors and we breathe new life into the aphorism "People Buy People". We discuss AI, Benders in Escorts, streaming Nottingham Forest games in Ibiza , discuss what those little bits...

Timothy Leary once told us to Turn on, tune in and drop out; to unplug from the mainstream distractions and get to know yourself a bit better. but did you know that this is a habit that's adopted by most of the high-functioning creatives today? AND... did you know that you can use it too? David Pearl is the creative force behind the global World Wide Wander social movement - where common business...

The value of doing research before making bold marketing moves - and what happens when it all goes wrong. Keith Smith investigates with the help of Creative Director Peter Souter, research guru Victor Houghton and a bunch of crazy adverts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You could argue that, since the advent of digital media, social media, podcasting and vlogging, AI and content marketing, that public relations has become the most adaptable marketing technique in the toolbox.   Fleishman Hillard is one of the founding agency groups of the modern public relations business. Lyndsay Haywood, who looks after the UK arm of the company is also one of the most successfu...

While most great creative is inspiration, that inspiration always comes from a source based in facts.  These days, we’re surrounded by fake news and alternative facts that if you don’t check them out, could cause irreparable damage to yours or your client’s brand. In this show I chat with one of the advertising industry’s leading fact-finders. Victor Houghton has been supplying irrefutable facts t...

Is it possible to own words? How can a few big players in the UK's dairy industry prevent non-dairy and plant-based food manufacturers using words like Mylk or Sheeze? In this podlet, I investigate the issue of copyright and protectionism with the help of Creative Director Mike Everett, Palm PR co-founder Liam Keogh and Trading Standards Authority team leader David Pickering. Learn more about your...

How to build a PR agency for the future Liam Keogh is the co-founder of PALM PR, arguably the UK’s most creative independent PR agency working in the food and drink and hospitality sector. He's one of those guys who runs through walls to make stuff happen – and it shows in how his agency works. Collaborating with his team to identify future clients, issues and policies that ensure everyone plays a...

Not every green creative is a great creative, but every great creative is a green creative. It takes far less energy for an original advert or promotion to enter the public consciousness than it does a bad one. How big swings are behind some of the most iconic creative ads of our time and how they create their own momentum. Featuring: Sir John Hegarty, Mike Everett, Nils Leonard and Nick Looby Lea...

In the 1970's Mike Everett went straight from secondary school into advertising, starting in the mail room and eventually trying his hand at copywriting, at which he became an expert. In 1973, he began a 14 year stint at Collett, Dickenson, Pearce and Partners - one of Britain's most outrageously creative and prolific advertising agencies. He worked at Lowe International with Sir Frank Lowe as wor...

One of the greatest minds in the world of advertising is on the show to explain how we can recapture our creative essence and make the business of marketing the sexy, inspiring innovative, funny, thought-provoking, engaging and compelling business that attracted us to it in the first place. He also explains how great creative is better for the planet. Importantly, he's also here to tell us how we...

A real tale of inspiration, determination and motivation as I sit down with the leader, the brand ambassador, the genius behind The Black Farmer brand – Mr Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones MBE. His story begins as part of the Windrush generation, coming from poor farming stock in Jamaica with his parents, as part of Britain’s shambolic attempt to rebuild the country after World War II. Left to fend for them...

In the 1960's author Alvin Toffler began discussing the theory of Future Shock, a human condition brought about by the rapid change of multiple areas of life; business, domestic, familial and financial. How prophetic his subsequent book 'Future Shock' turned out to be. The 21st century is seeing a manifestation of all the things that Toffler predicted - and then some! Included in his predictions i...

New technology such as AI, remote working services and team-working software allows independent premium talent to compete with big monolithic agencies. Premium talent also knows that many of today’s creative and advertising agencies are responding to briefs that won’t fix the company’s problems. John Caswell is premium talent. A youthful veteran of the advertising industry, John now spends his tim...

Nearly every guest on the Fuel podcast has been asked the question: what made you start your own business? And yet the recent interview with Andrew Bloch brought forth a fantastic view on what it's like to step back from total success and decide to start again. In this podlet, host Keith Smith recournts some of the sage advice that previous guests have given on this very subject - along with the s...

Andrew Bloch is one of the PR industry’s most well-known stars. After fate sent him as a student through the doors of Lynne Franks PR, probably the coolest and most famous PR agency of the 90s, Andrew developed an instinct for building relationships with brands and companies that were going places. Co-founding his own PR agency at the start of the century, Frank PR went on to become the standard b...

Influencer marketing is a potential minefield of problems. As a trailer for our forthcoming epic episode with Andrew Bloch, former Co-founder of Frank PR, we spoke to some experts in the field of influencer marketing to discuss some of the topics that Andrew raised - namely what to do when brand ambassadors and influencer marketing goes off the rails. Featuring interviews with Danielle Wiley, CEO...

How's your mental health? Creative agency leadership, burnout, redemption, art, inspiration, ownership and responsibility ...and pajamas It's all here in this show all about running a creative agency with a diverse workforce, identifying, diagnosing, and treating mental health issues, opening up to have those awkward conversations and understanding that you're not alone. Michelle Morgan - author o...

What’s the connection between Elvis Presley’s ‘Are you Lonesome Tonight?’ and prospecting for new business? Here's a quick 12 minutes of tips and tricks from the creative industry's new business experts, to help you get over any internal issue you might have. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a recent survey on Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the US, 60% of Americans that are currently battling drug or alcohol addictions also have jobs. It's way more common than we think and many of us have a problem and don't know it. So when do you know? When your whole life has fallen apart? When you're living in a bedsit (if you're lucky) and seeing your children once a month? Sam...

Where are all the next generation of creative misfits coming from? This show is a full-on interview with Marc Lewis, dean of the School of Communication Arts 2.0. Just about the most well-known academy turning out the creative stars of tomorrow.  He explains why diversity is SO important to our business Why you can’t put a price on a brilliant job well done How to identify great creative students...

How can we talk to people if we don’t even understand their reality? In 2017 Nick Looby wrote a book called ‘Modern Zombies - How to Stay Ahead of the Horde and Communicate your way to Incredible Success’ in which he predicted pretty much everything we're now experiencing in terms of the distracting effect that technology has on our ability to be human. I talk to Nick as he begins to sketch out a...

Tracy Brower has a PhD in Sociology, a Master of Management in Organizational Culture, a Master of Corporate Real Estate with a workplace specialization and the Vice President of Workplace Insights at Steelcase. She's the author of two books – ‘The Secrets to Happiness at Work’ and ‘Bring Work to Life by bringing life to work’; a regular contributor to Forbes and the Fast Company - and she’s a Ted...

Are you looking to sell your creative agency? Or are you looking to acquire one? You need to strap yourself in because it’s gonna get bumpy. Unless… You take on board the wisdom contained in the next 60 minutes of this interview with Adam Rubins, who’s experienced the highs and lows, the mental stresses and strains of the agency sales process and lived to tell the tale. Not only that but he’s buil...

Are the new image generation Ai engines going to create an extinction-level event for photographers? Just when the profession gets into its stride, with dark room process computer software available to everyone, along comes AI to kill off the very source of the original image. Or does it? What have photographers got that AI doesn’t have? Matt Smith is one of America’s most creative product photogr...