BEYOND THE BRAND

How to make sceptics your growth engine | Max Henderson | Co-founder & CEO | Hotpod Yoga

Max Henderson started Hotpod Yoga in 2013 with his childhood friend Nick, despite neither of them being yoga people at the time. Today, Hotpod Yoga is Europe's largest yoga business in 3 countries with over 500,000 customers. Most of those customers arrived sceptical about yoga, or were put off by it altogether. So Hotpod stopped leading with yoga and started selling the experience around it: the pod, the heat, the scent, the music, a space that shuts the outside world out. The yoga happens once you're already in the room. In this episode, Max and Adam get into how he built a brand that looks nothing like its category, why looking radically different did the heavy lifting on changing perception, how referrals turn sceptical first-timers into regulars, and what he learned from a 4-year rebrand and 18 months of barely trading through COVID. There's also a sharp section on using partnerships to stay culturally relevant. If you're trying to win customers who've already decided your category isn't for them, this one's worth your time.

From social to shelf without a pitch | Hannah Samano | Founder and CEO | Unfabled

From social to shelf without a pitch Hannah Samano left Unilever at the height of the direct-to-consumer boom to build something from nothing. She's now founder and CEO of Unfabled, a women's health and supplements brand that has gone from a pure D2C launch to 730+ Boots stores, Holland & Barrett online and 61 Sainsbury's stores, without ever pitching for that first retail deal. In this episode Hannah tells Adam how Boots messaged them a month after their first supplement line went live, why she's grown revenue 10x in two years with six full-time people, and how a D2C-native brand ends up with an advantage on a supermarket shelf that bigger players don't have. It's a practical conversation for anyone in FMCG weighing up the crossover between digital and retail. What actually transfers, what doesn't, and why Hannah reckons retail "feels less rickety" than D2C. In this episode * Why she walked away from Unilever's D2C push, and what from that playbook still earns its keep * Taking a six-person team to 10x revenue, and the communication maths behind staying lean * What Unfabled keeps in-house (growth, IP, product development) versus what it briefs out * "Retail chose us": the Boots Ignite story and the jump from 50 to 737 stores * Using community data to win on shelf, and bringing personalisation to the shelf edge * Repositioning creatine for women, away from the gym-bro association it has carried for decades * Selling everyday health next to the bread and milk, and building trust in two seconds * What has shifted in women's health, and the $1 trillion number that changed the funding conversation Chapters01:36 . Hannah's path: Unilever, Nairobi and a focus on female health03:31 . Leaving Unilever at the peak of the D2C bubble06:37 . What transfers from a corporate playbook to a startup12:17 . The case for a deliberately lean team15:41 . Building the systems that let a small team move fast16:39 . What stays in-house and what gets briefed out18:54 . "Retail chose us": the Boots Ignite story23:17 . Unfabled Labs, community data and the shelf-edge advantage26:14 . Repositioning creatine for women29:17 . Winning trust in two seconds on a Sainsbury's shelf32:38 . D2C versus retail, and why retail feels less rickety35:29 . South by Southwest, and momentum as a startup's currency37:14 . What's changed in women's health, and the $1 trillion shift39:13 . Where to find Hannah and Unfabled About Hannah and UnfabledHannah Samano is the founder and CEO of Unfabled, a women's health and supplements brand she started in 2021 after struggling to find products that worked for her own hormonal health. Before that she spent several years at Unilever, including a spell at Unilever Ventures and on the team that built its first in-house D2C personal care brand. Unfabled: unfabled.co, and on Instagram and TikTokHannah: Hannah Samano on LinkedIn Listen and subscribeBeyond The Brand is a bi-weekly podcast and newsletter for marketers learning from the people shaping the future of brands. New episodes on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Substack and LinkedIn.

How to transform a brand people already love | Michele Ricci | Head of Global Marketing | Nestlé Pure Life and local brands

You can get water from a tap for free. So why does anyone pay for a bottle? And why do some people pay more for one bottle over another? Michele Ricci is Head of Global Marketing for Nestlé Pure Life and local brands. He has spent 15 years working on Nesquik, San Pellegrino, and Buxton, in some of the most commoditised categories on the shelf. In this episode, Michele talks through how he moved Nesquik from a sugary kids' powder into a lower-sugar, fortified breakfast brand, and why Nestlé retargeted parents instead of doubling down on children. He explains the renaming of San Pellegrino's range from "sparkling fruit beverages" to "Italian sparkling drinks", and how that single naming decision opened up new opportunities, a more premium shelf, and a stronger Italian story. He also covers the Buxton x Mind "Sweat and Tears" platform, the London Marathon takeover, and the launch of Inspired by Buxton Peak, a new functional water now rolling out in UK retailers. In this episode: * Why premium is a language and an experience, with price doing less of the work than people assume * How to shift a 30-year brand perception without losing the loyal base * Why low-funnel experience and sampling now belong at the centre of brand building * How a brand purpose only sticks when it connects to a real human tension A useful listen for any marketer working with a brand in a category where the customer sees the product as interchangeable.

The content engine that keeps Heinz in every conversation | Karen Owen, Kraft Heinz

85% of Heinz's in-house content hits or beats the engagement rates their external agencies deliver. Karen Owen, Chief Growth Officer for Europe and Pacific at Kraft Heinz, built the team behind that. In this episode, she talks through the architecture of The Kitchen, Heinz's content studio now running across 4 continents, how it operates alongside external agencies rather than replacing them, and what it takes to keep a brand that has existed for 157 years part of cultural conversations while they're still happening. Karen Owen on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-owen-bb3b647/]

How to build a brand universe worth belonging to with Michael Edelmann, 111SKIN Ex. Dr. Barbara Sturm, Business of Fashion

In this episode, luxury marketing expert Michael Edelmann (CMO, 111SKIN. Ex. Dr. Barbara Sturm, Business of Fashion, Gucci) talks about what it takes to build a brand universe that people genuinely want to belong to, and why that matters for anyone managing a brand in FMCG. He explains how 111SKIN rebuilt its loyalty programme around belonging after realising that points and discounts were driving repeat purchases without creating any real community. That shift shaped everything from how they approach partnerships to how they think about influence. Michael walks through the Repairs Van activation, which landed because it was tied to a story, and how they amplified it digitally to reach customers who were nowhere near London. He also talks about why founder-led storytelling works when the founder has genuine, daily authority in their field. If you're a brand manager sitting between quarterly performance targets and long-term brand building, this episode gives you a practical framework for making the case that community compounds. Michael Edelmann on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-h-edelmann/]