the supersonic blog

Today I’m in the studio with one of my brand gurus, Rich Buchanan. He is so fantastic in terms of knowing how to create clear, defendable territories for your brand to operate in, meaning that you’ll be iconic and can stave off the competition. Rich and I worked together way back at Blinkbox Music and he really impressed me as one of the world class leaders in brand thinking. Rich has worked with amazing brands all the way through McLaren, Ocado, Eurostar, Rolls Royce, HSBC and Tesco. Today we’re going to talk about what makes a killer brand, case studies that he’s worked on and also touch on a new book that he’s launched called Wild Thinking - 25 thoughts for you to poke and prod at your business and ask yourself the hard questions that you otherwise might stay away from.

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Today I’m in the holiday spirit as it’s the first two weeks of the kid’s summer break in England and it feels like everyone is taking their feet off the gas a little. I’m getting to the end of my to-do list, I’ve got a day of podcasts ahead and I’ve not got a deadline looming and so the gods of email are being very kind. This is exactly the type of feeling I wanted to have as I talk to my next guest, who is Jon Hendry-Pickup the CEO of Butlin’s. We talk about the re-boot of the Butlin’s brand that is happening at the moment, which is a really exciting time for them. We also touch on leadership, building teams and Jon’s career which is so impressive from management consulting, to Aldi, Tesco, Travelodge and Prezzo.

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Today I’m in the Georgian House Hotel to catch-up with the outgoing GM of the Hotel, Adam Rowledge. He’s an incredible leader with lots of great advice on how to build a team, build a business and look after your guests/customers.

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It’s Gen Z-er himself… Mr Brandon Relph. We’ll hear about Brandon’s journey from when he was cited as being the youngest CEO in the UK, doing a lot of work creating content for Minecraft before it really blew up, having a team of 20 around the world which is really amazing for someone of that age, and being a TEDX speaker in Brighton. He’s now the spokesperson for Gen Z in business and I’m really excited to find out his thoughts on Gen Z… attracting them to work with you, what they need, what they’re looking for and what their attitudes are in food, drink and hospitality.

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It’s a special one today and something a little different than usual, but I had a chance meeting with a true god-like genius who is Alan McGee. For those who don’t know, Alan grew up in Glasgow and came down to London as a young man to play in bands and put on club nights. Then he started an incredible record label, Creation Records, which was the soundtrack to my entire life. Alan is probably most famous for discovering Oasis at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow. He’s also been part of discovering and managing careers of Primal Scream, Teenage Fanclub, My Bloody Valentine, Super Furry Animals, Boo Radleys etc. Now, he has a management career managing bands like Happy Mondays. 

I’m really blessed to just spend some time with him and have a chat, so even though it’s a little off-topic I hope you enjoy getting into his life story and what it means to be an entrepreneur in show-biz, and also get some tips for if you’ve got a dream… go after it, put great things out into the universe and it will happen.

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Today I’ve had some breakfast in Baker Street at one of the new look Bill’s which is looking absolutely fabulous. I was there today to do a bit of research before speaking with my next guest, David Campbell. I’m so excited to have David on the podcast, he's a real A-lister in the casual dining and marketing industries. David talks me through why he has always been attracted to working in culture-led companies, challenger companies and his career journey from radio, to Pepsi, to the Millennium Dome, Formula One and all the way through the fast casual dining industry.

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My next guest is Viv Craske, who is a food technology expert in digital systems and how you can use the digital ecosystems like reviews sites, delivery, retail commerce and the behemoth that is Amazon and put all of these things together so that food & drink brands can get a wider reach and engagement and sell so much more online. Some real exciting stuff in this episode.

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I’m really excited to have a chat with Loui Blake to learn about his eclectic career so far… from recruitment to football, to marketing to night clubs and then this huge shift in lifestyle and business to really focus on taking veganism in a positive way to the masses. Loui has loads of great tips for sorting your own business or starting a restaurant for young and old entrepreneurs.

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Back by popular demand, it’s Mark Wingett of Propel and Mark Stretton from Fleet Street Communications for a summer special year in review. After a lengthy chat over Christmas looking back at 2018, we thought it would be better to look at the first half of 2019 in depth and discuss all the #postivesectornews, buyouts, closures and campaigns that got people talking.

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Brace for a force of nature with our guest today - the impressive Libby Andrews from Pho who is an incredible champion for women in business and best practice in brand, marketing, pr, digital and social. I’m completely in awe with Libby and was so happy to sit down with her properly to discuss her background, life at Pho and what’s in store for the future.

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Today’s guest is Andrew Tolley of the Tolley family & Taylor Street Baristas, the coffee company and coffee shops… and also formerly of Harris+Hoole. He’s such a great guy and it was so good to hang out with him to learn about what they guys do & what they’re planning for the future.

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