This is not just any podcast… this is an M&S podcast.

As M&S comes back online after its cyber attack, we look at the public reaction to its temporary outage and wonder out loud whether other brands can learn to be loved like M&S.

“We missed you. Love: everyone over the age of 30 in the UK. And everyone, of all ages who wear pants” (@nearlymarylin)

It's everywhere yet nowhere. In this episode, Piers & Jasmine explore the craze for Dubai Chocolate, the company behind the global phenomenon, the influencer who helped and the pros and cons of a scarcity strategy.

Did you know that brands are more likely to bring in a mascot during times of economic difficulty?

In this episode Jasmine and Piers discuss the resurgence of mascots and debate whether they are a good thing for brands or a silly distraction from real brand assets. From Ronald McDonald and the Kellogg’s chicken to Duo Lingo’s owl, this episode gets to the bottom of why brands turn to mascots in hard times and finds out that one of the podcasters has a particular beef with the Michelin Man.

Roughly four billion people live on less than five dollars a day. Yet taken together they represent a multi-trillion-dollar market. But marketing to them has its own set of challenges. In this episode, Piers and Jasmine travel to the street stalls of Nairobi, the courtyard kiosks of rural Tamil Nadu, and the mud-brick homes of off-grid Tanzania in search of the secrets big brands use to market to the Bottom of the Pyramid.

Are social media platforms listening to our conversations in real life in order to show us highly targeted ads? Jasmine and Piers unpack the truth behind that question that we have all asked at some point after being shown an ad for something we just mentioned in a real world conversation.

This week Jack Dorsey posted “delete all IP law” and Elon Musk tweeted back “I agree”. Is Dorsey right? Should we scrap intellectual property law? And what would that mean for brands? Piers and Jasmine go head to head over whether or not intellectual property law still works in the digital era and ask whether we already live in a post-IP world?

Have you used AI to turn yourself into an action doll yet? Many brands have. The results are mixed. Some are social sizzlers, some are strategic damp squibs. In this episode, Piers and Jasmine talk about the perks and pitfalls of jumping on the bandwagon of social trends.

With everyone talking about the Netflix series, Adolescence, Jasmine & Piers take on the subject of the Crisis of Masculinity and how brands from around the world that target men can and should respond.