S2, Episode 4 - Mollie Nathan, redpill Marketing Agency

 Midway through Season 2, my guest for this episode is Mollie Nathan, Creative Lead & Art Direction for Creative Projects at redpill marketing agency.

redpill is a market leading and groundbreaking influencer marketing agency, setting the industry alight with a more conscious and impactful project creation and delivery.

Influencer marketing hasn't always had the best reputation but redpill's outlook and values are definitely turning that on its head.

We chat about:

🤝 how culture has become paramount in creating an environment that produces the best output for employees and clients alike,

✅ how being transparent and authentic in sharing culture, values, back stories and personality is what consumers want,

👍🏼 how redpill are changing the perceived negative face of the influencer marketing industry,

🏅 redpill's journey to B Corp status and why they decided to do it,

🎥 if short form video content is dead & why longer form is a growing requirement

🔮 and Mollie's top predictions for SME's and markets for 2025. 

Thanks for listening!

You can find me here:

Website

LinkedIn


"Glitter Blast" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Transcript

Welcome to The Responsible Marketing Podcast, conversations about marketing, sustainability, and how we can all help in becoming more responsible organisations. I'm Jo, a marketing strategist and consultant with a career spanning corporate, small medium business and self-employment incorporating

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marketing and commercial skills in various guises, and now flying the flag for a more sustainable and kind future for all. In episode 4 of Season 2, I'm in conversation with Molly Nathan, the creative lead and art director for Creative projects at red pill influencer

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marketing agency based in London. I found my conversation with Molly absolutely fascinating especially given that influencer marketing isn't always favorably reported on and can be taken to the extreme by those not authentic and genuine about the industry as a career. Molly and I discuss how culture

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has become paramount in creating an environment that produces the best output for employees and clients, what consumers are looking for more and more in terms of how they make their brand purchase decisions, how red pill are changing the often negatively perceived influence of marketing

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industry, and redpill's recent journey to B Corp certification. And we discuss if short form video content is dead and what's taking its place. Let's dive straight in. Hi everyone and welcome to the podcast. I'm delighted to have Molly who's the creative lead in art direction

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for Creative projects that's a mouthful to say for red pill marketing hi Molly how are you doing yeah good thank you so much thank you so much for having me today it's an absolute pleasure that is quite a title that you've got tell me a bit more about that yes so I'm the

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creative lead at H red pillar my role really does cover um everything creative perspective from art Direction directing on shoots concepting ideation um strategy and the Productions that we work on uh I've been at redpool for I think around 20 months so nearly up to

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the uh two-year Mark and my role is really to make sure that our all our creative services are being boundary pushed on every element making sure that we're always delivering a creative Excellence um and also creating a space where our team can really deliver their best work and they feel really

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accomplished and inspired with everything they're doing um but my role and title and what I do is definitely quite the mouthful it really is and there's a lot packed into that as well you must be super busy well I know you're super busy but I'm really really grateful for your time today so tell me

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a little bit more about redpills and agency because I know it's quite different to the kind of marketing that I do for example yeah so we are uh an original we call ourselves the original influencer marketing agency I think it was our 16th birthday last week um congratulations and

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the agency has really um adapted and been agile I think to cultural shifts within the marketing space so starting really with as a production agency um and then now we're real 360 endtoend delivery from uh influencer paid social creative and production um and our expertise does massively uh uh sit

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within the influencer content marketing space but we have an incredible team with experts across all those other uh areas and really it's just creative projects I suppose is what we work on and that's really that that full scope and I think that as an agency actually

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our kind of sweet spot is that end to end so starting with strategy ideation placement we do a lot into consumer insight and segmentation work okay through to the actual production and briefing of influencers and then producing the shoots through to editing and then paid and boost and making sure

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that we're able to really get the work out there and make it perform in the best way possible so we're definitely um driven by performance the heart of absolutely absolutely and um so you must have quite a team there but doing all those different skills you know there's

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that's quite going from literally from kind of like traal to grade kind of thing for well hopefully not hopefully doesn't finish there but you know what I mean that kind of like whole starting the process and all the way through even the research in it you said about

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consumer insights and things that's a massive project in itself yeah and I think each element is just as integral as the next part of the the team's work I mean a lot of the projects we do work on our end to endend so we utilize the full team expertise but um yeah I mean

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strategy and insights and consumer segmentation work is a whole world on its own but I think for us it's really important we have to always become the audience and I think you can't really understand the product and the brand if you don't become the audience so that's

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definitely a meaty and integral part of every project that we start with but that end part with paid specialist teams and that's just as important we're super super lucky with the team that we have here and although we definitely have experts within those fields we're also

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super lucky to have a really hybrid agile team that want to be shaped and upskill and learn amazing so yeah super collaborative place to work yeah sounds fabulous any jobs going I'm just kidding yes enjoy we'll have a chat offline um I noticed when I was doing my

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research about redpill because I don't know anything about redpill you're based in London right yes based in London um we have boots on the ground um and a team globally as a lot of our clients are Global us um uh Asia uh Etc so yeah we are a pretty Global agency

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but headquartered in London yeah okay and you've got a statement on the website that basically references moving people purpose and profit it which is quite a statement as well so can you explain a bit more about that what it means to the business and what it means

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to your clients as well yeah I mean I think it's really we put uh the needs and growth and experience over our team over over profits essentially focusing on giving everybody a place where they can really create their career best work that obviously directly impacts our

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clients and the way that we work with them um and from a people perspective know we're really focused on supporting upskilling training we have a really um incred incredible wellness support offering in house as well and I think that you the agency life and marketing it's

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it's a it's quite a crazy space and it's a really fastpaced world for me I mean I've been doing this for 15 years and I've worked at loads of different agencies and loads of different types of sectors within that as well but I think finding a space where the team can still

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feel grounded with support and collaboration really does give them the opportunity to create their career best we want them to feel that the RP at the red pill experience is something that they can really take on um and thrive in and really see that their goals are

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coming to life but also feels really supported through the wellness um side of it so that our mental health is just as important as the work that we're doing yeah so have you is that quite I mean obviously you've been in this kind of space for 15 years you just said um

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so does that has that changed quite a lot then do you find maybe like even 15 years ago I mean I have a few years on you I have to ad but you know even back in my day agencies didn't have necessarily a great reputation so clearly making those changes and and ensuring that they need

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to deliver what people need as employees now so you're right you know they need to have that culture and that upskilling opportunities and things definitely yeah and I think we want to Foster an environment where it's it's yes it's about the work and doing of course our

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best work for our clients um but we want to have a space where people are really committed to to working here and that comes through the way that they are treated and protected and supported and yeah I mean when I first started out I mean my background's really heavily in

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luxury and fashion um so I I really got uh at 17 straight into the fire pit um of what that was going to feel like to work in um the agencies and it wasn't important it was all about do your best work but I think what we've learned in the last 15 years is probably that in

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order for people to do their best work there is an environment that they need to be in that supports wanting to do that as well you know absolutely how you treat your people is is a massive um output of how they work and what they want to deliver and um their thoughts

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feelings and growth from a personal development perspective is just as important um as everything else that we do yeah and do you do you feel that stretches out to your clients as well so the I know you work with some really big Brands I know red p with some smaller Brands um does that kind of filter

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through there as well or do you pick your clients perhaps that that also support that type of value as well yeah 100% we want to work with like-minded clients that um that want to support us in creating the best for them and that comes from a mindset of understanding

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that we're always testing and learning and we want to push boundaries but at the heart of that is because we want to deliver them the best I mean ultimately you want your clients to be happy um and we want them to see how dedicated our team are to deliver that Excellence for

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them and that comes in the way that we work with them um and we want to work with clients that you know support that mindset Within agency life and we're really fortunate that our clients do yeah and I suppose again your C consumer insights that you you manage within

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house as well that kind of does that also demonstrate then that the public are looking for brands that are displaying these type of values and the back storing the purpose all that type of stuff you I talk about that quite a lot with Brands now that I work with and

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you know is that also coming through in consumer insights because it's hard to tell some whe we're just doing it for the sake of it or whether people actually do want to see it I think that's the the the biggest um learning for me actually probably last three to five years is how we utilize that

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customer engagement sentiment and segmentation work um it gives us rationale um but it also all those learnings then you do have to take them inhouse because you see what the people in those audiences want and how they want to be spoken to Consumers are savier than ever um they can pull apart

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they want to have transparency authenticity in it and that comes from how we work with our clients we want to have honest open conversations um and that type of collaboration is fostered an environment I think where we are utilizing the actual minds and thoughts and desires of those audiences and of

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course internally we're a real mixed team as well in where we're from how we work our backgrounds our ages and I think making sure that we the environment works for everybody there's not a kind of one siiz fits-all approach and I think that's from client side and internal yeah it's amazing it's so

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refreshing to hear actually you know I I find you know marketing I suppose is a bit of a Jos versus responsibility of business because obviously we're promoting consumerism all the time um so it's I'm yeah I'm kind of like find it quite a tough one at the moment with my

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own industry as obviously you're involved in as well thinking well how do we change this Narrative of marketing and and how we speak to people but people obviously AR that as well so it's good to know that actually the changes we're making slowly within the industry

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are what the people want to hear and what they need to hear you know to continue those relationships make them deeper and more meaningful I think it's that part isn't it it's making it more meaningful just because it's advertising just because it's targeted just because

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it's selling something it's a product it doesn't mean that it needs to take away from Human stories human connections I think we see that a lot through more peer-to-peer groups and um Tik Tok is an amazing place where you get to see the communities fostering themselves in the

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the comment sections and I think that as those platforms have become so conversational it's kind of forced the Ad Agency side of it uh for us to think about how they really want to be spoken to and how do we be transparent with our messaging and for me it's such a massive

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change from where we where I started and it was really traditional and print and big bold messaging and yeah um it wasn't about the people and what they wanted to hear it's the dream that you were selling them um and we are moving away from that and I think every three to six

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months we see another shift in perspective about being more organic and transparent I don't think it matters what the product is yeah definitely about authenticity these days isn't it yeah doing what you yeah clearly yeah and being open to it absolutely so that's quite a big but

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going back to the people purpose and profit statement that's quite a big value that you hold within the business what other values sit alongside that what does red pill stand for yeah I mean I think that that career best work is definitely um something that's a really

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important one for us we want everybody that comes through red pill you know everyone's on their Journey whether it's their first jobs sort they're 10 years in that they leave and that they they reflect on their time of red pillars being a place where you I try and treat every single piece

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of work that we do as our career best yeah and I think that we should all go in with that kind of idea that this really could be the piece of it doesn't matter if it's small or big or it's TV or it's social it's I think going in there that mentality but I think yeah

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that the idea that people come to redpol and they get to create their career best is really leave a legacy without them leaving yet kind of thing yeah yeah exactly and I think that it also gives them you you can go job to job and feel like you haven't really succeeded or it

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was okay and you didn't feel supported or you could have done more we don't want that to be what red pillars we want this to be if it's your first role it's the place that you really got to grow you really got to learn I think get really challenged um I think another

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thing that's really important uh for us is our the way that we work with our team and the way we work with our clients is really transparent yes we're bold and yes we have to be fast-paced to keep up with the industry um but I think we always want to be having those really

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transparent realistic conversations when dreaming big as well absolutely well yeah like you say if you've got authenticity in your values you've got authenticity in your values straight off hav you so you're going to have to have to prove that completely the other thing

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I really loved when I was doing the research was about the fact that you say that you um you tie in the activity you do with the overall objectives and goals of the of the business that you're working with or the brand that you're working which I try to do as well but I

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found that sometimes maybe marketing is a bit of a secondhand to that and it's not really considered part of that do you think that that's your P at red pill as well are you quite different to other agencies perhaps that that work in a in a different way and don't necessarily

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want to or don't necessar align the marketing directly with the objectives of the business as a whole yeah I mean I think that we really try and go in with that 360 approach and that's um obviously super important is a USP for us I think having the understanding on

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long-term goals immediate goals brand understanding I think like I said being that expert in every product is kind of our game um and really understanding those audiences and I think performance is at the heart of that um I think we really trust our expertise and I think

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we really trust the team um and I think from that we've kind of become quite well known for that kind of delivery um and I think that when people join client side or internal I think that that is something that they kind of expect from us now and I think that's a great place

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to be yeah absolutely no I mean for me I think you know again marketing has to be in the bloodline of the business I mean I'd say that a marketting wouldn't I but you know you're if you're really putting this kind of emphasis especially if you're working with um uh ideas that you

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guys are putting forward which are going to be quite big again that you got big brands on board and things like that it's vital isn't it to understand that so yeah I think it's hugely important um the other thing and I know it's maybe a little bit um I don't know difficult

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maybe a bit of a difficult subject but you know you are influencer marketing agency and and marketing doesn't have the best reputation you know it's I'm not much is regulated to be fair but it's not regulated and it can come across and well I've come across many influencers I'm do little ditties

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influencers who really I think are looking for a bit of a free ride perhaps so they don't give your your part of the industry a really good reputation do tar it a little bit in my opinion do do you think that is and what is redpill trying to do to actually change that perception

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perhaps and keep boosting your own brand reputation within that area yeah I mean I think that because our heritage and history has been so deeply rooted and influenc and that's really evolved um you know starting with well Publishers I suppose they were bloggers and writers and then that's involved

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then be influencers now we talk about them as creators I think the landscape has grown so fast that the regulation and the transparency probably on the way it works has been faster than we've been able to maybe respond to as an industry um I think that we have a very different

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approach to other influenc marketing agencies um probably because of the length of experience and the relationships that we do have with the influences directly but also because we want to do better it's really important that we find a way to do better I think that there's definitely a lot of um

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negative association with the way that we use influencers and who they are in this world for consumers but I think that for us on client side and on influencer side it's about the perfect pairing we should not be putting influencers on jobs that do not organically sit and be brand fans of

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those products um we don't want to work with people that want to take a paycheck but not really be invested into the brand that doesn't help either side um and I think having really transparent conversations with the influencers about the rates and the work they're doing and

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that also follows through to how we talk to our clients about how they're going to be working with the influencers um we've seen a big shift as well in giving creative freedom for a few years it was of course they had creative freedom them as an influencer to deliver the content for the brand and

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then it became quite sterile and people started to really be provided these very set deliverables which you know they have the influences are their own Brands yeah they have their own voice they want to sound a certain way they know how their audiences and followers want to be

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spoken to and what they what messages resonate with them better so I think now for us it is really important the perfect pairing the perfect briefing creative freedom and I think that if they're the perfect match that and they have a real understanding of what it is

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that they're doing then I think there should be that space for them to create content that still fits within them as a brand um of course delivers to what the clients requirements are and for us I think that's a really that perfect pairing is the result of all of those things um and I think long-term

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influencer collaborations will always feel more authentic and more organic and that is something that's becoming more and more important for Brands and I think that is where we will see the industry feel better because it will these brand fans will be real and they

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will feel real more yeah abely and I don't think just because people are selling a product that takes away from the fact that they're invested into the brand and I think actually we're seeing that consumers are actually okay with it they they they're not put off by

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purchasing just because an influencer has ad at the front of it um and I think we didn't have that before now we have to have that um so I think it's the reputation of the influencer as well isn't it so you know I mean there are we don't need to go into details but there

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are numerous cases of an influencer suddenly being pulled up for something or not actually using the product or whatever else so how how just for those people who are listening and watching how does influencer work for you oh sorry influencer um kind of pools work for you do you have a pool of

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influencers you have on the books all the time and you just see what the require ment is from the client and therefore pick the influencer accordingly and have those discussions making sure they're up for it and yeah so it really depends project to project we actually do um have our exclusive

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Network so we represent 15 I believe at the moment on our exclusive roster so we are responsible for supporting them with their careers which is outside of just booking them you know jobs through our clients it's bigger than that um so you know we want to support them and making

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sure that we understand their goals where they want to get to What brands they want to work with making sure they're supported and they have the tools that they to deliver the work um but we also have a huge Global footprint of uh influencers that that we work with

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and know um and then outside of that you know we work with lots of other talent agencies and direct with the influencers so really it depends on the brief because the scope there is an influencer in every pocket of the world that sits for every sector and product you could

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ever imagine and they'll be the perfect person for IT um sometimes it comes down to the look and feel the type of cont content um sometimes it's more about brand messaging and I think always finding that mix but all we're pretty Hands-On with the briefing process and

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making sure that all parties are aligned on that they are in fact a brand fan that they love the product they want to try it they have tried it um that we support from understanding the product messaging and then also there for any creative uh support as well I mean

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Creator content is a forever evolving trendscape that you can't quite keep up with so it's our job to support them as much as it is deliver it to the client and I think that our clients see that we have such close relationships um and such a good way of working with talent

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that we're we're really comfortable with the way that we deliver um because we are there to help them yeah so it goes back to your kind of authenticity and transparency values in the end as well doesn't it so yeah like you say working client side or influencer side makes no

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difference you need to make sure right for the project it's the project delivery actually that well that affects your reputation within the project as well as everything else doesn't it so yeah and I think you want to have everyone you want everyone to be happy and you want everyone to feel

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comfortable and supported of course we are a business and we do have to deliver what we've promised but I think if we cultivate these relationships on both sides that feel like we can be transparent and you're starting in a great place yeah definitely definitely

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and just on that kind of responsibility or taking responsibility for that kind of part the industry again and how you work and the transparency and authenticity of that you're now making a pledge to become a be which is great yes yeah so you to demonstrate obviously

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supporting the planet and people and Prophets and all those kind of ESG pillars so how's that come about like who started that kind of pledge how's the journey going has it been a nightmare has it been like a completely like brilliant experience tell us a bit about that I mean I think from our

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wellness and people team it's been a massive achievement for us to gain uh B cor certification um for all of us internally it's been massive but they've definitely taken the leg work it's taken I think 16 to 18 months so it's been a huge project that everyone's been

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involved in but definitely our wellness and people team have been leading the way um but it is a desire and an achievement for all of us I think it was s felt like such a Monumental moment um yeah because it kind you know it's one of those things that goes on for so long

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and you're just like this could be amazing yeah um and I think it's just Testament to our dedication to creating a positive environmental and social impact um and it really falls down again to our sustainability and employee well-being um missions and I think that

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that that only enhances it but really we want to raise the bar in the industry and we want to be leaders and we want to make sure that we have a voice and we have a space for our clients to see the work that we are doing outside of just our advertising and marketing delivery

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and for us it's um it's really a kind of yeah CLE I think for the agency's values is the Bop certification and it really everything that we want be able to Contin it's obviously it's just a it's a huge milestone but it is just the beginning and I think our beup journey

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will continue to grow um and the wellness uh team and people team will continue to find new initiatives that we can continue to support yeah I love the fact you said it's just the beginning it really is because you know like you say it's a huge milestone to achieve that so

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congratulations to Red Pill marketing by the way um but yeah it is just a stepping stone towards something more and you know my podcast for this is all about businesses becoming more responsible whether that is through profit people or Planet you know whatever it might be however you

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progress whatever steps you can manage and there are a lot of businesses who either couldn't achieve B Corp or don't want to achieve it for whatever reason or don't want to pay because obviously it costs money but there are three ways to kind of like you say look at the

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culture within your business look at the welfare of your employees look at how you the communities around you whether that's clients whether that's employees whether that's influencers however that is so yeah I'm just so pleased that you said it's like a progress Journey as

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opposed to right we've done that and that's it we're done kind of thing yeah and I think it's it's sort of that evolving piece of who we are as an agency and as our team grows and people change and they can contribute in different ways um it was it's a massive achievement and I think that we can only

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do better um and it's I think throughout everything we're doing I think that is the thing we just want to do better and we want to be advocates for doing better and that's for our team our people our clients um and it has been something really exciting to be honest that we've

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all been able to get involved with when it feels like is the beginning of what we're going to be able to do next yeah it's fabulous and have you have you found that it's given you a voice then in your industry have you found it's given you much more influence on leading

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the way in this kind of thing within the influencer marketing agency I think so because I think it's also making us accountable um becoming Bop certified is you know one part of it you have to maintain it you have to feed it you have to grow it um and I think being accountable for any people profit

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environment um stance as as a creative agency essentially is quite difficult often I think it's quite a scary concept but I think being accountable for making change and doing better and making sure that we continue to make that stance is it's it's a really loud and bold

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statement uh for us and I don't think that we'll want to shy away from that and actually it's given us a space and a voice to contribute to conversations that are really important to us as individuals in the agency ah so that's really interesting as well just you're

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saying that could it obviously filters down personally to you guys as well it's not just the brand thing for red pill it's like it literally is like trickling through each and every one of you I guess and it have has that influence as well which is also amazing because that

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whole collaborative then progress you know as you as individuals as well as a company is is incredible much more impact and is the is the purpose L pieces of work that we're all getting to be involved with from the charity incentives to our we have a we work with

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a local uh Stephanie City farm which is really close to our office and it gives us the opportunity to not just do team building but it's purpos LED and giving back and I think from a a team building and bonding um perspective it's actually given us a lot more Focus yeah that's Fab so have you

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used it in your marketing a lot this B Corp um certification have you started telling people about it do you feel comfortable telling people about it yeah we we announced it I believe about four to six weeks ago just sort of lightly on social but as we continue to grow our

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initiatives and our support pledges I think that we'll continue to talk about it I think we'll try and create some content that's really dedicated around the work that we're doing and how that keep feeding and building and how people can get involved um yeah I think we're

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really comfortable talking about it um our Wellness specialist is um beot flag pole I mean she really is um our leader um and someone that's really there to incentivize us all to make sure that we're doing our our best with it and it's it's not just about environment and

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sustainability it comes to the people uh localized um approaches as well and yeah I think that we'll continue to be quite loud about it yeah I think it's great that you have that kind of like you say that certification to back you up with the narrative on the whole ESG kind of

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progress and things because again a lot of um businesses don't necessarily have that you know they don't have certification so they don't therefore don't necessarily have the um transparency or the kind of like dots in a row to say yes this is what we're doing so they have to find other to do

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that which is more difficult but it is doable for sure so yeah I think it's a get being Bob certified is a big task it's it's not an easy feat but I think for us it was really important and I think it's yeah that stepping stone to what we do next with with that certification and how we can we make it

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better and are you finding I know it's quite early days for you given you've just got the certification recently but are you finding that other clients are coming forward now because you have that and they choosing you over perhaps other options yeah it's it's definitely been

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something that we've start to actually talk about in Cent meetings and pictures and conversations and people are really um excited by it and I think it Brands want to be associated with agencies that are doing good especially if on brand side that they're making you know marks

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in their worlds to to do better as well um and I think that if you had the choice you know would you pick somebody beop certified over not in personally yes of course but I mean it's it's it's obviously up to the brands but it's definitely also a real good conversation

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starter because yeah it's making them think about the ways that they're working um and if anything it's just another kind of Mark in the sand about we can all start to to progress for better yeah absolutely so do you think um that that uh Brands and consumers are taking kind of sustainability or this

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ESG type approach you think they're taking it seriously yet or do you think there's still some room for that you think there's a small wave of us who really is trying to Champion this and help educate and influence for the benefits and and and get other other businesses and organizations to

29:23

understand those those positives that come out of it yeah I mean I think that we are seeing more businesses um and Brands become more than just a tick boox right they're not trying to just do the well was token and we've done it I think we're seeing a lot of people want to

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come forward I think we're not seeing enough but I do think the influence of other agencies and companies being quite loud about the way that they're working um and taking pledges toward sustainability and um environmental and people um within that I think it's you

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there shouldn't be something that you take box this should be something you're invested in this needs to be something that your team are invested in and your clients are um and I think that we will continue to see it grow but I still think it's really reliant on yeah the

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people that will be bold will be loud and we'll talk about it um and I think again probably more transparent conversations about what it looks like to try and do better um and not just from a cost perspective where it's expensive to do better but why we should do it and how we can make it part of um

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our day-to-day lives with our team and on on the business side as well yeah and it goes back again to what I said before about it doesn't have to be expensive you know there are lots of things that people already doing perhaps that is evidence you know within business and

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again with the communities and all that kind of stuff that they can talk about is just having that proof of of progress more than anything else yes you just need to start somewhere and I think once you've committed to starting something you're you're kind of on your way

30:52

because you'll have a marker for what you want to succeed absolutely so refreshing to have another marketer talk like that can't tell you it's just brilliant I love it um so back to marketing as a as a topic if you like I've read a few things I I liked your recent article about Christmas by the

31:09

way about experience sh than that was very good thank you um but also you've written something recently about the impending death of short form video so tell me a bit more about that is that something as marketers that and business owners and creators that we need to actually understand a bit more

31:25

do we need to move on from that if we haven't already like how how how desperate is the death is it is it like yeah I is it imminent I don't know today I think it's um I think they will always be a space for short form content however I think that will be always looking now for it to be supported by

31:43

long form and I think it's because we we actually hosted an event a couple of weeks ago called content that converts and we invited some amazing Brands to join us for some panel discussions and one of the biggest takeaways from the event was from Brands and influencer and

31:56

marketing side was at the heart of every single piece of content there needs to be a storytelling element this can't just be a call to action it can't just be a sales message our creators don't want to do that Our Brands don't want to do it so I think if you're going to have an

32:11

authentic organic approach to creating content that will come from slightly longer form pieces of content uh people aren't so you know swipe scroll throw away non-digestible pieces of content that you know don't really mean anything I think that people want to be slightly

32:28

more absorbed with what they're learning and they want to hear it and uh consumers like we said are a lot more Savvy and there to call Brands out and influences for mistakes because they're definitely more aware of the ins and outs of this world than they may be ever

32:44

were before and I think that that depth in connection will come from those Longo form pieces of content where somebody can really sit back and digest and learn um and I think that will also then Foster the communities where the conversation starts come from um we we've seen even Tik Tok you know they

33:01

started off with very very small options on length of uh content and they're extending out other people are extending out I don't think that will lose the place with things like shorts and reels or anything like that but I think that we will just start to see especially on

33:17

brand and influencer side um that those longer form pieces of content will they'll just feel more organic and they will feel richer um and I think from that we'll see better results on all sides so maybe it's a case of stopping the scroll and getting people absorbed in what you're doing yeah and what

33:33

you're trying to tell them yeah but I love the thing about the storytelling again I I was I was delivering a a seminar a couple of weeks ago and a lot of it was around like how you use ESG and responsibility and sustainability as a narrative to boost your BR reputation

33:46

a lot of it's about storytelling you know telling those stories it is about getting people like on board and who doesn't love a story we all love a Story Don't We yeah and I think if it's coming from like such an authentic place where it's you're so if it's my experience I'm

33:60

talking about I mean I want to buy into that more than I do a two second buy this Now swipe up on to the next one you know it's so throwaway yeah um we didn't used to be able to be so throwaway because things were in print or they cost a lot of money to be able to

34:14

produce that content where now it's so quick and it's a quick hit I don't I think the consumers want more than that they want more depth they want to understand more they understand more about ingredients production uh distribution they they want to see the full story and they want to have the ins

34:28

and out so they can really invest and buy in yeah that's amazing it's just so nice again to to hear that kind of reflection because this is kind of like where I'm traveling with my marketing and I know a lot of my my peers as well feel the same so it's great to hear you

34:40

know another side of the marketing industry say that as well and do you think then um this kind of longer form content do you think platforms have been slow to pick up on this or do you think they've partly driven it because I mean obviously like LinkedIn for example have

34:53

changed their their videos now they've almost got reals on there which will portrait and it first tra and there's all this kind of like oh my goodness again like what are we doing I don't I don't know if we'll ever be able to keep up with them in some ways because they

35:06

keep changing everything and we're always trying to keep ahead of the the next change um I think that we will all need to adapt to all formats constantly as we constantly see it's a consumption and a mass game by by a lot of Standards um I think that through branded content

35:23

and shoppable content on these platforms it gave the platforms and the brands an opportunity to really have that throwaway quick hit moment yeah that's great there will always be a space for that I think where they're starting to see more results is of this longer form

35:37

content I think the brands essentially will start driving away and moving um their focus off maybe from so much of a kind of throwaway mentality when it comes to content and that that quantity of it um I mean I would I think that YouTube will always be that platform um

35:54

but that doesn't mean that there's not space for long form on those other pieces other platforms but yeah I think for us we want our Our Brands and our influencers to be able to really tell stories um and not feel that it's CTA 5c Le sound bites although there will

36:10

always be a place for that that can't be the only part it yeah yeah agreed almost like back up to the longer form experience type thing yeah definitely yeah so apart from kind of like I don't want to say the death of short form because not quite but maybe the back

36:23

seat for short form for a little bit um any other marketing predictions that you can share with us or maybe one tip to springboard us smmes with our marketing that you would wouldn't mind sharing with us yeah I mean I think we' definitely touched on a few of them uh

36:37

long form content definitely I feel like is going to be something that we see more and more brands do next year I think it's an opportunity for us all to try and create deeper connections and meaningful pieces of content through the work that we're doing um memorable I

36:49

think is what we want to create uh next year I think Ai and generative tools we'll see agencies and Brands leveraging these um and not just enhance efficiency but also so we can test and learn and see how we can create tailored content personalized experiences um and just

37:04

give us an opportunity I think to kind of play with it a little bit more and I think we as agencies need Our Brands and clients to allow us to do that as well um so that we can all kind of learn together about the way that we can use this in a way that's um exciting and

37:18

optimized um that's something I think definitely we'll see next year more of um and I think something that's really important for us is yeah long-term influence Partnerships I think we see more and more Brands look for less of a mass approach with their content strategies with influencers and look

37:33

more for these like real authentic brand Advocates and ambassadors that work with them on a long-term basis fostering Better Community more engagement and I think we really do see like amplification from the uh those approaches from the authenticity and that I think is something that we'll

37:49

continue to focus on next year um and I think outside of that I think that we possibly will see a lot of the Platforms in roduce some new tools and features next year and I think from an engagement perspective we need to always encourage um Brands and influencers to be really

38:06

utilizing those inapp tools because they really do give you the opportunity to have a more engaged audience and I think there's a stat I saw the other day it's you know 57% of content that has an engagement tool within it performs better than the uh without a tool attached so I think

38:24

there's always opportunity to make it feel uh exciting and authentic but utilizing what the platforms are doing to engage their audiences as well yeah okay just really briefly to to just finish off you mentioned AI obviously so in theory given the creative agency that

38:39

you are you know I guess we could all imagine you being sat at home in your beds or bedrooms you know creating I I've seen some of the footage that you do and it's really quite incredible for some of the holiday companies you work with and the Beauty Brands you work with

38:54

um you know who's to say it's not AI I'm assume it's not AI but I'm sure you use it's not help the process yeah yeah I mean look I think that I don't believe we're in a position with AI that our our jobs are redundant in in this industry it requires so much human feeding and

39:11

learning and experience um I think there are parts of my job that could be supported by AI absolutely um do I think you can deliver what we deliver no not at this point but I think um we do use it um not for necessarily delivery of creative but from uh insights and to

39:31

support any you know time spent looking through reports you can ask it to audit it for you and use it for things like that that's a fantastic use of AI um really great use of tools like Runway to create mockups um for you know you do a game that requires a lot of human

39:47

feeding but it's um a great tool um but it's not the same as a designer and it's not the same as an artworker so I I think there's a super fine line but yeah we we we we all to use it more learn more about it and I think it's a definite test and play uh for us all in

40:04

marketing to be able to try and utilize more next year yeah yeah it's definitely finding its place for you isn't it I said to someone yesterday I'm kind of sat I'm not really embracing AI yet I'm sat next to it we're just getting to know each other I feel the same it's

40:16

kind of like it's there and we I kind of use it but I'm not invested into it um but I do love seeing um how much all agencies are talking about how we do want to play with it a little bit more yeah definitely well yeah and the only way to make it better isn't it yeah

40:31

exactly we learn that it learns as well so yeah Molly has been absolutely fabulous to have you on the podcast thank you so much for your time and massively appreciate it I know you're super super busy do you want to give out some contact details for red pill in

40:43

case there's anyone listening that wants to get in touch with you to talk about a project or or an influencer or whatever yeah absolutely I mean head over to our website which is red pill. um and over there you'll find all our contact details some uh head to our social from

40:58

there is probably the easiest um and yeah give us a follow on Instagram or LinkedIn um and see some ball work but yeah definitely get in touch fantastic thank you so much again I'm hoping that maybe maybe you can come back again and tell us some more about some extra

41:10

projects once ai's really got its feet foot under the table and all that kind of stuff that would be great yeah absolutely we can do a little run through hopefully I've got something exciting that I've learned that I've taught it I suppose instead yeah so definitely that's absolute pleasure and

41:24

to our listeners and Watchers thank you again for listening and watching and I'll see you next time you've been listening to the responsible marketing podcast you can contact me with any questions or comments by email at Joe Joon consulting.com or find me on LinkedIn

41:41

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socials with your friends and your colleagues that's it for now so until next time thanks for listening