The Catching Fire Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Before “PPC” was even a term, Fred Vallaeys was helping Google build it. Now, he is on a mission to help marketers make sense of the monster it’s become.

Fred unpacks his journey from those early Google days to founding Optmyzr, revealing how marketing transformed from the simplicity of goto.com to our current maze of touchpoints.

He mentions five essential roles modern marketers must embody, from "PPC Doctor" diagnosing campaign ailments to "PPC Chef" combining ingredients in ways automation never could. 

For anyone feeling swallowed by GA4 complexity or wondering if their job might vanish to algorithms, Fred offers refreshingly practical wisdom about layering your expertise on top of platform automation.

Connect with Fred: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederickvallaeys/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

Jessica Postiglione couldn't find a fiber supplement that actually worked. So she made one.

This chat reveals how Bonny grew from personal frustration to thriving brand by tackling an uncomfortable topic with humor and brutal honesty. 

Jessica spills the real secrets behind successful DTC brands while exposing why most fail miserably. You'll get practical strategies for finding your first customers, why Meta still delivers despite skeptics claiming otherwise, and how authentic branding builds tribes that sell your product for you.

In this episode, you’ll learn building community isn't just theory—it's the playbook that transformed her solution for better pooping into a business that customers literally thank her for creating.

Connect with Jessica: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-postiglione-81073615/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

How do you take a small, mission-driven food brand and land deals with giants like Ben & Jerry’s, JetBlue, and DoubleTree?

In this episode of Catching Fire, we sit down with Marlo Giudice, a powerhouse entrepreneur and VP, Sales at Partake Foods from a startup idea to a national brand. Marlo shares the realities of launching a consumer product through her own personal experience, navigating the cutthroat world of retail, and using data-driven storytelling to win shelf space against industry giants like Oreo.

She also reveals:
🔥The cold call that landed a game-changing partnership with Ben & Jerry’s
🔥Why getting on retail shelves is easy—but getting off them is hard
🔥How Partake’s mission-driven brand (Black-owned, women-led, and B Corp certified) opened new doors
🔥Why numbers, not hype, are the secret weapon in sales conversations

Whether you're a founder, marketer, or aspiring entrepreneur, this episode is packed with insider strategies you won’t want to miss!

Connect with Marlo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marlo-giudice/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

On this episode of Catching Fire, we sit down with Jess Kamada - Managing Partner of Swizzle Ventures, who recently closed a $6.6 million fund focused on advancing women's health and wealth. With 15+ years in growth marketing and experience working with 12 unicorn companies, Jess shares her journey from agency founder to VC, revealing the "Efficient Growth Framework" that guides her investment strategy. 

In this episode discover:

• Why sustainable growth must be built on loyal customers, 
• How to find your "growth moat" in today's challenging landscape, 
• Why only 2% of VC funding goes to women-led companies—and how she’s changing that. 

Whether you're a founder, marketer, or investor, this episode delivers practical insights on building authentic communities, achieving the right unit economics, and finding product-market fit in women-focused sectors.

Connect with Jesse: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesskamada/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

#VentureCapital #WomenInVC #GrowthMarketing #StartupFunding #FemTech

In this raw and revealing conversation, discover how dark comedy became a powerful tool for a veteran's mental health, why authenticity trumps production value, and what it takes to build a community-driven business from scratch. Whether you're an entrepreneur, creator, or someone fascinated by the power of niche storytelling, this episode offers invaluable insights on turning pain into purpose and building a business that truly serves its community.

Featured highlights:

• Why Hollywood gets military stories wrong

• How to build a Netflix-like platform with zero entertainment background

• The unexpected power of dark humor in healing trauma

• Building a business through community authenticity

Connect with Danny:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannydiazmaher/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

In this week’s episode, former Meta executive Sakshi Chadha pulls back the curtain on Silicon Valley's most controversial moments.

From managing Facebook's 2020 election integrity team to witnessing the platform's dramatic shift under recent political pressures, Sakshi shares unprecedented insights into how social media giants really operate.

Join host Bryan and Sakshi as they dive deep into Meta's evolution from its "Wild West" days to its current AI-driven future. 

Highlights include:

• Behind-the-scenes look at Facebook's election integrity efforts

• The real story behind "data selling" controversies

• How AI is disrupting traditional business models

• Practical advice for startups in a post-pandemic world

Connect with Sakshi:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sakshi-chadha-7360727/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal.https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media.https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

What happens when you treat talent as partners, focus on creative agility, and refuse to cut corners in production? You get Blitz Creative.

After transitioning from entertainment to branding, founder Jared Blitz built his sports-focused content studio around these principles, crafting high-impact branded content while keeping production lean, talent-first, and storytelling-driven.

In this episode, Jared shares:

• Why brands need to invest in creativity, not just media buys

• The secret to making brand content feel fresh, fun, and authentic

• The intimate connection between branding and entertainment

• How he pulled off a wildly creative ‘90s sitcom-inspired campaign

Connect with Jared:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredblitz/

https://www.blitzcreative.la/

Latest work with Cristian Mcaffrey: 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C__Zg8Iybdy/?hl=en

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jaredblitz_can-you-create-a-90s-sitcom-with-christian-activity-7274453222843387904-kEu7/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

Peter Jonas has had a fascinating journey through the tech world. A former executive at Facebook, Uber, and Compass, he went from launching Facebook’s mobile app install product to co-founding his own company, Thirdwave, which gives developers and businesses deep insight into user behavior with blockchain data. 

In this episode, you'll discover:

Why Web3 wallet IDs have the potential to revolutionize ad targeting

Parallels between the early days of mobile app installs and the current blockchain market

The power of small teams for avoiding bureaucracy and providing quality service

The importance of simplicity and elegance in branding

Connect with Peter:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pbjonas/

https://thirdwavelabs.com/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

There’s no bigger buzzword than “data-driven.” Tap In Digital co-founder Kirk Nielson actually earns the description – and he’s making one big bet based on data:

The importance of investing in brand marketing.

Kirk is in the business of solving one problem for clients: where to spend their next dollar for maximum impact. In this episode of Catching Fire, which is a precursor to an exciting service launch coming soon from Playbook Media, he shares:

How performance branding accelerates growth through better brand marketing

The limitations of media mix modeling and how to work around them

How non-marketing factors affect your marketing efforts

Why it’s so important to unify product and marketing

Connect with Kirk:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirk-nielson-4039023b/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

Are click-based attribution models holding your marketing strategy back? 

In this special solo episode, Bryan introduces a new Playbook Media service called performance branding: a game-changing approach that shifts marketing dollars from traditional low-funnel spending to educating consumers earlier in the buying cycle. The end result? Higher conversion rates and better customer loyalty.

Discover: 

• The evolution of marketing, from traditional brand spend to direct response (DR) advertising

• The limitations of click-based attribution models, and what you should be doing instead

• How performance branding improves storytelling and reach to drive conversions

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 
Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/