This is Contagious - Contagious

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Low-budget bangers: how brands win on a tiny budget

Episode 10

Wednesday, September 9, 2026 • Duration 31:52

Dirty mattresses. Giant hairballs. Bad Bunny. The Pope. This CFO-friendly episode explores how brands can overindex on impact by investing in creativity rather than throwing money at the problem.

The Contagious team analyse some of their favourite low-budget marketing campaigns, unpacking the creative principles behind them and asking how brands can turn tiny budgets into big ideas, big conversations and even bigger earned media.

We’ll explain:

How to weaponise your audience as a media channel
Why withholding information can be more powerful than broadcasting it
How an ick factor can make out-of-sight products impossible to ignore
Why the WTF factor works so well in outdoor
How to turn existing infrastructure into emotion and engagement
How one tiny physical change can become a huge media event
How shoplifting can become brilliant PR

If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

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The joy of joining in: Twitch, togetherness and the new rules of brand participation

Episode 9

Wednesday, August 26, 2026 • Duration 40:26

Mary Kish, Head of Community at Twitch, joins Contagious to break down why people are flocking to Twitch – and why brands should care.

As a streamer herself, Mary doesn’t just work at Twitch, she lives the culture. In this conversation we explore why experiencing things together matters more than ever and how participation kicks the ass of passive viewing when it comes to building engagement.

We also explain:

How Twitch builds community in a world that feels lonely
The power of ‘I was there’
The origin of ‘rizz’
How a falcon rehabilitator found her people through Twitch
The main character energy of ‘chat’
The golden rule for brands on Twitch

If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

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Worldbuilding 101: How to turn a brand into an immersive commercial universe

Episode 8

Wednesday, August 12, 2026 • Duration 45:03

Tracing a line from Tolkien to Mattel’s toyetics, the Contagious team explores why brands are moving beyond storytelling to create richer, more immersive worlds.

We look at the rules that make fictional worlds believable and how worldbuilding can help brands escape commoditisation, fuel always-on creativity and give people something to believe in, belong to and buy into.

Along the way, we explore:

How Jellycat’s worldbuilding whimsy helped drive 66% revenue growth
Why the story is in the world, not the other way around
The toyetic rules that make Barbie Land believable
How Disney’s underground Utilidors keep fantasy intact
When a brand should act like a character, not a company
How Trader Joe’s became a tiki-themed grocery store and why Londoners carry its tote bags
Why your brand might need a map more than a sales strategy

If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

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Disruption, community & zero distance: inside E.l.f.'s marketing playbook

Episode 7

Wednesday, July 29, 2026 • Duration 37:48

Kory Marchisotto, the president of E.l.f. Brands, joins Contagious to unpack how a scrappy startup selling premium cosmetics at affordable prices evolved into a beauty powerhouse.

This episode explores the ideology, marketing and organisational culture behind E.l.f. Beauty’s explosive growth. We dig into how its biggest innovations were led by its community, how the company encourages healthy conflict and why its mantra is ‘anything is e.l.f-ing possible’.

We also explain:

Why E.l.f. started selling empty bottles to its fans
The difference between shaping and leading culture
Why people were clamouring to get financial advice from a beauty brand
How girls dropping out of sports could impact their future career success
How to create the workplace conditions necessary for innovation to thrive
Why E.l.f. maintains ‘zero distance’ between its C-suite and its fans.
How to jolt people into awareness around important issues

If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

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The Loneliness Disconnect: how big tech made us lonely and how brands are responding

Episode 6

Wednesday, July 15, 2026 • Duration 45:52

AI companions. Lonely cities. Yakult Ladies.

In this episode, Contagious investigates the rise of loneliness and why brands as diverse as Heineken and Games Workshop are winning by becoming the new facilitators of human connection.

Along the way, we explore lonelygenic cities, discover what brands can learn from 19th Century Parisian architecture, asking whether boyfriends are embarrassing and whether we’re trapped in the Me Operating System.

We’ll explain:

Why the real world is becoming a brand's biggest advantage
How cities and environments shape social behaviour
The real reason teenagers are using AI companions
What’s fuelling the social skills apocalypse
The hidden health impact of loneliness
Why technology creates the illusion but not the value of connection
Why Taylor Swift has done more for social cohesion than Mark Zuckerberg

If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

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Cannes Lions decoded: the campaigns, conversations and creativity that mattered

Episode 5

Wednesday, July 1, 2026 • Duration 44:34

The Contagious team returns from Cannes Lions 2026 to deliver our sunburnt take on the awards, the talks and what it all means for the industry.

Hot from the Croisette, we find out whether How Brands Grow is a brutally boring read, why the UN needs marketers more than ever, how the industry's best work is turning problems into opportunities, and how creative treasure can be found everywhere - from a dot-matrix printer receipt to a 12-tonne chocolate heist.

Along the way we delve into:

How to navigate the AI bifurcation without losing your humanity
The psychology behind humorous responsibility
Why lived human experience is becoming marketing's biggest moat
How the biggest award winners turned problems into creative opportunities
Why the marketing funnel is giving way to communities, conversations and participation
How to tell if your CEO has no imagination

If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

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Goosebumps, group chats & the World Cup: how to win the aftermath economy

Episode 4

Wednesday, June 17, 2026 • Duration 42:56

Budgets will be wasted. Brands will be ruthlessly filtered out. The real game starts after full time.

James Kirkham, founder of Iconic and ex-head of Copa90, joins Contagious to unpack why the 2026 World Cup is fundamentally different to previous tournaments - and what brands need to do about it.

This episode explores the new playbook for World Cup marketing, where winning isn’t about owning the biggest moment, but creating the conversations, emotions and cultural ripples that keep spreading long after the final whistle. .

We’ll explain:

Why the best metric right now is goosebumps
The reason creators are better value than athletes
How Gen Z are different to previous generations of football fans
Why group chats are the new stadiums
The power of conversations that happen after the game
Why the Village People were the canary in the cultural coalmine

If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

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Brain rot, AI slop & doomscrolling: how brands win in the attention economy

Episode 3

Wednesday, June 3, 2026 • Duration 48:11

In this episode, Contagious investigates what happens when content supply completely outstrips human attention, and how brands can win in a world dominated by infinite scroll, clip farms, AI slop and algorithmic overload.

Along the way, we’ll explore why Universe 25’s infamous rodent utopia experiments feel eerily relevant to modern media, why today’s attention panic may simply be history repeating itself, and why the real problem might not be shrinking attention spans but a zero tolerance reaction to boring content.

We’ll explain:

How brands cut through in a world of infinite noise
The rise of workslop and clip-farm culture
Why repetition, memes and cultural ad stock drive effectiveness
How TV became a mood light for distracted audiences
The difference between delivered abundance and accessible abundance
Why choice paralysis is becoming a major media problem
Why craftsmanship and human creativity still break through online
How a TikTok witch helped create cultural impact for an underwear brand

If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

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Crazy brand collaborations are exploding: this is why they work

Episode 2

Tuesday, May 19, 2026 • Duration 41:36

Pokemon. Meatball lollipops. 17th Century silk traders. In this episode, Contagious explores weird and wonderful brand collabs, why they’re so effective, how to use them as a shortcut to cultural relevance and which brands are doing them well.

Discover the psychology behind ‘optimal incongruence’, how brands like Supreme and Crocs turned collaborations into a business model, and why technology has raised the cultural bar for collabs.

Along the way, we dive into:

The science behind why bizarre collaborations capture attention
The rise of ‘luxury fan fiction’ and AI-generated fake collabs
How music and fashion pioneered modern collaboration culture
Why some collabs fail while others become cultural phenomena
The most unlikely brand collabs, from logistics streetwear to cheese jewellery
What are the hidden risks, failures and audience backlash brands often underestimate
The connection between Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Betty Crocker and Rick Rubin

If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

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The Industrial Nostalgia Complex: how brands can profit from the past

Episode 1

Tuesday, May 19, 2026 • Duration 38:28

Nostalgia. Cultural déjà vu. Kidulting. Why are so many people desperate to escape the present? In this episode, Contagious investigates everything from why adults are rebuilding their teenage bedrooms, to landlines for kids and the return of the iPod, and revealing why the past has become one of culture’s most powerful refuges.

Along the way, we unpack Happy Meals for adults, the psychology of anemoia, and why brands are increasingly selling comfort, tactility and emotional safety.

We’ll explain:

Why the past is haunting the present and how it stops us imagining the future
The data and drivers behind the analogue tech comeback
Why the nostalgia cycle is shortening
How a sunscreen brand has created a sensory portal back to the 1980s
Why Gen Z feels nostalgic for decades they never experienced
How the Proust effect works and why it’s slightly more disgusting than you assumed
Why the Prime Minister of Canada might be wrong about strategy

If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

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This is Contagious – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

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Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

This is Contagious – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other1

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other1

Apple Podcasts

Spotify