Our guest on this episode of The Changemakers is Chris Silvestri, also known as The Conversion Alchemist.

With a background as a software engineer in industrial automation, Chris made a sharp turn into digital marketing, bringing a unique perspective to his work as a SaaS message-market fit specialist and conversion copywriter for B2B SaaS brands like Moz since 2016.

Chris explains to Dave why Series A to C companies often struggle to differentiate their messaging and get lost in the crowd, detailing how his work helps them stand out by making their value impossible to ignore. He clarifies the crucial distinctions between positioning, messaging, and copy, highlighting the common pitfalls of skipping vital research and strategy steps.

Dave and Chris discuss the typical mistakes B2B tech companies make in their messaging, such as lacking a unique point of view, failing to address different personas within the decision-making unit, and leading with "what you are" instead of "what people need,".

Finally, Chris discusses the transformative impact of AI tools on his approach, from research to copy generation and even synthetic user testing.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction to the Change Makers Podcast

00:58 Introducing Chris Silvestri and Conversion Alchemy

01:32 Diving into Messaging Strategies

07:33 Challenges and Mistakes in B2B Messaging

10:28 Effective Messaging and Copywriting

18:21 Companies Excelling in Messaging

22:24 Building a Brand Through Messaging

23:20 Research Framework for Messaging Strategy

24:01 Gathering and Analyzing Data

25:18 Understanding User Experience and Qualitative Data

31:21 Evaluating and Testing Messaging Effectiveness

33:03 The Role of AI in Messaging Strategy

40:37 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

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In this episode of The Changemakers, Dave is joined by David Wall, Creative Director at Tines and President of the Institute of Designers in Ireland.

David shares his unique career trajectory, moving from agency and independent studio practice to leading in-house brand design for a fast-growing tech company. He delves into the parallels between running a boutique studio and his current role at Tines, emphasising the ownership and learning opportunities inherent in both.

David also discusses what drew him to Tines – a workflow automation and AI orchestration platform – and how their brand messaging stands apart in the cybersecurity space by focusing on the positive outcomes of automation. We explore Tines' culture of empowering designers with significant autonomy, where collaboration means seeking meaningful input rather than permission, and how this fosters rapid progress and innovation. David also sheds light on the seamless integration between brand and product design at Tines, highlighting shared goals for design quality and the benefits of close proximity to product development. He underscores how design's value is deeply ingrained in Tines' leadership, evident from their earliest hires.

For agency creatives considering an in-house role, David offers practical advice on assessing organisational structure and ensuring design has a strong voice. Finally, he shares insights into his impactful work with the Institute of Designers in Ireland (IDI), where he champions design advocacy and policy.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction to the Podcast

00:53 Guest Introduction: David Wall from Tines

01:12 Meeting at RSA Conference

01:42 David's Transition from Agency to In-House

02:06 Brand and Product Design Collaboration

06:06 David's Role and Responsibilities at Tines

12:25 The Importance of Autonomy in Design

19:11 Leadership and Design Culture at Tines

32:18 Advice for Designers Moving In-House

41:36 Involvement with the Institute of Designers in Ireland (IDI)

44:16 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Send us a message if you enjoyed this episode

If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Watch episodes on YouTube
👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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In this episode of The Changemakers, Dave chats with Rachel Gogel, a seasoned creative executive consultant. Having built brands at titans like The New York Times, Meta, and Airbnb, Rachel knows a thing or two about transforming brand from a 'nice-to-have' into a vital business engine, and dives into her diverse career journey, from her graphic design roots to her current role as a fractional design leader and educator.

For creative leaders, Rachel offers invaluable advice on getting brand taken seriously. She champions speaking the language of business, focusing on metrics like user retention and conversion rates rather than just aesthetics. And she passionately champions in-product brand experiences, explaining how a strong brand isn't just about aesthetics, but about creating seamless, intuitive interactions within the product itself.

Drawing on her experiences, Rachel shares how to speak the language of executives, connecting brand initiatives to tangible outcomes like user retention, conversion rates, and lifetime value. She also shares the story behind her recent SXSW London panel, "Crafting Magic: The Art of Product", featuring fellow design leaders from Dropbox, Slack and Anthropic.

The conversation also explores the unique brand approach at Airbnb, where design and brand are valued from the very top. Rachel explains how to scale brand across diverse organisations, stressing that strong relationships and clear roles trump rigid org charts. She tackles the tricky balance of maintaining consistency while allowing teams to move fast.

Finally, we get into practical tips for leaders navigating competing priorities, including internal education, piloting ideas, and the power of user research in validating branded moments. Ultimately, Rachel advocates a powerful mindset shift: moving beyond brand as decoration to brand as experience, recognising that product and brand are inseparable in the user's mind.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Introduction and Welcome Rachel Gogel
• 01:52 Rachel's Diverse Career Journey and Fractional Leadership
• 06:50 SXSW London Panel: In-Product Brand Experiences
• 10:30 Advocating for Brand with Executive Teams
• 13:14 Brand as a Business Critical Function: Lessons from NYT & Meta
• 20:00 The Airbnb Approach to Brand and Design
• 26:22 Scaling Brand Across Organisations and Best Practices
• 34:10 Essential Qualities for Creative Leaders
• 44:30 Beyond Decoration: Brand as Experience

Send us a message if you enjoyed this episode

If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Watch episodes on YouTube
👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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In this episode of The Changemakers, Dave welcomes back Melissa Rosenthal - marketer, media veteran, and now co-founder of Outlever - for a conversation that unpacks how companies can truly own their voice through thought leadership.

With experience leading creative at ClickUp, along with shaping the rise of media brands like BuzzFeed and Cheddar, Melissa brings a unique perspective on why traditional media models are no longer enough - and what brands should be doing instead.

She shares the story behind founding Outlever, a platform helping B2B companies transform into modern media hubs by amplifying subject matter experts, customers, and partners - not just executives. This isn’t about vanity publishing. It’s about scale, speed, and relevance. Melissa explains how AI-powered media listening, layered with editorial expertise, can surface the right angles, elevate authentic perspectives, and unlock a new kind of brand-building: one rooted in trust, timeliness, and community insight.

If your brand’s thought leadership strategy starts and ends with LinkedIn posts or recycled threat reports, this conversation is the wake-up call you need. Melissa dives into why most companies are still stuck in old playbooks, how to break out of them, and what it takes to create a differentiated voice in crowded markets - especially when budgets are tight and attention is scarcer than ever.

Whether you’re leading marketing at a tech company, building brand awareness in a crowded category, or rethinking your content strategy, this episode is full of practical insights and fresh thinking on how to turn thought leadership into a true business asset.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and Podcast Overview

00:34 Upcoming Trip and Recent Projects

01:17 Episode Focus: Thought Leadership in B2B

02:18 Guest Introduction: Melissa Rosenthal

04:32 Melissa's Journey and Founding Out Leave

13:14 The Role of AI in Thought Leadership

16:10 Trends and Insights from Out Leave's Platform

21:02 Challenges and Differentiation in Branding

24:54 Conclusion and Future Directions

Send us a message if you enjoyed this episode

If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Watch episodes on YouTube
👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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Here’s another of our Byte-Size episodes! These are little chats between the team at Shaped By, sometimes about creativity in B2B, sometimes about something completely different.

In this one, Nick Farrar, Founder and CEO of Shaped By, and Jess Evans, Head of Delivery, get into B Corp. Why did we become a B Corp? What does it mean for us as an agency? And what’s next, both for us and for B Corp more broadly? They cover everything from the certification process to the ongoing work of embedding B Corp values in a way that actually makes a difference - not just a badge for the website.

00:00 Introduction to the podcast
00:15 Why Shaped By became a B Corp
02:03 What B Corp means to us
04:25 The role of SMEs in driving change
06:48 The certification process - how tough was it?
10:14 Where we did well (and where we could improve)
14:29 What we’ve done in our first year as a B Corp
17:02 Plans for 2025 and beyond
21:18 The bigger picture: what’s next for B Corp?
24:41 Embedding B Corp values into agency life
27:05 Wrapping up

Send us a message if you enjoyed this episode

If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Watch episodes on YouTube
👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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Motion design is often the unsung hero of brand and product storytelling - especially in B2B tech. But what does it take to bring complex, sometimes ‘unsexy’ products to life? And how can you move beyond one-off animations and build a scalable, strategic motion system that strengthens a brand over time?

First, Joshua Baron, Senior Brand Designer – Motion at Jasper, shares his approach to crafting motion systems that bring clarity to intricate products, the balance between abstraction and realism in design, and the evolving role of AI in motion.

Then, Peter Dickinson, Head of Motion at Skyscanner, dives into the power of motion systems at scale, how consistency builds brand trust, why motion should have a seat at the table from day one, and how to develop flexible guidelines that adapt across platforms.

If you’re a motion designer, marketer, or creative looking to sharpen your approach to motion in branding, this episode is packed with insights on both the craft and strategy of motion design.

Send us a message if you enjoyed this episode

If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Watch episodes on YouTube
👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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Welcome to another byte-size episode! In this one, Dave and Alex, Shaped By's marketing director, chat about the upcoming webinar on the challenges of working with founders to build a strong brand. They cover the common roadblocks - like navigating emotional attachments, getting buy-in from disengaged founders, and aligning leadership on brand direction.

They also introduce the expert panel joining the webinar:

• Kira Klaas – VP of Corporate Marketing at Later

• Tim Bauer – Director of Brand Experience at Scale AI

• Tom Ovens – Creative Director at Shaped By

If you work with founders this session is packed with insights on turning vision into a brand that actually works in the market.

To join the conversation register here: https://shaped-by.com/building-a-founder-led-b2b-brand/

And here's the link to Kira Klass's brilliant Substack 'On Brand': https://kiraklaas.substack.com/

Send us a message if you enjoyed this episode

If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Watch episodes on YouTube
👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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So here it is, the first ever “Part 2” in the history of The Changemakers. And it’s nothing less than a pleasure to bestow that honour on our guest, Carta’s creative lead Dave Breckon.

In Part 1, our Dave’s (we’ll call him Dave C) conversation with Dave B explored his wonderfully diverse career path, delving into the various lessons he learnt as he wound his way from the cobbled streets of Brighton to the bright lights of London, Madrid, Copenhagen, New York and San Francisco.

Part 2 sees Dave and Dave hooking up again to discuss how those experiences have shaped Dave B’s perspectives on design and creativity.

Their conversation touches on a range of subjects including managing in-house teams, fostering a culture of kindness, the evolving role of agencies, the application of AI in the creative process, and the challenges of scaling a brand in the dynamic fintech industry. They also delve into the nuances of building brand consistency while adapting to rapid changes in the market.

If you haven't checked out Part 1, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/kpPkTFYqHRE

Send us a message if you enjoyed this episode

If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Watch episodes on YouTube
👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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