Welcome to another episode of the Think Editorial podcast. Flavia Barbat sits down with Harry Ashbridge, renowned for his work implementing public-facing writing guidelines at Monzo Bank and championing clear, effective writing across organizations.

Together, they explore the blurred lines between writing, copywriting, content design, and UX, and why these disciplines should never operate in silos. Harry shares insights on building a strong writing culture, the limits of AI, and why empowering everyone to write well is key to consistent, customer-centric communication.

(00:00) Unifying business writing silos

(08:47) Rethinking how brands build trust

(12:34) What writing really means across industries

(18:08) In-house writing vs agencies

(23:06) Building a strong writing culture

(27:12) Writing vs speaking in real life

(32:28) Keeping brand communication consistent

(38:26) Writing with the customer at the center

(46:47) Scaling a culture of good writing

(53:04) Where AI writing tools fall short

(57:01) Why it’s about “help, don’t fix”

(01:00:23) Writing starts with knowing your audience

Dive into my conversation with Stefano Puntoni, a renowned professor of marketing at The Wharton School (part of the University of Pennsylvania) and co-director of the "AI at Wharton" center, which promotes research on the role of artificial intelligence in business.

Professor Puntoni is privy to a lot of research applying behavioral science to innovations like algorithms and automation in order to better understand how they affect our consumption and lives. Which is why our discussion touches on:

1. The difference between a customer and consumer, and why that matters now more than ever
2. The emergence of the two internets, and the role of brands in that bifurcated future
3. The ability of AI to accurately rank products and services based on public data (be it true or not)
4. Why research says that AI can be more persuasive than humans
5. How society is now accepting one source of truth because of platforms like ChatGPT
6. Whether AI is bringing more convergence or personalization to our conversations, consumption, and society
7. The difference in and value of AI-generated empathy versus that of a human
8. And much, much more.

P.S. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to leave a review and follow Think Editorial for notifications about future editions.

Dive into my interview with Georgina Rutherford, co-founder of Personally, an agency focused on building the personal brands of experts across all sectors—which, of course, means that she has a lot of experience with what works and what doesn't on channels like LinkedIn.

Watch the full conversation to find out:

• How to build a personal brand strategy and keep thought leaders engaged throughout its execution
• The pressure to create using AI (as if not doing so is taboo), and how to counter it
• The importance of intentional writing, and how to foster it in your collaboration with thought leaders of all levels
• The concept of company-wide personal branding strategies, and how to build them
• What thought leadership really means, and what it’s not
• How to counter the fear that stems from sharing one’s thoughts publicly
• The dos and don’ts of leveraging LinkedIn as a personal branding platform
• And much, much more.

P.S. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to leave a review and follow Think Editorial for notifications about future editions.