Ironically, I remember the first time I got smacked in the face

Ironically, it was in a crumbly old boxing pub called The Ring.

The Ring is opposite Southwark Station.

One of life’s lovely oxymorons; a Thai restaurant shoved up the jaxxie of boozer.

It was a hot afternoon, the first time I got smacked in the face

Too hot. Sticky hot. Too sticky hot.

I felt like a f*cking sticky pork rib in Uniqlo getup as we climbed the stairs

We climbed and climbed and climbed

the marvellous aromatic waft of Green and Red and Yellow curries hummed and marbled and danced into hot June air.

The room was barren.

I didn’t know Alex Smith at all.

We hit record.

Within 1 minute, Alex smacked me round the face.

smacked me round the face with wisdom

left hook lucid-clarity

right hook this-is-right-way

strategy sucker-punch

it was an INSANE podcast

I went downstairs, ordered a cold Guinness, and thought “F*ck me, that was absolutely banging."

About 3 weeks later.

Alex ABSOLUTELY booted off on LinkedIn with his seminal and prodigious book “No Bullshit Strategy”

Over the past 2 years, we’ve become great friends. This is Alex’s third rodeo on the pod.

Alex’s thinking is lucid clear.

Like warm silk over cold marble. And Sunny February Morning frost.

ON THE MENU:

1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Strategy - The role of entering the consumers subconscious to unlock strategic insights
   
   
   
2. Why USP’s are a complete waste of time. Unique Points of Disagreement > Unique Selling Points
   
   
   
3. Why Unique Points of Difference = Surface Level Consumer “conscious” BUT Unique Points of Disagreement = Deeper Level Consumer Subconscious
   
   
   
4. 3 Questions to to break out the rails of bad bland brand thinking
   
   
   
5. Why the world doesn't reward the best ideas. It rewards those who are best at communicating those ideas.
   
   
   
6. Why MOJU is closer to Lucozade Vs innocent - the VITAL difference between “perceived” and “true” competitors
   
   
   
7. How to avoid the survivorship bias of bad ideas + Be like Elon Musk, “you need a defence of your ideas”
   
   
   
8. The Starbucks vs SAS Principle: there is no such thing as “good” or “bad” culture - it’s the just what’s the right culture to deliver strategy
   
   
   
9. Why “Start With Why” is NOT strategy “Why” is simply a storytelling tool
   
   
   
10. Why we are unhealthily obsessed with substance vs. style - those that focus on style beat those that focus on substance
    
    
    
11. Why focusing on Style actually reveals the value in the substance, Your role a founder is to be obsessed with style
    
    
    

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HUNGRY's Absolutely Bloody Marvellous Sponsors who make HUNGRY possible:

North Star: https://www.northstarbc.co.uk/

MKJ IGNITE: https://www.mkjignite.co.uk/

Big Fish: https://bigfish.co.uk/

BOWIMI: https://www.bowimi.com/

HC Consulting: https://www.hc-consulting.uk/

🤝 Let's mingle

Stalk me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/

Stalk me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/

Listen to the full episode here

Espresso's are powered by our brand new sponsor, Unleashed!

1. What on earth is Unleashed, I hear you asking?

Unleashed is Inventory management software that talks to your financial and eComm software. We use it daily at Islands. It's BANGING!!

2. Why Unleashed will change your life as a foodie founder?

Cut admin time in half. Save money. Lots of money. Get lucid clarity on margins. Be all over cash flow, after all cash is king. Manage stock and cash flow.

3. The biggest brands in FMCG love love Unleashed

Your fave brands like Candy Kittens, Tiny Rebel, TRIP use religiously. Tarquins Gin, Three Spirit, Minor Figures, The Turmeric Co., Volcano Coffee

4. Do yourself a favour

Feel free to reach out to the utter legends Josh and Bryony at Unleashed, book in a 20 min chat with this magical link. Even if nothing comes of it, it's worth having a chat. Click this magical link

Behind every single brand in your cupboard is one man

One man and his amazing team of big fish

Big Fish created the biggest food and drink brands of all time

You’ll see and chomp and demolish and love these food and drink brands all the time

• Charlie Bigham
• Ranna
• GU
• Yeo Valley
• Whole Earth
• Clipper Tea
• Dorest Cereals
• Maldon Sea Salt
• Sip Smith
• Roddas Clotted Cream
• Riverford
• The Coconut Collaborative

Perry Haydn Taylor is someone I’ll happily wander through the Wax Lyrical Woods with for hours and hours. With lashings of good ol’ merry and chortle for good measure.

We talk about foo and brands and creativity and the relentless pursuit of better

This is Pezza’s 4th rodeo on the pod.

This time we take it up a level up a level and talk about how to ACTUALLY exit for serious dough

ON THE MENU:

1. Why Food and Drink Founders must avoid the danger of tennis ball syndrome and chasing too many things all at once
2. The Parallels of Mullets coming back into Fashion & the Plant Based Movement Taking Off
3. Back from the Future “3 Levers” to pull to sell your brand for serious dough: The Symphony of Commercials, Operations, Marketing
4. Think about the retailer as much as the consumer: How much does it cost retailer to put product on shelf? Think about their business FIRST.
5. Why Creating a Tomato Juice Challenger Brand is Stupid: A Hard Truth in the what's the Sizeable Market
6. The Taylor Swiftification of Brand Building: Not every founder/brand can, and should try and be Taylor Swift
7. Unpacking Digital Darwinism and the Nudge theory in spreading food and drink ideas
8. The Prudent Path to the BIG Exit: constantly ask one simple “does this add to the category”
9. Why Every Category Can Be Premiumised until it becomes a Symbol of Reevaluation a la Adam Morgan
10. Three Trick Questions Founders Should Constantly BeAsking Themselves: What works and what doesn't work + how big is your business + how do we scale our marketing?

Full podcast will be live Monday 8am.

Others below if you can’t wait till then

-------------------------------------------------------

Every top food and drink founder reads our newsletter: https://hungryfeast.beehiiv.com/

HUNGRY's Absolutely Bloody Marvellous Sponsors who make HUNGRY possible:

North Star: https://www.northstarbc.co.uk/

MKJ IGNITE: https://www.mkjignite.co.uk/

Big Fish: https://bigfish.co.uk/

BOWIMI: https://www.bowimi.com/

HC Consulting: https://www.hc-consulting.uk/

🤝 Let's mingle

Stalk me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/

Stalk me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/

Listen to the full episode here

Espresso's are powered by our brand new sponsor, Unleashed!

1. What on earth is Unleashed, I hear you asking?

Unleashed is Inventory management software that talks to your financial and eComm software. We use it daily at Islands. It's BANGING!!

2. Why Unleashed will change your life as a foodie founder?

Cut admin time in half. Save money. Lots of money. Get lucid clarity on margins. Be all over cash flow, after all cash is king. Manage stock and cash flow.

3. The biggest brands in FMCG love love Unleashed

Your fave brands like Candy Kittens, Tiny Rebel, TRIP use religiously. Tarquins Gin, Three Spirit, Minor Figures, The Turmeric Co., Volcano Coffee

4. Do yourself a favour

Feel free to reach out to the utter legends Josh and Bryony at Unleashed, book in a 20 min chat with this magical link. Even if nothing comes of it, it's worth having a chat. Click this magical link

“quick, quick, quick drop your things RIGHT NOW!!

“you NEED to get over there”

My friend was all zonked and blooming and bug-eyed. Her head dunked in a fluffy tempura of happy-hysteria.

Her deep chocolate pudding eyes gave me the look “Hurry up, Fatso, get over there”

“Why?” I want to go out for a snout and a coffee”

Hastily, I dropped my things (which was actually nothing, as I didn’t have anything in my bloody hands… how bloody hilarious… bloody HA. HA. ha)

I ran and ran and ran

through the lab-rat-white-piercing light,

past armies of nameless names,

doding Sycophantic Nause Bags plugging NDD up buyers jaxies

Lunch! Trade Show

Ahhhhh, yes. I remember. I remember with lucid clarity. That day I found FATSO.

The name: FATSO.

So bold. So cheeky. So going straight-in-my-f*cking-basket-boiiisheeee

The flavours, spell-bindingly banging names and flavours

Morning Glory - “Cornflake and Marmalade”

Nan’s Stash - “Peanut, Toffee & Digestive Biscuit” (restraining order: por favor)

King’s Ransom - “Salted Pretzel, Whole Almond, Honeycomb”

FATSO excites me widly.

So excited to welcome the wonderful Ella on the poddy.

She’s totally amazing.

You’re in for a treat.

ON THE MENU:

1. How to build a brand a grow a baby at the same time - is it possible to manage pregnancy and brand building at the the same time?
2. How to do more of what actually matters, why “More Matters” in life and brand
3. How to find slip stream channel where no one else is looking - the unobvious channel is where the obvious gold lies
4. Fatso 3 Field Sales Fundamentals: How to unlock any indie listing when you’re feet on the street
5. Why Challenger Food and Drink Founder must develop a “Slow Productivity” mindset
6. How to Bring “Play” into work to avoid burnout - half the battle is just not burning out.

Fully eppy Monday 8am.

Others in the comments below xxx

Listen to the full episode here

Espresso's are powered by our brand new sponsor, Unleashed!

1. What on earth is Unleashed, I hear you asking?

Unleashed is Inventory management software that talks to your financial and eComm software. We use it daily at Islands. It's BANGING!!

2. Why Unleashed will change your life as a foodie founder?

Cut admin time in half. Save money. Lots of money. Get lucid clarity on margins. Be all over cash flow, after all cash is king. Manage stock and cash flow.

3. The biggest brands in FMCG love love Unleashed

Your fave brands like Candy Kittens, Tiny Rebel, TRIP use religiously. Tarquins Gin, Three Spirit, Minor Figures, The Turmeric Co., Volcano Coffee

4. Do yourself a favour

Feel free to reach out to the utter legends Josh and Bryony at Unleashed, book in a 20 min chat with this magical link. Even if nothing comes of it, it's worth having a chat. Click this magical link

This is the poddy I’ve dreamed of for 8 years.

Seth Godin.

Seth changed my life.

Seth’s thinking is INSANE

Each word is light yet heavy, pithy and profound, wise and wonderful. Wonderfully wise.

Seth stretched my mind to new rich, luscious pastures of thinking.

I was SO SO SO nervous

Pacing and pacing around like a nervous-biscuit scoffing hyaena. Watching the clock till 4pm. Did an 3 min Ice bath hahaha. Walked a trilliion-gazzilion steps.

ON THE MENU:

1. why brands must realise marketing is not advertising
2. a brand is not a logo, a brand is a promise, a brand is a shortcut to an experience
3. a brand shows up in the world with a true story that touches people and spreads. a brand “change someone for little while”
4. a) how to get your idea to ACTUALLY spread = create smallest viable audience + make promise + wrap story around promise.
5. b) Promise = story. Story = gives consumers Status and Affiliation = idea spreads through Status + Affiliation
6. 5 principles to spread any idea on the planet 1. fear, affiliation, status 2. be easy to talk about
7. Monk Marmalade principle: there is no such thing as the “best” marmalade or peanut butter. The unique “story” makes it the best in the unique consumers eyes
8. the race to the bottom of bad brand storytelling: you can pick “anyone” and we “pick everyone”
9. STOP asking consumers for feedback: Don't ask consumers what they want, watch what they do
10. why people buy Heinz Ketchup: we don’t engage with brands because “they” want us to, but because “we” want to. people people buy Heinz as it reminds them of their childhood
11. how Danny Meyer at Shake Shack creates INSANE cultures: don't manipulate + our job is to make things better + if we don't experiment who will
12. how In and Out Burger spread their story = burger reminds you of California + secret menu + geography locked = status + affiliation
13. why scale kills magic. UNTIl scale becomes part of the magic
14. always look for stuff at the edges, that’s where all the best stuff is, people go out of their way

Full episode Monday 8am.

Cannae wait till then?

Other episodes in the comments below

--------------------------------------------------

Every top food and drink founder reads our newsletter: https://hungryfeast.beehiiv.com/

HUNGRY's Absolutely Bloody Marvellous Sponsors who make HUNGRY possible:

North Star: https://www.northstarbc.co.uk/

MKJ IGNITE: https://www.mkjignite.co.uk/

Big Fish: https://bigfish.co.uk/

BOWIMI: https://www.bowimi.com/

HC Consulting: https://www.hc-consulting.uk/

🤝 Let's mingle

Stalk me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/

Stalk me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/

Listen to the full episode here

Espresso's are powered by our brand new sponsor, Unleashed!

1. What on earth is Unleashed, I hear you asking?

Unleashed is Inventory management software that talks to your financial and eComm software. We use it daily at Islands. It's BANGING!!

2. Why Unleashed will change your life as a foodie founder?

Cut admin time in half. Save money. Lots of money. Get lucid clarity on margins. Be all over cash flow, after all cash is king. Manage stock and cash flow.

3. The biggest brands in FMCG love love Unleashed

Your fave brands like Candy Kittens, Tiny Rebel, TRIP use religiously. Tarquins Gin, Three Spirit, Minor Figures, The Turmeric Co., Volcano Coffee

4. Do yourself a favour

Feel free to reach out to the utter legends Josh and Bryony at Unleashed, book in a 20 min chat with this magical link. Even if nothing comes of it, it's worth having a chat. Click this magical link