Beyond the Brand

About Beyond the Brand

Beyond the Brand takes you inside the minds of today’s top marketing leaders to uncover the strategies, insights, and challenges shaping the future of brands. Hosted by Matt Huntly and Adam Wright, each episode features candid conversations with experts across retail, media, e-commerce, and consumer goods. From digital transformation to first-party data and retail media to product innovation, we explore what’s really driving success in modern marketing. Produced by Sampl. Precision product sampling that puts your product in the hands of real buyers. Visit www.sampltech.com for more info.

Publisher

Sampl

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

3 Feb 2025

Latest episode

9 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

31 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   9 Oct 2026

   Julia Kessler (Fiid) on the impact of GLP-1, managing a rebrand, and moving from founder to hired CEO

   This episode of Beyond the Brand looks at three big questions food and drink brands are facing right now. What do weight loss drugs mean for what people eat? How do you change a brand people already love without losing them? And what happens when you run a brand you didn’t build? A lot of the industry sees GLP-1 as a threat. Fewer snacks, smaller baskets, less booze. But for some brands, the shift could work in their favour, as long as they handle it carefully. To talk it through, Adam is joined by Julia Kessler, CEO of Fiid, a B Corp plant-based food brand from Dublin making high protein, high fibre meals that are ready in 90 seconds. Julia spent 12 years in tech supply chain at BlackBerry and QuickBooks, then co-founded spicy soft drink brand Nix and Kix, which sold around 30 million units and was stocked in Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons. In this honest, practical conversation, Julia explains why she sees GLP-1 as good news, how she rebranded Fiid within six months without losing loyal shoppers, and why time spent in supermarket aisles still shapes the decisions she makes. In This Episode Why GLP-1 is driven by consumers, not regulation, and why that means it will stick How one person on the drug can change what a whole household eats Why Fiid chose not to put “GLP-1 friendly” on pack Dropping “vegan” from the pack and leading with protein, fibre and veg instead Changing packs and recipes at the same time, and why she kept the name How promos, sampling and in-store displays protected shoppers at launch, and how rate of sale doubled Going from founder to hired CEO, and making decisions with less emotional attachment Watching shoppers in the aisle, and why “pink is a flavour” Key Takeaways 🔹 GLP-1 is a change led by consumers, so it’s here to stay🔹 You can design for a trend without putting it on the label🔹 Shoppers shop with their eyes first, so every pack needs to stand out on shelf🔹 A relaunch needs trial behind it, not just a new pack🔹 For a new or different product, getting it into people’s hands is the biggest driver🔹 Only launch NPD if it can do as well as your best seller Resources & Links Find Fiid in store or online https://www.eatfiid.com/Connect with Julia on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/innovationflow/ Follow Beyond the Brand for future episodes 💬 Is GLP-1 changing how your brand thinks about product, pack or positioning? Share your thoughts in the comments. 📲 Don’t forget to follow the podcast and leave a review. It really helps these conversations reach more people.

2. 

   8 Sept 2026

   How to future-proof your brand leadership career | Angeliki Kazantzidi | Kenvue

   Twenty years into a marketing career built across six countries and 40-plus brands, staying relevant has meant reinventing more than once, not settling into one version of the job. In this episode, Angeliki Kazantzidi, Head of Marketing Northern Europe at Kenvue, joins Adam to talk through what that reinvention has looked like, from a chemistry degree and an SAP consulting job to leading some of the biggest names in skincare and self-care. Guest bio Angeliki Kazantzidi is Head of Marketing Northern Europe at Kenvue, leading 6 countries and more than 40 brands including Neutrogena, Aveeno, Listerine and Calpol. Her career spans over 20 years across consumer health, FMCG, and B2B, with roles in Greece, Switzerland, Spain, and now the UK.

3. 

   27 Jul 2026

   The product proof your competitors can't copy | Sarah Booth | Ancient + Brave

   Any competitor can cite the same ingredient study you cite. Looking credible has gotten cheap, and the science page, the citations, and the claims that used to set a brand apart are now within reach of anyone with a product and a browser. What's left is the evidence you own about your own finished product, and that's what Sarah Booth has built Ancient + Brave around. Sarah is Chief Brand and Creative Officer at Ancient + Brave (https://ancientandbrave.earth/), the wellness brand that grew more than 1,400% in 2 years and holds the highest B Corp score of any UK supplement company. Before this, she led brand strategy at ASOS and ran brand and marketing at Ovo Energy. She started in zoology, which turns out to matter for how she runs a wellness brand. Sarah and Adam get into the difference between evidence about an ingredient, which everyone in your category can point to, and evidence about your product, which only you hold. In the episode: → Why nobody outside your business will ever fund a study on your actual product → The Nike test for whether the evidence you're citing is really yours → How Ancient + Brave's clinical trial surfaced a benefit they weren't looking for → What open customer feedback tells you that lab testing can't → Why owned evidence gets more valuable as your category fills with new entrants If you've watched a newer brand launch with claims that sound just like yours, this one's about what you can build that they can't lift. Beyond the Brand is brought to you by Sampl (https://www.sampltech.com/)—smarter product trials, measurable from request to review to sale.

Who has been a guest on Beyond the Brand

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Katrina Smart
• Azlan Raj
• Matt Higgins
• Ash White
• Bella Noakes

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

10 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 31 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

48

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32