The Changemakers

In this episode of The Changemakers, which was recorded as part of our virtual summit Bring Your Own Bold, Wei Kee (Client Services Director at Shaped By) sat down with Maria McLaughlin (Senior Director, Global Brand and Creative at Abnormal AI) and Tom Ovens (Creative Director at Shaped By) to explore how they successfully navigated a full-scale rename and rebrand, and unpack:How a partnership based on chemistry and mutual respect delivered an extraordinary outcome.The criticality of getting key internal stakeholders, including the CEO, fully committed to a pivotal project.How to manage and deliver meaningful work under "audaciously ambitious" and brutal time scales.The tangible business success of the rebrand, including Abnormal AI's best financial quarter ever post-launch.This is an essential conversation if you're looking to understand how to drive ambitious change and prove the commercial value of a bold brand identity.🎧 Listen now2. Timestamps01:21 - The evolution of the client-agency partnership.02:55 - Why chemistry is one of the key pillars of a successful partnership.04:19 - Stakeholder engagement: The importance of having the final decision-maker in the room.07:55 - Building trust and rapport with the CEO.10:48 - Geeking out: How commonality in thinking helped the connection.13:35 - The power of positive inter- and intra-team dynamics.14:58 - Navigating "brutal" and rigid time scales collaboratively.17:08 - The rewarding outcomes: a durable brand and the best financial quarter ever.19:30 - The internal and external market reception to the new identity.24:18 - Advice for achieving extraordinary results with a creative agency.25:54 - What's next? Up-leveling the work and having fun in 2026.30:35 - Closing remarks: Success comes from surrounding yourself with good teams.Send us a message if you enjoyed this episodeIf 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 inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

In this episode of The Changemakers, recorded as part of our Bring Your Own Bold series, Simon, Design Director, and Justin, Associate Creative Director of Messaging, discuss the importance of visual and verbal branding working together. Two complementary forces essential for a brand’s harmony, balance, and effectiveness.They look at the whole from their two professional perspectives. That essential balance and interplay between visual identity and verbal identity. They explore how powerful brands use design, logos, and visuals in perfect harmony with their voice, tone, messaging, and storytelling.Because harmonious, balanced brands better connect with their audiences to win hearts and minds, trust and loyalty.🎧 Listen nowTimestamps:02:45 – The Yin and Yang analogy: why visual and verbal identity are inseparable forces.04:30 – Beyond the box: creating agile visual systems that evolve with culture.06:40 – More than a logo: how brand systems should cover every touchpoint.08:30 – The "Feeling" piece: why humans are feeling creatures who think.10:30 – Verbal branding: giving life and breath to brand strategy through language.12:30 – The organising thought: using a succinct brand story to kick off ideation.15:40 – Case study (Shaped By): why we use "Shapelings" and "Studios" to stay human.20:00 – Point of view: standing for (and against) something to avoid being "wallpaper".23:10 – Bold examples: how Monzo changed banking with a single color and no photography.31:00 – Deep dive: positioning Censys as the "map of the internet".40:19 – Closing thoughts: why bold brands should be more “Yoda".Send us a message if you enjoyed this episodeIf 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 inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

In this episode of The Changemakers, recorded as part of our Bring Your Own Bold series, Dave Corlett sits down with Li-Anne Dias, Executive Creative Director at Brex, to explore the vital practice of "creativity without permission". They discuss:Utility vs. creativity: why designers must break free from the "mandate of utility" to rediscover their creative instincts.The power of physical constraints: how forcing a "one-mile distance" from your laptop can spark the muscle memory of true art.Building a cinematic universe: why viewing your work as a holistic body of output, rather than a collection of corporate briefs, changes your perspective.Subversive inspiration: how finding beauty in old matchboxes and cartoons can sharpen your instincts for high-stakes tech design.Whether you’re an in-house creative feeling the burnout or a leader looking to inspire your team, this conversation is a masterclass in reclaiming your creative soul. Don't let your "professional self" swallow your "creative self."🎧 Listen nowTimestamps:01:43 - What is "creativity without permission"? 02:22 - The trap of utility and the fundamentals of design. 03:35 - Operating within business constraints vs. creating for yourself. 04:29 - Li-Anne’s personal rituals: Sharpies, sketchbooks, and Berkeley trees. 05:55 - The discipline of the "forcing function" to stay off screens. 08:28 - How outside art translates into sharper instincts at Brex and Handshake. 10:31 - Finding influence in matchboxes and subversive cartoons. 13:00 - Your "Cinematic Universe": Looking at the whole body of work. Send us a message if you enjoyed this episodeIf 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 inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

In this episode of The Changemakers, recorded as part of our virtual summit Bring Your Own Bold, Dave Corlett sits down with Everett Katigbak, founder of Work by Everett, to explore the vital balance between digital innovation and human craft.Everett, a creative leader who has shaped brands at Facebook, Stripe, and Anthropic, unpacks the concept of "Analog Intelligence", the "other AI" that keeps our work grounded, tactile, and deeply human.Together they explore:The Facebook analog research lab: How a "punk rock" print studio in the heart of Silicon Valley became the epicenter of a global company’s culture.The "Mark of the Maker": Why showing the humanity and even the "mistakes" in our work creates a deeper connection with the audience than perfect digital output.Designing for AI with a human touch: Behind the scenes of building the Claude brand identity at Anthropic and why physical craft matters even for 100% digital products.The founder’s disconnect: Why innovative startups often default to safe, "category-standard" stories and how to reclaim your original narrative.Thinking with your hands: Why reconnecting with physical tools is a non-negotiable meditative practice for the modern designer.This is a provocative conversation for any creative leader or founder looking to resist the "cognitive offload" of technology and embrace their authentic, inner bold.Listen now 🎧Timestamps01:03 - The Silicon Valley "Lone Designers": Founding the Facebook analog research lab. 03:35 - Building a dialogue: How physical space and "wheat pasting" transformed corporate culture. 06:08 - The genesis of Stripe Press: Why a digital giant chose to publish physical books. 08:03 - Appropriateness in Design: Anthropic (Claude) needed a human-centric identity. 10:00 - Crafting Claude: using 35mm film, cut paper, and human illustrators in an AI world. 12:00 - The "Curse of the Marketing Mindset": why brands converge and how to stay distinct. 14:22 - Striking a chord: why you should be "close to being fired" (in a good way) to make an impact. 16:12 - Work by Everett: Teasing out the unique founding stories that companies often gloss over. 20:40 - The pressure of the pivot: why founders get scared of being too "maverick." 23:41 - Following intuition: Everett joined Facebook and Anthropic before they were "cool." 27:22 - Reconnecting with the ‘muscle’: creativity is a verb and a process, not just an output.Send us a message if you enjoyed this episodeIf 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 inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

In this episode of The Changemakers, which was recorded as part of our virtual summit Bring Your Own Bold, Dave Corlett sits down with Scott Smith, Creative Director at Intercom, to dive deep into a critical question for B2B scale-ups: How do you build and scale a brand identity that’s truly bold?Scott, a champion of exceptional creative vision, unpacks the secrets behind Intercom's award-winning identity.Together they unpack:How the Creative Studio operates as an in-house agency, starting every project by asking: How can we execute this in the most exceptional creative way possible?The system for scaling a complex brand identity across all touchpoints, using the "brand matrix" to push the boundaries creatively while still ensuring a through-line.The importance of leading by example in a creative studio and how Scott fosters a culture of high engagement and serious, fun work.How Intercom’s C-suite acts as a creative partner, riffing with the team to shape a vision where the final creative work is often stronger than the initial idea.This conversation is full of tips for any marketing or creative leader ready to embrace a philosophy of constant change and craft a sophisticated brand that stands out from the crowd.Listen now 🎧Timestamps02:03: Brand is a galaxy, the antithesis of a brand-in-a-box.03:36: Brand idea: Customer service changes everything. Change is key.05:25: How to execute in the most exceptional creative way possible.06:38: The "super bloom" creative concept for the Pioneer event.12:28: Scaling the complex brand using the strategic "Brand Matrix."12:56: Ace the Basics: The fallback brand skeleton when moving fast.17:15: The best job part: Team creative is stronger than initial vision.21:30: Creative leadership tenants: Early is on time, lead by example.23:13: Creative team is the example for company operations, not the exception.Send us a message if you enjoyed this episodeIf 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 inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

In this episode of The Changemakers, which was recorded as part of our virtual summit Bring Your Own Bold, Dave Corlett, Business Director at Shaped By sits down with Alex Walters from Papaya Global to tackle the "super meaty topic" of humanising B2B brands. Together they unpack:Why Alex believes 90% of the B2B world is failing to crack the human element, defaulting to "grey" because of a primal fear of people not liking their tone.The insidious "herd mentality" that causes B2B brands to blend and converge around safe, jargon-filled design and copy.The biggest internal challenge of brand building: winning hearts and minds by getting people to view their brand from the perspective of an outsider.The strategic reason for B2B FinTech to invest in a Super Bowl ad—and how they created a secondary content layer that generated 250 pieces of Tier 1 media coverage.This is a very insightful conversation for any marketing or creative leader who is ready to make a difference with their brand.🎧 Listen nowTimestamps:00:34 - The primal fear and why 90% of the industry defaults to 'grey.'03:17 - The herd mentality and B2B brands blending in.05:19 - Papaya Global's story: How they became a globally recognised brand.06:41 - Owning the narrative: Why the tagline is "How the world gets paid."07:25 - The biggest internal battle: Winning hearts and minds inside the business.08:35 - The "Air" thought exercise: Helping people see the brand as an outsider.09:59 - The sliding scale of humanity: Humour fades closer to the customer.11:41 - The strategic reason for a Super Bowl ad (and why a B2B FinTech did it).13:41 - The PR angle: Generating 250 pieces of coverage because the ad became the story.16:32 - The viral AI activation: Allowing users to put their face in the ad.18:24 - Balancing emotional connection with rational confidence for multi-million dollar decisions.21:48 - Alex's first pure B2B SaaS role: The challenges of scale, speed, and complexity.23:14 - The job of a creative: Understanding the product at a deep level to communicate its value.Send us a message if you enjoyed this episodeIf 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 inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

In this episode of The Changemakers, Dave Corlett, Business Director at Shaped By, sits down with Joseph Steele, Lead Brand Strategist at Celonis, to dive deep into brand, technology, and "anarchistic accelerationism".How does a company like Celonis, which was already pioneering AI technology long before it went mainstream, adapt its brand positioning without getting lost in the "now with AI" enterprise noise? As well as tackling that thorny question, Dave and Joseph go deep into what makes Joseph so positive about the world of AI, why he thinks it's a great leveller of technology, and how internal creative teams can carve out space for their own 'Manhattan project'.Joseph also shares a surprisingly profound naval history analogy to show where we are in the current evolution of AI.This episode is a compelling, original conversation for anyone in the enterprise technology space looking to balance deep-seated brand consistency with rapid technological change.🎧 Listen nowTimestamps00:00 - Meet Joseph: Intro to Joseph Steele, Lead Brand Strategist at Celonis.01:22 - From Midlands to Munich: Joseph’s journey from Burton on Trent to the German tech scene.02:25 - Start with Why: How art school taught him to question everything (and apply it to business).04:19 - Celonis in a Nutshell: Unlocking the value trapped in enterprise processes.07:25 - The Optimist's Edge: Why Joseph is an "anarchistic accelerationist" on AI.09:16 - Revolutionary Learning: How tools like ChatGPT are a "good leveler" of expertise.12:14 - Allergic to Governance: Why AI is a chance to pursue a flatter, more democratic system.15:58 - Surviving the Hype Wave: Celonis's strategy to talk about AI without becoming "Celonis.ai".19:15 - The Punk Aesthetic: Why a $13 billion B2B company needs a gritty, unique visual identity.24:57 - Dare to be Different: The Celonis ethos: be 10x better or completely different.25:38 - Skepticism & Trust: Why a change-maker customer base trusts AI, despite failed pilot reports.28:23 - Legal Blockers: Why internal processes—not technology—are killing creative AI adoption.30:37 - The Manhattan Project: Why every creative team needs a secure space to mess around with AI.34:17 - Embracing Inevitability: Why trying to stop AI image-making is absurd.36:43 - The Dreadnought Analogy: Naval history explains exactly where we are in the AI revolution.Send us a message if you enjoyed this episodeIf 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 inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

In this episode of The Changemakers, which was recorded as part of our virtual summit Bring Your Own Bold, Dave Corlett sat down with Adam Morgan to explore why it’s important to have creatives at the board table and unpack:Why the experience era demands right-brain thinkers in leadership.The difference between a growth marketing and a brand marketing mindset in a downturn.The 'glass ceiling' for creatives and why many creatives "shoot themselves in the foot" by not learning business strategy.How the "design-led movement" opened the door for Chief Design Officers—but why that's not enough.Don't miss this one. It's a non-negotiable conversation if you're looking to elevate your creative impact and make the case for creative leadership in your business.🎧 Listen nowTimestamps00:00 - Introduction: Meet Adam Morgan and the case for creative leadership.01:02 - Why the Experience Era demands creative leaders on the board.01:43 - Why creative people are best poised to understand customers and emotional connections.05:42 - The counter argument: Why most companies don't take this approach.06:11 - The CMO challenge: Performance marketing focus vs. creative understanding.08:35 - The 'glass ceiling' and why creatives aren't stepping up to C-level roles.11:56 - Is creativity seen as 'fluffy'? The cultural problem of 'squeeze, squeeze, squeeze' operational efficiency.13:58 - Design vs. Creativity: The impact of the design-led movement.15:48 - The Chief Experience Officer: Why they are the master problem solvers.17:43 - Building the creative leadership movement: The importance of seeing yourself up there.21:25 - The search for B2B companies with a Chief Creative or Experience Officer.23:17 - Closing remarks: Start the movement!Send us a message if you enjoyed this episodeIf 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 inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

In this episode of The Changemakers, which was recorded as part of our virtual summit Bring Your Own Bold, we dive deep into the forces that truly drive customer decisions with Richard Shotton, author of the influential book The Choice Factory.Richard's work is celebrated for taking the academic, jargon-filled world of behavioral science and making it usable and applicable for marketers. We wanted to get him on to bust the myth that these principles are purely a consumer thing. Spoiler: They're not. B2B professionals are just as influenced by biases as B2C customers.We go beyond surface-level concepts like social proof and scarcity to unpack the EAST framework—a simple, powerful structure (Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely) for applying behavioral science daily.Richard shares incredible real-world examples that challenge what you think you know about your customer journey.This episode is packed with practical, costless principles you can apply to stack the odds in your favour and drive behavior change.🎧 Listen nowSend us a message if you enjoyed this episodeIf 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 inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️

Too often, creative and marketing teams are seen as executors instead of innovators. This conversation between Phil Lewis (Consultant & Speaker) and Dave Corlett (Business Director at Shaped By), which was recorded as part of our virtual summit Bring Your Own Bold, offers practical tips to shift that dynamic by removing internal barriers that block progress, cloud clarity, and weaken conviction. Learn how to position your team as a trusted, strategic force that drives impact, influences decision-making, and earns a seat at the table.🎧 Listen nowTimestamps:00:00 – Introduction: Moving teams from order-takers to strategic partners.03:10 – Why internal dynamics shape external perception.04:40 – The Five Steps to Team Vitality framework.06:00 – Breaking down comprehension, confidence, and engagement.08:30 – Common team pitfalls and the bias for action.11:00 – Measuring progress and maintaining team health.14:00 – Endurance and the emotional labor of leadership.16:40 – Collaboration as the heart of strategic partnership.18:40 – Healthy conflict: Why disagreement fuels innovation.23:00 – The Regeneration Equation: Context, communication, conflict.24:50 – The power of uncomfortable conversations.27:00 – Understanding context to amplify collaboration.31:30 – Scaling collaboration across departments.34:20 – Case study: 800% improvement through honest dialogue.38:00 – How long real transformation takes.Send us a message if you enjoyed this episodeIf 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 inspirationAnd finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!✌️