Bon Sauce - A Branding & Marketing Podcast

Kate Rhodes is the founder of House of Comms, a strategic marketing consultancy built around the simple, but radical idea that movement and nature make us better thinkers and strategists.

She shares the story behind her business, and the moment everything changed while walking the 286 miles of the Pennine Way. That experience became the foundation for how she now works with clients. Taking meetings outdoors, ditching the boardroom, and using walking as a tool to unlock more honest conversations and better strategic thinking.

Kate and Elliot talk about divergent thinking, spatial navigation, the effect of novelty on the brain, and why AI's tendency to flatten and generalize makes this kind of human embodied thinking so much more valuable.

Listen to the end to hear our Secret Sauce where Kate breaks down exactly how to take a problem for a walk, a small habit that can change how you solve problems in your life.

For key ideas, takeaways and the transcript from this episode, visit:

bonsauce.co.uk

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and share with a friend or colleague.

Get in touch if you have any marketing & branding questions or topics you would like us to talk about - we would love to hear from you!

Subscribe and Follow for more branding and marketing Secret Sauce 🌶️

🔗 Links

• House of Comms website
• Connect with Kate Rhodes on LinkedIn
• Where She Walks
• Kate speaking at ICG - 1st October

✉️ Get in touch

Elliot - Bon Creative | https://bon-creative.co.uk/

Eliška - Light Sauce Studio | https://www.lightsauce.studio/

LinkedIn

Elliot | Bon Creative

Eliška | Light Sauce Studio

Instagram

Eliška | @eliskahsk

Bon Sauce Podcast is a Hidden Duck Studio production 𓅭

https://www.hiddenduck.studio/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, Elliot is joined by Nick Richtsmeier, founder of Culture Craft, Trust Made Growth and author of The Damn Rules.

They reflect on why marketing feels ten times harder than it used to, and what's really driving that shift. Nick breaks down the difference between extractive and expansive systems. It sounds complex on the surface, but you’ll definitely recognise the symptoms of how some of the bigger tech companies operate today. He traces this back to what he calls the closing of the web, the slow retreat of platforms like Meta and Google from the open internet that made digital marketing feel so easy in the 2010s, and explains why AI is following the same extractive playbook, just faster and more fragile.

The conversation dives deep into one of the seven rules from his book, “The Problem is the Problem”, and why it can often be addictive to chase symptoms instead of root causes.

Listen to the end to hear our Secret Sauce where Nick reveals the first question to ask yourself if you actually want to move from firefighting symptoms to solving the real problem underneath it.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and share with a friend or colleague.

Get in touch if you have any marketing & branding questions or topics you would like us to talk about - we would love to hear from you!

Subscribe and Follow for more branding and marketing Secret Sauce 🌶️

🔗 Links

• https://www.culturecraft.com/guild
• https://www.nickrichtsmeier.com/the-damn-rules

✉️ Get in touch

Elliot - Bon Creative | https://bon-creative.co.uk/

Eliška - Light Sauce Studio | https://www.lightsauce.studio/

LinkedIn

Elliot | Bon Creative

Eliška | Light Sauce Studio

Instagram

Eliška | @eliskahsk

Bon Sauce Podcast is a Hidden Duck Studio production 𓅭

https://www.hiddenduck.studio/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eliška's off on holiday this week, so Elliot is joined by a special guest: Emily Monsell-Holden.

A brand and culture strategist and fellow podcast hose with 20 years of experience spanning in house leadership at Berry Bros & Rudd, Café Direct and Just Eat. She now runs an ‘anti-consultancy’, The Impact Apothecary and hosts their podcast, Impact Curious.

This week's conversation delves into the gap that quietly destroys brands: The space between what a company says about itself and what it's actually like to work there. Using Brewdog and British Airways as cautionary tales, Elliot and Emily unpack why external branding built on false promises often ends in disaster.

They also tackle the trap so many businesses fall into with their company values: vague, interchangeable words like "quality" and "integrity" that sound safe but say nothing.

Listen to the end to hear our Secret Sauce, where Emily walks through how to audit your brand and culture, decide what framework actually fits your business size, and turn abstract values into behaviors people can actually act on.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and share with a friend or colleague.

Get in touch if you have any marketing & branding questions or topics you would like us to talk about - we would love to hear from you!

Subscribe and Follow for more branding and marketing Secret Sauce 🌶️

🔗 Links

• Elliot’s Bonifesto
• Emily’s LinkedIn
• Elliot's appearance on the Impact Curious Podcast: Do you need social media?

✉️ Get in touch

Elliot - Bon Creative | https://bon-creative.co.uk/

Eliška - Light Sauce Studio | https://www.lightsauce.studio/

LinkedIn

Elliot | Bon Creative

Eliška | Light Sauce Studio

Instagram

Eliška | @eliskahsk

Bon Sauce Podcast is a Hidden Duck Studio production 𓅭

https://www.hiddenduck.studio/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Social media promises connection and reach, but does your business actually need to be on it?

Eliška and Elliot dig into the messy state of "late stage social media," from the Enshittification of platforms built on ads and algorithms to the risks of building your business around the whims of a fickle algorithm. They debate whether social media can ever truly build a business, why chasing the algorithm often works against your brand, and why the real question isn't "which platform" but "where is your audience"

Listen to the end to hear our Secret Sauce where we explain why you should give social media the crumbs, not the cake.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and share with a friend or colleague.

Get in touch if you have any marketing & branding questions or topics you would like us to talk about - we would love to hear from you!

Subscribe and Follow for more branding and marketing Secret Sauce

🔗 Links

• Impact Curious
• Enshitification - Cory Doctorow
• @gracebeverley
• Google and Meta Lawsuit in California

✉️ Get in touch

Elliot - Bon Creative | https://bon-creative.co.uk/

Eliška - Light Sauce Studio | https://www.lightsauce.studio/

LinkedIn

Elliot | Bon Creative

Eliška | Light Sauce Studio

Instagram

Eliška | @eliskahsk

Bon Sauce Podcast is a Hidden Duck Studio production 𓅭

https://www.hiddenduck.studio/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Eliška and Elliot make the case that consistency, not cleverness, is what actually builds brand recognition, trust, and revenue. Even the ugliest branding can outperform the most glossy and well thought out visuals when it shows up reliably.

They unpack the three types of consistency every business needs, and why the third one quietly sinks most brands.

Stick around for our Secret Sauce to help you build (and stick to) a consistent brand that shows up for your customers and audience.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and share with a friend or colleague.

Get in touch if you have any marketing & branding questions or topics you would like us to talk about - we would love to hear from you!

Subscribe and Follow for more branding and marketing Secret Sauce 🌶️

🔗 Links

• A New Holistic View On Creative Consistency - System1
• Tesco 5 dashes billboards
• Endless Referals - Bob Burgh
• Jaguar rebrand
• GOV.UK rebrand
• Paula Scher
• Dan Priestly

✉️ Get in touch

Elliot - Bon Creative | https://bon-creative.co.uk/

Eliška - Light Sauce Studio | https://www.lightsauce.studio/

LinkedIn

Elliot | Bon Creative

Eliška | Light Sauce Studio

Instagram

Eliška | @eliskahsk

Bon Sauce Podcast is a Hidden Duck Studio production 𓅭

https://www.hiddenduck.studio/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Plenty of businesses treat marketing as a cure-all, but marketing doesn't fix problems, it amplifies what’s already there. Elliot and Eliška question why so many founders and marketers jump straight to tactics without diagnosing the actual problem first.

They unpack the difference between strategy and tactics, and share their "Island A to Island B" Secret Sauce to help chart a course for your business.

If you've ever thought that "more social content" or "an AI strategy" is going to solve all your business problems, this one's for you.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and share with a friend or colleague.

Get in touch if you have any marketing & branding questions or topics you would like us to talk about - we would love to hear from you!

Subscribe and Follow for more branding and marketing Secret Sauce 🌶️

🔗 Links

• “C’mon do something...” meme
• Tactics without strategy is dumbing down our discipline - Mark Riston

✉️ Get in touch

Elliot - Bon Creative | https://bon-creative.co.uk/

Eliška - Light Sauce Studio | https://www.lightsauce.studio/

LinkedIn

Elliot | Bon Creative

Eliška | Light Sauce Studio

Instagram

Eliška | @eliskahsk

Bon Sauce Podcast is a Hidden Duck Studio production 𓅭

https://www.hiddenduck.studio/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“You should find your niche” Easier said than done…

Today Elliot and Eliška discuss the advice that seems to be everywhere right now, and how it could totally hamstring your business if done poorly. On the surface it seems like a good idea, but how does one go about finding a niche - how do you even define a niche in the first place?

Don’t worry, they’ve got the Secret Sauce🌶️ to help you find a niche that actually serves your strengths and leads you to more of your favourite kind of work.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and share with a friend or colleague.

Get in touch if you have any marketing & branding questions or topics you would like us to talk about - we would love to hear from you!

Subscribe and Follow for more branding and marketing Secret Sauce 🌶️

🔗 Links

• How Brands Grow - Byron Sharp
• Obviously Awesome - April Dunford
• 2 Bobs Podcast
• Niche Etymology 🙄

✉️ Get in touch

Elliot - Bon Creative | https://bon-creative.co.uk/

Eliška - Light Sauce Studio | https://www.lightsauce.studio/

LinkedIn

Elliot | Bon Creative

Eliška | Light Sauce Studio

Instagram

Eliška | @eliskahsk

Bon Sauce Podcast is a Hidden Duck Studio production 𓅭

https://www.hiddenduck.studio/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you noticed that everything looks the same these days? Cafe’s all look like Brutalist galleries with pastries displayed on concrete plinths. Companies are all rebranding to bold serif typefaces with simplified logos. Even our homes are being decorated in the same style as everyone else.

Elliot and Eliška point out the likely culprit, why this trend has led to the homogenisation of taste, and why its now more crucial than ever to stand out in the sea of sameness.

At the end, they share their Secret Sauce🌶️ to seeking creative inspiration that will help you stand out from the crowd.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and share with a friend or colleague.

Get in touch if you have any marketing & branding questions or topics you would like us to talk about - we would love to hear from you!

Subscribe and Follow for more branding and marketing Secret Sauce 🌶️

🔗 Links

• Ragged Edge
• The Design Museum
• Liberty London
• Corporate Memphis

✉️ Get in touch

Elliot - Bon Creative | https://bon-creative.co.uk/

Eliška - Light Sauce Studio | https://www.lightsauce.studio/

LinkedIn

Elliot | Bon Creative

Eliška | Light Sauce Studio

Instagram

Eliška | @eliskahsk

Bon Sauce Podcast is a Hidden Duck Studio production 𓅭

https://www.hiddenduck.studio/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Getting new leads is the lifeblood of any business, but are they setting you up for failure? Your instinct to attract as many new clients/customers as possible might be clogging your conversion pipeline and slowly sinking your business…

Today, Elliot and Eliška share their thoughts on this pain point and share the things you can do to make sure your business is attracting the right people. If you’re constantly fielding inquiries that aren’t hitting the mark, listen out for the Secret Sauce🌶️ to getting the right kinds of leads for your business.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and share with a friend or colleague.

Get in touch if you have any marketing & branding questions or topics you would like us to talk about - we would love to hear from you!

🔗 Links

• The State of the Agency Nation report - The Wow Comapny

Subscribe and Follow for more branding and marketing Secret Sauce 🌶️

✉️ Get in touch

Elliot - Bon Creative | https://bon-creative.co.uk/

Eliška - Light Sauce Studio | https://www.lightsauce.studio/

LinkedIn

Elliot | Bon Creative

Eliška | Light Sauce Studio

Instagram

Eliška | @eliskahsk

Bon Sauce Podcast is a Hidden Duck Studio production 𓅭

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, we’re talking about target audiences and personas: Are they really a good lens for your marketing and branding strategy?

Understanding your audience is key, but the way you go about that fact finding mission can influence how you show up for your audience, and even lead you down the wrong path if done poorly.

Elliot and Eliška share their mixed experience with personas and other tools to understand who you are serving. Stick around to the end to hear their 🌶️Secret Sauce that will help you get a better understanding of your business's audience and the best approach to using tools like personas.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and share with a friend or colleague. Get in touch if you have any marketing & branding questions or topics you would like us to talk about - we would love to hear from you!

🔗 Links

• The Inmates are Running the Asylum - Alan Cooper
• How Brands Grow - Byron Sharp

Subscribe and Follow for more branding and marketing 🌶️Secret Sauce

✉️ Get in touch

Elliot - Bon Creative | https://bon-creative.co.uk/

Eliška - Light Sauce Studio | https://www.lightsauce.studio/

LinkedIn

Elliot | Bon Creative

Eliška | Light Sauce Studio

Instagram

Eliška | @eliskahsk

Bon Sauce Podcast is a Hidden Duck Studio production 𓅭

https://www.hiddenduck.studio/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.