From cocktails to content strategy – Diageo’s marketing team spills all.

The digital world never sits still, and keeping up with ever-evolving consumer expectations is no easy feat. As the lead content production agency for Diageo’s digital platforms Malts & The-Bar, we know first-hand how much audiences value fresh, top-quality content – and how powerful digital storytelling can be in driving engagement and sales for brands.

In our latest podcast episode, we discuss how digital marketing is shaping the future of the drinks industry with the marketing leads behind Diageo’s two biggest digital platforms — Malts.com and The Bar. Megan Sirockman, Global Head of Strategy and Marketing, and Sophie Bass, Global Marketing Manager, oversee  Malts.com (the home of exceptional single malt Scotch whiskies and immersive distillery tours) and The-Bar (a website packed with premium spirits, barware, cocktail recipes, and articles on mixology). 

Whether you’re a marketer, content creator, or just a fan of the drinks industry, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.

WE DISCUSS – WHY IT’S WORTH YOUR TIME:

This episode isn’t just theory – it’s a deep dive into real-world strategy, production, and activation:

• Why digital marketing is marketing – No more silos. Discover how digital drives both online and offline purchases, and why it’s now at the heart of consumer engagement. Today, digital channels influence offline purchases as much as they drive online sales. (00:00-7:00)
• The evolution of content expectations – As consumers demand more frequent and platform-specific content, marketers must balance quantity with quality. From always-on storytelling to channel-specific formats, we explore what today’s audiences demand – and how brands can keep pace. (7:00-15:37)
• Smart content production – Working with Ride Shotgun, Diageo has refined its content strategy to ensure efficiency without compromising quality. By repurposing and optimising assets, they maximise impact while keeping costs in check. They call it “Conscious Create”. (15:37-19:55)
• Working with Ride Shotgun – The-Bar and Malts.com demonstrate how brands can create digital hubs that complement physical experiences, from distillery visits to curated cocktail recommendations. Learn more about how we’ve worked together. (19:55-23:40)
• Global stories, local impact – Find out how Diageo creates adaptable content that land emotionally across cultures, regions and consumer mindsets. (27:49-29:50)
• What makes a winning agency partnership – Megan and Sophie get candid about collaboration with Ride Shotgun and what it takes to build trust, move fast, and deliver real results.

MEET OUR GUESTS

MEGAN SIROCKMAN

Global Head of Strategy and Marketing for Malts and The-Bar at Diageo. 

With a background in brand marketing and digital strategy, Megan ensures that Diageo’s digital brands are not only engaging for consumers to interact with, but commercially impactful. 

Follow Megan on LinkedIn

SOPHIE BASS

Global Marketing Manager for Malts and The-Bar at Diageo

Sophie leads content strategy and production for Malts & The-Bar. With a keen eye for storytelling and digital trends, she ensures content resonates with consumers across any touch point.

Follow Sophie on LinkedIn

ABOUT RIDE SHOTGUN

Ride Shotgun is a creative agency that thinks big strategically, goes big creatively and delivers big in production. All in one place. Whether you’re looking for a lead strategic partner or effective content production to get your brand out there.

We have experts at every stage to work with you to ensure you smash your sales and marketing goals, without ever losing the integrity of your brand.

We call it joined-up brand journeys.

We work with some of the world's best brands including HSBC, Diageo, Intuit, Asda, and Amazon.

For more information visit www. rideshotgun.global

This International Women’s Day is all about accelerating action – so let’s talk about what it really takes to thrive in the industry.

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Ride Shotgun Account Director Laura Richards takes over the podcast couch with three inspiring female Riders – Jo Thatcher, Fiona Barber, and Vanessa Wells – to dive into career progression, industry challenges, and building confidence.

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We Discuss:

🚀 Career Progression: The wiggly paths, bold moves, and lessons learned along the way.

💡 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome: How to silence self-doubt and own your expertise.

🤝 Building Confidence & Supporting Women: Why lifting each other up is the ultimate power move.

📢 Selling Your Ideas & Finding Your Voice: How to present with confidence and get the recognition you deserve.

This episode is packed with real stories, because success isn’t always linear, but the lessons are universal.

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Laura Richards,  Account Director at Ride Shotgun

Laura kick-started her career working for a local newspaper in her hometown of Birmingham, then transitioned into the agency world, taking on various client service roles. Since landing at Ride Shotgun, she’s been making big things happen with clients and creative teams ever since. 

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Fiona Barber Content Copywriter at Ride Shotgun

Fiona started out as a feature writer for local lifestyle magazines before making the switch to marketing. She has since worked in agency client services, in-house marketing, and, now as a content writer at Ride Shotgun, she thrives on crafting SEO-driven content and expertly wrangling words to tell compelling stories.

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Vanessa Wells, Editor at Ride Shotgun

Vanessa studied Media Production at university with aspirations of becoming a full-time editor. However, her career took a winding path, leading her through roles as a teacher, projectionist, graphic designer, and audiovisual technician before returning to editing and motion graphics with an abundance of extra skills. Vanessa has love for films and dips her toe into both creating and engaging with visual arts at every opportunity.

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Jo Thatcher, Head of Styling and Art Direction at Ride Shotgun

With a degree in interior design, Jo began her career in retail and visual merchandising while pursuing her dream job. Though she didn’t realise it at the time, this experience helped her develop valuable skills that later shaped her career. She worked her way up from junior stylist to head of styling, eventually transitioning into art direction. Jo is an all-round style queen and lover of leopard print.

If you haven’t had at least one conversation about AI this year, are you even in marketing? From automation, to rules of engagement, to creative capability, it’s a hot topic in the advertising world.

So, of course we had to include it in our latest podcast.

We got our Technology Director, Danny Austin, in a room with some super experienced guests to chat about AI in marketing.

Including where it can add value and what to watch out for, complete with flash cards not written by Chat GPT - we promise.

Join them in this cut-down version of our webcast as they chat through it all - part of our Challenges of a CMO series.

This podcast is for you if you want to learn about… 

HARNESSING THE POWER OF AI IN MARKETING

How AI is transforming marketing, from practical applications to enhancing efficiency and innovation in your strategies.

With

PANEL SPEAKERS:

HELEN JEREMIAH, former CMO of Boots UK & Ireland

Helen is an experienced CMO, having worked across many disciplines including marketing, customer strategy, global brand marketing, product development and insight. She loves working in both large organisations, where change is needed, or small start-ups where everyone rolls their sleeves up and gets stuck in. An innovative leader who drives global business and brand growth, with expertise in data-driven marketing and creating world-class campaigns. She has led successful business change and transformation and has a passion for developing and nurturing strong teams. She is a mum to two gorgeous girls and is currently renovating an old farm.

TINA FEGENT, Global Marketing Procurement Consultant

Tina Fegent is a leading marketing procurement expert with over 30 years of experience. She founded her consultancy in 2006, helping brands optimise their marketing budgets. She works for clients such as Primark, Ferrero, SSE, Ralph Lauren and AG Barr. Tina is recognised for pioneering marketing procurement in the marketing industry and is a frequent speaker and advisor on marketing procurement strategies and best practices.

ANDY WEIR, Chief Client Officer, Ride Shotgun

Andy has 25 years’ experience in the industry working with organisations such as HSBC, Unilever and PlayStation. He set up his own agency in 2010 and created one of the regions most respected agencies, winning international awards and regularly featuring in ‘Best Companies’ lists. In 2022 Andy was one of the founding members of Ride Shotgun and has been integral in building the business internationally to over 200 people and £15m turnover in under three years.

STEPHEN KENWRIGHT, Strategy Director, Ride Shotgun

Stephen is Strategy Director at brand activation and creative content agency, Ride Shotgun. He’s a keynote speaker - giving more than 100 talks in ten countries, and has judged multiple awards. Before joining Ride Shotgun he founded #SearchLeeds. It became the north's largest digital marketing conference, attracting 2,000+ people yearly. He also founded search-first creative agency, Rise at Seven which over three years grew revenues to more than £7m, hired 110 people and opened offices across the UK and America. Previously Head of Digital Pendragon PLC and strategy director at performance marketing agency Branded3.

About Ride Shotgun

Ready for an agency made different? We’re Ride Shotgun. Big strategic thinking, impactful creative, content production and activation at scale. All in one place. So you can achieve more for your brand than ever before.

⁠⁠⁠ https://rideshotgun.co.uk/⁠⁠⁠

Your agency partners are great at what they do, it’s why you hired them, but sometimes things can get lost in those giant email chains. And what you end up with creatively isn’t quite what you thought it would be.

So, how do you manage creative expectation with reality? It’s a common issue for CMOs and the topic of the latest cut-down of our webcast - part of our Challenges of a CMO content series.  

Join us as our super experienced guests chat all about how they find their balance when producing creative content in partnership with agencies.

With:

This podcast is for you if you want to learn about…

Optimising content creation by finding the right balance between in-house teams and external agencies.

ALIGNING CREATIVE VISION WITH OUTPUT

The common pitfalls in the creative process and aligning output with initial expectations to achieve marketing goals.

PANEL SPEAKERS:

HELEN JEREMIAH, former CMO of Boots UK & Ireland

Helen is an experienced CMO, having worked across many disciplines including marketing, customer strategy, global brand marketing, product development and insight. She loves working in both large organisations, where change is needed, or small start-ups where everyone rolls their sleeves up and gets stuck in. An innovative leader who drives global business and brand growth, with expertise in data-driven marketing and creating world-class campaigns. She has led successful business change and transformation and has a passion for developing and nurturing strong teams. She is a mum to two gorgeous girls and is currently renovating an old farm.

TINA FEGENT, Global Marketing Procurement Consultant

Tina Fegent is a leading marketing procurement expert with over 30 years of experience. She founded her consultancy in 2006, helping brands optimise their marketing budgets. She works for clients such as Primark, Ferrero, SSE, Ralph Lauren and AG Barr. Tina is recognised for pioneering marketing procurement in the marketing industry and is a frequent speaker and advisor on marketing procurement strategies and best practices.

ANDY WEIR, Chief Client Officer, Ride Shotgun

Andy has 25 years’ experience in the industry working with organisations such as HSBC, Unilever and PlayStation. He set up his own agency in 2010 and created one of the regions most respected agencies, winning international awards and regularly featuring in ‘Best Companies’ lists. In 2022 Andy was one of the founding members of Ride Shotgun and has been integral in building the business internationally to over 200 people and £15m turnover in under three years.

STEPHEN KENWRIGHT, Strategy Director, Ride Shotgun

Stephen is strategy director at brand activation and creative content agency, Ride Shotgun. He’s a keynote speaker - giving more than 100 talks in ten countries, and has judged multiple awards. Before joining Ride Shotgun he founded #SearchLeeds. It became the north's largest digital marketing conference, attracting 2,000+ people yearly. He also founded search-first creative agency, Rise at Seven which over three years grew revenues to more than £7m, hired 110 people and opened offices across the UK and America. Previously Head of Digital Pendragon PLC and strategy director at performance marketing agency Branded3.

About Ride Shotgun

Ready for an agency made different? We’re Ride Shotgun. Big strategic thinking, impactful creative, content production and activation at scale. All in one place. So you can achieve more for your brand than ever before.

⁠⁠⁠ https://rideshotgun.co.uk/⁠⁠⁠

It’s one of the most common marketing dilemmas

We get it. It’s why we’ve launched our latest

With

This podcast is for you if you want to learn about…

MAXIMISING CONTENT PRODUCTION ON A BUDGET

Strategies they’ve used to produce high-quality content - even with limited resources and shrinking marketing budgets.

MASTERING MULTI-CHANNEL CONTENT MANAGEMENT

Approaches they’ve found effective for managing content across diverse channels and regions, all while maintaining brand consistency.

PANEL SPEAKERS:

HELEN JEREMIAH, former CMO of Boots UK & Ireland

Helen is an experienced CMO, having worked across many disciplines including marketing,

TINA FEGENT, Global Marketing Procurement Consultant

Tina Fegent is a leading marketing procurement expert with over 30 years of experience. She founded her consultancy in 2006, helping brands optimise their marketing budgets. She works for clients such as Primark, Ferrero, SSE, Ralph Lauren and AG Barr. Tina is recognised for pioneering marketing procurement in the marketing industry and is a frequent speaker and advisor on marketing procurement strategies and best practices.

ANDY WEIR, Chief Client Officer, Ride Shotgun

Andy has 25 years’ experience in the industry working with organisations such as HSBC, Unilever and PlayStation. He set up his own agency in 2010 and created one of the regions most respected agencies, winning international awards and regularly featuring in ‘Best Companies’ lists. In 2022 Andy was one of the founding members of Ride Shotgun and has been integral in building the business internationally to over 200 people and £15m turnover in under three years.

STEPHEN KENWRIGHT, Strategy Director, Ride Shotgun

Stephen is strategy director at brand activation and creative content agency, Ride Shotgun. He’s a keynote speaker - giving more than 100 talks in ten countries, and has judged multiple awards. Before joining Ride Shotgun he founded #SearchLeeds. It became the north's largest digital marketing conference, attracting 2,000+ people yearly. He also founded search-first creative agency, Rise at Seven which over three years grew revenues to more than £7m, hired 110 people and opened offices across the UK and America. Previously Head of Digital Pendragon PLC and strategy director at performance marketing agency Branded3.

About Ride Shotgun

Ready for an agency made different? We’re Ride Shotgun. Big strategic thinking, impactful creative, content production and activation at scale. All in one place. So you can achieve more for your brand than ever before.

⁠⁠ https://rideshotgun.co.uk/⁠⁠

We’re thrilled to announce that Rise at Seven Co-Founder Stephen Kenwright has joined Ride Shotgun to lead our Strategy and Digital divisions!

In this episode, he chats to Andy Weir, Chief Client Officer at Ride Shotgun. They discuss:

Stephen Kenwright has an impressive journey founding Rise at Seven in 2019 and growing it to over £7m in revenue with a team of 110 across Sheffield, Manchester, London, and New York.

Under his leadership, the agency earned more than 70 industry awards and collaborated with high-profile clients such as GAME, Parkdean Resorts, PrettyLittleThing, Xbox, and PlayStation.

About Ride Shotgun

Ready for an agency made different? We’re Ride Shotgun. Big strategic thinking, impactful creative, content production and activation at scale. All in one place. So you
can achieve more for your brand than ever before. https://rideshotgun.co.uk/

We’re thrilled to announce that Stephen Kenwright, co-founder of Rise at Seven, has joined Ride Shotgun to lead our Strategy and Digital divisions! 🚀Stephen's impressive journey includes founding Rise at Seven in 2019 and growing it to over £7m in revenue with a team of 110 across Sheffield, Manchester, London, and New York.

Under his leadership, the agency earned more than 70 industry awards and collaborated with high-profile clients such as GAME, Parkdean Resorts, PrettyLittleThing, Xbox, and PlayStation.

Curious about Stephen's experience, background and vision for Ride Shotgun? Keep watching!

In this episode we’re here to talk about everything to do with “joined up brand journeys…”  And to help us do precisely that, we’re joined by our very own Andy Weir, Chief Client Officer at Ride Shotgun and Lee Morton, Head of Brand and Proposition Development at Arco, the UK’s leading PPE suppliers and safety experts and a longstanding client of Ride Shotgun.

Lee has very kindly agreed to talk us through Arco’s brand experience in practice. Including how they’ve gone about creating a joined-up brand journey for Arco - what are the pitfalls and the challenges and also the ways in which they’ve seen it work wonders for their marketing – not to mention, their wider business too. 

Get ready for a lively chat filled with insights, laughs, and maybe a surprise or two. Let's roll!

Jump to the section of interest:

Enjoyed this episode?

Follow us on Spotify NOW to make sure you don’t miss out on our upcoming episodes.

About Arco

Wherever you live and wherever you work, Arco's vision is to keep you, your people and your business safe.

https://www.arco.co.uk/

About Ride Shotgun

Ready for an agency made different? We’re Ride Shotgun. Big strategic thinking, impactful creative, content production and activation at scale. All in one place. So you

We're thrilled to be joined by renowned industry colour expert, Marianne Shillingford, Creative Director for Dulux, and UK Founder of the Colour in Design Awards here with us for episode #2 of the Brand Bites podcast... Join us as we unravel the fascinating connection between colour and human psychology, and how it shapes the perception of the home, as well as explore how this can be used by brands to make their product ranges, marketing and advertising – trend-led, distinctive and up to date. 🧠💡 This episode will leave you inspired and equipped to elevate your home and brand's visual storytelling - bursting with colour and brimming with inspiration.

In this episode, we'll cover:

Enjoyed this episode?

Follow us on Spotify NOW to make sure you don’t miss out on our upcoming episodes.

About Dulux

Dulux is the UK’s leading paint brand, with a wealth of products and services designed to help you find the colours that you’ll love in your home, and give you the expert knowledge you’ll need to

About Ride Shotgun

Ready for an agency made different? We’re Ride Shotgun. Big strategic thinking, impactful

This is very exciting! It’s our first ever episode of BRAND BITES: Where Marketing Meets Creativity.

In this episode, we’re joined by Charis Hawkins, Head of Brand Marketing & Communications at Magnet, and our host, Laura Richards, Account Director at Ride Shotgun.

In this bitesize, 25-minute podcast, they discuss:

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About Magnet

Magnet are one of the UK’s longest running kitchen suppliers and manufacturers - with a heritage stretching back over 100 years. Since then they have become one of the leaders in the industry with over 200 locations/showrooms nationwide. For more information on Magnet visit: ⁠https://www.magnet.co.uk/kitchens/⁠

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About Ride Shotgun