In this live episode of Building Brand Advocacy, Verity sits down with Manuel Albuquerque, founder & CEO of Prime Tag, to unpack the AI revolution reshaping the creator economy from the inside out. 

From the real pressures facing time-poor marketing teams to the problems AI is actually solving (and the myths it's not), Manuel brings the entrepreneur's perspective that brand builders need right now.

In this episode, we cover:

• Manuel’s journey to entrepreneurship in the influencer space

• The time poor pressures of marketing teams

• How AI is influencing the creator economy 

• The problem that AI is solving for marketing teams

• Busting AI myths around the creator economy 

If you're navigating influencer strategy in an AI-first world, this one is essential listening.

CHAPTERS

00:00 People And Data First

01:18 Creator Economy Boom

01:59 From Basketball To Tech Startup

04:08 The Influencer Stigma Debate

05:24 Current Status: Bad Data And No Time

06:38 AI Mindset Myth

09:02 Augmented Intelligence Not Artificial Intelligence

10:42 Myth Busting Rapid Fire

12:17 How AI Is Changing Business Models

15:29 Finding Effective Creator X Brand Matches

16:45 Brand Advocacy Advice

🔔 Subscribe to Building Brand Advocacy for weekly conversations with the people reshaping how brands grow.

CONNECT WITH MANUEL

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manuelvicalbuquerque/

PrimeTag: https://www.primetag.com/

FOLLOW US

Verity: https://www.linkedin.com/in/verityhurd/

Subscribe: www.youtube.com/@buildingbrandadvocacy

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TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@building.brand.advocacy

We’re back with another mastermind episode. This week, Grace Andrews takes us through her 5 step framework for building a high performance content engine, from identifying content signals (before selecting platforms) to measuring success metrics that are relevant to you and your brand.

In this episode, we cover:

07:05 Step 1: Identifying Content Signals 

11:47 Step 2: Approach To Content Formats

26:31 Step 3: The Platform Specific Strategy

28:43 Step 4: Where Creators Fit Into Your Content Strategy

32:56 Step 5: How To Measure For Success 

🔔 New episodes every Wednesday — subscribe so you never miss an episode.

CONNECT WITH GRACE

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/graceandrewsss/⁠

YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@graceandrewsss⁠

TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@graceandrews7⁠

FOLLOW US

Subscribe: ⁠www.youtube.com/@buildingbrandadvocacy⁠

Instagram: ⁠www.instagram.com/building_brand_advocacy⁠

TikTok: ⁠www.tiktok.com/@building.brand.advocacy⁠

Paul: TikTok: ⁠⁠www.tiktok.com/@building.brand.advocacy⁠⁠Verity: ⁠www.linkedin.com/in/verityhurd/

In this episode of Building Brand Advocacy, I sit down with Alice Ratcliffe, Head of Brand at TRIP — the wellness drinks brand rewriting the rules of brand positioning in one of the most crowded categories on the market.

Alice pulls back the curtain on how TRIP went from scrappy challenger to a brand that commands culture, loyalty, and shelf space — and what it's really taken to scale that story into the US.

In this episode, we cover:

• How to stand out in a saturated wellness & drinks market

• TRIP's influencer strategy and why it's built differently to most other brands

• Integrating celebrities into your brand without losing authenticity

• The real strategy for brand building in the US

• Why employee advocacy is one of the most underrated tools in a marketer's arsenal

• How to integrate AI for effective brand building in 2026

• The honest challenges of being the underdog and how to turn them into an advantage

CHAPTERS

00:00 The Polished Brand Problem

02:03 Finding Branded White Space

06:00 Regulation Into Advantage

07:36 Always On Brand Building

10:17 How To Earn Consumer Trust

16:06 Creators Influencers Celebs

23:25 US Expansion Playbook

26:30 Approaching Employee Advocacy

28:39 Scaling Without Gatekeeping

29:51 Email List vs Community

31:15 AI Vs IRL 

33:36 Hosting Inclusive Brand Events

35:50 Winning on TikTok Shop

39:52 Global Growth and Accounts

44:26 Powerful Founder Partnerships

🔔 Subscribe to Building Brand Advocacy for weekly conversations with the people reshaping how brands grow.

CONNECT WITH TRIP

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trip.drinks/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@trip.drinks

FOLLOW US

Verity: https://www.linkedin.com/in/verityhurd/

Subscribe: www.youtube.com/@buildingbrandadvocacy

Instagram: www.instagram.com/building_brand_advocacy
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@building.brand.advocacy

In this mastermind episode of Building Brand Advocacy, we break down the Advocacy Maturity Model, a strategic framework for diagnosing exactly where your brand sits on the advocacy spectrum and the precise steps to move from passive mentions to a fully activated community-led growth engine.

Think of it as your strategic advocacy playbook, the kind of session your brand team needs to align on advocacy as a core brand lever rather than a marketing afterthought.

Inside this episode:

• The 5 stages of brand advocacy maturity and how to identify which stage you're at right now

• Why most brands plateau at stage 2 and never break through to genuine brand love

• The structural shifts your team needs to make at each stage of the model

• How to turn community-led growth into a measurable brand asset

• The metrics that actually matter when tracking advocacy momentum

If you’re a marketing leader trying to restructure your team's advocacy strategy, this episode gives you the framework to stop guessing and start growing with intention.

🔔 New episodes every Wednesday — subscribe so you never miss an episode.

FOLLOW US

Subscribe: www.youtube.com/@buildingbrandadvocacy

Instagram: www.instagram.com/building_brand_advocacy

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@building.brand.advocacy
Verity: www.linkedin.com/in/verityhurd/

In this episode of Building Brand Advocacy, Verity sits down with Grace Andrews to unpack the real shifts happening in social right now  and what forward-thinking brands are doing to stay ahead in 2026 and beyond.

Grace brings a sharp, strategic lens to one of the most underutilised growth levers in marketing today: employee advocacy. We go deep on why building brand growth from the inside out isn't just about brand culture but something much bigger.

We then go onto discuss how to build an effective and experimental content eco-system as well as understanding how to navigate YouTube as long form presence is growing within the digital landscape. 

In this episode, we cover:

• The evolution of social trends shaping brand strategy in 2026

• A strategic framework for building genuine employee advocacy

• How to drive real brand growth through your people not just your paid channels

• Effective content experimentation strategies that actually move the needle

• Why YouTube is the deepest, most underrated content channel for brand building

• The trends smart brands are already preparing for in 2026/2027

CHAPTERS

00:00 Episode Trailer 

01:30 Meet Grace Andrews

02:23 2024 Trend Check 

06:52 Employee Advocacy Basics

09:20 Building The Employees Advocacy Infrastructure

14:52 Ownership And Founder Role

17:11 Incentivising Employee Advocacy

19:22 Building A Content Experimentation System

22:29Dummy Social Channels for Safe Testing

24:09 Case Study of the Shameless Network

28:48 YouTube vs Social Scrolling

31:29 Where YouTube Fits into Teams

33:48 Low Lift YouTube for Brands

35:30 Future Creator Brand Partnerships

Whether you're a founder, marketing lead, or brand strategist — this conversation will change how you think about where your next wave of growth actually comes from.

🔔 Subscribe to Building Brand Advocacy for weekly conversations with the people reshaping how brands grow.

CONNECT WITH GRACE

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/graceandrewsss/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@graceandrewsss

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@graceandrews7

FOLLOW US

Verity: https://www.linkedin.com/in/verityhurd/

Subscribe: www.youtube.com/@buildingbrandadvocacy

Instagram: www.instagram.com/building_brand_advocacy
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@building.brand.advocacy

In this episode of Building Brand Advocacy, we're unpacking the seismic shift happening in marketing right now: is branded entertainment replacing paid ads?

We dig into why the smartest brands are investing in long-form content, storytelling, and entertainment-led campaigns, and how this changes everything from team structure to ROI measurement.

What we cover:

• Should brands have Global or local social media accounts

• The perfect niche to scale strategy

•  Branded entertainment vs paid ads

• The  Redbull playbook

Whether you're a founder, a marketing lead, or a brand builder trying to do more with less — this is the episode that reframes where your budget should actually be going.

🔔 New episodes every Wednesday — subscribe so you never miss an episode.

CONNECT WITH PAUL & VERITY

Paul: www.linkedin.com/in/paulkarcher/

Verity: www.linkedin.com/in/verityhurd/

FOLLOW US

Paul: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulkarcher/

Subscribe: www.youtube.com/@buildingbrandadvocacy

Instagram: www.instagram.com/building_brand_advocacy
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@building.brand.advocacy

Are communities replacing influencers? In this episode of Building Brand Advocacy, Paul sits down with Nicola Gunby, co-founder of CLIQ,  to talk about why the brands winning right now aren't chasing reach, they're building belonging.

We go deep on the concept of the 'third space' and why it might be the most underutilised tool in your brand's growth strategy right now.

In this episode we cover:

• The journey behind CLIQ and why Nicola built it

• What 'third space' communities are and why they matter for brands

• What it actually takes to build real, lasting community (it's not what you think)

• How brands can use CLIQ as a community-building tool

• Frameworks for measuring community impact — beyond vanity metrics

• Online vs IRL: which builds deeper brand loyalty?

This one is essential listening if you're a CMO or marketing lead questioning where influencer budgets should actually go in 2025.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

04:29 Community as the Third Place

08:19 Where Brands Go Wrong with Community

13:59 Cliq Brand Case Studies 

19:21 Measuring Community ROI

26:17 Measuring Community Event Demand

28:30 Tap Into Existing Communities

29:40 Samsung Community Case Study

35:17 Online vs In Person Community 

37:34 Sub Communities Strategy

41:40 Geo Local Community

44:18 Cringe Or Community

🔔 New episodes every Wednesday — subscribe so you never miss an episode.

CONNECT WITH NICOLA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicolargunby/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-gunby/
CLIQ: https://www.instagram.com/findyourcliq/

Is influencer marketing dead? Jordan Schwarzenberger, the man behind the Sidemen's evolution from creators to a multi-million pound enterprise, thinks brands have got content eco-systems wrong. In this episode of Building Brand Advocacy, we break down why the smartest brands are ditching traditional influencer marketing and becoming organic content engines instead.

Jordan reveals the exact content strategy that scaled the Sidemen from a YouTube group into a business empire and how any brand can steal from the creator economy strategy. We go deep on building a content hemisphere, why entertainment-first marketing beats ads, and how to turn community into customers through brand advocacy.

In this episode we cover:

• Sidemen evolution from creators to an enterprise business.

• The opportunity for brands to become content engines.

• Why influencer marketing is dead.

• Why brands and 10 years behind in content and how to create a solution to get ahead.

Whether you're a CMO, marketer or brand founder, this episode is your blueprint for building a content marketing strategy that actually compounds.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

02:38 Building the LADBible Agency

07:16 Scaling The Sidemen Businesses

11:16 Defining A Content Infrastructure

12:27 Side Plus Membership Model

17:27 How Brands Should Be Working With Creators

20:23 End Of The Transactional Influencer Model 

23:04 Discovery IS Replacing Followers

26:07 The Influencer Economy Collapse

28:33 Traditional Campaigns Are Dead

30:04 Monoculture To Micro Communities

38:24 The CMO Playbook 

41:40 Contribution Marketing To Serve Then Sell

🔔 New episodes every Wednesday — subscribe so you never miss an episode.

CONNECT WITH JORDAN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanschwarzenberger/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordanschwarz/

TiKTok:  https://www.tiktok.com/@jordanschwarzenberger

FOLLOW US

Verity: www.linkedin.com/in/verityhurd/

Subscribe: www.youtube.com/@buildingbrandadvocacy

Instagram: www.instagram.com/building_brand_advocacy
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@building.brand.advocacy

AI for brands is already here. It’s making a shift and as marketing teams, we should be reactive. But the reality is that most brands are still figuring out where to start.

In this episode of Building Brand Advocacy, we break down the real state of AI for brands right now. What's working, what's just noise and how to make AI work for YOU without losing the human touch that drives real brand advocacy.

In this episode, we cover: 

The current state of AI for brands

How to make AI work for you and your team today

How AI will reshape marketing resources and team structures

Practical ways to use AI in your day-to-day work life

Using AI to create real efficiencies across your content and marketing ops

How to build, scale, and manage an AI team from scratch

CHAPTERS

00:00 Build Your AI Native Dream Team

02:32 Manager of Infinite Minds

03:54 Onboarding and Feedback Loop

09:49 Future Proof Marketing Roles Form AI 

15:14 Building AI Agents into Your Workflow

22:30 Repurposing Content With Agents

25:54 Scaling To 11 Agents

31:58 AI Native Mindset Shift

34:45 Create A Preference Sheet for AI

38:34 Training Cadence And Growth

Whether you're a brand team trying to do more with less, or a marketing leader figuring out how to upskill your team, this episode is your AI starter kit.

🔔 Subscribe to watch our new episodes every Tuesday.

CONNECT WITH PAUL & VERITY

Paul: www.linkedin.com/in/paulkarcher/

Verity: www.linkedin.com/in/verityhurd/

FOLLOW US

Subscribe: www.youtube.com/@buildingbrandadvocacy

Instagram: www.instagram.com/building_brand_advocacy

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@building.brand.advocacy

In this mastermind episode, Sophie Miller (founder of Pretty Little Marketer) breaks down the exact tactical steps she’d take to build a high-engagement community from scratch in 2026.

If you’re a brand, marketer or founder trying to turn followers into a real community engine, this episode is a step-by-step guide to catapult your community strategy.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

00:00 Introduction to community building 

00:56 The Platform Strategy

05:06 Step 1: Connection Point

08:19 Step 2: Mission Sentence

11:09 Step 3: Connection To You, Connection To Each Other

16:24 Step 4: Thin Content

🔔 New episodes every Wednesday — subscribe so you never miss an episode.

CONNECT WITH SOPHIE

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiealicemiller/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophiemillerrrr/

Pretty Little Marketer: https://www.linkedin.com/company/prettylittlemarketer/

FOLLOW US

Subscribe: ⁠www.youtube.com/@buildingbrandadvocacy⁠

Instagram: ⁠www.instagram.com/building_brand_advocacy⁠

TikTok: ⁠www.tiktok.com/@building.brand.advocacy⁠

Verity: www.linkedin.com/in/verityhurd/