Phenomena

From building communities to shaping worlds – how brands can earn a seat at the table and unlock growth

In this special live edition of the ReD podcast, we discuss how brands identify, enter, and play a meaningful role in worlds, fandoms, and communities, to unlock commercial growth.

Taking place at ReD's Copenhagen offices, the panel consisted of Alero Akuya (former the LEGO Group and Nike executive and advisor to global brands), Stephen Fairchild (former Chief Strategic Creative and Cultural Officer at Pandora), and ReD Partner Filip Lau, moderated by Matthew Janney. Together, the speakers made the case for why understanding consumers as participants in worlds is becoming essential for brands.

At the heart of the conversation is a shift in perspective: the world does not exist around the brand – the brand has to find its role within existing worlds. From Zara Larsson’s adoption of the Lisa Frank meme to Pandora’s collaborations with Disney and Harry Potter, discover how "worlds" opens up new ways of building strategies with durability, resonance, and meaning.

What makes a conversation feel natural rather than scripted? What kills it in three seconds? What makes someone feel understood versus processed?

In this episode, we are joined by Larry McGrath, a User Research Lead at Amazon, where he has spent the past four years working on Alexa Plus, Amazon’s conversational AI platform, to talk about how to build AI that actually works for people.

With deep roots in the social sciences, Larry has dedicated his career to understanding how sociology, anthropology, and the study of conversation can shape the design of AI products that feel more natural, responsive, and human.

In conversation with ReD’s Tamara Moellenberg, Larry walks us through the layers of the AI product stack and makes the case for why social scientists belong at every level, from how we design the rhythm of a conversation to how we align an AI’s values for coherence, not just the avoidance of bias.

He also reflects on what product managers most often get wrong: losing sight of the human need they set out to meet in the first place.

Host: Tamara Moellenberg

Guest: Larry McGrath

Introduced by Matthew Janney

How to design strategies that keep pace with our changing world?

In this episode, we are joined by Carrie Yury, Head of UX Research within Digital at JPmorgan Chase, who brings decades of experience combining critical thinking, creativity, and deep human understanding.

In conversation with ReD Partners Maria Cury and Morgan Ramsey Elliot, Carrie shares her insights on creating a more agile strategy process – what she calls “living strategy”, as well as how to convince skeptics of the value of qualitative research, and why better – not necessarily faster or cheaper – is the big opportunity when it comes to partnering with AI.

Host: Maria Cury and Morgan Ramsey Elliot

Guest: Carrie Yury

Introduced by Matthew Janney

Network Economics has dominated business strategy for 40 years. But what happens when important anomalies challenge this theory? Take TikTok surpassing Instagram in user engagement despite a smaller network, or Hermès commanding a market cap 17X its revenue. These successes can't be explained by network size alone. In our piece, "Beyond Network Economics", co-authored by ReD and leading strategy thinker Roger Martin, we introduce the idea of the Cultural Dividend and propose an update to the leading theory of value creation. The Cultural Dividend proposes that a network's true value lies not just in its size but in its ability to nurture a thriving community, measured across different dimensions. To win in today's landscape, we propose that leading companies become expert cultivators of culture, not just accumulators of users. Read by ReD's editorial director, Matthew Janney.

How do you turn cultural insights into products that make a difference in people’s lives?

In this episode, we are joined by Stefan Biel, a scientist turned innovator who for over 25 years has looked to uncover unexplored opportunities and translate them into meaningful products. Having worked for various large players across the consumer goods industry, he now finds himself at Tesa, the global adhesive manufacturer, as their Head of Technical Foresight & Product Development.

In conversation with ReD Partner Sandra Cariglio, Stefan shares his insights on building high-performing innovation teams, taking accountability as a leader, and how to balance corporate legacy with future-focused evolution.

He also discusses the critical role of deep consumer understanding in innovation, and how to translate weak signals from out in the world into products that actually make a difference in people's lives by anticipating changing social realities.

How to build a corporate strategy for Africa's largest international health NGO?

In our latest episode of Leading with Perspective, we are joined by Dr. Githinji Gitahi, Group CEO of Amref Health Africa. Amref is committed to transforming the health of African communities serving 30 million people in 35+ countries annually.​

Since joining as CEO in 2015, Dr. Gitahi has led Amref through a remarkable transformation, shifting from a vertical disease-focused approach to a systems-led strategy. Under his leadership, the organisation has doubled its impact and budget while pioneering innovative approaches to community health.

Joined by ReD’s manager partner Mads Holme, Dr. Gitahi discusses Amref’s journey from its origins in the 1950s to becoming a leading voice in African healthcare policy, the challenges of transforming a large organisation's strategy and governance, and why addressing issues like climate change and youth engagement are critical for the future of health in Africa.

How has the financial sector looked to regain trust with consumers and play a more meaningful role in their lives?

In this episode, we are joined by Camilla Dahl Hansen who was most recently with Saxo Bank where she held a number of roles including its Global Chief Saxo Experience Officer and Senior Executive Vice President. Before that, Camilla spent 14 years with Danske Bank as the Head of Group Marketing and SVP for Wealth Management with focus on marketing, communications, transformation, and strategy.

Joined by ReD partner Martin Gronemann, Camilla discusses the state of the financial sector today, particularly with regards to where it is on its journey to becoming more inclusive of women both on the customer side and at the organisational level. If we look back over the last 15 years, how have things changed? And what has stayed the same?

What foundational ideas should guide our thinking around future approaches to care?

In 2026, the Mary Elizabeth Hospital in Copenhagen will open to the public. It is a hospital that will revolutionise the experience for children, teens, pregnant women and their relatives before, during and after treatment. And they are doing this by centering the hospital all around play.

Alongside Elisabeth Ida Ginsberg and Thomas Frandsen the hospital’s chief project manager and chief medical officer respectively, ReD’s Anne Mette Worsøe Lottrup and Iago Noguer Storgaard discussed how play became the foundational idea to both the hospital’s design principles and day-to-day operations.

A project that has been over a decade in the making, they also discuss how an idea, or human insight such as play, can be guarded as the governing principle through something as complicated and large-scale as building a new hospital.

In another live edition of the ReD podcast, we are joined by Taylor Price, a leading Gen Z financial expert with over a million followers on TikTok, and Matt Klein, a writer, cultural theorist and head of foresight at Reddit, to discuss what spaces or figures people are turning to as trust in traditional sources of authority is in decline.

In the conversation, we get into the "who" – has relatability become the new stand-in for expertise? – the "where" – what are some of the tradeoffs to finding expertise in smaller, community-based online spaces? – and the "how" – what can traditional institutions learn from these spaces about meaningfully connecting with consumers?

We also covered the growing homogenisation of culture, the ability for AI to both disrupt and affirm existing models of authority and when brands should, and shouldn't, hand over power to their consumers.

The panel was hosted by ReD's editorial director Matthew Janney, as part of our wider exploration on where authority comes from today.

In our age of AI and hyper-replication, who really is the author?

To explore this question we sat down with with Charles Gorintin (co-founder of Mistral AI and co-founder and CTO of Alan) and Neil Beloufa (artist and co-founder of the collective EBB) who alongside ReD’s Charlotte Vangsgaard discuss:

How should companies that thrive on originality respond to this new age of mass participation? What kinds of new business models might emerge from this new landscape? And how can we understand the complex question of ownership as creative authority becomes increasingly distributed?

The panel was hosted by ReD’s Paris director Alexis Jakubowicz, as part of our wider exploration on where authority comes from today.