Every brand wants to talk to young Australians … Almost none of them have asked one.

Sam Koslowski co-founded The Daily Aus at 22 with Zara Seidler. It's now the most read independent news source in Australia, and for 70% of its audience it's the only news they read at all. 

So today I’m talking to him about what Gen Z actually want and are thinking right now, and what most brands get wrong when they start trying to talk to this audience. 

You’ll learn:

Chapters

00:00 Why every brand is getting young Australians wrong

00:51 Inside The Daily Aus

07:31 The fastest way to destroy trust

09:54 Why brands get it wrong

14:32 Never do this when following ‘trends’ 

15:49 The attention span myth

19:00 Which channels to focus on if you’re trying to talk to a younger audience 

23:38 How TDA changed it’s approach to marketing and reporting 

28:45 What Future Proof found about AI at work

32:32 This change is the reason 88% of Gen Z consumers would choose a brand 

37:36 The best ways to use AI in media 

43:17 What you should never use AI for 

45:30 The Effing Truth

If you want the TLDR of what you should actually care about, you're in the right place, make sure you’re following because you won’t want to miss our next few episodes. Check out the latest episodes here https://tfm.marketing/tfm-marketing-podcast/ 

See the behind the scenes over at @tfm.pod - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/tfm.pod/⁠ 

Follow the TFM team over at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/tfm.digital/⁠ and ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@tfm.digital⁠ 

And ⁠https://www.instagram.com/taylorfielding/⁠ and ⁠https://www.instagram.com/mathewfielding/⁠

Brands can burn hundreds of thousands of dollars on polished content that does absolutely nothing for their bottom line.

In this episode, we sit down with Arielle Thomas, the powerhouse director behind Cinema Thom who operates in the ultimate high-low mix. One day she’s shooting luxury campaigns for Vogue, Cartier, and YSL; the next, she’s building commercial creative engines for retail giants like Kmart and Anko Global.

Arielle breaks down how a problem-solving TikTok framework drove a staggering 26% sales boost for Kmart, why buyer psychology beats "pretty" aesthetics every time, and her famous "pulled pork" method for squeezing every drop of ROI out of your budget. 

If you're tired of rigid agency briefs and stale campaigns, this is your blueprint for making content that actually sells.

Key moments:

00:00: Mastering the High-Low Mix to Drive ROI from Retail to Ultra-Luxury Vogue Campaigns

6:34: The Memory and Emotional Trigger That Dictates Why Consumers Actually Spend Money

8:34: Turning Everyday Customer Problems into High-Converting Product Hooks

9:28: What Happens When You Sit Outside a Retail Store for 6 Hours to Study Buyers

12:02: The 10k  Airbnb "UGC Day" Formula That Crushed Traditional TVC Budgets

17:12: The 80/20 Rule That Lets Brands Test Bold Creative Ideas Without Blowing Their Budget

21:02: The "Pulled Pork" Method to Squeeze Every Asset Off the Bone of a Single Shoot

23:32: What Brands Are Doing Wrong When Briefing Creative Studios and Agencies

25:03: Why Aesthetic Perfection Is Killing Your Campaign Performance

30:00: How Setting Timelines Stops Last-Minute Creative Disasters Between Media and Production

32:55: How to Safely Use AI for Fixing Mistakes Without Losing Human Authenticity

43:26: Turning Stiff Camera-Shy Founders into Confident Personal Brand Builders

Catch more from Arielle Thomas by visiting cinemathom.com or following her work over on Instagram at @ariellethomas and @cinema_thom

Want to know exactly which channels will you give REAL return on your paid ads? We've created a full playbook that that covers that plus how to get people buying your products online. If you want a copy, head over to IG @tfm.digital and DM us PLAYBOOK.

Organic social media is still one of the easiest ways to build trust with your audience. So if you're ready to create a community around your brand, head over to IG @tfm.digital and DM us the word ORGANIC to grab our ultimate social media organic guide.

If you want the TLDR of what you should actually care about, you're in the right place. 

Hit follow because you're not gonna wanna miss these episodes.

See the behind the scenes over at @tfm.pod - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/tfm.pod/⁠ 

Follow the TFM team over at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/tfm.digital/⁠ and ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@tfm.digital⁠ 

And ⁠https://www.instagram.com/taylorfielding/⁠ and ⁠https://www.instagram.com/mathewfielding/⁠ 

Sam Buchanan probably has one of the clearest views of what’s happening inside Australia’s independent media agency sector right now.

As CEO of the IMAA, he’s across more than 175 indie agencies, which means he’s seeing first hand what consumers and businesses want from marketing right now in 2026. 

In this episode, I’m sitting down with Sam to get an honest read on where the market is heading and what the best agencies are doing right. 

Key moments:

0:00 - Where Australian media is sitting right now, and why agencies are dealing with more change, fragmentation and uncertainty than ever

2:40 - How indie agencies went from being the “wild card” in a pitch to winning most of them

5:46 - Why 2026 could be the year indie agencies stop being the alternative option

10:39 -  Why the indie agency network is working so well right now (and will it continue to?)

12:36 - How the IMAA actually manages competition between members when everyone knows everyone and the market is so small

14:27 -  What CMOs need to understand when they pick the cheapest agency in a pitch

16:09 - What the strongest indie agencies have in common, from how they hire to how they use tech

22:20 - What happens when brands start taking more media in-house, and where agencies still have a role to play

26:08 - What the IMAA census is showing about where indie agencies are investing, and the channels getting the most attention right now

29:27 - Sam’s predictions for what’s going to happen to indie agencies in the next 5 years

30:00 - Why the industry needs to rethink how young people get trained when AI is taking over the old junior work

32:28 - What media partnerships look like when more buying becomes automated

If you want to get in touch with Sam, you can find him on Linkedin here, or visit IMAA www.theimaa.com.au

If you're ready to start seeing growth in your franchise every single year then head over to IG @tfm.digital and DM us RECRUITMENT to grab a copy of our franchise development playbook.

If you want your ads to finally get in front of the right audience, DM us CREATIVE over on IG @tfm.digital and we'll send you our creative strategy to get you started.

If you want the TLDR of what you should actually care about, you're in the right place. 

Most agencies know how to pitch.

Far fewer know how to win the right work, keep the right clients and build something people want to be a part of.

I sat down with Virginia Hyland, who previously led Havas Media Group and is now co-founder of Squad M&A, to talk about what really makes an agency valuable.

Virginia has worked with huge brands - we’re talking Red Bull, Gucci, Tiffany, Rimmel, Bumble and Tourism Fiji, and has sat on almost every side of the agency world from founder, CEO, pitch leader, acquisition advisor AND buyer.

I wanted to sit down and chat with Virginia about what indie agencies can do better than the big networks, why chemistry matters before any pitch, what marketers should look for when choosing an agency, and how founders can start building a business that’s worth buying years before they plan to sell.

Key moments:

0:00 - How Virginia built an agency before social media changed everything

3:49 - Why indie agencies can beat the big networks

11:49 - How a 15-person team won against global agencies.

15:19 - The client win that led to helicopters and Tiffany jewellery

18:09 - How to tell if a pitch is actually worth your time

23:10 - The best way to get into someone’s boardroom

28:18 - The mistake most agencies make in pitches

31:57 - How to let your team lead a pitch without taking over

34:00 - How Havas stood out against more than 100 agencies

35:42 - What Virginia learned from losing Red Bull the first time

39:20 - What to watch for when your agency gets sold

41:44 - What changes when you go from indie founder to HoldCo CEO

45:54 - Why founders should prepare for sale years before they exit

51:11 - How AI could change the agency model

54:29 - What makes an agency worth buying

If you want to connect with Virginia you can find her on Linkedin here, or visit Squad M&A www.squadma.com

Organic social media is still one of the easiest ways to build trust with your audience. So if you're ready to create a community around your brand, head over to IG @tfm.digital and DM us the word ORGANIC to grab our ultimate social media organic guide.

Want to know exactly which channels will you give REAL return on your paid ads? We've created a full playbook that that covers that plus how to get people buying your products online. If you want a copy, head over to IG @tfm.digital and DM us PLAYBOOK.
If you want the TLDR of what you should actually care about, you're in the right place. 

“Our leads are terrible.” Said every business ever. But what if the leads aren’t the problem?

In today’s episode, Matt and Taylor dig into one of the most common problems in business, and why marketing almost always gets blamed. 

From the moment a lead drops into your CRM, to the point of sale there are a lot of opportunities for things to go wrong. We will break down why your leads are getting lost in your funnel and how to fix it.

Key moments:

0:48 The real reason your leads aren’t converting. Hint: It has do to with your funnel

3:09: When you should be contacting your leads and how SMS is not dead

4:08: What really makes a quality buyer. And the stats that make the decision for you. 

5:37: What you can be doing to build quality leads

6:12:The High Value Franchisee playbook you need to help improve your sales funnel  

7:22: What is a bad lead…and how to recognise them so you don’t waste your  time

9:18 What a good sales process looks like and what you need to do to nurture your leads

10:39: The biggest change we made to our sales process that 

12:42: What to do if your offer is not hitting the mark and why it could be losing you leads

16:21: How to build a targeted audience through Youtube and Podcasts

17:35: The simple steps you can take today to convert quality leads into sales

If you want your ads to finally get in front of the right audience, DM us CREATIVE over on IG ⁠@tfm.digital⁠ and we'll send you our creative strategy to get you started.

If you're ready to start seeing growth in your franchise every single year then head over to IG ⁠@tfm.digital⁠ and DM us RECRUITMENT to grab a copy of our franchise development playbook.

If you want the TLDR of what you should actually care about, you're in the right place. 

Hit follow because you're not gonna wanna miss these episodes.

See the behind the scenes over at @tfm.pod - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/tfm.pod/⁠ 

Follow the TFM team over at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/tfm.digital/⁠ and ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@tfm.digital⁠ 

And ⁠https://www.instagram.com/taylorfielding/⁠ and ⁠https://www.instagram.com/mathewfielding/⁠

Creator marketing is one of the fastest growing channels, but so many brands are using outdated strategies that just don’t work anymore. 

Nathan McCallum has over 750K followers on Instagram, 180K subscribers on Youtube and has been doing this long before “creator” was a job title. He’s built an audience, a coaching business, a clothing brand and long-term brand partnerships by doing things his own way.

In this episode, I’m chatting with Nathan to find out what brands get wrong with creators, why trust beats follower count, building a founder-led brand, AI, online negativity and the expensive lesson he learned behind the scenes of Furore.

Key moments:

0:00 - Why Nathan moved away from one-off brand deals and started prioritising long-term partnerships

14:49 - Why Nathan doesn’t obsess over every platform change, and what he focuses on instead of chasing the algorithm

19:34 - Nathan’s advice for creating content people want to watch

24:53 - Why Nathan never tried to fit the typical fitness influencer mould, and how that became part of what makes his content work

27:21 - How Nathan deals with negativity online without turning the comment section into a fight

31:09 - The behind-the-scenes reality of building Furore, (including what went wrong…)

37:41 - How Nathan makes Furore feel like a real extension of him, rather than another creator brand that disappears after one launch

39:04 - The biggest lessons Nathan would give anyone building a brand from scratch

45:41 - Why Nathan isn’t worried about AI replacing creators

51:48 - The most expensive mistake Nathan made in business + why founders still need to understand the parts they outsource

Find Nathan on over at @nathan or @furore

Organic social media is still one of the easiest ways to build trust with your audience. So if you're ready to create a community around your brand, head over to IG @tfm.digital and DM us the word ORGANIC to grab our ultimate social media organic guide.

Want to know exactly which channels will you give REAL return on your paid ads? We've created a full playbook that that covers that plus how to get people buying your products online. If you want a copy, head over to IG @tfm.digital and DM us PLAYBOOK.

If you want the TLDR of what you should actually care about, you're in the right place. 

1,000 new customers a month. And most of them never came back. Not because the product wasn't good. Because the trust wasn't deep enough yet.

Kristy Morris built KAILO, a wellness brand stocked in Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's, and Kourtney Kardashian's gift guide, by learning that lesson the hard way. A $159,000 event loss, an accidental Dubai expansion, and a complete rebuild of her retention strategy later, she's got a playbook worth hearing.

This episode is about what actually builds a brand people keep coming back to. 

Key moments:

00:00: What McDonald's can teach you about consistency and why you need to get it right

7:13: The real reason local marketing dilutes your brand

7:51: How to position a brand in the most saturated category in the world

26:39: How to crack a market you know nothing about

29:50: The Kardashian gift guide. What it actually costs to and what it actually did

33:25: Why opening a cafe is actually a marketing strategy 

37:25: 1,000 new customers a month who weren’t coming back

42:57: The Goop Summit that lost $159, 000 and became the best campaign ever

46:18: The ONE thing every marketing need to get right before they spend a single dollar

To find out more on Krisy, KAILO and Sureyya Kahve, you can find them on instagram @kailo_aus , @kailo_medispa and @sureyya_kahve

If you want your ads to finally get in front of the right audience, DM us CREATIVE over on IG @tfm.digital and we'll send you our creative strategy to get you started.

If you're ready to start seeing growth in your franchise every single year then head over to IG @tfm.digital and DM us RECRUITMENT to grab a copy of our franchise development playbook.

Most brands are still paying to rent attention. TEAMM8 built a community that hands it over for free.

Tommy Laurens has been Marketing Director at TEAMM8 for six years. In that time the brand has grown 500%. They doubled revenue two years running. 90% up this year alone. With a team of six. No agency. No Google ads. No influencer budget. Just a community that became their biggest media channel.

Tommy breaks down exactly how TEAMM8's UGC strategy replaced influencers, the free beer activation that built a sales pipeline, the RuPaul's Drag Race partnership that now reaches the US, and why the moment your content looks like an ad, it's already dead.

If you're still trying to buy your way to growth, this one's going to sting a little.

Key moments:

00:00: How to reposition a brand people had stopped caring about

3:42: Why bringing your ads in-house might be the best decision you make

6:34: How to turn your biggest fans into your best marketing channel

7:50: How to measure brand awareness when the numbers don’t tell you the whole story

10:30: How to run paid ads on Meta when your content keeps getting banned

20:59 This is they way to turn a single activation into a sales pipeline

38:42: Why what’s working in your marketing today won’t work tomorrow

To see more form TEAMM8, you can give them a follow on Instagram @TEAMM8

If you want the TLDR of what you should actually care about, you're in the right place. 

Every marketer is being told they need to “get on AI” right now. But most businesses don’t actually know what they’re buying.

Is it AI? Is it automation? Is it just a GPT in a pretty dress?

And more importantly, is it going to save your team time… or become another expensive subscription that doesn’t deliver…

Today Matt is sitting down with Zaine, our Head of Investment to talk about where AI is genuinely useful right now, where you’re being sold a dream, and what businesses need to sort out internally before rolling it out.

Key moments:

0:00 - What “AI” actually means in marketing (and what’s been rebranded as AI for years) 

5:06 - The difference between AI and automation 

8:16 - The questions you need to ask before buying any AI tool 

15:46 - Where AI is actually useful right now (and where you’re being sold a dream) 

17:19 - Will AI replace marketing roles… or just change what you hire for? 

19:48 - Why we hired an in-house AI engineer + what that looks like in our business

23:43 - Should you trust tools like Advantage+ and Performance Max with your budget? 

28:41 - Why Meta is catching up to Google in ad revenue and what that means for your spend

31:59 - What the next 12–18 months of AI in marketing will really look like 

36:04 - IThe one thing to fix in your business before you even think about AI 

Connect with Zaine on Linkedin here.

If you want the TLDR of what you should actually care about, you're in the right place. 

Phil DeBella started a coffee company with $5,000 in a market with 2,000 competitors and  sold it for $47 million. 

In this episode, he gives away the marketing playbook that built it and explains why most marketing “strategies” don’t actually work. 

We talk about how did it and why the same principles apply whether you're running a cafe, a national franchise, or trying to crack the US market.

He also gets into why the four Ps of marketing are dead (and what replaces them), how to tell your founding story even when you think you don't have one, the real reason the Brisbane's Best Cafe campaign hit 40,000 nominations, and what the marketing teams of tomorrow actually look like in an AI world.

You’ll Hear:

00:00: How to build a brand from scratch with $5000 in a crowded category

2:44: How to know if your campaign is going to work before you’ve even spent a dollar

5:33: The Emotional Engagement formula. The strategy that keeps customers coming back to you 

8:40: Why you need to define your customer and your message and how when you do, it just works

11:21: How to make your customer feel something when your product is identical to everyone else's

28:30: When you should separate your personal brand from your business 

33:16: People and Perception. Why it’s not just about the 4 P’s anymore

34:26: The single biggest mistake businesses make when they are doing great work

35:33: Why your founding story is so important for your brand and how to build it

41:32: What AI can do for your marketing and what it shouldn’t do

47:38: What’s the difference between a campaign people talk about and one people forget

If you want to hear more from Phil, you can connect with him on Linkedin: Phil Di Bella and Facebook. To learn more about Coffee Commune, head to coffeecommunе.com.au or check them out on Instagram @the.coffeecommune

Want to know exactly which channels will you give REAL return on your paid ads? We've created a full playbook that that covers that plus how to get people buying your products online. If you want a copy, head over to IG @tfm.digital and DM us PLAYBOOK.

If you want the TLDR of what you should actually care about, you're in the right place. 

Hit follow because you're not gonna wanna miss these episodes.

See the behind the scenes over at @tfm.pod - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/tfm.pod/⁠ 

Follow the TFM team over at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/tfm.digital/⁠ and ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@tfm.digital⁠ 

And ⁠https://www.instagram.com/taylorfielding/⁠ and ⁠https://www.instagram.com/mathewfielding/⁠