The Brand Hunch

In a world where brands struggle to balance immediate sales and long-term growth, two marketing powerhouses share their secrets for sustainable success. In this episode, Lindsay is joined by Brent Smart, former CMO of Telstra, and James Hurman, author of the groundbreaking book "Future Demand," as they dive into the transformative power of brand building.

Brent reflects on his tenure at Telstra, where he faced the challenge of shifting focus from short-term sales to nurturing a brand that resonates emotionally with consumers. He shares insights on how a strong brand can drastically improve corporate reputation, turning a well-known entity into a beloved one. Meanwhile, James introduces his concept of "future demand," explaining how marketers can effectively build a brand for tomorrow's buyers while still converting current demand. 

They also cover: 

• How to convince non-marketing stakeholders of the value of brand building
• The importance of emotional connection in branding and how it can lead to increased market share and profitability
• Real-world case studies, including a deep dive into Telstra’s transformation under Brent’s leadership
• Strategies for marketers to navigate corporate structures and advocate for the creative work necessary to build a strong brand. 

Perfect for CMOs, brand strategists, and anyone passionate about building brands that stand the test of time. 

Read The Telstra Playbook here - https://community.futuredemand.com/playbooks/the-telstra-playbook 

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Jaimee Vilela spent fifteen years running marketing for other people's brands before backing a hunch and purchasing Cooki Haircare, a shampoo bar business doing four sales a day. Two and a half years later, it's doing roughly 300 sales a day D2C, built on two channels alone: Meta and email. In this episode, Jaimee tells Lindsay why she thinks brand and performance aren't opposites on Meta, how she taught herself to buy ads from scratch, and why the hardest discipline in scaling fast was knowing what to say no to.

They also cover:

• How to build a brand purpose that resonates with consumers
• Why data-driven strategies are essential for modern e-commerce growth
• The power of authentic storytelling when launching eco-friendly products
• Navigating the mindset shift from marketing leader to managing director

An especially insightful listen for e-commerce founders, brand marketers, and anyone looking to turn a marketing background into a successful product-led business.

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Nathan Low spent fifteen years at Unilever before landing the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer role at Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), where he now looks after the iconic Lamb and Beef campaigns Aussies know so well. In this episode, he shares why he describes himself as a brand custodian rather than a creator, and why inheriting a legacy campaign can be harder than building one from scratch.

They also cover:

• Why "you are not your target audience" is the hardest lesson to live by
• The case for running the same campaign assets for years, not months
• How MLA decides which ideas are on and off the table (pun intended)
• Why sleeping overnight on a creative decision beats trusting your gut in the room
• What 25 years of stable per-capita protein consumption reveals about how habits really shift

An especially insightful listen for CMOs and marketing leaders managing legacy campaigns, and marketers wrestling with the pressure to reinvent for the sake of it.

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From Arnott's to My Muscle Chef, me&u and now Verandah Brands, Clementine Churchill has built a career on refusing to separate marketing from the rest of the business.

In this episode, she chats to Lindsay about why she once swapped a marketing role for a year in sales, what it taught her about resilience and ownership, and how that early bet still shapes the way she runs revenue at Verandah Brands today.

They also cover:

- Why pricing should sit inside the marketing remit

- Building brand love in a category most people shop once or twice in a lifetime

- Brand architecture and when it's time to launch a house of brands versus one strong name

- Why AI might make emotional branding matter more

- What changes (and what doesn't) when you scale a founder-led business past the early hustle stage

An especially insightful listen for CMOs, brand leads, and founders trying to work out where marketing's remit should begin and end, and revenue leaders who want a marketer's take on pricing and commercial ownership.

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Catherine Dix, Managing Director ANZ, waterdrop®, joins Lindsay to unpack three years of building a global challenger brand from the ground up here in ANZ. From holding off on retail expansion until the market was ready, to landing a landmark Australian Open partnership focused on removing plastic from court, Cat shares the wins that have paid off; how she’s making brand decisions relevant to the local consumer, and leaning in to leverage the global brand equity other start-ups could only dream of.

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Sudeep Gohil has seen the industry from almost every angle, and he's got some opinions that are worth the listen. In this episode, Lindsay sits down with the former founding partner of Droga5 Australia and ex-Partner in Charge of Brand and Marketing at KPMG to talk about what it takes to get brand investment over the line and why empathy might be the most underrated capability in the industry right now.

Thanks again to Tracksuit for making this episode of The Brand Hunch possible. If you're a marketer looking for an easy and affordable way to track brand performance, demonstrate ROI, and find out if your strategy is working, then head to gotracksuit.com/thebrandhunch. 

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Too many agencies assume what brands are doing. At Chello, we went out and asked them.

In this episode, Lindsay sits down with Chello's Strategy Director Tom Dabner and Co-Founder & Executive Creative Director Tristan Velasco to unpack Operation Brand. It's Chello's first brand leadership benchmark report, built on 1,200 minutes of candid conversations with senior leaders across 25 organisations. Tom and Tris talk through what surprised them (hint: size doesn't guarantee sophistication), why brand is still the first budget cut even when leaders say they believe in it, and how the rise of AI is raising the bar for distinctiveness rather than lowering the effort required to achieve it.

PSA: This episode is full of so many brilliant hot takes, so if you're a CMO, brand director, or founder trying to get brand working harder inside your business, don’t let it pass you by.

You can find the full Operation Brand report (and an audio version) on our website: https://www.chello.com.au/insights/brand-leadership-benchmark-report-2026

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What does great PR actually look like in 2026, and why are so many brands still getting it wrong? Lindsay sits down with James Hutchinson, CEO of global PR powerhouse Sling & Stone, to discuss the state of modern communications. From the growing backlash against AI-generated content to the case for putting comms professionals at the executive table, James unpacks why the brands winning today aren't the loudest – they're the ones asking the right questions and saying something worth remembering, to the people who actually need to hear it.

Thanks to Tracksuit for making this episode of The Brand Hunch possible. If you're a marketer looking for an easy and affordable way to track brand performance, demonstrate ROI, and find out if your strategy is working, then head to gotracksuit.com/thebrandhunch. 

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What does “good taste” actually mean, and is it something you're born with? In this episode, we chat with Zhoe Low, Marketing Director at MoveActive and former GM of Marketing & Retail at July Luggage, about why taste is an essential ingredient for building premium brands. From hiring tastemakers and setting creative standards, to giving teams the autonomy to learn by doing, Zhoe unpacks why taste compounds when paired with process, and why the best inspiration often comes from outside your category.

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In this live episode, recorded at Content Summit Australia, Lindsay sits down with Anri Mc Hugh, Head of Marketing - Awareness & Consideration at Specsavers ANZ, to explore one of the most enduring brand platforms in advertising history. Almost 24 years on, "Should've Gone to Specsavers" shows no signs of slowing down, and does a stellar job of rolling out consistent marketing campaigns around the world while still managing to stay relevant for each individual market. That's no easy feat! Lindsay and Anri chat about the discipline of sticking with a core idea, structuring a global marketing team around the customer funnel, and where Anri finds creative inspiration.

Thanks to Tracksuit for making this episode of The Brand Hunch possible. If you're a marketer looking for an easy and affordable way to track brand performance, demonstrate ROI, and find out if your strategy is working, then head to gotracksuit.com/thebrandhunch 

Tell us what you think of this episode!