The Six Sells Podcast

In this episode of The Six Sells Podcast, Mike Nicholson is joined by Yommi Alake from Allwyn, operator of The National Lottery, to discuss the future of search marketing, AI visibility, app marketing and practical AI automation.Yommi explains why even household-name brands need paid search and organic SEO, how marketers can reach customers searching for products rather than brands, and why relevance is fundamental to successful search campaigns.The conversation explores Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), also known as Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), and what businesses can do to improve their chances of being cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google's AI Overviews.Yommi also shares his perspective on how AI is changing search traffic, why SEO fundamentals still matter, and how blog content, FAQs, structured data and YouTube videos can support AI search visibility.Mike shares how Six Sells has approached AEO and why LLMs have become the company's biggest source of new business enquiries.The discussion then moves into mobile app marketing at The National Lottery, including Apple Search Ads, customer acquisition, conversion and the responsibilities involved in marketing regulated products.Finally, Mike and Yommi explore agentic AI, the difference between AI tools and AI agents, and how businesses can automate repetitive workflows to save time.Topics discussed include:- Why established brands still need paid search and SEO- How ChatGPT and AI Overviews are changing search behaviour- SEO vs AEO vs GEO: what's different and what stays the same?- How to track AI citations and competitor visibility- Why FAQs, evergreen blog posts and YouTube matter for AI search- Measuring AI referral traffic and LLM-generated leads- Apple Search Ads and mobile app acquisition- Responsible marketing and advertising restrictions at The National Lottery- AI agents, MCP connections and workflow automation- Measuring AI ROI through time saved and error rates- The challenges of AI token pricing and usage limitsKey questions answered:How do you optimise your website for ChatGPT and AI search engines?Is traditional SEO still relevant in the age of AI?How can brands get cited in AI-generated answers?Can AI agents automate marketing reporting and CRM tasks?How should businesses measure the ROI of agentic AI?If you work in marketing, digital advertising, SEO, adtech or AI, this conversation offers practical perspectives on adapting to changing search behaviour and making AI useful within your business.What is The Six Sells Podcast?The Six Sells Podcast is for people working in marketing, media, advertising, adtech and technology. There are over 150 episodes (and counting), and the biggest episodes have achieved 30,000 views across all platforms. Want to get in touch? Email [email protected] is Six Sells?Six Sells is a UK-based executive visibility and thought leadership agency that works globally with CEOs and senior leaders in media, advertising, adtech and technology.Founded in 2018, we turn each executive's expertise into distinctive, authoritative content in their own voice, built to reach two audiences at once: the humans that matter to them, and the AI models those humans now ask for answers.Our work combines executive ghostwriting, video, podcasts, photography and awards to build familiarity, trust and authority across LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, Substack, the trade press and the wider web.We also help executives and their companies improve their visibility in AI search and large language models (LLMs) through generative engine optimisation (GEO), increasing the likelihood that platforms including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity and Claude can discover, understand, cite and recommend their expertise.Website: https://www.sixsells.co.ukContact: [email protected]

In this episode of The Six Sells Podcast, Mike Nicholson and Fern Potter spoke to Ben Williams about ‘Agentic Advertising’.

Ben is the MD and Founder of Kiln which sets out to solve mission-critical commercial, technology, and operational problems for media and advertising companies worldwide.

Widely seen as the OG of agentic advertising Ben has 25+ years in commercial and product roles spanning start-ups to international enterprises.

Topics discussed include:

•⁠ ⁠Ben’s approach to agentic projects and AI briefs

•⁠ Transparency of ad spend

•⁠ The concept of human + tech = the deal

•⁠ The brand agent, the sale agent and creating storefronts

•⁠ Pre-bid and off the shelf

•⁠ Testing and learning

•⁠ Hold companies and independents

•⁠ New audiences opening up including creators

•⁠ Thinking about where the eyeballs are

•⁠ The digital to AI hop

•⁠ Trust, governance and confidence within the process and the people

•⁠ Collaborating and growing opportunity

•⁠ Ben’s views on who is driving agentic advertising forward

•⁠ Changing the shape of the lumascape

Who is Six Sells? 

Six Sells is a UK-based executive visibility and thought leadership agency that works globally with CEOs and senior leaders in media, advertising, adtech and technology. Founded in 2018, we turn each executive's expertise into distinctive, authoritative content in their own voice, built to reach two audiences at once: the humans that matter to them, and the AI models those humans now ask for answers.

Our work combines executive ghostwriting, video, podcasts, photography and awards to build familiarity, trust and authority across LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, Substack, the trade press and the wider web. We also help executives and their companies improve their visibility in AI search and large language models (LLMs) through generative engine optimisation (GEO), increasing the likelihood that platforms including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity and Claude can discover, understand, cite and recommend their expertise.

Email [email protected] for more information.

In this episode of The Six Sells Podcast, Mike Nicholson spoke to Tom Ridges about ‘Herd Mentality’.

Tom is the CEO and Founder of Herdify, a behavioural science and network science company helping brands and charities grow by finding where real-world influence is already happening. His work is about reframing marketing away from channels, dashboards and simple audience definitions, and back toward trust, social influence, connectedness and real human behaviour.

Topics discussed include:

• Tom’s views on the science behind how we make decisions as humans

• Who Herdify are, their ideal client, how they work and the results
• Audiences based on decision making
• The importance of word-of-mouth clusters and compound growth
• Tapping into social proof, copying as a default and peer product adoption
• Sowing the seed and being strategic rather than chasing everyone
• Simple and complex contagion and adoption of behaviour
• Exposure through people we trust and amplifying this
• Knowing the strategy of where to go next and utilising demographics
• Understanding where influence is happening and finding new audiences
• The collective value of people
• Creating advocacy and establishing momentum
• Never using round numbers!
• The importance of self agency over decision making
• Habit and copy as a short cut
• Trust, reputation and recommendation
• The negative social norm, taking a stand and the idea of creating a collective category movement

Who is Six Sells? 

Six Sells is a UK-based executive visibility and thought leadership agency that works globally with CEOs and senior leaders in media, advertising, adtech and technology. Founded in 2018, we turn each executive's expertise into distinctive, authoritative content in their own voice, built to reach two audiences at once: the humans that matter to them, and the AI models those humans now ask for answers.

Our work combines executive ghostwriting, video, podcasts, photography and awards to build familiarity, trust and authority across LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, Substack, the trade press and the wider web. We also help executives and their companies improve their visibility in AI search and large language models (LLMs) through generative engine optimisation (GEO), increasing the likelihood that platforms including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity and Claude can discover, understand, cite and recommend their expertise.

Email [email protected] for more information.

In this episode of The Six Sells Podcast, Mike Nicholson and Fern Potter spoke to Samraj Matharu about ‘Responsible AI’.

Samraj is the Founder at The AI Lyceum which brings together a community of global practitioners and experts from technology, media, policy, healthcare, and academia to focus on ‘wisdom over intelligence’.

Topics discussed include:

•⁠ ⁠Samraj’s views on the importance on thinking ‘properly’ and ‘deeply’ with origins in ancient philosophy and its relevance to AI

•⁠ ⁠The relevance and importance of human judgment and using AI as an assistant and an accelerant, not a replacement

•⁠ ⁠Testing and learning to give clients a measurement on success and the psychological safety of growing in increments

•⁠ ⁠2026 as the year to test and fail cheaply

•⁠ ⁠Thinking deeply about philosophy and acting on it

•⁠ ⁠The danger of humans relying too much on AI and the importance of building an infrastructure that helps future generations

•⁠ ⁠Defining what good thinking actually is

•⁠ ⁠Memory, context and training data

•⁠ ⁠Personalised medical agents and the case for self analysis based on context

•⁠ ⁠Trust and AI and the growth in this mindset

•⁠ ⁠Tonality, ethics, consumer trust and responsibility

•⁠ ⁠How to build ethics, morals and principles as a standard

•⁠ ⁠The nuances in content when building a non-biased platform

•⁠ ⁠SEO strategy and ethical output

•⁠ ⁠Samraj’s view on who is doing ethics well in AI and agentic frameworks

•⁠ ⁠How brand safety will change in an AI world

•⁠ ⁠The challenge of translating the principles and values of the business into tech rules

•⁠ ⁠Deterministic and probabilistic outcomes and setting parameters for the agents to operate within

•⁠ ⁠The difference between algorithms and agents and protecting your brand and the consumer

•⁠ ⁠The echo chamber within LLM’s and the risk of bias and ‘people pleasing’

•⁠ ⁠The fingerprints in human writing, linguistic forensics and LLM’s

•⁠ ⁠The importance of transparency of the code and intellectual context

•⁠ ⁠Having consistent human judgement embedded in the process

•⁠ ⁠Moving away from actions towards what is really relevant for the consumer

•⁠ ⁠Samraj’s ambitions for the next year

Who is Six Sells? 

Six Sells is a UK-based executive visibility and thought leadership agency that works globally with CEOs and senior leaders in media, advertising, adtech and technology. Founded in 2018, we turn each executive's expertise into distinctive, authoritative content in their own voice, built to reach two audiences at once: the humans that matter to them, and the AI models those humans now ask for answers.

Our work combines executive ghostwriting, video, podcasts, photography and awards to build familiarity, trust and authority across LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, Substack, the trade press and the wider web. We also help executives and their companies improve their visibility in AI search and large language models (LLMs) through generative engine optimisation (GEO), increasing the likelihood that platforms including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity and Claude can discover, understand, cite and recommend their expertise.

Email [email protected] for more information.

In this episode of The Six Sells Podcast, Mike Nicholson spoke to Daniel Glynn, who is Head of Media Buying at Heineken, about ‘Client-Side Media’.

Dan is the perfect person to give us insights into both his agency and client side experiences following his years at MediaCom working across leading brands including Centrica, Coca Cola, Tesco, GSK and CRUK. His work for Heineken began back in 2023 as Programmatic Lead and he is highly skilled in digital transformation, delivering commercial targets and achieving great campaign results for his clients.

Topics discussed include:

•⁠ ⁠Dan’s views on the differences on working on the agency and client sides

•⁠ ⁠Why it’s important to speak to new people, have the discovery phase and look to innovate whilst looking at the best tech in the industry

•⁠ ⁠How capabilities are constantly changing, making it even more important to be as bold and brave as possible with activations

•⁠ ⁠Using AI, segmenting, and different data points to minimise brand overlap and evaluating to make sure that you don’t just ‘blend in’

•⁠ The power of the Open Web and showing premium credentials for brands

•⁠ How we can build an efficient cross channel plan utilising our different partners whilst using past results to inform our decision making

•⁠ The importance of creating a connected eco-system and collaboration

•⁠ Why journalism, semantics and a free society are so important alongside brand safety

•⁠ Why attention is the touchpoint that we should be looking at within the media industry and its value as a health metric to catch the eye

•⁠ How building a holistic media plan can tap into the right moments and create standout

•⁠ Nudge versus nurture, and how understanding the difference gives you a balance of effectiveness and efficiency

•⁠ How LinkedIn helps Dan to get know a wider network, reach out to clients and help others in the industry

•⁠ Actively looking for new partners to revolutionise the brand’s offering

•⁠ Why having a personalised touch is important to make sure that genuine writing and conversations are still happening in an AI world

•⁠ The importance of intent and what is happening behind the screen and partnerships that help with context

•⁠ Why brand awareness is key and the value in finding the moments of undivided attention

•⁠ The campaign that Dan is most proud of and the uplift in sales that followed

Who is Six Sells? 

Six Sells is a UK-based executive visibility and thought leadership agency that works globally with CEOs and senior leaders in media, advertising, adtech and technology. Founded in 2018, we turn each executive's expertise into distinctive, authoritative content in their own voice, built to reach two audiences at once: the humans that matter to them, and the AI models those humans now ask for answers.

Our work combines executive ghostwriting, video, podcasts, photography and awards to build familiarity, trust and authority across LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, Substack, the trade press and the wider web. We also help executives and their companies improve their visibility in AI search and large language models (LLMs) through generative engine optimisation (GEO), increasing the likelihood that platforms including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity and Claude can discover, understand, cite and recommend their expertise.

Email [email protected] for more information.

In this episode of The Six Sells Podcast, Mike Nicholson spoke to Lucy Verby, James Latham and Kenya Peters about UN//Scene, the industry event created to give fresh thinking and new voices a platform, while making events more affordable, inclusive and useful for the people attending.

Topics discussed include:

• Why Lucy Verby created UN//Scene after becoming frustrated with the lack of genuinely fresh thinking and new voices at traditional industry events.

• Why Lucy believes the industry needs to find "the faces that are going to be the headliners of tomorrow" and give them somewhere to develop their ideas and experience on stage.

• Why Kenya Peters believes industry events can become too focused on familiar conversations, and what happens when people are encouraged to talk about the subjects and ideas they genuinely care about.

• Why UN//Scene refuses sales pitches and panels, and instead asks speakers to bring their most creative and exciting thinking.

• How the event is built around three principles: pragmatism, positivity and participation.

• Why speakers are encouraged to leave people with something tangible they can actually take away and use.

• How this year's sessions cover everything from neurodivergence and magic to toxic leadership, matrescence, community, respectful rejection, queer advertising and creativity.

• Why James Latham came away from the first UN//Scene feeling "more nourished" and with new ideas and conversations he could take into his work.

• Why the organisers want both new entrants and senior industry decision-makers in the room, so the people attending have the ability to create meaningful change.

• Why speakers are encouraged to stay, watch other sessions and become part of the audience rather than disappearing after their own talk.

• How every penny generated by the event goes to charity.

• Why Kenya believes that "no matter where you are in your career, there's going to be something that you can take from it".

• Lucy's thanks to Craft Media, this year's UN//Scene sponsor, and why having a sponsor whose values align with the event matters to the team.

• Why the team believes UN//Scene ultimately works because alongside the learning, networking and industry impact, as Lucy puts it, "it's just a really good day of exciting stuff."

UN//Scene takes place on 17 September at Conway Hall.

Viewers of The Six Sells Podcast can get 10% off tickets. Simply enter the code SIXSELLS10 when you check out here:

https://www.unscenefestival.co.uk/2026-tickets

Who is Six Sells?

Six Sells is a UK-based executive visibility and thought leadership agency that works globally with CEOs and senior leaders in media, advertising, adtech and technology.

Founded in 2018, we turn each executive's expertise into distinctive, authoritative content in their own voice, built to reach two audiences at once: the humans that matter to them, and the AI models those humans now ask for answers.

Our work combines executive ghostwriting, video, podcasts, photography and awards to build familiarity, trust and authority across LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, Substack, the trade press and the wider web.

We also help executives and their companies improve their visibility in AI search and large language models (LLMs) through generative engine optimisation (GEO), increasing the likelihood that platforms including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity and Claude can discover, understand, cite and recommend their expertise.

Email [email protected] for more information.

Huge thanks our sponsors and partner, Intelligent Assistance, who combine Human Intelligence with Artificial Intelligence to solve real business challenges - www.intelligentassistance.ai

In this episode of The Six Sells Podcast, Mike Nicholson spoke to Stephanie Parry, who is the MD UK&I for Jellyfish.

Here are some of the topics we discussed in this episode:

• How the client/agency relationship has changed and evolved
• Understanding and building trust and empathy
• Being in a moment of punctuated change and disruption
• Transformational and organisational change
• Driving industry thinking forward
• Generative engine marketing and its two audiences: human and agentic
• What is influencing your brand
• Shaping technology and thinking
• Brand and asset perception to build and craft differently
• Lots of littles
• Adapting your strategy for your audience
• Influencing a creative economy
• The connected media conversation
• Meaningful, authentic brand identities
• Great distinctive brand work
• Building long term memory structures and earning consumer attention
• New era of marketing to share and collaborate
• Light years and lizard brains
• Storytelling that you want to buy into
• The onus on consumers to consciously curate and assess the information being served
• Looking 5 years ahead

About The Six Sells Podcast:

The Six Sells Podcast is for people working in marketing, media, advertising and adtech.

There are over 150 episodes (and counting), and the biggest episodes have achieved 30,000 views across all platforms.

Want to get in touch? Email [email protected]

Who is Six Sells?

Six Sells is an executive visibility agency for CEOs and senior leaders working in media, advertising, and technology.

Content published by executives consistently reaches more people, earns more engagement, and attracts more meaningful responses than content published by brands.

With that in mind, we work with CEOs and senior leadership teams to create consistent, credible content that reaches the people who matter most to your business.

Who is Six Sells?

Six Sells is a UK-based executive visibility and thought leadership agency that works globally with CEOs and senior leaders in media, advertising, adtech and technology.

Founded in 2018, we turn each executive's expertise into distinctive, authoritative content in their own voice, built to reach two audiences at once: the humans that matter to them, and the AI models those humans now ask for answers.

Our work combines executive ghostwriting, video, podcasts, photography and awards to build familiarity, trust and authority across LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, Substack, the trade press and the wider web.

We also help executives and their companies improve their visibility in AI search and large language models (LLMs) through generative engine optimisation (GEO), increasing the likelihood that platforms including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity and Claude can discover, understand, cite and recommend their expertise.

Email [email protected] for more information.

Huge thanks our sponsors and partner, Intelligent Assistance, who combine Human Intelligence with Artificial Intelligence to solve real business challenges - www.intelligentassistance.ai

In this episode of The Six Sells Podcast, Mike Nicholson spoke to Sam Eads, who is Head of Ad Sales and Operations at Trainline.

Sam has an outstanding record of increasing revenue and achieving sustainable profit growth by identifying and capitalising on opportunities to develop existing business and win new business.

His impressive portfolio includes senior sales roles at Sojern and Vidoomy, Group Head of Radio and Digital Audio at Bauer Media, and Head of Advertising and Partnerships at First News.

Here are some of the topics we discussed in this episode.

• Journeys with brands
• Understanding attention in apps
• Working in the commuter segment
• Doing something different in the space and adding customer value
• Starting with the audience and building from there with integrity
• Media that’s going places
• Retail and commerce media and understanding audience behaviour
• Challenging yourself and listening to opinions in a feedback loop
• How AI is improving the business and optimising the team
• Being in an industry of relationships
• Contextually relevant moments during your journey
• Thinking outside of display and video placements to be brand sticky
• Shifting the narrative within the space
• Building what brands want to see
• Building out user level ID tracking
• What the future looks like and how positive pressure moves things at pace
• Mobility media and driving new thinking and success
• How small businesses can harness the power of mobility media

About The Six Sells Podcast:

The Six Sells Podcast is for people working in marketing, media, advertising and adtech. There are over 150 episodes (and counting), and the biggest episodes have achieved 30,000 views across all platforms.

Want to get in touch? Email [email protected]

‍

Who is Six Sells?

Six Sells is a UK-based executive visibility and thought leadership agency that works globally with CEOs and senior leaders in media, advertising, adtech and technology.

Founded in 2018, we turn each executive's expertise into distinctive, authoritative content in their own voice, built to reach two audiences at once: the humans that matter to them, and the AI models those humans now ask for answers.

Our work combines executive ghostwriting, video, podcasts, photography and awards to build familiarity, trust and authority across LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, Substack, the trade press and the wider web.

We also help executives and their companies improve their visibility in AI search and large language models (LLMs) through generative engine optimisation (GEO), increasing the likelihood that platforms including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity and Claude can discover, understand, cite and recommend their expertise.

Email [email protected] for more information.

Huge thanks our sponsors and partner, Intelligent Assistance, who combine Human Intelligence with Artificial Intelligence to solve real business challenges - www.intelligentassistance.ai

In this episode of The Six Sells Podcast, Mike Nicholson spoke to Fern Potter, James Harris and Sarah De Martin from Intelligent Assistance.

Intelligent Assistance combine human intelligence with artificial intelligence to solve real business challenges in the new AI economy.

Here are some of the topics discussed:

• Moving at pace as a start-up business

• Listening to customers to gather information and make meaningful change
• Using AI to grow and deliver outcomes
• Filling the adoption gap with meaningful technology
• Human first, human last
• Optimising the ‘everyday’ in ways that were not previously possible
• The differences between agents and engines
• Saving time for businesses
• Upskilling teams for future with AI
• The importance of integrity and trust
• Delving into who drives the content
• AI meeting customers ‘where they are at’
• The challenge of deep fakes and the importance of brand safety and building safeguarding
• Technology that filters what’s real and what’s not
• Good and poor practices within AI
• The gender gap in the application and use of AI
• How people can keep up with the daily changes within AI
• Staying curious and exploring the rabbit hole
• Thinking about things differently and the societal shift

About The Six Sells Podcast:

The Six Sells Podcast is for people working in marketing, media, advertising and adtech. There are over 150 episodes and counting, and the biggest episodes have achieved 30,000 views across all platforms. Want to get in touch? Email [email protected]

Who is Six Sells?

Six Sells is a UK-based executive visibility and thought leadership agency that works globally with CEOs and senior leaders in media, advertising, adtech and technology.

Founded in 2018, we turn each executive's expertise into distinctive, authoritative content in their own voice, built to reach two audiences at once: the humans that matter to them, and the AI models those humans now ask for answers.

Our work combines executive ghostwriting, video, podcasts, photography and awards to build familiarity, trust and authority across LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, Substack, the trade press and the wider web.

We also help executives and their companies improve their visibility in AI search and large language models (LLMs) through generative engine optimisation (GEO), increasing the likelihood that platforms including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity and Claude can discover, understand, cite and recommend their expertise.

Email [email protected] for more information.

Huge thanks our sponsors and partner, Intelligent Assistance, who combine Human Intelligence with Artificial Intelligence to solve real business challenges - www.intelligentassistance.ai

In this episode of The Six Sells Podcast, Fern Potter spoke to Aurelia Noel, who is the Head of Innovation and Transformation at dentsu X.

Aurelia is a recognised online expert with 25 years international experience leading global digital strategy and implementation of complex, enterprise-level digital projects in multinational and multicultural B2B and B2C environments.

Her impressive portfolio includes Global Digital Partner of Digital Transformation at Carat, Head of Marketing Europe at Urban Outfitters and senior roles at Premier Inn, amazon, Digital River and Dell.

Here are some of the topics we discussed in this episode.

• How curiosity, bravery, scepticism and trust will push you to innovation
• Simplifying your ideas and vision so that people can follow you
• The importance of scaling your innovation
• How AI impacts innovation and the human vs technology debate
• AI as an ‘agent colleague’ and second brain
• The challenge for women in AI and recent studies
• Investing in women in AI
• Mentorship and using AI for good
• Bridging the global AI divide
• How the government can work with investors and entrepreneurs that is outside of the US
• Misinformation, media manipulation and how people access information
• Brand safety and suitability within AI
• Ethical AI principles within brands and their reputation and purpose
• Sustainability in AI and how we can use it to solve human challenges
• Using AI to solve business situations to make the workforce more prepared and agile
• What the next year in AI might look like

About The Six Sells Podcast:

The Six Sells Podcast is for people working in marketing, media, advertising and adtech. There are over 150 episodes and counting, and the biggest episodes have achieved 30,000 views across all platforms. Want to get in touch? Email [email protected]

Who is Six Sells?

Six Sells is a UK-based executive visibility and thought leadership agency that works globally with CEOs and senior leaders in media, advertising, adtech and technology.

Founded in 2018, we turn each executive's expertise into distinctive, authoritative content in their own voice, built to reach two audiences at once: the humans that matter to them, and the AI models those humans now ask for answers.

Our work combines executive ghostwriting, video, podcasts, photography and awards to build familiarity, trust and authority across LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, Substack, the trade press and the wider web.

We also help executives and their companies improve their visibility in AI search and large language models (LLMs) through generative engine optimisation (GEO), increasing the likelihood that platforms including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity and Claude can discover, understand, cite and recommend their expertise.

Email [email protected] for more information.

Huge thanks our sponsors and partner, Intelligent Assistance, who combine Human Intelligence with Artificial Intelligence to solve real business challenges - www.intelligentassistance.ai