To Affinity and Beyond

Hello and welcome to the final episode in Season One of our podcast, To Affinity and Beyond. I’m Pete Denby, host of the podcast and Co-founder at Hyper.

In this episode I’m going to reflect on 3 things.

1. What we’ve learnt from starting and producing a regular podcast

2. Our most listened to podcast and it’s main highlights

3. 3 key insights from the rest of Season One

As promised in the episode, below is a summary of my favourite podcasts. We hope you enjoy these before tuning back in to Season Two of To Affinity and Beyond!

Hello and welcome to another episode of To Affinity and Beyond. This week I’m joined by Joel Spence, Director of Growth and Innovation at Serco ExperienceLab.

I’ve known Joel for a few years, since working together for around 12 months at Callcredit, before their £1b acquisition by TransUnion. Joel is the epitome of a modern growth director with a strong focus on customer experience and innovation.

In this episode we talk about how technology and insight drive innovation. Joel shares some great examples to bring the topic to life and I think you’ll find the content really enjoyable and valuable.

Joel’s very active on LinkedIn, posting and sharing some excellent content, so I’d highly recommend connecting to him.

If you’d like to find out more about Hyper and how we use data science and AI to create insight and optimise decision making for consumer brands, please get in touch at [email protected] or check out our website at www.hyper-group.co.uk.

So without further ado, let’s get into the episode.

Hi I'm Pete Denby, host of To Affinity and Beyond and Co-founder of Hyper. In this episode we explore the phenomenon that is TikTok. Specially we talk about why it's so addictive, focusing on TikTok's use of data science and AI in their 'For You' recommendations. We explore what sets TikTok apart from other social media platforms and how brands can leverage TikTok to engage customers.

I'm joined by podcast regular and fellow Hyper Director, Tom Hill. Plus Jessie Stuart, Analytics Manager at Hyper, makes her podcast debut. There are shout outs for Leicester and Jessie's Dad, plus we live test our own TikTok video recommendations. Check out the full episode to hear all that and much more.

If you'd like to understand more about Hyper and how we help retailers and brands use data science and AI to improve recommendations and personalisation in their own business, please get in touch via [email protected] or check out our website at www.hyper-group.co.uk.

Enjoy the episode.

Hi, I'm Pete Denby, host of To Affinity & Beyond. In this episode I'm joined by podcast newbies Dan Potts and Tom Fothergill plus regulars Damon Bryan and Tom Hill. We explore two of our favourite topics, data & analytics and sport, providing a potted history of how data & analytics has been used by teams over time and where it's being used to gain competitive advantage today.

It's a topic we're passionate about and is clearly becoming a key weapon across multiple sports.

Just don't mention Euro 2020.

If you'd like to learn more about Hyper and how we help clients use data and analytics to understand their customers in order to make unified, customer led decisions, please get in touch at [email protected] or check out our website at www.hyper-group.co.uk.

This week I'm joined by Ash Fontana, author of The AI-First Company and Managing Director at Zetta Venture Partners. The AI-First Company is a superb read and succeeds on two levels. Firstly by articulating to executives why their business should become AI first, and secondly acting as a playbook for managers tasked with implementing the steps to becoming AI First.

In the podcast we explore the key themes from the book, such as what it means and takes to be an AI-First Company, exemplars in this space, the concept of Data Learning Effects (DLEs), how to win the war for AI talent and what Ash looks for when investing in AI start-ups.

There are few people to rival Ash in terms of understanding and backing AI first companies, and he talks with great eloquence about the topic here. 

I hope you enjoy the episode.

You can find the book at https://www.theaifirstcompany.com/ and connect with Ash at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashfontana/.

To Affinity and Beyond is brought to you by https://hyper-group.co.uk/ and you can connect with Pete Denby at www.linkedin.com/in/peter-denby.

I'm joined in this episode by David Mannheim, a leading expert on conversion rate optimisation and experimentation. David shares his views on whether experimentation inhibits or encourages innovation and creativity. We also also talk about a number of his other passions, including Disney, Manchester United and creativity more broadly.

David is a very engaging speaker who talks with authority and care for the topics than mean the most to him. It's a great listen. Enjoy!

You can connect with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidleemannheim/ and find his musings at https://substack.com/profile/9872894-david-mannheim.

In this episode I'm joined by my co-founders at Hyper Group, Adam Barrowcliff, Damon Bryan and Tom Hill. We discuss how to make effective decisions with data science, something we've all lived and breathed through our careers working in retail, consumer brands, data and analytics agencies.

We talk about the status quo, what stops retailers and brands using data science to inform their decisions and how they can overcome these challenges.

There are honourable mentions for Tom's mum and Dominic Cummings plus we debate the merits of a Covid-19 enforced change to how we buy drinks in the pub! Enjoy.

In this episode we welcome Andy Tudor, CEO of Clekt, a data optimisation business. Andy has previously held senior roles with retailers such as WH Smiths, Monsoon Accessorize and Debenhams, which is reflected in his deep understanding of retail and what it takes to succeed in a tough market.

We talk about Clekt and their mission to help organisations drive value from data. We discuss how consumer expectations have changed over time and how data, analytics and technology hold the key to meeting them. And we touch on a subject close to our hearts, the future of physical shopping and our high streets.

As always, if you have any questions about the episode or any suggestions for future guests and topics, please get in touch.

To learn more about Clekt visit https://clekt.co.uk/ or connect with Andy on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-tudor-0b46194/.

For more about Hyper visit www.hyper-group.co.uk or connect with Pete Denby on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/peter-denby.

In our first full episode we explore affinity analytics and its commercial application. We discuss what affinity analytics actually is and how it can be used in conjunction with other data science techniques, such as attribution and customer need states.

In a highly accessible episode we focus on which major brands are using affinity analytics to create customer insight, deliver exceptional customer experiences and optimise their decision making.

We bust the myth that affinity analytics only relates to marketing personalisation, talking about how major brands such as Netflix, Spotify, Nike, Airbnb and McDonalds and either do apply or have the potential to apply affinity analytics to improve decisions across a range of business areas.

Examples include optimising product range / assortment, pricing, personalisation and supply chain, each one key for retailers and brands to achieve success in a highly competitive market.

The show is hosted by Pete Denby and features his co-founders at Hyper Group, Adam Barrowcliff, Damon Bryan and Tom Hill. They bring their considerable experience working in leading retailers, consumer brands, data, analytics and technology companies to the fore, demonstrating their clear passion for the topic throughout.

We hope you enjoy the show and welcome any feedback or suggestions for future episodes. Please connect through www.linkedin.com/in/peter-denby or [email protected].

Happy listening.