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This is Contagious

Contagious

This is Contagious is a show that explores how ideas shape brands and culture.

Join Alex Jenkins, Chloe Markowicz and Katrina Stirton Dodd from the Contagious team as they unpack the thinking behind the world’s most interesting ideas – from trends and technology, through marketing and media, to campaigns, creativity and everything in between.

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  • 12 episodes
  • fortnightly
  • Avg 38 min
  • English

Episodes 12

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  • #11
    Wednesday · 38 min

    Creator marketing myths: what brands get wrong about creators

    Becky Owen, CMO at social agency Billion Dollar Boy, joins Contagious to challenge the received wisdom about how brands should work with creators – from the three-second rule to the idea that good content is all that matters. Drawing on new research, the latest Contagious podcast explores how brands should work with creators, from using emotion and microdramas to build audiences, to deliberately creating imperfection to fight AI slop. We also look at why creator fandom can now come before the s

  • #10
    September 9 · 31 min

    Low-budget bangers: how brands win on a tiny budget

    Dirty mattresses. Giant hairballs. Bad Bunny. The Pope. This CFO-friendly episode explores how brands can overindex on impact by investing in creativity rather than throwing money at the problem. The Contagious team analyse some of their favourite low-budget marketing campaigns, unpacking the creative principles behind them and asking how brands can turn tiny budgets into big ideas, big conversations and even bigger earned media.

  • #9
    August 26 · 40 min

    The joy of joining in: Twitch, togetherness and the new rules of brand participation

    Mary Kish, Head of Community at Twitch, joins Contagious to break down why people are flocking to Twitch – and why brands should care. As a streamer herself, Mary doesn’t just work at Twitch, she lives the culture. In this conversation we explore why experiencing things together matters more than ever and how participation kicks the ass of passive viewing when it comes to building engagement.

  • #8
    August 12 · 45 min

    Worldbuilding 101: How to turn a brand into an immersive commercial universe

    Tracing a line from Tolkien to Mattel’s toyetics, the Contagious team explores why brands are moving beyond storytelling to create richer, more immersive worlds. We look at the rules that make fictional worlds believable and how worldbuilding can help brands escape commoditisation, fuel always-on creativity and give people something to believe in, belong to and buy into.

  • #7
    July 29 · 37 min

    Disruption, community & zero distance: inside E.l.f.'s marketing playbook

    Kory Marchisotto, the president of E.l.f. Brands, joins Contagious to unpack how a scrappy startup selling premium cosmetics at affordable prices evolved into a beauty powerhouse. This episode explores the ideology, marketing and organisational culture behind E.l.f. Beauty’s explosive growth. We dig into how its biggest innovations were led by its community, how the company encourages healthy conflict and why its mantra is ‘anything is e.l.f-ing possible’.

  • #6
    July 15 · 45 min

    The Loneliness Disconnect: how big tech made us lonely and how brands are responding

    AI companions. Lonely cities. Yakult Ladies. In this episode, Contagious investigates the rise of loneliness and why brands as diverse as Heineken and Games Workshop are winning by becoming the new facilitators of human connection. Along the way, we explore lonelygenic cities, discover what brands can learn from 19th Century Parisian architecture, asking whether boyfriends are embarrassing and whether we’re trapped in the Me Operating System.

  • #5
    July 1 · 44 min

    Cannes Lions decoded: the campaigns, conversations and creativity that mattered

    The Contagious team returns from Cannes Lions 2026 to deliver our sunburnt take on the awards, the talks and what it all means for the industry. Hot from the Croisette, we find out whether How Brands Grow is a brutally boring read, why the UN needs marketers more than ever, how the industry's best work is turning problems into opportunities, and how creative treasure can be found everywhere - from a dot-matrix printer receipt to a 12-tonne chocolate heist.

  • #4
    June 17 · 42 min

    Goosebumps, group chats & the World Cup: how to win the aftermath economy

    Budgets will be wasted. Brands will be ruthlessly filtered out. The real game starts after full time. James Kirkham, founder of Iconic and ex-head of Copa90, joins Contagious to unpack why the 2026 World Cup is fundamentally different to previous tournaments - and what brands need to do about it.

  • #2
    May 19 · 41 min

    Crazy brand collaborations are exploding: this is why they work

    Pokemon. Meatball lollipops. 17th Century silk traders. In this episode, Contagious explores weird and wonderful brand collabs, why they’re so effective, how to use them as a shortcut to cultural relevance and which brands are doing them well.

  • #1
    May 19 · 38 min

    The Industrial Nostalgia Complex: how brands can profit from the past

    Nostalgia. Cultural déjà vu. Kidulting. Why are so many people desperate to escape the present? In this episode, Contagious investigates everything from why adults are rebuilding their teenage bedrooms, to landlines for kids and the return of the iPod, and revealing why the past has become one of culture’s most powerful refuges.

  • April 29 · 51 sec

    Welcome to This is Contagious

    If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

Showing 1–12 of 12 episodes