The UnEDited Marketing Podcast

For this Growth Conversation, Ed leaves the studio and heads to St Mary’s Stadium to meet Greg Baker, Chief Revenue Officer at Southampton Football Club. Football clubs might not be the first place you’d look for lessons in growth, but Greg explains why they have to think like innovators. Fair play rules limit how much money can go onto the pitch, so the club needs to earn more off it. Today the split is roughly 50/50 between matchday and non-matchday revenue, and the aim is to grow the non-matchday side significantly. Greg talks through what that looks like in practice. They’ve turned empty cupboards and an old ticket office into new revenue, including The Dell pub and restaurant, a creative agency called Turf that now works for outside clients, and a northern fan zone. They’ve also put fences up around the stadium so fans can leave at half time, which helped more than double matchday food and drink revenue compared with 2023/24. Then there’s Level One, a 12,000 square foot entertainment venue under the Chapel Stand with golf bays, darts, shuffleboard, crazy golf and a climbing wall. Around 80% of its visitors weren’t on the club’s database, which opens up a whole new audience. Greg also shares how he gets his team on board with new ideas, how the club works with its owners, and what the plans for the land around the stadium could mean for the city. His advice is to say yes to opportunities, then work out how to do them, and to keep diversifying because your core business in five years may not be your core business now. The Growth Conversations is a collaboration between The UnEdited Show and Venturefest South, celebrating VFS’s 10th year. Venturefest South is on 18 November. Get your tickets at venturefestsouth.co.uk

In this Growth Conversation, Ed Gould sits down with Doug Liddle, founder of In-Space Missions and former chair of UK Space. Doug took a leap from a comfortable career in the space sector, and over six years his idea changed shape more than once. It started as real-time video from orbit for VR headsets, moved into building spacecraft, and ended up as flying other people’s payloads. Along the way he explains why he turned down the easy path of waiting for it to happen and went through the paperwork to work with the likes of Airbus. We also hear about the launch failure that sank two satellites, and the space gin idea that didn’t quite make it either. Doug also takes us through what it’s really like to sell a business. He covers the first approach from BAE Systems, the 400 documents, the valuation negotiations and how the payment was split. He also shares why he was open with his team from the start, and why he gave his co-founder half the company. If you’re building a business, thinking about an exit, or just wondering where to find your community, this one is for you. The Growth Conversations is a collaboration between The UnEdited Show and Venturefest South, celebrating VFS’s 10th year. Find out more about Venturefest South at venturefestsouth.co.uk

Laurence spent 12 years turning a classic piece of medical kit, the blood pressure cuff, into software that works through a smartphone camera. His company, Lifelight, picks up a tiny colour change in the face with every heartbeat and uses it to estimate blood pressure with no hardware at all, a discovery that traces back to a science he saw demonstrated at MIT and a long-held idea about better ways to help people monitor their own health. In this episode, Laurence talks about the 12 year journey from that idea to a CE marked Class 2a medical device, including why he chose the much harder regulated medical route over a simpler wellbeing app, what it took to train the technology on thousands of real patients. He's raised around £11-12 million along the way, roughly half of it in grant funding, and shares honestly what that process involves and why finding the right niche matters more than chasing every grant going. He also talks candidly about where Lifelight is finding traction now, why private insurers in mainland Europe have moved faster than the NHS, and a new project monitoring premature babies at the Royal London Hospital that grew out of an unplanned partnership. It's a conversation about staying true to an idea through a genuinely gruelling regulatory and funding process, and about what happens once the hard science finally becomes a real, sellable product. Venturefest South's Festival of Innovation returns on 18 November 2026 at the Utilita Bowl. Book your tickets now.

James converted part of the family farm from wheat and barley to wildflowers back in 2004, starting with a couple of square metres that didn't work. Twenty years on, Wildflower Co is one of the best known names in UK wildflower turf, seed and growing medium, supplying everyone from private gardens to housing developers working to meet new biodiversity net gain requirements. In this episode, James is joined by his son Ollie, who's spent the last three years bringing the business into its next phase, for a conversation about what it actually takes to scale something built on science, patience and land. They talk about the early growing pains, from chaotic systems to learning how to market a product for the first time, the role R&D and their own seed growing plays in guaranteeing results, and why organic, self-funded growth suited a farming mindset better than chasing investment. They also get into the realities of a family business handover, Wildflower Co's expansion into the US and plans for Europe, and why James believes biodiversity net gain could be one of the most useful pieces of regulation UK business has seen, if it's implemented with enough ambition. It's a conversation about building something genuinely useful, bit by bit, and what happens when a second generation picks up the reins. Venturefest South's Festival of Innovation returns on 18 November 2026 at the Utilita Bowl. Book your tickets now.

From flying helicopters to running a laser clay shooting range with a bar attached, Sean Larsen has tried more businesses than most people get round to starting. In the first episode of Growth Conversations, he talks about what happened when all of that experience, and a global pandemic that shut every bar he owned, led him and his co-founders to Labl.It: a device that automates expiry date labelling in commercial kitchens and now works with everyone from the NHS to film set caterers.   Sean talks candidly about building Labl.It to roughly £3.5 million in recurring revenue without ever taking outside investment, why he priced the product at under a pound a day when he had the market to himself, and what he'd tell a 20 year old thinking about starting a business today. He also gets into the pressure AI is putting on software businesses right now, and where he thinks Labl.It's hardware pivot fits into that.   It's a conversation about resilience, bootstrapping on purpose rather than by accident, and why being part of a community like Venturefest South can save you months of trial and error.   Venturefest South's Festival of Innovation returns on 18 November 2026 at the Utilita Bowl. Book your tickets now.

Corporate comms isn’t glamorous — it’s pressure, politics and problem-solving at speed. In this episode, Tatiana Raikes, Head of External Communications & Corporate Affairs at Currys, takes us inside the real world of crisis comms, government relations and reputation management in one of the UK’s biggest retailers. We cover everything from her early days in PR agencies (cold-calling journalists and blagging her way through the old-school media world), through to lobbying in the City, and now leading corporate affairs for a FTSE-listed retailer in a sector that changes by the hour. Tatiana shares what people get wrong about lobbying, why corporate voice must be consistent across government and media, and how Currys manages peak season, customer expectations and a rapid digital transformation — all while keeping the business protected from reputational risk. This episode is packed with practical insights on crisis planning, influencing senior leaders, building internal trust, and staying calm when the unexpected inevitably hits. • What corporate affairs actually does inside a retailer like Currys • Why PR and lobbying now overlap more than ever • How to talk to government, the media and customers with one voice • Why customers shape every piece of corporate messaging • The truth about hybrid retail and why stores still matter • How Currys manages Black Friday pressure and peak trading comms • Inside a real “war room”: live data, media angles & rapid response • How to get senior leaders to listen — without becoming a yes-person • What makes great comms people: listening, curiosity, resilience • How to plan for crisis, test your plan and handle the moment it hits • Why authenticity wins in modern leadership and public comms

Affiliate marketing is one of the most misunderstood channels in modern marketing. In this episode, Germana Mitrani, Affiliate Marketing Manager for Samsung’s MX Division (mobile experience), joins Ed to break down what affiliate marketing really is, how Samsung runs it at scale across smartphones, tablets, watches and laptops, and how to do it properly. Germana shares her unusual journey from Italy to London, from fashion to tech, and from agency life to leading Samsung's affiliate strategy across Europe. We cover everything: • How to build an affiliate programme from scratch • How Samsung manages partners, compliance and scale • Why creative versioning increases conversion by up to 60% • The biggest affiliate risks nobody warns you about • How to select partners, onboard them and avoid wasted spend • Why “trust” and “alignment” are as important as commissions • How to measure success and communicate it upwards and downwards • The lightning round: best campaigns, favourite tools and big wins If you work in performance marketing, ecommerce, tech, partnerships or digital strategy—this is a masterclass. • What affiliate marketing actually is (beyond last-click) • The partners that matter: cashback, content, CSS, influencers • How Samsung chooses and manages affiliates • Why audience understanding shapes your affiliate plan • How product launches work across affiliate channels • Why creative versioning boosts conversions by 60% • Managing internal politics & product category owners • Affiliate risks: code leaks, keyword bidding, misaligned messaging • Tools agencies use to detect misuse & protect the brand • Reporting, success metrics & how to influence senior stakeholders

n part two with Will May, we go deeper into the operational and strategic side of Ford’s marketing engine. We break down the partnership scoring matrix, the challenges of Europe-wide activation, and how siloed markets create friction between strategy and execution. Will also shares what he’s learned from Ford’s partnerships with Amazon, Condé Nast, Vogue and Red Bull, and why trust is the most undervalued ingredient in great marketing. We also explore: • Why the consumer mindset is nothing like the corporate mindset • Why electric vehicles create confusion, hesitation and stalled sales • Why government pressure and OEM competition make brand differentiation harder • How marketers can avoid internal blindness and stay outward-looking • The future of automotive storytelling and electric brand positioning Ends with a teaser for the bonus AI episode. • Ford’s scoring model for partnership evaluation • How to convince internal stakeholders • Why regional markets resist central strategy • EV confusion & consumer psychology • Why creative context matters across media partners • Where Amazon, Vogue and Condé Nast partnerships succeeded • Why trust beats micromanagement • Lessons from failed partnerships • The future of automotive differentiation • Why marketers must bring “the outside world” in

What does partnership marketing really look like inside Ford?  In this episode, Will May, Paid Media & Brand Partnership Manager for Ford of Europe, takes us inside one of the most complex marketing machines in global automotive.  Will shares how he moved from accounting (!) to dealer sales, to fleet sales, to CRM, and then into the high-octane world of motorsport marketing.  From WRC and Formula Ford to the World Endurance Championship and the Ford GT programme, Will explains how these partnerships shaped his thinking about audiences, storytelling and commercial value.  We also go deep on Ford’s long-running partnership with Ken Block—how it started, what made it work, and why his audience offered something no traditional media buy ever could.  This episode is packed with honesty about internal politics, audience segmentation, budgeting, misused sponsorships, and why data (not opinions) has to lead decision-making. 

Higher education marketing has never faced more pressure. With shifting government policy, global competition, rising expectations from international students, and institutions wrestling with slow internal processes, the sector is being forced to transform. In this episode, Ed speaks with Morgan Summers-Smith, Student Promotion Marketing Manager at Birmingham Business School, about what it really takes to modernise marketing inside a university. Morgan shares her journey from fast-paced arts and placemaking campaigns in Australia to the more complex, stakeholder-heavy environment of UK higher education. She explains why ROI, storytelling, academic engagement and team culture now sit at the heart of effective student recruitment. They also explore how to avoid becoming “institutionalised”, how to operate with pace inside a slow system, and what today’s marketing leaders need to do to build resilient, curious, future-ready teams. A must-listen for anyone working in university marketing, student recruitment, or transformation projects inside large organisations.