Must Reads, Must Listens & Must Watches
Marketing Unfiltered 85 → Some things to read, watch and listen to & share with your team
Good Morning Leaders!
From time to time we curate a list of must read, must watch and must listens and share so you and your peers & teams can be inspired to take action or avoid their mistakes.
So this week I have collated some belters for you to improve your content diet and take with you for the next few weeks.
» Remember to copy and paste the links below to your peers or team or hit the share button below
MUST READS
Dish from Waitrose has surpassed one billion combined downloads, views and listens since 2022, making it “the world’s most successful branded podcast” and the only branded show in both Apple and Spotify’s global top 100 (& UK top 20).
It’s hosted by foodie/radio and TV presenter Nick Grimshaw and renowned chef Angela Hartnett (who this week got her own line in Waitrose), it blends food, life and culture with celebrity guests; listens are up 35% year‑on‑year and the Tom Holland episode reaching 2.3 million people.
Their audience is increasingly video‑first and leaning younger: almost 30% of UK podcast listeners and 35% of YouTube viewers are under 35, and is another example of how people now watch rather than listen to audio (the format is more TV than podcast now). There are few branded podcasts that have nailed it but Dish and Zoe’s podcast are brilliant examples.
The Amazon Prime Video streaming smash Off Campus had a very obvious (so much so it got some heat on social) but smart integrated brand campaign with Liquid IV.
It turned what could have been a simple sponsorship into a full-blown plot integration with in‑universe ads, rink branding, and character-led campaigns aimed at tapping their highly engaged fandom.
TW: It has strong cultural relevance and showing strong signs performance (early results are strong from the interview), while the show also treads a fine line around brand safety and fan authenticity in a show that deals with sex, teen drinking nightlife, and a sexual assault storyline.
A good and actionable breakdown of how the LinkedIn algo has changed and how you should think and plan content, especially when using AI and hint they suggest those LinkedIn pods are being nuked…
Whatsapp AI Growth Engine - Watch out for this, as the EU has told meta they have to open WhatsApp up to rival AI firms, watch out for Perplexity and ChatGPT to go back onto the platform (they used it to grow usage before the shut down at the end of 2025) and look out for Claude and others to join the race where there are 3billion MAU’s and for many its becoming their canonical inbox.
Monzo’s Powerful Referral Engine: “Monzo stated that 79 per cent of new customers in FY2026 were acquired through word of mouth, which includes referrals” - paying out approximately £29.5 million in referral bonuses in the last financial year. This year will show if it worked or not.
Book Recommendation: The Algorithm: The Hypergrowth Formula That Transformed Tesla, Lululemon, General Motors, and SpaceX - I really enjoyed this book by Elon’s right hand. If you want to look behind the door of how Tesla redesigned their workflows, their campaigns and their business through LEAN Processes (this took me back to the early part of my career and reminded me of how I use it without thinking) this is a great shorter read/listen. If you like the look of the book I highly recommend you check out Gwynne Shotwell, the brains behind SpaceX and credited to turning Elon’s ideas into reality
This is how you take your podcast from a 6 → 10 and stand out in this saturated world (create a set that looks like you’re interviewing on Mars)
MUST WATCH
🤣 Probably my favourite style of humour Marketing on TikTok (creativity definitely works best on TikTok right now)
🔥 Another great interview by Substack with their media founder show Open Tab, this time with journalist/editor legend Joanna Coles (if you watch the video you’ll under the fire emoji)
Joanna talks about her love for Substack & YouTube and talks about the importance of the platforms for modern media and the publication she co-leads The Daily Beast)
🤖🤬: Brian Morrissey talks through why everyone hates AI (probably the best short explainer out there)
Brian Morrissey@bmorrisseyEverybody hates AI7:54 PM · Jun 9, 2026 · 5.48K Views1 Reply · 1 Repost · 13 Likes🤔 Myth or Mythos: The Atlantic CEO, Nicholas Thompson covers the latest AI model drop from Anthropic and talks through his thoughts and how they’ve been smart downgrading your usage to lesser models with specific asks and prompts and how they are preventing open source models from using distillation (prompting 1000s of times and copying the answer to use in their models for free consumer use) (BTW Nicolas is a brilliant example how to build an audience for yourself and for your publication)
🚀 Reach for the sky! Porsche x Toy Story 5 is the collaboration you didn’t know you need but goes to infinity & beyond
House of Heat°@houseofheatThey are insane 🚀
House of Heat° @houseofheatPorsche unveiled three bespoke 911s inspired by Toy Story 5 🔥9:21 PM · Jun 9, 2026 · 163K Views4 Replies · 145 Reposts · 1.72K Likes🍔 Whopper! Burger King and talkSPORT show how you can collaborate together with big sporting names and make it feel natural rather than a dedicated ad.
MUST LISTEN
The invisible costs of outsourcing to AI - and the knock on effects on your team
How to build billion dollar brands - this isn’t all brand new but Rohan Oza drops some nuggets from Poppi, Vitamin Water and his time as an investor on Shark Tank
New Luxury Status Symbols with Ana Andjelic - When Ana Andjelic talks luxury the world should listen, I loved her appearance on People vs Algorithms. 4 great items to listen out for: (i) The evolving nature of status, (ii) the quality (well made) vs. advertising challenge especially in the East vs. West markets, (iii) the issue many brands are having with algorithmic branding & (iv) the ferrari trap (which plays into our Ferrari masterclass article from last week)
➕ Two Tools For You To Try
Search expert & friend of Marketing Unfiltered Carl Hendy has built a Google Profile to find your Google profile URL instantly (you can follow people, brands and creators on Google search) -
Another friend of MU & storytelling legend David Pullan launched an exec storytelling tool to help you find your story to share in interviews etc - https://danny.thestoryspotters.com/
If you like this format hit reply and let us know OR hit the ❤️ button above.
Some of our recent must reads
Ferrari’s Marketing Masterclass - for the car and non car lovers
Unpicking Google’s AI Search - for anyone who will be impacted by less traffic from Google
How To Learn From Political Marketing - for those who need to understand tribal movements
EQ Is The Missing Weapon In A Leaders Arsenal - for any leader who needs to understand emotional intelligence
Why Your Agentic Team Might Be Your Next Biggest Issue - for everyone wanting to understand how AI is going to impact future team design
SHARING IS CARING 💕: This weeks newsletter can be shared by copying and pasting → https://www.marketingunfiltered.co/p/85 into Slack, Teams or Whatsapp ;-)
Go and have a great weekend!
Danny Denhard - let’s chat about coaching, consulting or advisory
Another great repository of marketing watch / read/ listens by Mr Denhard