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This is Contagious

Contagious 3 Episodes Aug 12, 2026

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.

Episodes

Worldbuilding 101: How to turn a brand into an immersive commercial universe Aug 12, 2026 00:45:03 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. Along the way, we explore

Disruption, community & zero distance: inside E.l.f.'s marketing playbook Jul 29, 2026 00:37:48 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 con

The Loneliness Disconnect: how big tech made us lonely and how brands are responding Jul 15, 2026 00:45:52 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 w

Cannes Lions decoded: the campaigns, conversations and creativity that mattered Jul 1, 2026 00:44:34 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 - fro

Goosebumps, group chats & the World Cup: how to win the aftermath economy Jun 17, 2026 00:42:56 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. This episode explores the new playbook for World Cup marketing, where winning isn’t about owning the b

Brain rot, AI slop & doomscrolling: how brands win in the attention economy Jun 3, 2026 00:48:11 In this episode, Contagious investigates what happens when content supply completely outstrips human attention, and how brands can win in a world dominated by infinite scroll, clip farms, AI slop and algorithmic overload. Along the way, we’ll explore why Universe 25’s infamous rodent utopia experiments feel eerily relevant to modern media, why today’s attention panic may simply be history repeatin

Crazy brand collaborations are exploding: this is why they work May 19, 2026 00:41:36 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. Discover the psychology behind ‘optimal incongruence’, how brands like Supreme and Crocs turned collaborations into a business model, and why technology h

The Industrial Nostalgia Complex: how brands can profit from the past May 19, 2026 00:38:28 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. Along the way, we unpack Happy Meals for adults, the psychology of an

Welcome to This is Contagious Apr 29, 2026 00:00:51 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.

This is Contagious

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