This is Contagious

The new rules of social media marketing

Five million followers but only 500 likes? The algorithm has (again) changed the rules and brands can’t rely on fans seeing their posts. Rachel Karten, creator of the Li

How brands are winning in 2026: lessons from the Contagious Brands Report

What does it take to become a brand people actually want to spend time with? The Contagious Brands Report 2026 brings together 45 brands finding unconventional answers t

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

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 throw

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

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 loo

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 po

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 ar

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,

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 Conta

Brain rot, AI slop & doomscrolling: how brands win in the attention economy

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 sc

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

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 re

Welcome to This is Contagious

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