B2B Content Marketing for brands that want to STAY HUMAN
👋🏼 Happy Friday!
It’s March already! Sometimes this means CMOs have a bit of money they need to spend by the year end, so if this is you, hit reply and we can help you develop a new content format prototype, improve your content workflow, or optimise your archive for humans and robots. Either way, we’ll help you enter the new year with a fresh and practical plan for your B2B content. We’d love to talk!
💻 DATA POINT: Back in 2023 we wrote a short series about how Discovery Is Broken, and we had to change the way we think about getting attention away from search and social. This week’s report from Growtika, analysing the organic traffic to tech sites like Wired and The Verge, shows how precipitous the drop in traffic has been. If you haven’t started thinking post-SEO, and started to build archives and direct audience relationships, then you need to start now (we’d love to help!).
📕 The Short Story
Are Podcasts now ‘ChatCasts’? (4-min read)
Interview with Martin Trickey, ITV’s Digital Studio Head (45-min watch)
Does That Use a Lot of Energy? (online tool)
Awesome A24 Marty Supreme Sneakers (A few hundred bucks)
AIGA’s 50 Year Poster Archive (8-min read)
The Ensh*ttificator (3-min watch)
Walkman Land (Online Archive)
Child’s Play (3-min read)
📣 Top UK B2B Marketing Agencies 2026 (Downloadable Report) 📣
“ People here value design in a different way to other places. It’s not a nice to have but a necessity. Design is a powerful tool that can influence change and culture — New Yorkers have always understood and embraced that.”
📚 The Long Story
Are Podcasts now ‘ChatCasts’? (4-min read)
This short report from NiemanLab on the recent On Air Fest is a good catchup on the state of podcasting right now, including the coining of a new name to describe how podcasts have shifted from crafted narratives to, well, people talking in a room.
Interview with Martin Trickey, ITV’s Digital Studio Head (45-min watch)
I got this in Evan Shapiro’s newsletter, and was delighted to see he had interviewed Martin Trickey from ITV’s new digital studio Zoo55. I’ve known Martin since we were both at the BBC many many years ago, and he is one of the smartest, most experienced, and just downright lovely people in the UK media scene. So this 45mins is well worth your time.
Does That Use a Lot of Energy? (online tool)
This simple tool from Hannah Ritchie does exactly what is says on the tin. Type in a product, and it’ll tell you how much energy it uses. Built with Claude Code, so you can work out how much energy you’re using when you’re using it.
What Happens To Your Data When You Verify on LinkedIn (5-min read)
This was a chilling read. I’ve not verified my account on LinkedIn because I didn’t want to hand over my passport information to do it. Now I’m really glad I haven’t, after reading exactly how and where that data (and a lot more) gets shared.
Awesome A24 Marty Supreme Sneakers (A few hundred bucks)
If I was more stylish, and could keep trainers clean, I’d be on the want list for these awesome Marty Supreme sneakers. In fact, I’d buy most of the things in the A24 store…
AIGA’s 50 Year Poster Archive (8-min read)
The power of archives is something we been talking about a lot at Storythings recently, so here’s a brilliant archive to explore if you’re in New York. I love the interviews talking about how designers understand the power of just keeping hold of things until they have historical value.
The Ensh*ttificator (3-min watch)
This is a brilliant video from the Norwegian Consumer Council to drive awareness of how tech platforms shift to make our lives harder. The idea of making ‘ensh*ttification’ a person is genius, and there’s some brilliant gags in the videos.
Walkman Land (Online Archive)
Another amazing archive, this time with pretty much every walkman or portable music player ever made. Extremely comprehensive - this is your rabbit hole to disappear down for the day!
Child’s Play (3-min read)
Sam Kriss is a brilliant writer, and I loved this essay recounting his time hanging out with a few of the 'Agentic’ entrepreneurs trying to build their fortunes in the US. It’s funny, acute, and kind of sad.
📣 Top UK B2B Marketing Agencies 2026 (Downloadable Report) 📣
We’re in B2B Marketing’s list of the top UK B2B Agencies in 2026! There’s an interview and very, um, non-traditional case study by me in this report, which I really enjoyed writing!
💌 Humans of LinkedIn
Paul Ford is one of the best writers about tech anywhere (check out his epic Bloomberg piece What Is Code? if you don’t know him) so I’m really loving seeing him blog on LinkedIn. This post share his great prompt for researching potential clients before a meeting. It’s super-useful!
Drop us a line if you have anything you’d like us to share in a future edition of this newsletter, or of course if you have any comments or suggestions for us!
Have a great weekend!
Matt, Anjali, Hugh, and the team
B2B Content Marketing for brands that want to STAY HUMAN
