Audience Connection

Can AI Replace Creative Taste? Kristen Souders Says No.

Lydia Chan speaks with Kristen Souders, Senior Director of Global Brand and Content Studio at Hitachi Vantara, to explore what it really takes to create standout storytelling in B2B tech. Kristen breaks down the evolving IT audience landscape, explaining why data leaders and IT professionals are allergic to fluff but still crave compelling narratives that make them feel seen rather than sold to. This insight challenges common assumptions about technical audiences and their relationship with emotional storytelling.

The conversation takes a compelling turn into creative taste and AI-generated content. Kristen argues that taste is empathy with standards, built through exposure, lived experiences, and crucially, failure. Discover why she believes the beauty and memory is always in the mistakes, and why those unexpected moments are what AI cannot replicate. While algorithms can show us patterns, they cannot replace the human perspective that comes from authentic storytelling and collaboration.

Kristen also shares how she builds effective creative teams by creating psychological safety and carving out weekly time for creative reviews where she asks why decisions were made rather than just correcting work. She discusses navigating conversations with leadership by focusing on goals and objectives, knowing when to hold your ground and when to problem-solve your way out of a corner. Her parting advice is powerful: algorithms can replicate patterns but not perspective, so respect your audience, protect your taste, and above all, stay curious.

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What Today’s Tech Professionals Really Crave from Employers — with Angela Siddall

Lydia Chan sits down with Angela Siddall, Global Lead for Culture, Employer Brand and Experience at Veeam, to explore what tech professionals really want from employers today. Drawing from over 20 years of global experience, Angela shares her perspective on what drives technical talent, revealing that impact, cutting-edge technology, continuous learning, and autonomy matter more than traditional corporate perks. She emphasizes the importance of authentic storytelling and explains her view on why tech-to-tech communication often resonates more effectively than polished corporate messaging.

Discover the unconventional engagement strategies Angela has seen work for remote tech teams, including surprising examples where arcade games and virtual reality replaced traditional town halls. Learn why she believes crowdsourcing ideas directly from tech talent leads to better results than any corporate playbook could provide. Angela also shares her multi-pronged content approach for keeping different audiences engaged, from junior talent hungry for detailed guidance to senior executives who demand strategic insights delivered in seconds.

Angela offers bold predictions about how AI will reshape the talent landscape in just one to two years, not three to five. Find out why she thinks building diverse skill sets matters more than deep specialization, what the shift toward project-based work really means for employers, and how brands can demonstrate the authentic purpose that top technical talent craves in an increasingly uncertain future.

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• Website: casualfilms.com
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• LinkedIn: Casual Films International
• BlueSky: @casualglobal.bsky.social

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How to Tell Stories for Distracted Brains with Dr. Gemma Calvert

Oliver Atkinson sits down with Dr. Gemma Calvert, Professor of Consumer Neuroscience, Nanyang Technological University and Co-Founder of Split Second Research, to decode how always-on dopamine loops, “digital amnesia,” and story structure shape attention, memory, and action, so your content sticks and drives behaviour.

Calvert maps three rewired systems, attention, memory, emotional regulation, and shows how constant interruptions (and our own self-interruptions) splinter focus, why the “Google effect” shifts recall from the head to the handset, and how teens speak more candidly to an AI interviewer than to adults. Her hooks playbook starts with movement, novelty, and ambiguity, think chimeric images that stop the brain, then earns permission for longer stories that embed in long-term memory. And her best metaphor? The shift isn’t reversible, the train has left the station, but brands can fit seatbelts: design for responsible scrolls, cue reminders, and build human, two-way relationships.

In a world where feeds deliver micro-rewards all day and single exposures rarely encode, long-form isn’t dead, it partners with snackable teasers to deepen immersion. Marketers, creatives, and leaders will leave with neuromarketing tools (eye-tracking, facial decoding, implicit tests) and a practical framework to architect recall ethically.

Follow Audience Connection Podcast:

• Website: casualfilms.com
• Instagram: @casualglobal
• LinkedIn: Casual Films International
• BlueSky: @casualglobal.bsky.social

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Make it Easy: The One Nudge that Moves People with Richard Shotton

Oliver Atkinson sits down with behavioral-science heavy hitter Richard Shotton to unpack the simple nudges, concreteness, distinctiveness, and smart pricing frames that help your ideas get noticed, remembered, and bought in B2B and consumer campaigns alike.

We dig into Richard’s new book, Hacking the Human Mind: The Behavioral Science Secrets Behind 17 of the World's Best Brand, referencing well-known brands as living case studies to show why distinctiveness beats differentiation and how context reshapes value, what you place next to an offer matters as much as the offer itself.

In a world of crowded feeds and content fatigue, the teams who apply behavioral science gain an unfair edge, earning attention, improving completion, and nudging real behavior change.

Follow The Audience Connection Podcast:

• Website: casualfilms.com
• Instagram: @casualglobal
• LinkedIn: Casual Films International
• BlueSky: @casualglobal.bsky.social

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Building Brand Strategy with Storytelling That Sticks with Braden Dragomir

Lydia Chan is joined by Braden Dragomir, filmmaker, story strategist, and founder of Untold Storytelling, to explore the intersection of authentic storytelling, brand strategy, and the science behind what makes stories stick.

Braden shares how he bridges authentic documentary storytelling with brand objectives and reveals why his team dedicates 60 percent of project time to strategy before filming begins, conducting extensive character research to find the most emotionally compelling stories rather than defaulting to safe choices like CEO profiles. He explains the science behind why our brains are wired for story and how conflict creates psychological questions that keep audiences engaged, resulting in his team achieving 60 percent completion rates on 15-minute brand documentaries.

The conversation covers practical approaches to measuring storytelling impact, including how customers who first encounter brands through storytelling are twice as cheap to convert as those from traditional marketing. Learn how brands like Yeti and Patagonia have built loyal audiences through patience and purpose—not quick wins.

Whether you're a content director, marketing leader, or communication professional struggling to convince stakeholders to invest in storytelling craft, this episode offers actionable insights on creating brand films that actually move audiences and deliver measurable results. 

Follow The Audience Connection Podcast:

• Website: casualfilms.com
• Instagram: @casualglobal
• LinkedIn: Casual Films International
• BlueSky: @casualglobal.bsky.social

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The Science of Resonance: Cracking the Creative Code with Dr Christopher Demetrakos

Oliver Atkinson sits down with neuroscientist and ad veteran Christopher Demetrakos to unpack “Gen 3” marketing, how aligning creative to cognitive traits sparks dopamine, cuts through the brain’s ad-blocker, and drives action, not just likes.

Chris breaks down why 95–99% of decisions happen non-consciously and how the brain’s natural ad-blocker (the reticular activating system) bins generic ads while trait-tuned cues slip through.

He also shared the case study that lifted revenue 56% in three months with one tiny framing change that did most of the work; you’ll find out which and why. He also reveals how a quirky soda spot beat a celebrity-crammed Alexa ad on immersion and action, and the simple category marker that made the difference.

With attention shrinking, and budgets under scrutiny, every wasted impression is expensive. Marketers, creatives, and leaders will learn how targeting cognitive traits lifts the actions that matter, clicks, sign-ups, and sales, by pairing the right cues with the right minds and measuring immersion to prove it.

Follow The Audience Connection Podcast:

• Website: casualfilms.com
• Instagram: @casualglobal
• LinkedIn: Casual Films International
• BlueSky: @casualglobal.bsky.social

Subscribe now and join the conversation about creating content that truly resonates.

ICYMI: Eternal Polk on Culture & Trends in Emotive Storytelling

ICYMI: Lydia Chan sits down with award-winning documentary filmmaker and commercial director Eternal Polk to discuss brand storytelling, emotional marketing, and authentic audience connection. Eternal shares insights on cultural marketing strategy, building diverse creative teams, and why brands need a "Chief Curiosity Officer" to create campaigns that resonate. Essential for marketers, filmmakers, and brand strategists looking to craft impactful branded content.

Stop Feeding Audiences Digital Junk Food with Dr. Imran Rashid

Oliver Atkinson sits down with Dr. Imran Rashid, physician, author, and adviser to Denmark’s prime minister on digital well-being, to explore how brands can shift from chasing clicks to designing for intention, and why feelings, not claims, drive real behavior change.

Imran says authenticity has to be felt: trust lives in the body (think oxytocin), and one face-to-face moment lets the brain “fill in the blanks” on later video calls. He shares simple guardrails, treating people as humans, not “eyeballs”; ask “Why this? Why me? Why now?”; even consider a Chief Emotional Officer, and push for content that helps, not hooks. His metaphors stick: trying to replace human connection with screens is like watering a plant with a picture; be the “feely fish,” not just the “thinking birds.” He also highlights the Batman costume study, identity plus story boosts effort, and how data can predict churn well before it happens.

With platforms running the biggest A/B test in history and impulse-driven feeds shaping habits, the stakes are real: your creative choices influence attention, emotion, and health. Marketers, product designers, and creative leaders will leave with practical ways to build trust, and measure it, through humane stories and intentional design.

Follow The Audience Connection Podcast:

• Website: casualfilms.com
• Instagram: @casualglobal
• LinkedIn: Casual Films International
• BlueSky: @casualglobal.bsky.social

Subscribe now and join the conversation about creating content that truly resonates.