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Technology Now
2025 started beautifully with Fresh Air being chosen to take over production of ‘Technology Now’ for HPE - Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Producing a podcast about technology for a brand who have incredible innovations and world-changing projects coming out of their ears is obviously a joy, and HPE have a simple but often overlooked approach. It can be broadly described as ‘release weekly, tell great stories, and be passionate about what your company does’.
Our dedicated production team* of Izzie – Fresh Air’s Head of Going To Weddings – and Harry – Head of Cakes - are bringing the creative flair and the commercial nous to make sure this well-established show goes to the next level in terms of ambition, promotion and creativity. Fresh Air’s first episode kicked off this week with our presenter – HPE’s Michael Bird – recording fully clothed while sitting in a hot tub in the middle of a German conference. Because why not, eh?
*Izzie and Harry are also highly experienced and knowledgeable science and technology communicators. It’s not all about cakes and weddings.
The Ambies Winners
Thought awards season was over? Well it wasn’t. The Ambies happened this week – the Oscars of the podcast world rewarding the very best in the business*.
The big winner was Hysterical, which was named Podcast of the Year. The show from Wondery (as great shows so often are), investigates an outbreak of a mysterious illness among a group of high school girls in New York. You could happily go through the whole year listening only to shows that are shortlisted for Ambies. Some, like 99% Invisible, are long running podcasts that have managed to maintain an astonishing level of quality and set the bar for superbly produced work for the last decade. But there are also tonnes of new shows from talented storytellers and plenty of evidence of incredible creativity in podcasting, including news, business and comedy. Only this newsletter rivals the Ambies for a guarantee of recommendation quality.
*Well, the best from North America and the BBC.
Call of the Wild
Have you seen the cast of the new Sam Mendes Beatles movies? You know the guy playing John Lennon? Harris Dickinson? Well, he’s on our podcast for WWF this week.
Call of the Wild is one of our longest running shows, and has returned for 2025 with a bang. Dickinson met up with our presenter Cel Spellman (and Izzie HoGtW) to explain how nature is ‘a remedy for his overactive mind’. Growing up near Epping Forest, he extols the virtues of escaping the city and spending time in the proper outdoors. ‘It humbles you. It reminds you that you’re a small thing’, he says, which is probably easy to forget when you’ve just been cast in a massive series of Hollywood movies.
Would you like to read more about this while looking at a picture of Harris’s nipples? Sure – here you go.
Would you like to listen to the podcast? Sure – here you go.
Side Hustles with Legal & General
I’m too busy running Fresh Air to have side hustles, although I have recently considered selling pictures of my feet on OnlyFans. If Lily Allen can do it, what’s stopping me - a 49 year old man - from making my fortune? I mean, for starters, my second toes are longer than my big toes. Hello ladies. That’s got to be worth a few quid?
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, this week’s new episode of ‘A Little Bit Richer’ for Legal & General features tips on side hustles. Our brilliant host Iona Bain and financial advisor Emmanuel Asuquo explore the highs and lows, the myths and realities, and strategies to balance it with your full-time job. The show is a great example of how to create engaging and accessible content on sometimes complex topics without it ever being dry. It’s all available on YouTube too.
Spotify Ad Exchange
AdWeek Europe played host to a load of podcasters this week, with Gary Lineker, owner of the all-conquering Goalhanger, being one of the star turns. I so wanted to be Gary Lineker at school that I was actually quite pleased when I broke my wrist and looked a bit like he did in Mexico 86. Now, 39 years later, I’m in an industry where, yet again, everyone wants to be Gary Lineker.
Anyway, Spotify used AdWeek Europe to launch Spotify Ad Exchange - a new programmatic tool for brands to place ads on Spotify using a real-time auction. They’ve also continued to improve the self-serve platform Spotify Ads Manager with new outcome-based objectives to help advertisers of all sizes create, optimise, and measure their Spotify campaigns.
The great thing is, you don’t need to worry about the details of all that, because that’s what Fresh Air Media is for. Richard - Director of Pressing Send on the Email - and Nik - Head of Darts - know these tools inside out and will plan the perfect campaign with their eyes on the detail and their noses on the results.
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