In this live episode of Data Malarkey - recorded live on stage at the 'AI for PR' conference in June 2026 - Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, speaks with Pete Markey, Chief Communications & Marketing Officer at the University of Nottingham. Their wide-ranging discussion covered, AI, brand relevance, trust, creative judgement, and the future of marketing.

Pete has led marketing and communications across some of the UK's best-known brands, from More Th>n, RSA, and the Post Office to Aviva, TSB and Boots. Drawing on decades of experience with some of the UK's best-known and most progressive brands, he shares a highly practical view of what AI is useful for, where it creates real value, and where brands still need strong human oversight.

From customer experience, creative versioning, and strategic thinking, to measurement, reputation, and the future world of work, this is a thoughtful conversation about how to embrace AI without losing what the humanity that can make brands truly distinctive.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why brand relevance is still one of the most important North Stars in marketing

• Why authenticity matters even more in an AI-mediated world

• Why AI can be brilliant for speed, efficiency, and creative adaptation

• Why Pete draws firm guardrails around AI-generated people and brand authenticity

• How data and testing are reshaping the role of the CMO

• Why marketing leaders need to educate their boards and exec teams on AI

• What skills younger and older comms professionals should be building now

• Why AI and human craft must coexist

Topics we cover:

• Staying relevant as a brand

• Trust, authenticity, and fragile public brands

• AI adoption at Boots and beyond

• Creative development, speed, and retail responsiveness

• The scientist, artist, and politician balance in the CMO role

• Measurement, eye tracking, and data-led campaign decisions

• AI in marketing operations and digital journeys

• The changing relationship between brands and agencies

• Entry-level jobs, future skills, and marketing careers in the AI era

About the guest:
Pete Markey is Chief Communications & Marketing Officer at the University of Nottingham. Across his career he has led marketing and communications for a range of major UK brands including More Th>n, RSA, the Post Office, Aviva, TSB, and Boots. Pete is known for combining strong brand thinking with a deep focus on data, effectiveness, and practical innovation.

Links and resources mentioned:

• Pete's LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermarkey/

• University of Nottingham website https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/

• Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

What were the standout moments from Season 10 of Data Malarkey?

In this end-of-season special, host and Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, looks back at some of the best bits, biggest ideas, and sharpest soundbites from across Season 10. This "greatest hits" episode brings together a brilliant and eclectic mix of guests and topics, from gender equality in football and inclusion in advertising, to online safety, AI, insight, the four-day week, startup success, and making sense of data in organisations.

Featuring clips from Karen and Charlie Dobres, former Directors of Lewes FC, Ali Hanan, Harriet Kingaby, Ahti Heinla, Dino Delić, and Charlotte Rae, this episode is both a recap for existing listeners and a perfect jumping-in point for anyone new to Data Malarkey.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• How Lewes FC used attention, sponsorship, and crowd-building to drive gender equality in football

• Why equal FA Cup prize money remains a live issue

• What the new ROI - "return on inclusion" - means and how it drives advertising effectiveness

• Why the collapse of truth online should worry all of us

• How Skype and Starship Technologies were built from early-stage uncertainty into category-changing, global scaling businesses

• What the four-day week really means, and why it can improve both wellbeing and productivity

• Why many organisations still struggle to communications turn data into useful action

• How better questions, better framing, and better internal alignment lead to better decisions

Featured guests and themes:

• Karen and Charlie Dobres on Lewes FC and Equality FC

• Ali Hanan on return on inclusion

• Harriet Kingaby on truth, trust, and AI

• Ahti Heinla on Skype, Starship Technologies, and building world-changing tech

• Dino Delić on data, action, and why tools are not the problem

• Charlotte Rae on the four-day week

Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

The four-day week gets talked about a lot, but what happens when you stop talking about the theory and start measuring impact properly?

In this episode of Data Malarkey - the podcast about using data, smarter - Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, speaks to Charlotte Rae, Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Sussex. Charlotte is one of the UK's leading quantitative researchers on the impact of the four-day working week. She explains how the Sussex 4 Day Week research project studies real employers, real staff, and real outcomes to understand what changes when businesses move to working time reduction.

From productivity and sleep to motivation, meetings, AI, and whether the "honeymoon effect" wears off, this is a brilliant conversation about what the evidence says and where the practical challenges still sit.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• The difference between working time reduction, compressed hours, and part-time working

• How the Sussex 4 Day Week programme helps businesses prepare, trial, and measure results

• Why productivity rose by around 8% on average in the trial period

• Why improved sleep appears to be linked to improved productivity

• How motivation and behaviour change drive better output in less time

• Which sectors and business sizes are best suited to shorter working weeks

• Why most four-day week businesses do not simply shut on Fridays

• How AI may help enable shorter working weeks, but only if used in a structured way

Topics we cover:

• Four-day week models explained

• Measuring productivity, wellbeing, burnout, sleep, and motivation

• Why little tweaks often beat big grand changes

• The role of rest, recovery, and hobbies

• Sector differences: knowledge work, manufacturing, care, rota-based businesses

• Which non-working day businesses choose most often

• Long-term stickability of the four-day week

• Whether AI could accelerate working time reduction

About the guest:
Charlotte Rae is an Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Sussex and leads the Sussex 4 Day Week research project. With a background in psychology and neuroscience, she applies a rigorous, data-driven approach to studying how shorter working weeks affect productivity, wellbeing, and workplace performance.

Links and resources mentioned:

• Sussex Four Day Week: https://sussex4dayweek.co.uk

• Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

What if the problem is not your tool?

In this episode of the Data Malarkey podcast, Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, speaks with Dino Delić of Meltwater, the global leader in media intelligence. Sam and Dino cover data, comms, capability-building, AI, and why too many teams are still using powerful tools to produce underwhelming outcomes. Dino is sharp, direct, gloriously opinionated, and obsessed with helping people stop hiding behind "best practices" and start solving the right problem.

They explore why data often fails to drive action inside organisations, how comms teams can become more strategically useful, why AI is creating both huge opportunity and total chaos, and why capability matters far more than buying the latest shiny thing.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why Dino hates the phrase "best practices"

• Why most teams are not held back by their tools

• How to start with the real moment of frustration, not generic advice

• Why the CEO's priorities should shape your data communications strategy

• How to turn reporting into decision-making

• Why AI can massively help, but only if you know what good looks like already

• Why most people are still "the cat chasing the laser pointer"

• How Dino thinks about capability, experimentation, and constant improvement

Topics we cover:

• Dino's background from Bosnia to Australia to the US

• Sales, persuasion, and making ideas land

• Why "tool + skills + resources" matters

• The difference between collecting data and using data

• Why AVEs and lazy measurement still hang around

• AI hype, maturity, and common mistakes

• Meltwater's Run Club, newsletter, and open learning approach

• Why communicators need debate, not just agreement

About the guest:
Dino Delić is Strategic Customer Advisor at Meltwater. He works at the intersection of communications, data, measurement, enablement, and customer success, helping teams turn information into action and become more effective, persuasive, and data-driven in the work they do.

Links and resources mentioned:

• Meltwater's Data Driven Communications Run Club and newsletter - https://community.meltwater.com/p/ddc

• Follow Dino Delić on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dinodelic/

Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

Ahti Heinla has built category-defining tech in two completely different worlds. First, he helped architect Skype, making internet communication simple enough to spread like wildfire. Then he co-founded Starship Technologies, tackling the "last mile problem" with autonomous delivery robots that work in real streets, real weather, and with real world chaos.

Along the way, Ahti shares what Estonia got right with digital infrastructure, why "small beats slow", and why he's worried the world is drifting away from facts.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why Estonia became a tech flywheel, and what secure digital infrastructure unlocks

• The early objections to Skype and why they were reasonable at the time

• How network effects helped Skype spread, fast

• What "last mile delivery" really is, and why it's the inefficient bit

• What makes autonomous delivery deep tech, not "just another app"

• Why Starship Technologies' robots are designed to be friendly but not human

• The biggest data challenge Ahti sees today: people ignoring data

• Why post-truth worries him, even with better tools than ever
  
  

Topics we cover:

• Estonia's digital ID, online voting, and startup culture

• Skype's origin story and early market timing

• Speed vs the establishment, network effects, culture challenges at scale

• Starship's view of logistics and automating the last mile

• Real world robotics constraints: weather, regulation, competition

• Data culture, machine learning, and decision-making

• Civic tech and environmental initiatives

• Post-truth, misinformation, and fact-based leadership
  
  

About the guest:
Ahti Heinla is the CEO and co-founder of Starship Technologies, the global leader in autonomous last mile delivery. He was also a founding engineer and Chief Technical Architect at Skype, having spent decades building software and systems that scale.

Links and resources mentioned:

• Starship Technologies website – https://www.starship.xyz

• The Let's Do It World! campaign – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_Do_It!_World

• Citizen OS – https://citizenos.com

Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

"Now, today is a first for data malarkey… This is the very first time that we've had two guests on the same episode. Not only two guests, but also a dynamic feminist wife and husband duo…"

In this episode of the Data Malarkey podcast, host and Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, speaks with Karen and Charlie Dobres from Lewes Community Football Club about how Lewes became "the first and still the only club in the world" to equalise men's and women's playing budgets, and what it takes to shift culture, attention, sponsorship and long-term equity in football.

Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

External resources

• Karen's LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-dobres-07a54b176/ and on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/karendobres/?hl=en: "I'm best found on Instagram or LinkedIn."

• Charlie's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliedobres/

• Karen's book - B/Pitch Invasion - https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/karen-dobres/pitch-invasion/9781788405881/

• : "I'm definitely best found on LinkedIn."

• Charlie's "If you look on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, look up "Not Small Mean."podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/4UsJkXfQQz2Og0IXBQAgYn?si=da6dd926f74e48c9

• Own a share in Lewes FC - https://lewesfc.com/become-an-owner/

• Equality FC in practice - https://lewesfc.com/football-for-good/equality-fc/

What if the biggest growth lever for brands in 2026 isn't media spend, targeting tweaks, or yet another funnel experiment … but inclusive marketing?

In this episode of the Data Malarkey Podcast, Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, is joined by Ali Hanan, Founder & CEO of Creative Equals, to unpack the data-driven business case for meaningful representation in advertising — what Ali calls the "Return on Inclusion."

This is a conversation about marketing effectiveness, advertising effectiveness, brand growth strategy, representation vs positive portrayal, and how brands can do marketing for good and for growth without falling into performative box-ticking.

Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

• What "Return On Inclusion" means, and how to think about it as a measurable commercial strategy

• Why representation alone isn't enough — and how positive portrayal changes outcomes

• How underrepresented audiences translate into real market opportunity (and why brands miss it)

• How to handle the "woke" backlash by reframing inclusion through human rights and equal treatment

• What AI changes in creative development — and how to avoid a "sea of sameness"

• Why marketing effectiveness awards and case studies increasingly link inclusion to profit and growth

00:00 Cold open + the growth provocation
00:39 Intro + Ali Hannon / Creative Equals
05:41 The core data case for inclusion
10:15 "the UK ad sector… holding the growth… back"
14:40 Positive portrayal explained
20:04 The "£800 billion" underrepresented communities point
21:13 Scorecard CTA
29:02 Human rights framing
33:06 AI, bias, and inclusive prompting
41:47 "saving 312 lives" (community impact example)
48:09 Where to find Ali / Creative Equals

Website — https://creativeequals.org
Ali's LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-hanan-19b3a2

UN Stereotype Alliance
Effie Awards + Cannes Lions (effectiveness / inclusion lens)
PepsiCo / Walkers case study
Nurofen "gender pain gap" case study
Book: Sex Matters

What happens when the business model of the internet rewards attention at any cost - and AI makes it even easier to centralise power, traffic, and revenue?

In this episode of the Data Malarkey Podcast, host and Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, is joined by Harriet Kingaby, Co-Chair of the Conscious Advertising Network (CAN). Harriet explores how advertising incentives shape the information ecosystem, why "information integrity" matters for democracy and business, and what conscious advertisers should be asking before they partner with platforms.

This is a conversation about digital trust, algorithmic discrimination, recommendation algorithms, AI search summaries, the "no-click internet", data privacy, and why transparency in advertising is foundational if we want healthier online systems.

Key topics

• Conscious advertising and advertising ethics

• Information integrity and transparent advertising

• AI in advertising and AI-driven search summaries

• Recommendation algorithms and algorithmic discrimination

• Online harms, self-harm content, and monetisation incentives

• The "no-click internet" and the death of the open web

• UN Global Principles on Information Integrity

• Facial recognition and surveillance risks in advertising and the home

Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

What you'll learn

• Why Harriet thinks the incentives behind online platforms can produce unhealthy outcomes

• How CAN works as a "broad church" bringing together industry and civil society

• What "information integrity" means in practice - and why advertising transparency is central

• How discrimination can show up through recommendation systems and reach

• Why the "no-click internet" could reshape publishing, revenue, and independent content

• The kinds of questions advertisers should ask when partnering with platforms and AI tools

• A striking example of data misuse: facial recognition embedded in TV sets for ad targeting

External resources

• LinkedIn: Harriet Kingaby - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hkingaby/

• Conscious Advertising Network - https://www.consciousadnetwork.com

• CAN's Guiding Principles - https://www.consciousadnetwork.com/the-guidingprincipleslandingpage/

• UN Global Principles on Information Integrity https://www.un.org/en/information-integrity/global-principles

• The EU Digital Services Act - https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/digital-services-act

• The Molly Rose Foundation report - https://mollyrosefoundation.org/

• Cambridge Analytica scandal - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c81zyn0888lt