Marketing Over Milkshakes

RevWise
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Marketing Over Milkshakes is a podcast that goes behind the job titles of leading voices in affiliate marketing. The show explores the evolution of affiliate marketing, performance marketing, influencer partnerships and AI-driven commerce, helping ecommerce brands unlock one of the internet’s fastest-growing marketing channels. Brought to you by award-winning affiliate growth agency RevWise, each episode breaks down how affiliate programs, publisher partnerships, TikTok Shop, creator commerce and data-driven e-comm strategies drive scalable revenue and long-term brand growth.

Episodes

  1. CCO of Sykes Cottages, James Shaw: Building a £200m UK Holiday Brand, Saving Millions with AI Advertising, and How To Go Viral on TikTok

    5 DAYS AGO

    CCO of Sykes Cottages, James Shaw: Building a £200m UK Holiday Brand, Saving Millions with AI Advertising, and How To Go Viral on TikTok

    The UK leisure travel and holiday rental market has transformed dramatically over the last decade - driven by digital demand, staycation trends, and portfolio-level brand strategy. In this episode of Marketing Over Milkshakes, Group CCO James Shaw shares insight from within Sykes Holiday Cottages, one of the UK’s most recognised holiday rental brands, and its parent organisation, Forge Holiday Group; which manages 30,000 units, serving 3,000,000 customers annually, generating £200 million in revenue. You will hear about building modern travel brands for sustainable growth in the leisure and tourism space - combining performance marketing, DTC strategy and data modelling, as well as a detailed breakdown on how the adoption of AI in advertising campaigns has driven CPA’s down by 40%! In this episode, you will hear: Scaling established travel brands in competitive domestic tourism marketsPortfolio growth across multiple travel businessesPerformance marketing in high-ticket leisure sectorsBalancing brand equity with digital acquisitionUsing AI across advertising and marketing to drive CPAs down Protecting margin while expanding reachLeading growth at group level across multiple brandsThe evolution of UK staycation demandLong-term travel industry strategy vs short-term booking spikes Key Moments: 0:00 – From Sykes Cottages to Forge Group: brands, scale and acquisitions 06:37 – The origin of Sykes Holidays: Clive Sykes, Yorkshire kitchen table and early growth 09:34 – Obsessing over “magic moments”: guest experience, reviews and NPS in travel 12:48 – TV ads and brand building: taking Sykes from 12% to 65% brand recall 16:24 – AI-powered TV campaigns: cutting production costs and smarter media buying 18:12 – Rational marketing: stacking highest-ROI channels and dropping what doesn’t work 21:34 – Vivid Stay: AI video walkthroughs for every holiday property at scale 25:05 – The AI journey: 70% staff adoption, AI Guardians Guild and legal framework 29:39 – Proving ROI: sprint times, chatbot deflection and AI efficiency targets 32:46 – Clickless checkout and agentic commerce: preparing for ChatGPT / Gemini bookings 36:41 – Developing conversational search for UK holiday cottages 41:51 – Competing in LLM search 46:03 – TikTok strategy: micro-influencers, viral Sykes content and social commerce 52:03 – Gavin & Stacey cottage and VIP stays: turning properties into viral moments 55:13 – Private equity, PPC and scaling Sykes: from 5,000 to 30,000 properties 01:00:50 – Skin in the game: betting life savings on Sykes 1:08:52 – Cranfield “SAS for the mind”: leadership, EQ and brutal 360 feedback 01:14:08 – Hiring for culture: curiosity, competitiveness and mindset 1:20:29 – How James structures his week: 5:30am routine, family time and energy management 01:34:57 – Best leadership book: Good to Great and the 4 Disciplines of Execution 01:39:51 – Defining leadership: creating an environment where success is inevitable

    1h 42m
  2. How Freddie’s Flowers Scaled a Profitable Subscription Business With Perishable Products… One Of The Hardest Challenges in DTC

    5 FEB

    How Freddie’s Flowers Scaled a Profitable Subscription Business With Perishable Products… One Of The Hardest Challenges in DTC

    Scaling a subscription business with perishable products, tight margins, and zero room for forecasting errors is one of the hardest challenges in modern performance marketing. In this episode of Marketing Over Milkshakes, we’re joined by James Newman, Head of Performance Marketing at Freddie’s Flowers, one of the UK’s most successful subscription-first DTC brands, to break down how they’ve built a highly disciplined, data-driven growth engine across performance, affiliates, influencers, and brand partnerships. Freddie’s Flowers pioneered a subscription-only model in a category dominated by gifting, using predictable demand to reduce flower waste from an industry average of ~40% to under 5%. But behind the brand is a sophisticated growth machine built around LTV modelling, blended CPA targets, creative testing, and forecasting accuracy. If you are looking to unlock the internet’s fastest-growing marketing channel, connect with the team at RevWise https://revwise.com/ In this episode, you will hear: Why Freddie’s Flowers committed to a subscription-only model (and why it worked) How to scale customer acquisition with perishable products and next-day delivery The role of LTV modelling in setting CPA targets by channel and partner Why blended CPA beats single-channel attribution How Freddie’s evaluates affiliate marketing, gift-with-purchase, and brand partnerships The real economics behind influencer marketing in subscription businesses How coupon attribution works in a cookieless world Why forecasting accuracy is critical to profitable growth How upper-funnel Meta ads stabilised CPAs and unlocked scale The difference between volume growth and profitable growth Lessons retail brands can learn from subscription businesses Why creative strategy is becoming the most important growth lever in performance marketing Key Moments:  0:00 – How Freddie’s Flowers cuts flower waste with a low‑wastage subscription model 1:55 – Freddie’s Flowers cargo bikes and how the street sales rep model works 3:23 – Origin story: door‑to‑door sales to a flower subscription business 6:15 – Why Freddie’s went subscription‑only and refused one‑off orders for years 8:35 – Introducing James Newman, Head of Performance Marketing at Freddie’s Flowers 11:39 – Dangers of artificial growth, brand contraction and over‑reliance on one Meta creative 13:48 – Building a diversified channel mix: affiliates, influencers, Meta and partnerships 17:23 – Managing a perishable subscription: forecasting, SKUs and holiday sell‑out strategy 23:13 – How Freddie’s measures influencer performance with coupon codes and blended CPA 26:42 – Multi‑touch attribution: blended CPA, GA4, platform data and post‑purchase surveys 28:08 – CAC, LTV and the ‘trip’ model that underpins Freddie’s subscription economics 31:56 – Predictive LTV by channel and partner using early retention and customer signals 36:53 – Why subscription brands must avoid chasing volume at the expense of LTV 39:19 – Blended CPA and upper‑funnel Meta ads to expand reach without spiking costs 44:20 – Creative strategy on Meta: hooks, concepts and avoiding ad fatigue 46:47 – What retail brands can learn from subscription businesses about LTV and discounting 49:41 – Using influencers and UGC as a creative engine for paid social at Freddie’s 54:12 – Gift with Purchase (GWP) partnerships as a major scalable acquisition channel 57:12 – Balancing CPA, offer value and host merchant requirements in GWP programs 1:01:19 – Why GWP favors subscription brands and how Freddie’s sets CPA caps 1:04:08 – James’s career journey from PPC and data to brand‑side growth leadership 1:10:26 – Brand tracking, awareness vs consideration and the case for gifting at Freddie’s 1:12:28 – Measuring out‑of‑home and TV with surveys, geo‑lift tests and blackout periods 1:20:21 – Events, networking and staying current in performance and affiliate marketing

    1h 29m
  3. Awin CEO Adam Ross on The Future of Affiliate Marketing; AI, Influencers, CPA Models & Scaling a Global Network

    5 FEB

    Awin CEO Adam Ross on The Future of Affiliate Marketing; AI, Influencers, CPA Models & Scaling a Global Network

    In this episode of Marketing Over Milkshakes, we sit down with Adam Ross, CEO of Awin, one of the world’s largest affiliate marketing networks, powering partnerships for brands like Nike, Samsung, Etsy, Vodafone and thousands more. Adam shares a rare, behind-the-scenes look at how affiliate marketing has evolved from early paid-search arbitrage into a multi-channel, AI-ready performance ecosystem - and what brands, agencies, and creators need to do to stay ahead. If you are looking to unlock the internet’s fastest-growing marketing channel, connect with the team at RevWise https://revwise.com/ What you’ll learn in this episode: How affiliate marketing really works (and why it’s a payment model, not a channel)Why CPA-based incentives outperform CPC in AI-driven shoppingHow influencers and creators fit into modern affiliate strategiesThe hidden brand-building value of affiliate programs most brands ignoreHow to scale a company from 15 to 1,400+ employees without losing cultureThe leadership lessons learned from growing a global tech businessWhy AI shopping assistants need affiliate monetisation modelsHow brands should measure upper-funnel influence vs last-click salesThe future of affiliate networks, retail media, and creator commerceWhat most brands are getting wrong about performance marketing todayThis episode is essential listening for anyone working in: Affiliate marketing / Performance & growth marketing / Influencer & creator partnerships / eCommerce & DTC / Retail media / AI-powered commerce platforms Key Topics Covered: Affiliate marketing explainedCPA vs CPC advertising modelsInfluencer marketing through affiliatesAI shopping assistants & monetisationScaling SaaS and marketplace platformsLeadership, hiring, and company culturePerformance marketing strategyAttribution, measurement & incrementalityBrand vs performance balanceThe future of digital commerceKey Moments: 0:00 – CPA, AI & the Future of Affiliate Marketing 04:20 – Lighthearted Start: Milkshakes, Personal Preferences & Show Setup 05:35 – From Dentist to CEO of Awin 08:16 – Scaling Awin from 15 to 1,400 Employees & the 50-Person Tipping Point 11:18 – Landing Currys & Other Enterprise Brands: Big-Deal Bids That Changed the Company 14:08 – Acquisitions, Telco vs Retail & Entering the US Market 18:21 – Global Expansion Playbook: Organic vs Inorganic Growth in New Markets 19:20 – Hiring, Promotion & Spotting Leadership Potential in a High-Growth Company 23:49 – Should a CEO Be Hands-On With Product and Tech? 26:16 – What Is Affiliate Marketing Really? Payment Model, Publisher Types & Early Arbitrage 31:29 – Tracking Innovation: Awin’s MasterTag & the Evolution of Tech Partnerships 33:06 – Influencers, Retail Media & the Next Wave of Affiliate Growth 39:59 – Measuring Upper-Funnel Value & Paying Influencers Fairly 45:22 – AI Hype vs Reality: Awin’s AI Assistant “Ava” and Natural-Language Affiliate Campaigns 48:26 – Monetizing AI Shopping: Why CPA Beats CPC for AI Recommenders 50:41 – Company Culture, Remote Work & Building Trust at Scale 56:37 – Obsession, Continuous Learning & Using X/Twitter as a Learning Tool 58:28 – Parenting in the Age of Screens: Kids, YouTube, Money & Financial Literacy 1:05:43 – Dublin to London: Life, Family & Why London Still Feels Special 1:07:14 – Quickfire Round: Must-Have Apps, Imposter Syndrome, Leadership & Brand Opportunities

    1h 17m

  4. 5 FEB

    Welcome to Marketing Over Milkshakes

    Marketing Over Milkshakes is the podcast that gets behind the job titles of some of the leading players in the affiliate and performance marketing space. This show explores the evolution of the affiliate sector, performance marketing, influencer partnerships and AI-driven commerce, helping ecommerce brands unlock one of the internet’s fastest-growing marketing channels.  Bought to you by the team from award-winning specialist affiliate growth agency Revwise, each episode breaks down, in detail, how modern affiliate programs, publisher partnerships, TikTok Shop, creator commerce and data-driven e-comm strategies can drive scalable revenue and revolutionise brand growth.  If you are looking to unlock the internet’s fastest growing marketing channel, connect with the team at RevWise https://revwise.com/

    2 min

  5. TRAILER

    TRAILER: Marketing Over Milkshakes (Launching 5th Feb 2026)

    Marketing Over Milkshakes is the podcast that gets behind the job titles of some of the leading players in the affiliate marketing space. This show explores the evolution of the affiliate sector, performance marketing, influencer partnerships and AI-driven commerce, helping ecommerce brands unlock one of the internet’s fastest-growing marketing channels.  Bought to you by the team from award-winning specialist affiliate growth agency Revwise, each episode breaks down, in detail, how modern affiliate programs, publisher partnerships, TikTok Shop, creator commerce and data-driven e-comm strategies can drive scalable revenue and revolutionise brand growth

    1 min

Trailer

About

Marketing Over Milkshakes is a podcast that goes behind the job titles of leading voices in affiliate marketing. The show explores the evolution of affiliate marketing, performance marketing, influencer partnerships and AI-driven commerce, helping ecommerce brands unlock one of the internet’s fastest-growing marketing channels. Brought to you by award-winning affiliate growth agency RevWise, each episode breaks down how affiliate programs, publisher partnerships, TikTok Shop, creator commerce and data-driven e-comm strategies drive scalable revenue and long-term brand growth.

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