In this episode of Scratch, Viren sits down with Misbah Uraizee from Nectar Social to dismantle one of marketing's most persistent myths. The truth? Organic and paid media are complementary engines, and brands that still silo them are leaving serious growth on the table.

Misbah breaks down the post-iOS 14 reality and reveals the exact playbooks modern challenger brands are using to scale today.

In this episode, we cover:

• The Post-iOS 14 Reality: Why the entire class of brands built on cheap paid ads simply no longer exists.
• Year-One CPG Playbooks: What the fastest-growing brands actually do in their first year (hint: it has nothing to do with media spend).
• Killing Vanity Metrics: Why follower count is the metric that refuses to die—and what you should be measuring instead.
• TikTok Shop’s True Role: How to properly integrate it into your modern marketing mix.
• Measuring the Unmeasurable: How to spot the "halo effects" that prove social is working before the revenue data catches up.
• The AI Equalizer: Why "taste" is the last true differentiator for marketers in a world where everyone has the same AI tools.

Watch the video version of this podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/v5lbv-u9bOk

Links & Resources:

🖊️Mentioned in the show:

• MetiCube
• Amp By Rival
• The Rival 50: The Best Challenger Brands of 2025

Find Rival online at www.wearerival.com, LinkedIn

Find Viren on LinkedIn

Find Misbah on Linkedin

Say hi at media@wearerival.com, we’d love to hear from you.

Scratch is a production of Rival, a marketing innovation consultancy that develops strategies and capabilities that help businesses grow faster. Scratch is hosted by Viren Samani, and he’s joined by Misbah Uraizee of Nectar Social in this episode

Rival is a marketing consultancy for brands that want to challenge convention in their category. We’re on a mission to understand what challenger brands do differently to grow in categories that are being disrupted, and use a challenger playbook to deliver outsized impact through an integrated, tech-enabled approach. Past guests include CMOs from Mastercard, GE, Shell, Hyperloop, Adobe, PepsiCo, and Papa Johns.

If you’re interested in learning more about marketing from successful CMOs, we compiled a list of the top 5 CMO podcasts to listen to in 2024; check it out here 🔗 https://www.wearerival.com/content-hub-articles/cmo-podcasts-you-cannot-afford-to-miss-in-2024

Pranav breaks down why the way we've always tested products and campaigns is fundamentally broken, how 90% of all decision-making happens in the subconscious, and why asking people what they think is almost completely useless. Neuro Insight's brain-mapping technology cuts through the noise, accessing the hidden drivers of human behaviour that people can't even articulate themselves.

They also get into why marketing didn't just break on its own - culture broke first - and what it's going to take to fix it, from rediscovering the lost craft of storytelling to building the kind of CMO courage that puts real money behind real conviction.

Watch the video version of this podcast on Youtube ▶️: https://youtu.be/BLXF2kAqoWc

🖊️Mentioned in the show:

• AI Marathon

Scratch is a production of Rival, a marketing innovation consultancy that develops strategies and capabilities that help businesses grow faster. Scratch is hosted by Viren Samani, and he’s joined by Pranav Yadev of Neuro Insight in this episode.

Find Rival online at www.wearerival.com, LinkedIn

Find Viren on LinkedIn

Find Yadev on Linkedin

Say hi at media@wearerival.com, we’d love to hear from you.

Rival is a marketing consultancy for brands that want to challenge convention in their category. We’re on a mission to understand what challenger brands do differently to grow in categories that are being disrupted, and use a challenger playbook to deliver outsized impact through an integrated, tech-enabled approach. Past guests include CMOs from Mastercard, GE, Shell, Hyperloop, Adobe, PepsiCo, and Papa Johns.

If you’re interested in learning more about marketing from successful CMOs, we compiled a list of the top 5 CMO podcasts to listen to in 2024; check it out here 🔗 https://www.wearerival.com/content-hub-articles/cmo-podcasts-you-cannot-afford-to-miss-in-2024

Miguel gets into the brand discipline behind the growth. Why Bootlegger turned down trends their own customers were asking for. How a year of navigating aviation regulations put their coffee at 30,000 feet. What drove the decision to strip the brand back to a gold dot. And why consistency, not innovation, is the framework that keeps them relevant while competitors slip.

For CMOs navigating saturated categories and the pressure to chase every trend, Miguel's approach is a useful counterweight. Bootlegger doesn't follow. It holds the line, makes two or three big plays a year, and backs quality at every touchpoint from the roastery to the runway. The result is a brand that's grown faster by doing less.

Sharp, honest, and packed with thinking you can actually use. If you're building a brand in a crowded category and trying to scale without giving ground, this one's for you.

Watch the video version of this podcast on Youtube - ▶️: https://youtu.be/MXCBY5Xkgto

🖊️Mentioned in the show:

• Tashers
• Seattle
• Mugg & Bean
• FlySafair
• Black Coffee

Scratch is a production of Rival, a marketing innovation consultancy that develops strategies and capabilities that help businesses grow faster. Scratch is hosted by Viren Samani, and he’s joined by Miguel Netto of Bootlegger in this episode.

Find Rival online at www.wearerival.com, LinkedIn

Find Viren on Linkedin

Find Miguel on Linkedin

Say hi at media@wearerival.com, we’d love to hear from you.

Rival is a marketing consultancy for brands that want to challenge convention in their category. We’re on a mission to understand what challenger brands do differently to grow in categories that are being disrupted, and use a challenger playbook to deliver outsized impact through an integrated, tech-enabled approach. Past guests include CMOs from Mastercard, GE, Shell, Hyperloop, Adobe, PepsiCo, and Papa Johns.

If you’re interested in learning more about marketing from successful CMOs, we compiled a list of the top 5 CMO podcasts to listen to in 2024; check it out here 🔗 https://www.wearerival.com/content-hub-articles/cmo-podcasts-you-cannot-afford-to-miss-in-2024