Most corporate videos are watched once, forgotten instantly, and never spoken of again.

I help internal comms and marketing leaders make sure theirs are not.

I’m Joe Hickey, founder of Shatter Media. I work with brands like British Gas, Arriva, Rathbones and Knight Frank to turn strategies, announcements and events into clear, human stories on video.

My focus:
• Messages people actually understand and feel
• Leaders who feel real on camera
• Content that supports your wider comms plan, not just another “nice video”

If you own engagement, adoption or alignment inside your organisation, I help you create video that does its job.

Joe Hickey

Such sad news yesterday.

After hearing about the passing of Mel Shillings I reflected on a shoot I had a little while back for her.

Myself and James Burtt 🎙️ spent the day with her, in her house, harassed by some of the cutest dogs whilst shooting content.

All I can say about my extremely brief brush with this woman is that from the second we turned up, she was the warmest, most welcoming person I've ever met.

From the word "hi", it felt like we'd known each other and been talking for a long time.

She was professional and fun, we spent the day capturing and laughing.

She really made it an enjoyable day, and was an absolute breeze to work with, a genuinely lovely human being.

My thoughts go out to her husband and her daughter in this difficult time ♥️

Joe Hickey 🎥

Founder-led video storytelling | Build authority, trust and inbound demand by proving expertise on camera | Founder, Shatter Media

Stop recording podcasts. Start building a content system.

Podcasting quietly changed.

And most people didn’t notice.

It’s not really podcasting anymore.

It’s video with a microphone attached.

Look at what’s happening across platforms:

1️⃣ YouTube dominates podcast consumption
2️⃣ Spotify pushes video podcasts harder every month
3️⃣ Even Apple is moving toward visual formats

Because audiences don’t just want to hear a conversation anymore.

They want to see it.

Body language.
Reactions.
Eyes rolling, people laughing, HUMAN interactions!

So here's what I see

Most brands still treat podcasts like it’s 2015.

Record audio.
Upload it.
Maybe chop a couple clips.

Job done.

Meanwhile the creators winning attention are designing podcasts as video-first content machines.

One recording session becomes:

✅ The full episode
✅ 5-15 short clips if not more!
✅ Social hooks
✅ YouTube discovery content
✅ LinkedIn conversation starters

In other words, the podcast isn’t the product,

It’s the engine.

If you run a podcast today, are you actually making a show…

or just recording a meeting with microphones?

This content shift increased impressions by 53.4% in weeks!


Recently we wanted to try something new with Rick Lorenzo’s content, and the early numbers are telling...

We shifted from:
Over-produced, heavily animated, “influencer-style” short videos…

To:
Stripped back, story driven content that feels more human.

Just clarity, story, and moments that actually feel like Rick.

Real insights into his journey, the businesses journey.

Since making that shift, we’ve already seen:
✅ +53.4% increase in impressions
✅ +13.4% increase in unique viewers

My takeaway so far:
Flashy edits are cool (I personally love them so this isn't me 💩ing on it), but they don't work for everyone.

It doesn't always suit peoples personality, niche, industry, audience.

Content is a constant evolution of understanding of your audience...

Just impressed myself with that line, a little self pat on the back there.

As AI continues to run rampant, even here on LinkedIn, I believe entrepreneurs, experts, businesses in general will start to feel AI fatigue.

And as flashy and cool becomes the new norm, storytelling will become the new currency of trust.

So how are you telling your BrandStory?

This week I made the CEO of Arriva cry on stage... 😭


A 2 day conference in Budapest for all the top leaders across Arriva Europe, my task was to capture what I could and create something good enough to show at the end of day 2.

Because of the speed of turn around, that leaves basically no time for reviews and revisions, so a lot of trust was put on me to get this right out of the box.

I managed to finish and get it to our guy running the screens with about 20 minutes to go.

Its intention, other than being a highlight VT of the event, was to be played as a 'welcome to the CEO to the stage' to deliver his closing remarks.

So the pressure was on and the nerves were in and that final 20 minutes felt like a life time as I waited for the video to begin.

I always tend to position myself somewhere where I can see a lot of faces to gauge the feedback.

The video played, there were smiles, they were nudging each other as they saw each other on screen (no on was expecting a video of the days to be played, some only shot and hour or 2 before).

Then there was the CEO...

A hand covering his face on the side of stage, he slowly made his way to the lecture, and with a few strong sniffs and a scrub of his nose he was very visibly choked up.

His first words asking and signalling to us to play the video again at the end after his remarks, luckily giving us time to get that prepped in the background. He continued to be choked up for the rest of his closing remarks.

The point here is, this is how video can impact. The emotional power behind what is told and how it's told can really be the difference maker.

It can create and trigger memories, it can solidify trust, it can build and strengthen culture.

For now I'm back to reality and ready to get back in the swing of things!

,🎥🎥🎥

Today's office is a little bit different....


Sat in Budapest at my new little office space, an annual event where I join the guys at Distinct for an Arriva conference, and documenting everything!

My own personal documenting, capturing content for the AV guys at Distinct, and also serving Arriva themselves from stage content to overall highlights to be edited and played to finish out the event tomorrow evening!

Full on, but what a view we've got to enjoy in the process!

🔥🔥🔥

Starting the day right... ☕



Looking forward to the return of the Building the Brand Podcast by my good buddy James Burtt 🎙️ 🔥🔥

Never a dull moment, never lacking a golden nugget of insight and value, gutted I'm not working on this one myself, however from the insider view I've been able to sneak peak, there's some bangers on the way!

If you haven't subscribed already and you're an entrepreneur or business owner looking to grow and scale your business, you need to!

P.S. Thank you for the mug ☕

P.P.S. James I'll invoice you for the shout out 🔥💵

What a set up! 🎬

They don't skimp on their content at Rathbones, and I always enjoy being a part of it.

This morning I'm down at the London Stock Exchange in their studio capturing some behind the scenes for this afternoon's webinar.

Then, as that gets underway, this afternoon I head over to their HQ and set up for some more social media and internal content that has had some eye watering stats in terms of positive impact, of which I'll get details and happily talk about 🔥🔥

The strongest brand stories aren’t about success. They’re about resistance. 💪🏻


I’m ⚽'s deep in pre-production on a BrandStory right now.

More so than I've ever done before actually!

Most brand videos are obsessed with the highlight reel.

The real stuff, the stuff that makes people feel something, usually lives in the bits founders try to skip past.

Not the “what we do”.

The “what it took”.

The friction. The pressure. The quiet moments where someone’s carrying more than they’re saying.

In this project, the story isn’t about a business “journey” in the cheesy sense.

It’s about a person trying to build something meaningful, a present, a future, a legacy, all whilst navigating a system that absolutely doesn’t make it easy!

And that changes how we film it.

We’re not just collecting talking heads and b-roll.

We’re hunting for:
✅ The decision points
✅ The tension
✅ The moments that reveal character
✅ The proof of why this matters to real people

With that we build a trust building weapon 🔥

Finding the conflict in your story might not be as clear cut as you think, the villain may not be who you think it is.

If someone made a documentary about your business, what would the real conflict be?

🎬🎬🎬

So happy the photography show is back! 

Love getting to see the latest tech and innovation in the photography and videography space 🎥

It's taking all my will power to keep my wallet in my pocket!!

I just got pulled into a marketing campaign… and I loved it.

And I don’t say that lightly.

If you’ve ever heard of Muse, you’ll know they don’t do anything the “normal” way!

With their new album coming, they didn’t just announce it.

They built a story around it.

Short videos started dropping.

But they weren’t just teasers to build hype, they went much deeper!

Cryptic messages.
Binary code.
Numbers, time references, historic references.

Stuff you had to work to understand.

And people did.

The armchair detectives came out in force (myself included) trying to piece it all together.

Every clue led closer to a YouTube Premiere.

Tens of thousands of people waiting, watching, chatting.

Then it drops.
New single live.
Streaming everywhere.
Album date revealed.

But here’s what stood out to me;
They didn’t just push content, they created investment.

People weren’t just watching, they were involved, emotionally invested, they had become part of the journey.

That’s a completely different level of engagement.

There’s a big difference between:
“Here’s our content”
and
“Come figure this out”

One gets scrolled past.
The other gets followed.

A great lesson in strategic marketing 🔥🔥

Another great day shooting at Rathbones yesterday.

It was great to spend some time with Karl Weber and was awesome to catch up with Timothy Hedley whilst capturing elements of his latest project.

Loving some of the ideas that we're currently talking about for other upcoming projects.

Evergreen videos that can be used to not only educate, but also help build and encourage positive internal culture within the business 🔥🎬🔥

Time to get those excited and then enjoy my birthday! 🍰

So good I had to come back! 🎬


And I wasn't so good at keeping my wallet in my pocket this time around! 

Always happy to invest in better kit and better knowledge that ultimately impacts my clients 

🔥🔥🔥

I’ve been guilty of this myself 🙈

For a long time, I thought better content was:

🎬 Better edits.
👀 Better visuals.
💅🏻 More polished videos.

If it looked good, then it's gonna work, right?

But the more I’ve been working with clients, and honestly looking at my own stuff, the more I’ve realised:

That wasn’t the problem, it was
❌ Lack of clarity
❌ Unclear message
❌ Unclear positioning
❌ No real point of view

Lately, I’ve been exploring the idea of BrandStory.

Not just as a product, but as a way of thinking.

What does this business actually stand for?

What’s the real tension behind it?

Why should anyone care?

Because when that part is clear…
✅ The content gets simpler
✅ The edits get lighter
✅ The message lands harder
✅ And ironically, it performs better

And as always, everyday is a school day, my processes for this are under constant refining and learning.

But what I now believe is the most valuable thing you can create isn’t content.

It’s a story people can actually understand.

🔥🎬🔥

Michael Cody

Genistar

Genistar is one of the fastest-growing financial services companies in the UK. We are dedicated to educating families about their financial choices.

When we started the company in 2007, with the focus of serving others, we chose the name Genistar. ‘Gen’ came from the word Genesis for creation, and we chose the word ‘star’ to represent leadership. Real leadership is about serving others.

Genistar is a professional company regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We do not offer advice, but instead, we offer education and guidance for individuals to make the right choices.

Chief Operating Officer

The Tectonic Group

The Tectonic Group, LLC serves as the foundation for my diverse multinational consulting, fractional executive leadership, and entrepreneurial ventures. As Founder and Principal, I leverage over three decades of experience in scaling businesses and driving operational excellence to deliver tailored solutions in the following areas:

• Strategic Leadership & Business Growth: Supporting organizations in navigating transformative growth through innovative strategies and hands-on leadership.

• Direct Selling Operations: Designing and implementing scalable systems for compensation plans, compliance, and sales enablement to modernize and elevate direct selling organizations.

• CPG/FMCG & Branding Expertise: Delivering go-to-market strategies, omni-channel integration, and brand transformations that resonate in competitive global markets.

• Franchise Operations & Development: Building franchising models and scaling franchise systems to unlock new growth avenues for established and emerging brands.

• Digital Transformation & Technology Integration: Overseeing the deployment of ERP, CRM, and HRIS systems while driving AI enablement to streamline operations and boost efficiencies.

• Capital & Real Estate Investments: Structuring investments in business ventures and real estate to maximize returns and support long-term financial growth.

The Tectonic Group has also facilitated angel investments and advisory roles for innovative start-ups and mission-driven companies, acting as a catalyst for sustainable growth and profitability. My work through The Tectonic Group reflects a commitment to helping businesses achieve scalable, high-performance results while fostering a culture of accountability and excellence.

Principal

CoachPro (Formerly Coaches' Coach)

We help business coaches earn $10,000 to $30,000/month for their expertise in growing businesses and entrepreneurs. As a Certified Coaches’ Coach, Michael has trained over 1,500 business coaches and has personally coached 225 coaches one-on-one, increasing their profits by an average of 1200% in less than a year. Many of these coaches are counted today among the top-producing business coaches within their respective franchises and in the larger global coaching industry, generating incomes of $100,000 to $300,000 per year or more.

Co-Founder, Certified CoachPro Coach

AquaSource Algae Group Ltd

The optimal health & wellness company
For over a quarter of a century, AquaSource has been dedicated to promoting healthier lifestyles through natural means. Throughout the world, awareness is growing as to how the choices we make affect our state of health and the quality of our lives. It seems that many things that impact wellness are not within our control.  Global pandemics, hurried lifestyles, commercially processed foods, environmental pollution, stressful work, and family situations make it difficult to achieve and maintain proper nutrition. Not only can the food we eat be lacking or low in nutrients, but some food additives have also been proven to be harmful. But you can take control. You can take control of your own lifestyle to attain the ENERGY you need to take ACTION that results in the FREEDOM of success. AquaSource is committed to promoting health using naturally sourced ingredients and making a wide variety of high-quality nutritional and natural beauty products available to everyone. As part of our vision, AquaSource products are sold through independent distributors through the most powerful method of distribution “word-of-mouth advertising".

Howdy's Texas Grill'd Pizza

Howdy’s Texas Grill’d Pizza™ was an award-winning fast-casual pizzeria franchise concept that I helped launch and grow, specializing in a unique, Texas-inspired grilling method. Recognized as “Best Pizza” four years in a row, Howdy’s was also honored as a preferred pizza vendor at Texas A&M University’s Kyle Field and celebrated in state, national, and international reviews for its innovative approach.

Our signature offering combined a proprietary dough recipe, flash-grilled over an open flame char-broiler, with bold, authentic Texas toppings like Central Texas BBQ smoked brisket, pulled pork, and jalapeño sausage. Each pizza was then finished to perfection in a high-temperature Italian stone conveyor oven, delivering a one-of-a-kind flavor and crust.

In addition to our signature Texas BBQ pizzas, Howdy’s offered a diverse menu featuring housemade sauces, premium cheeses, and classic pizzeria options, always emphasizing quality and authentic Texas flavors. Proudly born in College Station, Texas, we became a local favorite.

Co-Founder

The Flippen Group

The Flippen Group was founded in 1989 by internationally known educator, New York Times best-selling author, psychotherapist, executive coach, and leadership expert, Flip Flippen. We are one of the largest educator training companies and fastest-growing leadership development organizations in North America. We have offices throughout the United States and in India.
	
Each year thousands of educators and business leaders attend Flippen Group “hands-on” trainings, and hundreds of thousands of people are challenged and inspired by our keynote presentations. On any given school day, Flippen education curricula and processes touch the lives of more than one million students in districts nationwide.	

Clients include Fortune 100 companies, small businesses, professional athletes, many major sports franchises, multiple government agencies, non-profit groups, colleges and school districts of every size and description.

The Flippen Group employs professionals across the nation. All Flippen executive coaches and training personnel come from backgrounds that enhance the delivery and value of the training experience.
	 
The education training staff members are former educators, administrators and teachers who implemented our processes firsthand in their campus or classroom settings. The team understands the importance of a quality education, the value of a positive learning environment and the significance of preparing the next generation for the world of work.	Our processes and trainings create a positive working environment and build cohesive team dynamics; the result being increases in productivity and retention.	

The Flippen Group has been highlighted on both local and national media outlets, including The Today Show, the Super Bowl XXXVII Pre-Game Show, and Speed Channel’s 24/7, among others.

Director of Strategic Branding

MSC Global Services

MSC Global is an information product and afilliate marketing company. Focused on the development, branding, packaging, and marketing of business-to-business and business-to-consumer information products.

Owner

STEAM Online Marketing

STEAM ONLINE MARKETING
We are the best choice for businesses who want to harness powerful online marketing automation, social media marketing, and mobile marketing platforms to get great visibility, traffic (foot, phone, and web), customer leads, referrals, and raving fan clients.

CEO/Founder

My Profit Coach

My Profit Coach (a division of MSC Global) is a global business coaching services firm focused on coaching for independent and franchise business coaches. Founded by 8 year industry veteran and top level business coaching franchise executive Michael Cody.

Over the last 8 years Founder Michael Cody has coached over 250+ small business clients, 750+ business coaching franchisees one-on-one in 9 countries, and trained over 1200 start-up business coaches in two of the top business coaching franchises globally. 

Most recently, he lead the operations and growth of an early-stage franchise system from 6 franchise units in the US/Canada to 75+ units in 13 countries.   

My Profit Coach works to mentor business coaches from start-up to large scale firm development. If your not making six-figures a year in your business coaching practice you need to speak with Michael Cody immediately (480) 406-3650.

Sr. Partner

Journey Healing Centers

I served as the Interim CEO to setup up the transition from the original Founder/Owners to a professionally structured management team. We rapidly restructured the company leadership, expanded operations, established a new inbound call center, and put the company on the path toward JCBHC accreditation. Ultimately, the owners were positioned for a later sale to a larger Private Pay Addiction Treatment conglomerate.

Interim CEO

I build and scale companies that change lives. I develop great teams, filled with great leaders, who build great companies. 

As a strategic growth leader with deep roots in Direct Sales, Franchise Development, and Financial Services, I’ve spent over 25 years helping organisations evolve from founder-led to professionally led — and from promising startups to market-dominating brands.

Having served across multiple C-suite roles — I bring a CEO-level perspective to every stage of growth and operations. My focus: aligning vision, strategy, people, systems, and accountability to drive sustainable expansion and leadership excellence.

In the Direct Selling and Relationship Marketing sector, I’ve led modernisation efforts across compensation, automation, and field leadership systems that scaled companies to 22x growth in under ten years. My experience spans international expansion, large-scale digital transformation, and building leadership cultures in both the corporate and field side that endure.

My leadership philosophy is simple:
Clarity creates alignment. Alignment creates momentum. Momentum creates growth.

✦ SELECT HIGHLIGHTS

• Multi-time C-Suite Executive – CEO, COO roles in high-growth, multi-market organisations
• Certified Master Business Coach – Specialist in Franchise Systems, Leadership Development, and Business Growth
• Co-Author – The Business Coaching Franchise Buyers Guide, 2nd Edition
• International Speaker – Thought leader in Direct Selling, Scaling Operations, and Building High-Performing Leadership Cultures
• Advisor & Investor – Partner in multiple high-growth and emerging brands

CORE STRENGTHS
• Direct Sales & Franchise Expansion
• Organisational Strategy & Enterprise Integration
• Leadership Development & Coaching
• International Market Growth
• Marketing Automation & Digital Transformation

Co-Founder, Certified Coaches' Coach

The High Price of Digital Serfdom:
Building Financial Sovereignty and the LTV/CAC Distortion

Let’s be clear from the jump: I am not against influencer marketing or social selling. I am against them becoming the primary strategy for a Direct Selling enterprise.

Why? 

Because they are not replicable for the 95% of the field who will never be Mr. Beast or DudePerfect. When we explicitly or tacitly tell the average person that "becoming a content creator" is the only path to success, we aren't giving them a business—we’re giving them a treadmill.

From a COO’s perspective, this creates two massive risks to Financial Sovereignty:

1. The LTV/CAC Distortion (The Financial Mirage): A low Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is a siren song. If a customer follows a creator, not your brand, your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) collapses the moment that creator stops posting. You aren't building an asset; you’re renting a transaction. True enterprise value is measured by how much growth you have the structural integrity to keep.

2. The GPS Trap: Modern high-velocity tools are like a digital GPS—they’re amazing when they work. But if your leaders only know how to follow the blue dot on a screen (the algorithm), they are professionally illiterate the moment the satellites go down.

When an algorithm changes, "Digital Serfs" lose their entire recruitment funnel overnight.

The Solution? Reclaiming the Map and Compass. We must re-institutionalize the "analog" skills of relationship building, deep influence, and referrals. These are the "Map and Compass" skills. They don't require an algorithm to function.
The "Nitrous Effect" of digital reach should be a discovery layer, not a foundation. We need leaders who can leverage the GPS to move fast, but who have the maturity to read the map when the signal fails, the algorithm changes...it's like "Who moved my cheese?" for the AI-Agentic Influencer era.

Speed is important. Momentum and velocity are vital in a business... but so is accuracy. If we aren’t “net net” creating strong resilient leaders who can adapt when the market invariably adapts, we're eroding our own foundation as a channel. 

In my world, accuracy governs speed. 

What is your measurement of a mature, resilient, competent field leader? Are you building, training, incentivising and playing to that standard, or is speed trumping all?

If I have two parallel lines (alignment) and I deviate one of them by even 1%, given enough time and distance, we're a million miles apart.

So, ask yourselves, are we building a field of aligned independent owners, or a colony of digital serfs?

#RelationshipEconomy #FinancialSovereignty #DirectSelling #DigitalSerfdom #LeadershipDensity #WCCEO #MichaelCody

The "Messy Middle" is not a management problem. It is a leadership test.

In his recent excellent piece for Direct Selling News, Blake Mallen dissects the bridge between the excitement of a start and the achievement of a finish. He identifies it as the place where momentum stalls and belief is tested.

From a COO perspective, the Messy Middle is where most companies pay a deep hidden tax.

When growth flattens, the natural corporate instinct is to tighten control. We add layers of reporting. We create new compliance hurdles. We try to manage our way out of a plateau.

This is a mistake.

You cannot manage a field back into momentum. You can only lead them there.
The Messy Middle requires what I call Conviction as a Mandate. It is the period where the executive team must provide the belief that the systems are not yet reflecting. If the C-Suite wavers, the field reads that hesitation as a signal to stop.

Blake is right. This phase is where the "why" gets tested.

But I would add this. It is also where your Relationship Equity is spent or earned. Leaders who vanish during the mess lose the right to lead the breakthrough. Leaders who stay present and transparent build the trust required to scale to the next level.

Read Blake’s full take here: https://lnkd.in/gqa4N_2Q

The middle is messy because growth is non-linear. Stop trying to tidy it up with more rules. Start leading through it with more clarity. Shout out to Blake for another excellent insight.

Open article: Leading Through the Messy Middle by directsellingnews.com

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The Battle

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