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.

🔥🎬🔥

Former CFO turned Business Coach | Award-Winning 3x Founder | Solo founders... come join my world. Growth doesn't have to be so hard (I promise).

You're doing six or seven figures. Brilliant. But now… 

- You're ready for the business to grow without everything running through you
- You want revenue that compounds - not just months that happen to go well
- You're ready for it to feel as good as it looks from the outside

Because, right now, it doesn’t always feel so brilliant.

Most people assume the answer is to add more: more marketing, more people, more offers. 

It's the opposite.

After 20+ years, working with over 250 scaling businesses, I've seen the same thing over and over again: 

The most impressive growth at this stage comes from getting clearer on what's already inside your business - and leveraging it properly.

That's what I help founders do. 

Less noise. Better decisions. A business that scales solidly without relying on you for everything.

If you're actively focused on growth right now, drop me a DM to see how me and my team could support you. Or visit https://www.theabrook.com/ to learn more.

______________________________________

“While working with Thea I’ve increased my revenue by >200% and my business profitability too, while also finally getting a handle on my finances as a whole.” — Dr Tracy McCarthy, DTM Functional Medicine

“In January my profit was up by multiple 5 figures thanks to the work I’ve done with Thea. Not 4… 5! Just for that one month. Working with Thea has been one of the best business decisions ever.” — Katie Barath, KB Tax

Thea Brook, CMA

The moments that truly shape our future don't happen at our desks.

They happen when we get out of our normal environment, into open expansive spaces, surrounded by people on the same path - with the right guide to sit in the messiness, break through it and come out the other side with a new reality.

In May I'm creating exactly that.

I'm hosting my first ever immersive retreat at my home in the Cambridgeshire Fens - a landscape so open and extraordinary it changes how you think.

3 days. 9 founders. No panels, no keynotes, no small talk.

Guided deep work, good food, movement, rest and conversations more real than most you'll have all year.

6 places are already gone. 

Super early bird pricing closes this Friday.

It's for founders who don't want 2026 to be another year of nearly… but not quite.

Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/eui6WdkY

P.S. When was the last time you gave yourself an environment like this to truly effect change?

Former CFO & 3x founder | I help founders scale to 50k+ months (with systems, structure & financial confidence) | Get started for free below

No alternative text description for this image

If you’re a female founder trying to scale your business beyond 20k months I’m offering FREE scale advice calls this IWD.

Why?

Because 73% of businesses NEVER escape founder dependency.

They never scale to a size that’s possible, because the founder gets trapped by the very operation that they built themselves.

Most of these founders give up and go back to a job.

Because it’s ‘easier’. Because it means they get their evenings and weekends back. Because it means they can reclaim the salary they sacrificed for too long in their own business.

This breaks my heart.

Every single six figure business I look at can scale. You just need to look at it from a zoomed out place and put the pieces together in the right way.

I want to help you do that.

I want you to scale 📈 

Let’s get you on the right path to it this IWD.

P.S. Comment below or DM me if you want one of these. There are 5 available, so 1st come 1st served.

There's a massive difference between building a six-figure business and paying yourself six figures.

Most founders I work with are doing 300k+ in revenue and taking home less than they earned in their 9-5.

They know the maths isn't working but they've never seen the full picture of what sits between revenue and take-home pay.

So I made a video that lays it all out. 

The exact maths, step by step, plus a free calculator so you can plug in your own numbers and see what your business actually needs to look like.

Watch it here: https://lnkd.in/eNP5qtk9

PS. Can you see a clear path from what you’re paying yourself now and what you truly want to earn?

End of week question:

If you could kill one thing in your business right now - what would it be?

The client who drains you.
The offer you’re bored of.
The way of working that made sense two years ago but doesn’t anymore.
The belief that you have to be available 24/7.
The guilt about investing in yourself.

For your boldest vision of your business to live
(and who you are running it), something has to die.

But most founders never actually let 
anything go. They just keep adding.

The retreat I’m running in May is an opportunity to take 48hrs away from ‘real life’.

To be immersed in a very special 
container with 9 other founders.

To be guided through deep, reflective and 
expansive processes to unearth your bold 
vision and everything that’s blocking it.

And then clear the path once and for all.

Surrounded by others raising the bar. Plus 
nature, wide open skies and incredible food.

There’ll be long walks, star gazing, 
hot tub soaking and deep work.

I cannot wait to spend this 
time with everyone who joins.

All the details are here: https://lnkd.in/eui6WdkY

P.S. Places are very limited so please apply ASAP if you’re interested.

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Thea Brook, CMA

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