Cutting Through: The podcast for corporate digital communicators

In this episode of Cutting Through, Lukas Preuss, Digital Communications Manager at Bosch, joins Scott Payton and Jonathan Holt to talk through the thinking and techniques behind Bosch’s phenomenal rise up the Corporate Digital Communications Index. Within a few years under Lukas’s leadership, Bosch has gone from mid-list to joint number one in the Index – all while balancing careful governance with a sense of authenticity and fun. Find out how Lukas and the team map out and execute continuous improvements; how they select and hone the rich stories that appear on bosch.com; Lukas’s views on the looming changes ahead for all digital comms teams; and more.

As retail investors and analysts get younger and AI continues to shake up how things are done, some companies’ IR communicators are experimenting with fresher, more casual ways of engaging these audiences online. In this episode of “Cutting Through”, podcast regulars Jonathan Holt, Scott Payton and Georgia Barrett unpack how IR is changing, how communications teams can navigate the opportunities (and the risks), and why getting this right could unlock your company’s visibility in AI searches, even where non-investor queries are concerned.

How does the world’s largest food and beverage company maintain its position as a global leader in digital communications? In the latest episode of Cutting Through, Ferhat Soygenis, Global Head of Corporate Identity and Content at Nestlé joins podcast regulars Scott Payton and Jonathan Holt to discuss the "secret sauce" behind Nestlé's enduring run at the top of the Corporate Digital Communications Index. Find out how constant, iterative improvement and cross-department collaboration are helping Nestlé navigate the rise of AI search and get Ferhat’s insights on what to do first if you want to create a comprehensive, AI-friendly corporate FAQ similar to “Ask Nestlé”, the key role that digital marketeers can play in corporate digital comms, and more.

In this episode of Cutting Through, Jonathan Holt is joined by Ivan Pollard and Denise Dahlhoff from The Conference Board's Marketing and Communication Center – along with Bowen Craggs' own Scott Payton and Caterina Sorenti – to dig into new research on how AI is reshaping the communications landscape. We unpack the results from a recent survey of senior communicators and marketers and find out: why owned media is surging to the top of the priority list (hint: AI search is the hidden force behind it), why paid advertising and employee social media posts are falling out of favour and what all of this could mean for your team's size, structure and skillsets. If the rise of AI has you feeling a little overwhelmed and unsure what to do next, this episode will help.

Speaking out is risky right now (understatement), but is not speaking out on the issues your customers, investors and employees care about the only answer? In this episode of Cutting Through, Scott, Georgia and Jonathan discuss strategies for taking a stand in 2026; why your company’s values might be the North Star you’ve been looking for; and how speaking out via the corporate digital channels can actually bring people together, rather than dividing them further, even in unprecedentedly fractious times.

As AI-generated depictions begin to look all but indistinguishable from the real thing (even when they’re untrue), what are the authenticity signals that can mark your own information out as genuine and believable? From Grok to Star Wars to live examples from the corporate web, we explore the contours of authenticity and trust in our present times – and offer practical advice on how corporate digital communicators can cut through.

In this episode, we hear from web sustainability pioneer Tim Frick on how the thinking and guidelines that underpin the web sustainability movement are evolving. If you’re wondering what the explosion of AI (with its famously high carbon impacts) means for web sustainability, how to get the most out of carbon measurement tools or even whether the culture wars might be forcing web sustainability activists into retreat, we’ve got answers. With practical tips on where to start if you’ve been meaning to bump sustainability up on your to-do list.

As the AI search era speeds ahead, corporate digital is in the spotlight (and on senior leadership’s agenda) like never before. So, how can you wield this new influence with confidence, and what’s next for the corporate website? Fresh off Bowen Craggs’ annual Index Snapshot tour, Georgia, Scott and Jonathan share what communicators in Europe and the USA are saying about this transformative moment. We also talk with Caterina Sorenti, Head of Editorial at Bowen Craggs, about how corporate social media is evolving.

As the news cycle spins ever more wildly, in the last episode of Cutting Through season one we explain what digital communicators can do to prepare for – and manage – a crisis, and explore reasons to be hopeful about the months ahead. We’ll return for season two after a summer break!

What’s the point of stories and editorial on your corporate website and social media channels in 2025? Do your audiences really want this kind of content, and if so, which groups should you focus on? Where can you find new ideas to keep your storytelling fresh? And what value, if any, does the humble press release have today? Find out in this episode of Cutting Through.

From Google’s AI Overviews to ChatGPT and DeepSeek, generative AI search tools are transforming how people get information about your company – and everything else. This episode of Cutting Through explores what this really means, and how corporate digital communicators should respond.

From Instagram and TikTok to X and LinkedIn, social media platforms are more influential - and yet more volatile - than ever.In this episode of the podcast, we explore how corporate digital communicators can navigate uncertainty and harness social channels to cut through.

The way people get their information is changing. In the recent US election, one party and candidate seemed to understand this better than the other.It may even have handed Donald Trump the win.In this episode of the podcast, we explore how corporate digital communicators can build trust and cut through in a transforming media landscape. Read more, and find relevant resources, on our website: https://www.bowencraggs.com/our-thinking/podcast/3/

Recent elections in the US and elsewhere have highlighted stark polarisation of opinion on companies’ role in society. For people in charge of corporate websites and social media channels, it’s never been harder to communicate about social and environmental issues without provoking angry pushback – and even mass boycotts – from some audiences. What’s the answer? In the second episode of our podcast, Jonathan Holt (Head of Strategic Insights) meets Georgia Barrett (Vice President, USA) and Scott Payton (CEO) to discuss insights, examples, research and practical advice for anyone looking to use corporate digital channels to build trust and cut through in a volatile and divided world.

What does Charlie XCX have in common with corporate digital comms? Where is the line between artifice and intelligence? As generative AI tools enter the mainstream, visible authenticity is essential and the corporate website is becoming more important than ever as the definitive source of company information. In the launch episode of our podcast, Jonathan Holt, Head of Strategic Insights at Bowen Craggs, sits down with Scott Payton (Bowen Craggs’ CEO) and Georgia Barrett (Vice President, USA) to discuss the potential efficiencies, opportunities and risks of generative AI for corporate digital teams. Visit our episode webpage here: https://www.bowencraggs.com/our-thinking/podcast/