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