In Episode 2 of Season 4 of BITE BIG, recorded on location in London, Amber sits down with Dr Rachel Lawes, social psychologist, futurist, author of two landmark books on semiotics, and founder of Lawes Consulting, to get under the skin of the woman who turned an academic discipline most people can't pronounce into a commercial superpower used by Unilever, P&G, LEGO, Diageo, Warner Bros. Discovery and more.
Rachel's personal mantra, Read, Create, Give Thanks, sounds deceptively simple. But as this conversation reveals, it's a survival strategy, a creative practice and a daily act of courage, all in three words.
From the semiotic field trips she took clients on through Christmas fairs and airports, to teaching a large language model to read visual emotion the way she does, Rachel brings a rare combination: intellectual rigour, commercial instinct and a refusal to let either get boring.
This episode covers the power of courage in branding, the dangerous brilliance of 'shittification', why consistency edges out uniqueness, and the real cost of brands that chase change without conviction. Rachel is also bracingly honest about what it's like to be a woman in a field that defaults to male expertise, and her strategy for building loyalty, lifting others and designing a career on your own terms.
And then there's Elizabeth. Rachel's sister. Breast cancer survivor. Sahara trekker. The very human heart behind the Give Thanks in her mantra.
This is one of those episodes that makes you want to go on a semiotic field trip, rethink every brand you've ever touched, and call your sister.