Influence podcast by WeTransfer kicks off a third season spotlighting the tension between responsible business and technology

WeTransfer, the company that makes tools to move ideas, launches the third season of Influence. This season the documentary podcast hosted by Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer Damian Bradfield digs deeper into the theme of responsibility and the interplay between the decisions we make as consumers and the bigger forces that affect them.

The new series will build on Influence’s previous seasons which explored the history of advertising and talked to some of the change-makers who have helped draw the contemporary map of the global industry it has become. Previous guests featured include brand-building visionary, Cindy Gallop, music industry disrupter Troy Carter and computer scientist Rana el Kaliouby.

From Cambridge Analytica, filter bubbles, social activism, and the importance of a human connection, over the coming weeks Bradfield will speak to leaders and campaigners who are at the heart of big debates around mass influence in the digital age and the responsibility that comes with it.

In the first episode of season three, available today, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield discuss the principles on which they founded their ice cream company in the late 1970s and how they kept its mission on course as it grew into a billion dollar global megabrand.

As pioneers of the socially responsible business model, they share how all brands and companies should and could be responsible citizens from day one. For Ben & Jerry’s, this involved partnering with a local bakery that provided opportunities for homeless and long-term unemployed people. A production glitch with this new supplier led to what would become one of the brand’s iconic flavors.

The interview reveals that the duo’s campaigning zeal has not dimmed as they discuss their involvement in the campaign to ensure police in the US can be held to account for abuses of power and, separately, plans to start a socially-good cannabis business in Colorado.

The episode is available followed by a new episode every Wednesday.

All the guests share a common theme, shining a spotlight on where influence and responsibility meet.

Influence season three guests:

  • Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield – or as you probably know them, Ben and Jerry –  open up about being the godfathers of good business
  • Brittany Kaiser, whistleblower in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, takes us behind the scenes of the Trump campaign
  • Eli Pariser, author of The Filter Bubble – What The Internet Is Hiding From You, explores building  digital communities to make change happen
  • Justin Willman, creator and star of Netflix hit Magic For Humans, tells us about influencing the way people think 
  • Noreena Hertz, economist and author of The Lonely Century: Coming Together in a World That’s Pulling Apart gives her take on positive human connection in the age of tech 
  • Digital media artist Aaron Koblin shares his vision for how tech can enable a new way of creating images and storytelling