Podcast – From TV to advertising: The lessons that built Ads on Air

In the Seat: Jenna Haddaway

From having snakes on set to travelling around London with pop boy band One Direction, Jenna Haddaway’s career across TV, commercials and agencies has given her a wealth of experience.

In this episode of You’re in Studio One, she shares how those experiences shaped her approach to the advertising world, why soft skills are critical in production and what led her to launch her own company Ads on Air.

Ads on Air, a full end-to-end TV admin and broadcast affairs company, was founded in 2025 with a former colleague, Gulsen Yanik.

After years of working as a runner and floor manager for shows like So You Think You Can Dance, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and Have I Got News For You, Jenna realised her exciting but unpredictable work schedule was not enough to support her financially.

Having been told she should dabble into commercials and agency life since she was always praised for being organised and meticulous, Jenna started working part-time at a boutique creative agency and that was how she first met her business partner Gulsen.

“It slightly blew my mind when I moved into advertising. You know, I’d come from a world where we’d spend 3 weeks making 8 hours of television and then I went to spending months working on this campaign and I ask (the client)… what’s the end goal?

And they’re like, oh, it’s 30 seconds. I’m like, wow, OK.” 

Listen to the rest of Jenna’s story here   

You’re in Studio One   

Over the last four decades, we’ve welcomed countless celebrities behind our microphones, recorded thousands of memorable adverts, and delivered professional voice overs to a vast range of clients, from leading medical agencies to children’s toy companies.    

Hosted by Callum Stott  (Sales Director at Matinée Multilingual), ‘You’re in Studio One’ is a podcast that celebrates the variety of our creative productions by speaking to producers, clients, voice artists, educators, and others paving the way for the future. 

You’re in Studio One is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Podbean.