From being thrown in at the deep end to losing pitch decks – we continue our ‘5 Questions With’ series by grilling our European CEO Greg Jones on his career highs and lows (Jammie Dodgers mandatory)...
1. If you could go back and relive one day in your career, which would it be?
The day I found out that we’d won the first big pitch I’d properly led (EA Games in 2003). My boss was on maternity leave when the brief landed so she handed me the responsibility to lead the pitch in her absence. ‘No problem’, I thought. We’d had some gaming briefs before and they’d all been fairly smally fry, so I assumed this would be the same and, therefore, less pressured. I arranged a Q&A call with the client and almost as a throwaway question asked about the budget at the end. When the client told me they’d typically spent about a million pounds a year on PR, I nearly choked on the Jammie Dodger I was surreptitiously scoffing.
I had to give myself a good talking too that I was capable of leading and winning such a big pitch and, fortunately, I was right. Finding out we’d won gave me huge confidence and – at the same time – showed me that happiness and relief are very close bedfellows.
2. …Now tell us about the day that still gives you nightmares.
It was while I was working at Shine, a leading PR agency of the late nineties and early noughties. We’d been winning some great new brands and were invited to pitch for the O2 business – which would have been a total game changer for the agency (both in terms of revenue and profile). The process was long, drawn out and challenging, but we’d made it to pitch day in one piece (just).
We’d rehearsed at my boss’ house in Chiswick before taking the short trip down the M4 to present to O2 in Slough. Halfway into the car journey my boss turned to me and said ‘you’ve got the pitch deck saved on the laptop, haven’t you?’… “Yes” I replied confidently as I opened the laptop to show her. Confidence that was soon proven misplaced when I revealed that I hadn’t – in fact – saved the pitch deck onto the laptop.
It wouldn’t do it justice to describe what I broke out into as a ‘cold sweat’ as my boss proceeded to tell me exactly what she thought of me (I’ve forgiven you Rach). Fortunately, the boss’ husband was a jobbing actor who was currently ‘between jobs’, so he could download the deck onto another laptop they had at home and speed (within the legal limit) down the M4 to bring it to us. He arrived to hand it over just as the client came to take us into the room, much to my immense relief. Not that any of it mattered in the end. We lost the pitch…
3. Who gave you the piece of advice you still live by – and what was it?
The same boss as above (Rachel Bell, Shine founder) – ‘shit or get off the pot’. You’re either in or you’re out – there’s no halfway house in this industry.
4. What piece of work done by someone else are you truly jealous of?
In recent years, Golin ‘The Desk Break’ for Asics, mainly because they got to work with Brian Cox. I also lost the Specsavers pitch to Golin at a previous agency, but the pain of losing has been somewhat offset by the brilliant body of work they’ve delivered since winning the business.
5. What’s your elevator pitch to people thinking about getting into the industry for the first time?
To steal a phrase from a rather famous brand: ‘Just Do It’. There are very few other jobs where creativity is front and centre of every day, whether that’s in the form of writing, coming up with ideas etc. I always think PR people are the most rounded of people and become equipped with skillsets that serve them just as well in life as in their careers.