Jeremy Hansen
Jeremy Hansen is the CEO and Director - GlowBored PR & The Talent Assembly.
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Transcript
Danielle (Scrunch) (00:10):
Amazing. Jeremy, thank you so much for being here on the Scrunch Creator Economy Show.
Jeremy Hansen (00:16):
Thank you for having me. It's really great to be here.
Danielle (Scrunch) (00:19):
So good. I've been looking forward to speaking with you. Me,
Jeremy Hansen (00:23):
So, me too. Me too. Why
Danielle (Scrunch) (00:24):
Don't, will you just start out with giving everyone some context. So tell me who you are, where you're from, and how you got here
Jeremy Hansen (00:31):
<Laugh>. So I'm from, I run a PR agency called, called Global pr, and I run a talent management company called the Talent Assembly. And it's a big long winding journey as to how I got here. <Laugh>. I, I've dropped out of high school in grade 10. Oh, cool. And sort of just stumbled into PR and really liked it and decided that was what I was going to do. So launched an agency Wow. As we do. And the business has really grown quite significantly after, over the last sort of 10 years, but a couple of years into that initial sort of pr PR journey mm-hmm. <Affirmative> was right around the time when influencers were becoming massive. Right. Like just huge across PR and just, it was, it was everything that every client wanted to do. So looking to capitalize on that and, and sort of look at how we can bring it all in house and keep it all in the family. Yeah. we, we launched the talent assembly and it was, it was, you know, so that we could offer both sort of PR and service those clients, but, but be able to provide influencer, influencer marketing and influencer access to, you know, really great talent all in house. So that's sort of how it all came about.
Danielle (Scrunch) (01:45):
So, cool. I mean, I'm so impressed. I love the high school dropout element. <Laugh> shows you that, you know, if you actually just set your mind to something those types of things do not matter.
Jeremy Hansen (01:56):
Yeah, I agree. I agree.
Danielle (Scrunch) (01:58):
It's funny, actually, I was speaking to somebody literally yesterday and they were like, you know, I went to business school, but like everything I do in my business, I've had to learn on the fly. Like, it was not helpful
Jeremy Hansen (02:10):
<Laugh>. Yeah, I agree. And I guess, I guess it's sort of a big, it's a, it's a loaded question, right? And it's something I sort of get asked a lot because there's always, you can't sort of blanket out that there's not the space for, for that traditional educational landscape. But certainly for me, in my experience, I'm not someone that thrived at school. It just, it just was not my thing. And I found that as soon as I sort of got out into the real world and was learning on the go, I absorbed so much more in that first year of business that I feel that I did in, you know, how however long of a formal education. So it's, it's not for everyone, but I guess for me it's, it's sort of worked out Alright.
Danielle (Scrunch) (02:48):
Totally. And I think it's just like when you start your own business, it's kind of like you just have to Right. You just like, if you don't step up and you don't learn and you don't just like get shit done, then you can't, your business isn't gonna go
Jeremy Hansen (03:01):
Anywhere. Exactly. That's a big Right. The stakes are so much higher. Yeah. Cause it's like you succeed or <laugh> or what's the alternative here.
Danielle (Scrunch) (03:08):
Exactly. Exactly. So talk to me about pr. So why is, what is pr? Like, there's so many, I always think like people get a bit confused about pr. What is it and why is it so important for any business?
Jeremy Hansen (03:22):
It's, it's definitely a confusing sort of sector, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I, I like to sum it up that PR is kind of anything you see or hear from a brand because we're having involvement and, and that's a pretty, pretty broad, broad specter. And, and obviously marketing and advertising folds into that, but I, I come from the point of view that any good brand will sort of have pr across those elements and across those briefs anyway. So everything's working in sync. So anything that you will kind of see and hear from a brand should come from a PR sort of person. And in our day-to-day, we work across fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle brands. Cool. So a lot of sort of fashion shows, celebrity dressing. We work with a lot of really great food and beverage F M C G brands.
(04:10):
And then we work across sort of live entertainment and live stuff as well. So the, the brief differs, you know, from client to client but, but pretty much it's, it's working with media, it's ensuring our clients' stories are sort of out there responding to things that might arise that aren't, you know, necessarily favorable for the client mm-hmm. <Affirmative> and how we can sort of work through that with, with integrity for the brand and sort of work to have the best outcome. We're all involved. So that's kind of a snapshot of this murky, messy, all inclusive world that we work in.
Danielle (Scrunch) (04:43):
And it's interesting because like when you say, you know, fashion, entertainment, lifestyle, it seems super glamorous, but then when you're like, actually <laugh>, all we're doing is like, you know, making sure the story's right, you know, wrangling media, you know, making sure we jump on opportunities. It's pr sounds a little bit more technical than glamorous.
Jeremy Hansen (05:02):
It's so much, it's so technical and it's so much work and it's so not glamorous. <Laugh> <laugh>. It's, I mean, we, we can be working on the most fabulous events, you know, for a thousand people with fireworks and, you know, a red carpet arrival. But the reality is that the work to get to that point is massive. You know? And it will be, it will be a 20 hour day <laugh>, you know, it's, it's yeah, I think a lot of younger people come into the industry thinking it's champagne and cans and the reality is it's just not. It is, it's a lot of hard work. And I think too, the industry has changed so much over the last five or 10 years specifically from our end, both with how news is consumed, but the sheer volume of it. Yes. it's not, it's not just working with sort of traditional media and traditional journalists or, you know, even TV producers to place a story.
(05:52):
It's looking at so many different opportunities across so many different forums now. You really have to be creative and be switched on and kind of be going 24 7. It's not sort of a <laugh> a nine to five, let's hope it works within these hours. It's, it's, I know for myself and for our team, we're consuming news literally the entire time that we're awake because it's looking for that next big story. It's looking for something that might align with our clients that we might be able to sort of position off the back of for that next big op.
Danielle (Scrunch) (06:26):
Wow, that's incredible. I I can only imagine like you're just your brain, right? Like finding stories, rooting, things, consuming, going, how does that align to my clients and what we're trying to do? Like, full on, I you know, it's my personal goal to find a job that's all champagne and canna paste <laugh>. So if you hear a one, lemme know
Jeremy Hansen (06:48):
<Laugh>. That's the dream, right? I always think that I, you know, I'm gonna have a quite a life, I'm gonna cut back. But I think the reality is when if I were to ever do that, I would be bought out of my, of my mind. <Laugh>.
Danielle (Scrunch) (06:58):
Oh my God. Absolutely. I completely agree. So I mean, really interesting point that you raised, like how the landscape has changed, you know, and we've gone from very traditional media outlets to oh my gosh, anyone, everyone can be a journalist. You know, with the rise of social media, with the rise of influencers you know, how how has that really impacted the stories you tell about brands and, and how you get the message out there?
Jeremy Hansen (07:26):
It's impacted it in every way that you could imagine. Wow. wow. And, and I would say too, we've really learned over the last few years that the devil is in the detail. Like, and, and that sounds silly and so simple, but it really fine shooting everything and making sure that every line, every everything that we're putting out is correct. It's factual, it makes sense. There's not going to be repercussions. And if they were, how might that be addressed and how could we fix that? It's the, the, the business has changed so significantly and, and continues to change, which I guess in one hand is, is really exciting, right? Because no two days are the same. And, and I think too, from like a personal development sort of side, you're always pushing to, to be better, to learn more, to sort of grow within that, within that space and look at new skills you might be able to hone. So it's, it's, it's completely changed inside and out in every way imaginable.
Danielle (Scrunch) (08:29):
Wow, that's incredible. So from a, a talent assembly side of things, talk to me about that side of the business.
Jeremy Hansen (08:36):
Yeah, so we, we have a, we started with about two or three sort of talent that, that I just, I happen to have relationships with. And over the last few years we've, we've grown to have about 60 60 talent internationally. So it's, it's quite a big operation. We work with about 200 clients worldwide and some, some really fabulous brands like Tiffany and Co and Louis Vuitton, right down to oh, sort of more localized mom and dad operators, which is, which is fantastic. And it's a real great real, a real great mix. So the day-to-day, I guess from that end is, is sort of, you know, personalized sort of talent management and, and working across our talent and their diaries and, and what they might have going on. And then looking to sort of the commercial side and commercial arrangements on behalf of our talent, which can get blurred because from a PR point of view we, we, we do quite a bit of that for our clients anyway. So sometimes it's nice crossover and sometimes it's, it's, yeah, it can get blurred.
Danielle (Scrunch) (09:32):
Wow. No, that's awesome. So so when did you start the talent assembly?
Jeremy Hansen (09:37):
A couple of years in, so it would be maybe seven or eight years ago now.
Danielle (Scrunch) (09:41):
Wow. So that's kind of like at the beginning of when influences are starting to take hold
Jeremy Hansen (09:46):
Definitely right at the beginning. And, and, and we didn't have any sort of idea at the time what that looked like. So a lot of it was trial and error across everything day to day, just sort of see what works and what doesn't, how can we pivot and adjust and, and learn from
Danielle (Scrunch) (10:01):
It. Oh my God, I love that. I think that's just a great business philosophy. Like the market is always going to change, right. And you've gotta be adaptable and, and try different things.
Jeremy Hansen (10:11):
Definitely. And haven't we learned that through covid almost overnight, just entire strategies and quarterly plans out the window and we're left sort of with you.
Danielle (Scrunch) (10:22):
I'm going, I dunno what's happening,
Jeremy Hansen (10:24):
<Laugh>. Yep, exactly.
Danielle (Scrunch) (10:25):
That's so cool. So how have you seen the influencer world change o since over that last seven, eight years?
Jeremy Hansen (10:33):
It's changed quite a lot, hasn't it? And con and continues to change? It's, it's, we've seen it, we've seen it sort of get more not, not stricter, but there's certainly more sort of guidelines and, and, and rules that we should be abiding by a, around the industry. Mm-Hmm. I think a point of difference with us and, and certainly what we've been, we've been working to achieve more recently over the last sort of year is, is genuine, like real, like we throw that word around a lot, right? Yeah. But actual real genuine alignments Mm. And, and talent that are really actual genuine consumers of whatever the product service offering might be. And, and looking to not capitalize on that, but sort of engage that or existing sort of relationship and existing know-how of, of what that, what that service or product or whatever the offering might be for a, for a genuine sort of engagement.
Danielle (Scrunch) (11:31):
I love that because I think we, we went through a phase with influencer marketing where there were all of these campaign platforms kind of cropped up and it was kind of like, put in your brief, put in your budget, and it'll spit out a bunch of influencers. And I feel like the world has shifted a little bit and, you know, now brands are really thinking more authentically wanting to, to have those real conversations, wanting to build relationships with influencers, which I kind of think is a great thing for the consumer.
Jeremy Hansen (12:00):
Yeah, I agree. I, and, and, and longer lasting relationships too. Yes. I think that I think are wonderful because it not only adds, I guess, credibility to the, to the brand and to the campaign and whatever it might be. Mm. It's, it's, then it, it just, it's, it's great all round because it's, it's I don't even know the words for it. It just, it just it creates something that I guess is more authentic and longer lasting and something that's already resonated with, with the particular talents followers. So it's, it's already there and it makes sense.
Danielle (Scrunch) (12:30):
Yeah. And I think you raised a really good point earlier about, you know, I guess the post pandemic world that we're living in, and I think, you know, this idea, like all brands kind of had to change like overnight, right? They had to connect more authentically with their consumers. They had to be more real, like stop being so polished and, you know, perfect photo shoots and, you know, we were all sitting on the couch in our trackies <laugh>, you know, we wanted to connect with brands, we kind of got where we were at, and I feel like, you know, influencers were a great conduit to actually achieving that, but that's kind of stuck around. So brands really need to be more considered about who they work with, and I think the creative freedom that they give them.
Jeremy Hansen (13:14):
Definitely. Definitely. I think there's been a lot of challenges that Covid has brought, right. But I think some of the, some of the good sort of outcomes that we've, that we've learned through that are here to stay. And that's really great to see, and I, to look back at sort of where the influenza industry was when it sort of first, first started becoming popular almost 10 years ago, and it was, I, I think it was just sort of chaos and there was so much going on and, and everyone just sort of wanted to engage anyone and alignment, or <laugh> really, if it was a great choice, didn't massively matter as much as the following count mattered. Yeah. And I, yeah, like you said, I think now there's so much more consideration from brands about an authentic alignment and and engagement that makes sense.
Danielle (Scrunch) (13:55):
Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I totally, totally agree with you. And it's interesting. So, you know, I feel like it two kind of like contrasting worlds, like pr you know, you talk about you've gotta be super considered factual, like on brand, like make sure you kind of really nail it. But then we've got this influencer aside that's like kind of give 'em a bit of creative freedom, like within boundaries, you know, how do you think about those two worlds and, and you know, from a brand's point of view, like navigating both.
Jeremy Hansen (14:22):
That's a really good point, actually, a really good point. And I think working <laugh> living between two worlds does help in that regard. Mm-Hmm. but I think that comes back to if, if the alignment is right, it, it should make sense. Not to say that there's no need for a brief or, you know, pointers or whatever mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, but if, if there's trust there and coming back to, you know, authentic alignment perhaps an arrangement that's longer lasting. Yeah. There should be that trust there that both the content creators going to create something that speaks to the values and, you know, core pillars of, of what the brand is about. Yeah.
Danielle (Scrunch) (15:03):
<Laugh>, and you mentioned a couple of times, like longer contracts or like longer relationships with creators or influencers or whatever we're calling them now. Yeah. <laugh>. What do you think the value of that is to a brand to actually enter into something that's a little bit more meaningful?
Jeremy Hansen (15:18):
I think it's more valuable for the brand than it is, than it is for the talent. I mean, obviously the, the talent are, are being compensated monetarily, but I think the value for the brand is there in credibility, right? Because yeah, it's not just sort of a one post and done and it's off the feed and it's deleted. It's something that's, that's longer lasting and, and that consistent messaging of, of whatever it might be, right, only adds to the credibility of the brand and the messaging.
Danielle (Scrunch) (15:45):
Yeah. I love that so much. I think that there's, as consumers, we need to see you know, a brand info in so many different channels, so many different places like reinforced before we're ready to buy. I totally agree that, you know, if it's a a post I see that an influencer makes and then I never hear about it again, I'm like, Hmm, I wonder if that was just, you know, I got paid, it's done. But I, so I think you're totally right, like the value is for the brand, you know, actually having all of that content out in market, reinforcing it with consumers, that it's a, an authentic alignment and that you're getting that kind of consistent brand message out there. I think that's awesome.
Jeremy Hansen (16:25):
Yeah, a hundred percent.
Danielle (Scrunch) (16:26):
And so where do you see, you know, what trends do you see coming for, whether it be PR or influencers or both, if you've got a perspective what do you thinks next? What do brands need to be considering in this landscape right now?
Jeremy Hansen (16:41):
I think super engaging content is like top of the list, right? So, and, and, and that can vary from, from brand and sort of brief and campaign, but it's all about engaging, engaging the follower and engaging them within the content, whatever that may be. Yeah. something I guess off what a traditional in influence would be. But something we're really focusing on at the minute is from, from a PR point of view with, with some of the some of the clients that we work with, we're looking at really capturing real consumer feedback and real consumer success stories. And if that's something that we can sort of leverage across the brand's own platforms and sort of build that, that customer's social following as well, you know, with someone that's already engaged with the brand, loves the brand, already has a relationship with the brand, we're almost building this ecosystem of mini influencers that, that are already ingrained and have really great things to say.
(17:39):
So that's something we're really honing in on for, for our clients at the minute, whether it's, you know fit Stop, which is a really great gym, gym brand or, or Citi Cave or You Foods, but these, these brands that have sizable followings and receive hope hopefully good, good consumer, you know, success stories or really great results and how we can sort of leverage that and build off that and, and create something that's longer lasting for both the, the individual that, you know, is already enjoying the product or whatever it might be. And then, and then for the brand as well,
Danielle (Scrunch) (18:11):
I think that's so cool because, you know, when people hear the word influencer, you know, they go to that person with tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of followers. But, you know, the word influencer just means that they're influential, right? Like, that they have some level of influence over the people they talk to, and that might just be a handful of people. So I absolutely love that you mentioned actual customers, you know, like people that already love and engage with the brand. I think that brands underestimate like their own communities, you know, and their own customers, like leveraging them as your influencers first can be such a powerful strategy.
Jeremy Hansen (18:50):
Definitely. And, and looking to engage them too, right? Because if you've got, hopefully if you've got a good brand that, you know, is that does what it says it's going to do, yeah. Customers should be happy. So it's, it's tapping into that and making them feel valued and a part of it and almost getting in on, on the ground level, you know what I mean, to sort of be a part of this, this journey and, and where it might be.
Danielle (Scrunch) (19:11):
That's so cool. I love that. So, just to wrap, any tips for a brand who might be dipping their toes in the PR or influencer world? Are there any things that a brand should really consider when they're getting started in this sort of space?
Jeremy Hansen (19:28):
I think it's important to have, especially if you don't have any sort of prior context to, to the world of PR or influencer marketing. Marketing to have to invest in some reliable resources, right? So reliable information that you can sort of, that you know, is going to be good, good founded. So whether that's, you know, an online course you can do, or, you know, investing with an agency or someone that is an expert in that area, but spend some time collating some, some resources. I think too, it's important to be, to have, and we throw this word around so much, but an authentic sort of approach to things. So it needs to make sense. Let's not just throw shit at the wall if Yes, excuse <laugh>. I love that. It's so true. Throw at the wall. Yeah, yeah. To, you know, jumping on everything, running with everything. Whether it's PR or, or influencers sort of try to align with, with stories or whatever it might be. That makes sense. Mm-Hmm. That, that, you know, your voice has something to contribute rather than just jumping on the back of a trend. Right.
Danielle (Scrunch) (20:29):
I love that so much. You are absolutely incredible. Jeremy. Thank you for spending your time and sharing your insights in this space with the Scrunch community. You're
Jeremy Hansen (20:39):
Amazing. Thank you. Thank you for having me. It's been so much fun.
