Strategies for Building Brand Fame

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Tune in on TedTalks Daily wherever you listen to podcasts ACast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere Akast. com This episode of the Business is sponsored by PWC. Markets are shifting, teechnology and AI are reshaping industries. Druption is unavoidable. Staying ahead and finding new opportunities for growth demands bold moves. This is where PWC makes things happen. Working with you, combining the industry expertise, data insights, AI capabilities and business change experience. to help you reinvent and lead from the front PWC accelerates what's possible so you can turn vision into value. Discover more at pwc. co. uk. Welcome to the businessiness. Thank you so much for joining us today. As you can see, we are not in our usual studio in London. We're here in LA at the greatreatest T togetheret conference a summit dedicated to fostering greater relationships between Britain and the US. I'm Hannah Previttt, the associate Biness editor of the Sunday Times. and we're h up here in this amazing networking space. There's a little bit of noise, hopefully a bit of kind of energy an enthusasm we're surrounded by, and I pull together three amazing entrepreneurs Heatherather Blundell, who's the UK CEO of PR Firm Graining, Brian Burnham, who is the founder of the Berry, a creative agency, and of course, last but not least. Freya Archer, founder of Freya Rose, jewelry and Houndbag and shoe designer. Thank you all of you for joining us here today Heather, let's kick off with you. How important is our trading relationship with the US, both to you as a business and also to your clients? We all know it's a really special relationship, but I think this conference has really brought to life the embracing of the differences between the UK and the US. and I think that's what I've really experienced with our clients The UK has got incredible creative and strategy and there's been a real emphasis while we've been here on soft power. And then you know the US, I mean, not exclusively, but they can bring a sort of ace and resilience to a project and I think together those partnerships can be incredibly impactful. and know it's been quite refreshing actually to perhaps leave some of the politics to one side actually just focus on and embrace the sort of progress in terms of we're all experiencing similar opportunities and challenges and working through those together I think that's just it. is that We're sort of over here, a lot of us are from the UK and we've flown over. and I think speaking particularly about this event The connections that we're all making together is fantastic and it's You're coming over as a UK delegation on a plane together and then you've got the sort of reciprocal amount of the U.S sort of businesses meeting you on the other end and I feel like These connections are rare. Tell us about your business interests in the US. So as a proportion of your overall revenues, how important is the US market to you? Very important. So sixty five percent of our business comes from the States back over to the UK. whichich is great because it's great for the UK economy. and I think that this trip, that's what we're trying to explore here is it's how much obviously yes We were open up an office in New York this year, which is great and there'll be business flooding in through the states and staying in the states. but For me and the UK economy, it's important that we actually bring the US brands over to the UK And offvice' thousands of agencies over here in the USA speaking on behalf of the Berry, which I have to do is we actually, I think we're showing that we still have like a creative relevance Especially London. I think sometimes we forget that GMT is z zero on the map and we're able to do business either way, which it iss really cy. Fre, why don't you tell us about your experience of the American market because I believe seventy percent of sales of freire razer to US customers, aren't they? the past couple of years. it really It's really grown since we've set up distribution in New York in Wochester, we've been able to have new partnerships and work with the Lks of Nordstrom, Blomingdale, Farfetch, and that has grown our business exponentially. and I think it's only going in that direction. So why do you think that is? Because what I hear from people is post Brexit, it just got really hard to do business with Europe. Has the US kind of taken over where some of your European sales were previously? Absolutely. I think we were fortunate that we set up distribution before the tariffs set in Because I think if we' done it, if we hadn't have done that, it may have prevented us from logistically thinking, shall we do that? A lot of businesses have retracted from doing product based businesses have retracted from doing business with the US because they weren't set up. So because we already have that foundation, it's actually strengthened us as a brand to be able to have those opportunities to work with U And what do you hear from US customers? Do they like different things? Do products do better in the US versus the UK? Dfinitely. I think our product definitely resonates with the US customer. They really appreciate the craftsmanship and the artisal brand and the values that we have and they're more willing to invest in pieces that they see, have a story and have that sort of S something a little bit different. You know our products are very unique, crafted with jawn techniques. The hills have a beautiful Mother of Pearl inlay and they love it. And do they still love the kind of Britishness? Is that part of it as well? They do, yes, I think you know the heritage that we have in Britain with creative creativity and The passion for craftsanship really resonates with the US customer. I think it means so much even th on the services side. you have a cup of tea. and there's at a moment where no matter where in the world you are, if you have an English or British cup of tea, it's just there's something about to like you know it's going to taste good. And I think that that reflects you in the creative world as right. You're from London, you're from the UK. you're able to offer like this really premium service. A lot around trust isn't there? And we've spoken about that a lot in this and that's something that's just so core to business. The British umbrella of trust, authenticity, craftsmanship is really powerful. O, you guys are talking a really good game about how Brilliant it is, doing business with the US, but you've already hinted at tariffs. it's not all completely smooth sailing is it? So ahead what are some of the obstacles that you can see when doing business with the US? Well of course, you know our news is absolutely dominated by challenge Tariffs geopolitically, like it's huge and it dominates. and for a business like ours, you know, it can really impact business when we have it's as well, isn't it? those kind of macro trends can affect consumer s sentiment as well as business sentiment. Yeah. But also that is the same for doing business in the UK. I mean politics and situations is pretty volatile in the UK at the moment, you can see things stalling People need stability and they need certainty And you know, that's the same with our relationship, you know, with the US. but I don't think that's going anywhere. so actually that's why, yes, you not to be toxically positive about something, but actually to change the mindset in terms of actually why it's so important to keep this relationship and why it's so important for business and the differences we can both bring, I do think that is really important. That mindset point is one that's come up a few times. justust in the few days that we've been here, right? We hear the Americans talking all the time. like if they have one piece of advice for British businesses, it's to be a bit more bold bit more ambious. How bold and ambitious are you, Ryan? What do you think? Yeah You know, I love it, don't I? But I think as a founder, it's like you just got to give it everything like constantly and it's draining. you love it. You can be reallypt you know what it's like, but sometimes you're absolute I give it everything. L literally everything is still not enough beinging very honest, but when it does break through, when you do win those brands or those contracts, whether it's in the US or just globally, we do work all over the world. When you do win, there's just such an amazing feeling about it. I always say that in terms of new business, like will when you win something you will win and win at the same time when you lose, you a losing streak as well. Psychologically can really impact you That's what the Americas are so good at, right? is that turning kind negatives into kind of positives are learning from mistakes, learning from failure and getting up and doing it all again. It's honesty because you can trust someone when they're honest. So with us, it's like the brands that we have, we've got some fantastic brands. and to be honest, even say Madison Square Gardens, we've got crocs You know, if you say Madison Square Garden, you've got the Knicks and the Rangers. I don't know and most of the team at the Berry don't really know too much about basketball or ice hckey, but then it makes you think so why are they coming to this London based headquartered agency? It's because of that trust and honesty through the creativity. We'll approach it in a different way that they will. That's a really interesting point. I want to come back to something you said about talent So when you're thinking about your teams and you're expanding internationally, how important we had this conversation actually the other night at dinner, didnn't we talking about putting boots on the ground?. Obviously you're still UK focused UK based sorry. Would you consider moving out to the US if this becomes a real kind of focal point for growth I don't know about moving out. I definitely think visiting more between both New York and MLA is vital. And I think it is part of our strategy is to have people on the ground. And I think that's really important. I think even just coming here for the past two days, to get a real feel for the place and to talk to people, you need to understand how people operate over here and you've got to be here and experience it, haven't you to really push your business forward. If that's where you want to go. If you want to be in the states, if you want to push your business, you have to understand and have be here but also have people on the ground for feedback what's going on commercially, what's the feeling, what's the vibe? what are the consumers doing at the moment or what's trending? Especially in the age of AI, that in person connection. I hope it frees that up. know I think you embrace it to go, o We can do these tasks so actually that we can focus on know building that trust and delivering that senior advisory. I mean this is amazing being out here, but all the information that they're giving us, you can read about it, you can learn on AI, but the connection with people, you can't get that with AI. can you you know that creativity that comes from meeting and the feeling that you get. Yeah. I find that like with a lot of our brands our analog marketing just coming back. like we're doing a lot of print. that's sort of where this could go. It's like where you've got something tangible that you can look at. That's why say with crops for example, they've just launched their first ever European store. in London is trarapt. It's like But why launch a store? Doesn't that almost go against what everybody's actually looking at, even for like amazing products with yourself. Having that physical presence actually allows people to really even if they don't buy anything in store, yeah, you can really sort of build your audience by having boots on the ground So this all sounds lovely guys, but everyone loves a war story, right? So has anybody got a great anecdote about doing business with the Americans? comeome on Heather, you must have something good obviouslyly. I don't know if I've got war stories, but I would I've got a big client based in the US and we're over here together and I think that what they have taught me in terms of that mindset is like nothing I've ever experienced from a client before and it's partly based on what they do, so they run towards things that others would run away from. They buy distress assets, rebuild it, invest in it. They've bought Birmingam football club. they're going to sink three billion pounds into Birmingam and b a massive sports quarter. When everyone else was turning their backs and they're facing relegation, they've invested in it, they've done it with loads of projects. I think that's really interesting and it's kind of stripping everything else away and looking at the boat. It's really helped me in terms how I run our business and how I look at other businesses. and so I do think so it's absolutely not a war story, completely the opposite of it. But to been a rule learning for me is very different to any other client relationship I have. And what about you, Fred? Any tips for dealing with the Americans? I think it's just about being authentic in yourself and just being You They like that. They like to work with somebody who is, like you said, it's that honesty that we have. I do think there's a difference in pace, don't you? I think you not aggression is probably the wrong word, but I think that we are forced to deliver in a slightly different way for some of our American clients and we can rise to that challenge, but I can imagine that feels jarring if you're not used to it. Yeah yeah. And what about you, Ryan? what's your top tips? So top tips, I think is like with the brands that you're working with, just really try to learn who they are and what they do. So for example, from my side, again, told you, don't know anything about the New York Knicks really or basketball before we started working with them as soon as it was becoming an opportunity to work with them I was going to matches. Going back to say someone like the Minister Blair McDougal, is that we actually have, as even a government approach this really friendly way about us. that he doesn't have to do that. He doesn't actually have to have a laugh and put himself on the line, but that's also comes through our personalities. So I think we are really like lovable, genuine people majority of the time How do you make your brand famous in the US? Because it's a huge market, right? Like is there any of the same kind of playbook that work in the UK? Does that work in the US? It does. I think sometimes it's quite simply tap into the relevant culture. Even if it's a sub or micro culture for that particular. What does that mean? Give me an example? I'll give you an example So for this pen with the creative by super big, right? You look at this pen and actually it's perfect. This is the exact one that I need just put out of my pocket. So with this it was like doing it was actually in America and we're relaunching the pen. And we actually we sort of think, could you go to your typical influencer strategy and just chuck someone on for no reason it'll work, you get views. But that we wanted to go further, so it was about how just tap a sub or micro culture. So we actually brought on America's biggest cosplay artist And she designed different outfits for each style of pem. And that's what I'm getting at. tap into a different culture that's unexpected because you still pick up the normal audiences. They'll still be there, but you'll start to see a difference with new audiences that are really relevant to the market in ways that you never thought they would be. That'uch great advice, and Heather, obviously, you're the quueen of making CEO's famous. How do they make themselves famous apart from hiring you on a huge retainer? How How can they make themselves famous? And in the US Yeah Yeah, well'sact well it's exactly the same, isn't it? I think it's you know knowing their product, knowing their service and really understanding their audience. and we are increasingly seeing this and I think this is the same for UK and the US. Audiences expect business and brands to take a stance on things now. There is no longer It's divided on that, isn't it? Be I remember writing about this before and I included Mark Constantine, the founder of Lash Be obviously he's been qu outspoakingen about Palestine and stuff and that really divied the crowd. And my article was basically shouldhould entrepreneurs get in the way get into the political debate or should they just get on of running their business? So It's an extreme version, but when it comes to a business and what matters to their customers and what matters to their employees, they need to take a stance. So know whether that's over the quality of items, whether that's cost of living, There are so many different ways that actually