Social Media Portal interview with Jonathan Brayshaw from Original Agency

Social Media Portal profiled interview with Jonathan Brayshaw, director at Original Agency

Social Media Portal (SMP): What is your role at Original Agency?

Jonathan Brayshaw (JB): Original is a relatively new consultancy and I run things here and work with a team of associates to deliver client projects.

Typically, these projects involve aspects of content production ? often video or multimedia based ? and are targeted at helping organisations grow their online profile to deepen engagement with customers and prospects. I handle broader marketing projects too but often look at things through the prism of social engagement.

SMP: Briefly, tell us about Original Agency (for those that don?t know), what is it and what does the agency do?

JB: At Original, we think of ourselves as brand storytellers, social media marketers and brand journalists, which means we are all about getting to know a client?s business and capturing the organisational ?story? behind the marketing, advertising and, yes, sometimes, the spin.

This helps identify a brand?s authentic core values and reason for existing, which in turn enables us to create programmes and activities that positively exploit these values in ways that are sympathetic to the brand and its many audiences. This process can often be fascinating and can help validate a company?s existing marketing approach or if necessary, take it in a different direction. We?re not abandoning core marketing principles, such as focus on the customer, lead generation, and so on. We just put all of these tools and techniques firmly in a transformative, social context.

As the name suggests, our goal is to be ?original? in terms of our thinking and our execution. Unlike many often-derided social media consultants, we don?t try to outsmart the brand or tell it how to think, be or behave. Like a good trusted advisor, we help clients reach this point themselves by means of a process of evidence-based exploration, research and measured experimentation. We test long-held brand values and attempt to place them into a broader social or industry context. The end goal: to deploy approaches that help develop relationships that lead to sales where both sides (the seller and the buyer) feel positive about their interactions because neither side has had to embellish or idealise their relationships. No false promises or unmet expectations.

Consultancies are ten a penny and while there is no instant virtue in being different, I felt that we have reached a tipping point where consumer savvyness can outweigh the brand?s ability to convince people of a product?s (typically) utopian benefits or value. So original thinking was needed. Why not reframe the nature and content of that engagement in a way that meets both parties? needs? After all, the days of brands talking down to consumers with a skewed version of their brand reality are over: the truth is too easy to find on the Internet through recommendations, reviews and the enormous and often highly opinionated online commentariat.

Some brands seem to get this better than others and achieve near celebrity status because they know how to listen and evolve to customer needs and desires. They become famous for what they do and how they do it, rather than for the ways they patronise their customers and prospects. It is helping companies achieve this level of awareness and profile that is the single-minded focus of Original.

SMP: Can you tell us what event you?re going to be on a panel at?

JC: The panel is entitled ?Taking social media beyond the marketing department: How to embed social media across an organisation?, which will take place on Tuesday, 04 September 2012 in the Digital & Direct Marketing Theatre 2 from 14:45 to 15:45.

The line-up is as follows:

Moderator
Ian Sullivan, CEO, Paperhat Conscorcio (social at LinkedInhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/isullivan and Twitter https://twitter.com/I_Sullivan)  

The panel
Jonathan Brayshaw, Director, Original Agency (social at LinkedInhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanbrayshaw and Twitter http://www.twitter.com/jonoriginal) 

James Carson, Digital Strategist, Bauer Media (social at LinkedInhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/jacarson85 and Twitterhttp://www.twitter.com/mrjamescarson) 

Tim Gibbon, Director, Elemental Communications (social at http://bit.ly/tim-gibbon-profile).

SMP: Who are your ideal target audience for the session and what can they hope to take away from panel you?re going to be on?

JB: We want to talk to people who are looking for original marketing, social and content-related thinking and projects who are not afraid of abandoning received wisdom or conventions if that is the right thing for their business to do. This could mean wholesale marketing communications transformation or tweaking of existing approaches.

I see social (I?m less focused on the media piece) as a powerful tool for business transformation, rather than just another marketing channel, which I know goes against many marketing orthodoxies. But through my own and my clients? experiences, I?ve seen the bigger impact social can have on an organisation undergoing change and consequently believe this is the real, untapped power of social. I?ve witnessed these phenomena on the inside and outside of organisations, so am hopefully qualified to comment.

SMP: What are you most looking forward to at Cross Media and why?

JB: I?m hoping for a sound debate about the real issues facing companies as they embrace the ramifications of a consolidating traditional media landscape and the increasing influence of social media. I believe that we?re living in a post-advertising era: at least in the sense of what advertising used to be: opportunities to interrupt consumers during their daily lives to sell idealised versions of their existence (that just so happen to include a clients? brands).

My hope is that we don?t get bogged down in endless debates about who should own what. This event will have been a success if we can focus more on the ?what? and the ?how?, rather than the ?ifs, buts and maybes?. To encourage even reticent organisations to try a social project would be a goal worth achieving.

SMP: How would you summarise why there should be importance on how social media should be embedded across an organisation?

JB: It depresses me that we still have to ask the question. The simple answer is that the true benefit from social comes when it is integrated into the broader organisational agenda. There is no debate on this point any more: even those companies in the most conservative sectors of the economy are acquiring resources and knowledge at a near exponential rate.

If it isn?t embedded across the organisation, it becomes the marketing or PR department?s plaything and then the danger is social gets side-lined or even ignored by the rest of the business, particularly sales and operations (who often believe they are doing the ?real work?, let?s be honest).

The way companies engage with their audiences hasn?t really changed for 50+ years and social gives us a once in a lifetime opportunity to rewrite the rules of engagement. Some brands understand this intuitively, while many others still seem keen to walk through fields of landmines ? upsetting their would be consumers as they go without learning the key lessons they could learn by listening more and talking less.

SMP: What are the low moments of what you?ve been doing so far?

JB: I think the most misunderstood area of social engagement is the concept of virality. Of course, we?d all like our activities to ?go viral?, but to have this as an exclusive starting point is to set yourself up for failure. In many of the campaigns I?ve run, achieving a few hundred views (by the right eyeballs) of a piece of content has proved more valuable than thousands of new fans on Facebook, yet we struggle to get beyond the popularity contest approach to social media.

It can be frustrating for people to start with the expectation that everything they do will ?go viral?. Just because a piano-playing cat can gain millions of views doesn?t mean your product will. It?s just education really when dealing with a generation of people who haven?t grown up with the Internet at their fingertips.

SMP: What are the high moments of what you?ve been doing so far?

JB: Working on a social business engagement as a consultant and member of the in-house team with a group of senior executives that understood the potential and we?re doing everything they could to realise it. Being right at the beginning of what became an incredibly successful global online community was a great privilege. So was helping CEOs articulate their vision online using these relatively new channels of communication.

Another highlight was working for a top three global technology giant on a multimedia brand journalism project where we followed (and reported on) a global group of students during an intense week long competition. It took place in Egypt, which was an incredibly humbling experience, and it also convinced me of the value of brand journalism ? where rather than relying on established media, you can tell the story to your audience through tools like YouTube, on your own terms minus media filters and biases.

SMP: How / what has social media changed what you do in terms of your day-to-day job and role (and why)?

JB: I?ve migrated from spin-doctor to authentic storyteller. The things I said on behalf of brands in the last 10 years or so before my day job became ?all things social? would be vigorously challenged today. However, at the time, it seemed many brands felt their only option was to communicate the ?Polyanna? version of their solutions and benefits.

With the advent of social media, we take more care about the claims we make and how well they can be substantiated. I?ve spent most of my career in technology and it used to be the case that people like me would spend our time convincing prospective buyers that if they put this ?thing? in their organisation, it would make ALL their problems go away. Of course, nothing could do that, but that didn?t stop an entire industry making such stark and unsubstantiated claims. Thankfully, the Internet excels at being a bullshit detector, even if some of the comments can be all too pointed and let?s face it, sometimes entirely inappropriate! Thanks to developments in social, as someone who has a journalistic and marketing background, I feel the two strands of my career history are no longer at odds with each other.

SMP: What do you feel the next big step for social media / networks are and what may be the impact upon social search (and how to may be used by businesses)?

JB: Move the discussion beyond technology and ownership of roles and crack the measurement question in a way that is credible and stacks up to outside (i.e. executive level) scrutiny.

SMP: What?s going to be the most interesting aspect regarding social media / technology throughout 2012 and into 2013?

JB: I?ve already intimated this, but to me, talk of social media really does ghettoise the value of social inside and outside organisations. We haven?t just stopped reading our paper of choice in favour of Mr Bloggs, a blogger on the same topics. It?s more complex and nuanced than this. The challenge as I see it is to ensure we don?t see social as just another channel that forms part of the marketing mix. It?s got greater potential than that.

I believe social can help us up-level the sophistication of all marketing because two-way dialogue between the ?people that make stuff and the people that buy the stuff? is intuitively a good thing and we need more of it. People want to belong, and sometimes brands can fill that void, but they have to open up to the ideas of transparency, openness and yes, authenticity if these tight connections are to be forged and sustained.

SMP: What are your top five predictions for social media throughout 2012 and into 2013?

JB replies with:

• B2B organisations will adopt social aggressively in the next 12-18 months as the traditional marketing spend sponge is squeezed to drought levels thanks to continuing economic instability.
  
• Something new will come along to unseat Facebook?s dominance.
  
• LinkedIn will move away from being seen as just a recruiter/recruitee platform.
• We?ll crack mobile social engagement in 2013 as smartphones become even smarter.
  
• People will start to de-friend and rationalise their social networks to make them more meaningful rather than just an online popularity contest.
  
  I?ll probably be wrong about all of the above.

SMP: What are your top five social media tips for organisations ? and in embedding social media across their businesses?

JB replies with:

• Do something. It may feel scary, but your brand is almost certainly being commented on online anyway. So why not participate and provide your unique perspective? Iterate and adapt your approach as your experiment with different content, approaches and contributors.
  
  
• Empower your enthusiasts and give them workable guidelines to protect them and your brand.
  
  
• Don?t let your corporate comms team dominate the conversation ? they are skilled in protecting brands, but don?t always understand the best ways to promote a brand.
  
  
• Take calculated risks for the right reasons. But make sure you do your calculations!
  
  
• Measure what you do in ways that are meaningful to the business as a whole ? not just the marketing department. In these austere times, self-justifying measurement criteria just don?t cut the mustard any more.

SMP: Is there anything else you?d like to share?

JB: What you do doesn?t have to be perfect. Arguably, it should be without the polish of typical company communications because it needs to be human first: i.e. people talking to people.

Once you start to engage socially, it?s best that you contribute as often as you can. The instances of trolls are overstated. They exist of course, but often, online communities have a way of policing themselves that can help protect a brand?s reputation once you show you are willing to be part of the dialogue. The bigger failure is to not participate at all.

SMP: Best way to contact you and Original Agency?

Email: jonathan @ originalagency.co.uk or Twitter @jonoriginal

Website is at www.originalagency.co.uk (there?s also a work in progress blog on there)



SMP: What did you have for breakfast / lunch?

JB: Coffee and a sausage roll from Greggs ? and luckily the roll was hot, so didn?t have it warmed and pay the VAT. My Northern-ness prevents me from sticking to the coffee and pastry routine ? or Fruit and Fibre for that matter. That always feels like breakfast punishment ? and who thought porridge was a good idea? The mind boggles.

SMP: What?s the last good thing that you did for someone?

JB: I gave some of my electronic gadgets to a friend who was moving house. He gave my whizzy ipod friendly clock radio back - preferring his three analogue (i.e. bell based alarm clocks).

SMP: If you weren?t working at Original Agency what would you be doing?

JB: Running a social media practice/department within an established technology brand. I always say I look for unconventional jobs in conventional brands or conventional jobs in unconventional companies. I like the challenge of challenging conventions ? if they merit challenge, of course.

SMP: When and where did you go on your last holiday?

JB: West Wales. I won?t say where because it is so beautiful that I fear it may be overrun one year. Also, contrary to popular belief it was gloriously sunny most of the time. I bought a surfski (a sit on top kayak) and while I spent more time capsized in the water than on top of it ? much fun was had by all.

SMP: What?s the first thing you do when you get into the office of a morning?

JB: Check what?s been happening in the world as I?m a complete news junkie and hate to think I?m missing anything. So that?s watching the BBC news and then checking email, social media newsreaders, etc. I tend to plan my work on client projects throughout the day (or go to client/new business meetings) and then do my business development thinking at night.

SMP: If you had a superpower what would it be and why?

JB: Given that the world is over-burdened by abject misery about the economy, global warming, failure of banking and politics, etc, I?d probably like the power to make people happier. I?m sure if we were all that little bit more content with our lots, we?d be way more creative and positive things (including improvements to the economy) would result. It?s noticeable that the country has a buzz about it post London-2012, so to have the ability to give people a more sustained positive buzz would be a very valuable superpower.


Read more about the panel session, moderator and panel at the Cross Media website http://www.crossmedialive.com/ and download the Cross Media app (for Android, iPad and iPhone) from http://www.crossmedialive.com/app. 

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