We sit down with Jennifer Davidson, the founding father of Glossy, a number one expertise advertising and marketing company primarily based in London with a worldwide consumer base.
Recognized for delivering charming, immersive occasions that problem norms and encourage change, Davidson shares the journey behind launching Glossy and discusses the company’s core mission to create significant connections by expertly crafted dwell experiences. From the motivations that sparked the creation of the company, to the values that form its tradition and the modern strategy to consumer collaboration, Davidson gives a glimpse into what units Glossy aside in a aggressive business.
I’m the founding father of Glossy, a full-service expertise advertising and marketing company primarily based in London that works with shoppers globally.
We’re recognized for our means to create actual moments that captivate audiences, problem norms, and encourage change. We satisfaction ourselves on serving as strategic companions for our shoppers, crafting experiences that go away lasting impressions and creating genuine connections, evoking real feelings, and delivering impactful occasions.
What’s the foremost downside you remedy in your prospects?
We perceive the significance of forming significant connections, and we imagine that well-crafted occasions can tackle this want successfully. Our strategy entails a deep dive right into a consumer’s technique, values, and goals to design moments that really resonate with audiences and safe tangible outcomes. By means of our complete experiential advertising and marketing providers, we create immersive dwell experiences that captivate audiences, develop compelling model narratives, and produce partaking content material.
What made you begin your small business – did you need to rock the established order, or was it a niche within the market that you can fill?
It’s exhausting to imagine it’s been over a decade since I began Glossy. In all honesty I did need to rock the established order to carry a contemporary perspective to company life. Earlier than taking the leap into company possession, I spent years as a freelancer, working with numerous manufacturers and companies. Throughout this time, I encountered a major hole within the business: a scarcity of transparency and real communication. Purchasers and companies typically spoke in code, and workers welfare and development appeared secondary to simply getting the job performed.
What are your model values?
Respect – That is the muse of every division. We respect our shoppers’ companies, together with model values, working kinds, processes and budgets and importantly ourselves and our colleagues.
Versatile – It’s vital for us that we tailor our service to your necessities and price range with assured excessive normal, irrespective of the dimensions of the occasion. Our shoppers all the time respect our flexibility.
Huge Hearted – We satisfaction ourselves as being pleasant, approachable and dependable, with everybody from shoppers to companions and suppliers.
Resourceful – We like to be challenged and gained’t relaxation till we’ve discovered what you’re in search of. We’re all the time open to considering in a different way; from areas and budgets to goals and timings. Nothing’s an excessive amount of bother. No thought is simply too massive and no request is simply too quirky. If there’s a means, we’ll discover it.
Do your values outline your resolution making course of?
Completely, our values are central to our decision-making course of. We prioritise working with shoppers who share our values as a result of they play an important function in sustaining our staff’s well-being and fostering a optimistic firm tradition. We search partnerships with shoppers who perceive the true function of an company and are fascinated with rising collectively, relatively than simply partaking in one-off tasks.
Is staff tradition integral to your small business?
Constructing a tradition of inclusivity, transparency, and gender equality has all the time been my prime precedence. It’s not simply concerning the backside line; it’s about empowering the staff. I’ve created a way of possession. With a give attention to work-life steadiness, equal pay, and initiatives supporting girls’s well being, we’ve fostered an surroundings the place everybody feels valued and empowered. Our most up-to-date worker engagement rating of 86% speaks for itself.
What do you do to go the additional mile to point out your staff you respect them?
Doing the naked minimal to be an equal employer was by no means an choice for me and I needed to deal with particular issues that I do know workers face.
I’m so proud that we now have a complete suite of insurance policies and initiatives in place that put worker wellbeing at each life stage into central focus. This actually helps foster a tradition of inclusivity and transparency. Listed below are some key examples:
Revenue Sharing: Glossy ties a portion of income to worker efficiency, additional incentivising success and a shared monetary stake.
Work-life Stability: Beneficiant parental go away insurance policies exceed authorized necessities, recognising the very important function dad and mom play.
Equal Pay: Clear wage bands guarantee equal pay for equal work no matter gender. Bonuses are awarded primarily based on clear standards, fostering accountability and making certain girls are rewarded pretty.
Gender Equality Initiatives:
Ladies in Management positions:
Ladies’s Well being & Wellbeing: Programmes particularly tackle challenges confronted by girls, together with menopause and different well being circumstances.
When it comes to your messaging do you suppose you discuss on to your shoppers in a transparent trend?
Sure, we imagine our messaging speaks instantly and clearly to our shoppers. We lately underwent a ‘Glossy Evolution’, which allowed us to refine our strategy to make sure that our communication is easy and freed from pointless jargon. Our purpose is for guests to know what we provide as quickly as they land on our web site.
What’s your tackle inflation and rates of interest – are you going to go that on to your prospects or let your margins take successful and reward buyer loyalty in these more durable instances?
We all the time attempt to stay aggressive with our pricing, however satisfaction ourselves on being truthful throughout the board. Having this strategy might imply a clear dialog would wish to occur about how that impacts charges. As with all companies we now have to maneuver with the instances and do what we have to to guard these we pay a wage to.
How typically do you assess the information you pull in and tackle your KPIs and why?
Typically. Each eight weeks we meet as a board the place every division experiences on their KPIs. This all ladders as much as our enterprise technique and targets. However no matter conferences, we assess these knowledge factors day by day to make sure readability on all metrics. I imagine this is the reason we’ve been in a position to construct the success we now have as far as we’re very focussed on making certain readability with our objectives.
Is tech taking part in a a lot bigger half in your day-to-day working of your organization?
Sure, I feel naturally it’s the best way the world is transferring and as a service-based firm with international shoppers, tech is a device we now have to utilise. It additionally allows us to search out extra environment friendly methods of working although which finally advantages the shoppers backside line. We additionally adapt to our shoppers wants so will typically be utilizing totally different types of tech for collaborative working. We now have an inquisitive staff who’re all the time bringing concepts and new tech to the desk to tell everybody.
What’s your perspective to your rivals?
There’s a nice quote by Henry Ford that sums this up: ‘The competitor to be feared is one who by no means bothers about you in any respect, however goes on making his personal enterprise higher on a regular basis.’
Our purpose is to stay targeted on us and never be distracted by our rivals. We purpose to create higher work this week than we did final week, and make this month higher than final month – for no different motive however to constantly elevate the bar.
Do you’ve got any recommendation for anybody beginning out in enterprise?
Success wasn’t one thing I ever anticipated, and the sentiments of doubt had been a relentless companion. Nevertheless, my interior ideas of “you may’t” solely fuelled my hearth. The reality is anybody can obtain something they set their thoughts to. Our talents aren’t outlined by something aside from the idea in ourselves. We must always all the time look to point out up with confidence and understand that each failure presents the chance to study, and the more durable we work, the nearer we get to proving the doubters improper.
It may be a lonely and pressured place to be because the lead resolution maker of the enterprise. What do you do to loosen up, recharge and hone your focus?
To loosen up, recharge, and preserve focus, I prioritise a number of key practices. I take Fridays off to make sure I’ve time to unwind and replicate, in addition to spend time with my younger son and husband. I additionally make it a degree to train recurrently, which helps me keep energised and clear-headed.
Mornings are my private time for quiet reflection; I get up early to learn, journal, and revel in some peaceable headspace, which units a optimistic tone for the day. I cherish time spent with household and buddies, particularly after we get away to the coast, because it supplies a refreshing break from routine.
Moreover, I put money into steady studying and enchancment through the use of a wide range of coaches over time. I take heed to podcasts within the automotive and skim books, which helps me loosen up away from screens. These practices are important for sustaining my well-being and sharpening my focus.
Do you imagine within the 12 week work technique or do you make for much longer planning methods?
We are inclined to plan on an annual foundation, however we make sure that progress is reported on month-to-month. This strategy permits us to stay agile, enabling us to shortly determine any points and make needed changes to our technique. By recurrently reviewing our efficiency, we will refine our strategy in real-time and keep on observe to realize our objectives.
I don’t suppose there’s a proper or improper option to strategy technique planning – finally it’s all the way down to what works for the enterprise, business they’re in and the folks doing the doing
What’s your organization’s sustainability technique?
This yr, we teamed up with The Bulb to create our sustainability technique. We’re taking a step-by-step strategy, beginning by measuring our environmental footprint after which constructing a plan targeted on folks, planet, and partnerships. I’m dedicated to equipping our staff with the instruments and information they should make a distinction.
What three issues do you hope to have in place throughout the subsequent 12 months?
Launched the Glossy Academy – We need to take our studying and growth programme to a different degree by partaking an exterior ambassador to formulate extra structured coaching and growth which we can have badges and certificates for. The last word purpose is to make it an academically accredited course.
Totally execute the Glossy Evolution – We lately introduced we had been evolving and turning into a full-service expertise advertising and marketing company which expanded our service choices and bolstered our dedication to create genuine and memorable experiences. This evolution will proceed to roll out as we implement these new providers and choices to make sure our consumer’s get entry to the very best occasion outcomes.
Nailed yr 1 of our 3 yr technique – Our firm yr begins on the first August so we need to guarantee we’re nailing this and moving into the rhythm of our technique throughout the board as we’ve simply kicked off our new yr!
