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00:00Do you think you're setting the trends or do you think that you're jumping on what's happening
00:04with younger generations or consumers? Or do you think it is your job to figure out what is the
00:09next big thing before it is the big thing? It's about making sure that you stay ahead of things
00:14as much as possible. Just stay relevant, stay modern, but don't make yourself a hostage to
00:20trends either. A lot of times people go, here's a trend. We must do this. We must be that trend.
00:25I always tell clients, stay true to your strategy. Utilize the trends as part of it. Don't just run
00:31around hitting trends because if you do that, you're not being true to your own brand and your
00:36own mission statement. Greg Frey, thank you for joining us today. Thank you. I appreciate coming
00:44in. So full disclosure, we used to work together. We helped launch the national newspaper back in,
00:51I guess it launched 2008, but we started working together in 2007. So talk us through a little bit
00:57about the journey from your home back in England to making it to the UAE. Yeah, well, I was a
01:06journalist in the UK. I was fairly senior at Trinity Mirror, one of the big national publishing
01:12houses there. And I was on what they call the innovations team. And it was part of the kind of
01:18transition from print to kind of digital first. And then I got a call from Abu Dhabi saying,
01:27do you want to help launch a brand new high quality broadsheet English language newspaper
01:33out of the capital of the UAE? And in the UK at the time in media, it was all about managing
01:39decline. If we hit 4% decrease sales year on year, we celebrated because that wasn't bad.
01:47And then this was an entire positive thing with real budgets, real opportunity to make a mark,
01:53an opportunity to make a difference. So I jumped on it and then you and I joined a team of about
01:58four people, which became about 400 people and launched that newspaper. It was great fun.
02:04It's fine. I was just talking to somebody the other day about it. And I think it's the last
02:09big global newspaper launch. Yeah, certainly the significant print title, I would say.
02:16And I do think we dropped the ball a little bit. We focused too much on the paper. Looking back,
02:22I think we should have been more focused on the digital side of things.
02:25Yeah. But you know, I think about this all the time and you've got to think about it's reason
02:30for being as well. And part of our reason for launching it in the first place, it was
02:35to have a print title, a newspaper of record published outside of capital city that needed
02:41to be seen as a serious player geopolitically that was being held accountable by a quality
02:48journalism product. So the print title was important politically. And of course, you know,
02:54the digital follows, it was a very different approach than what I'd been doing in the UK,
02:58but it was a back to basics, get things right, inject some quality and tell the story of Abu
03:05Dhabi, the UAE and the region to the world, you know, act as a kind of shop window for what this
03:12region had to offer. And back then Abu Dhabi, whenever it was 17, 18 years ago, I would tell
03:20people I'm going to Abu Dhabi to help launch a newspaper. And people were like, Abu, he said,
03:27well, yeah, it's next to Dubai. And people go, oh, okay. So if you look at how brand Abu Dhabi
03:33has grown exponentially since then, it's been incredible. And the national was
03:38one building block in making that happen. It's also interesting the number of people
03:42from 17, 18 years ago who are still in the country. And I know there were a lot of people
03:48when we launched looking back an awful lot, but I think that a lot of people came out and
03:55much like you and I, they stayed and they fell in love with it. Yeah. Well, it's a livable society.
04:01It's, you know, all of these things, it's the stories that I tell every day, it's safe,
04:06it's inclusive, it's, it's tolerant, it's exciting, it's progressive and it's forward
04:11thinking. And, you know, it paves the way for success. So much negativity in the, in a lot of
04:17the West where I'm from, everyone looks miserable when I, when I go back, but here there's an air
04:23of positivity and an air of future facing forward thinking that I think is very, very attractive.
04:29And it's very sticky. It makes you want to stick around. So, and I also think with that
04:33explanation, we can see why you're now in PR. So you're a journalist, you do that for two and a
04:39half, three years, I guess. And we've never really spoken about it. What happened, share what you can,
04:44what happened behind the scenes for you and your co-founder of Seven Media to make the jump from
04:54journalism to what, I don't know if you call it the dark side still, but what we used to call it,
04:59you know, the dark side, the world of PR. Yeah. But look, it's all part of the storytelling
05:06ecosystem. So to me, it's not as big a leap as some people may think, but look.
05:12But, but isn't that because, sorry to interrupt you there, but isn't that because
05:16PR has changed a little bit and they recognize that they have to do a better job of telling
05:20stories as opposed to what would have been the old school approach?
05:24Yeah. That is part of it. I mean, it used to be, I mean, look, when I sat on the news desk
05:28at the national, I think we can start from there. I would receive press releases from
05:35corporate communications companies that weren't a story. They were a sort of a missive. And
05:40now coming from the UK where you'd have good PR people who were content generators and
05:46collaborators with journalists in order to facilitate news and features and stories
05:53coming out and being unpackaged. I felt that there was an opportunity in the market to do that.
05:59I had spent from 2007 to 2010 making good contacts in the higher echelons of the UAE as well. You
06:09know, the mandate, as I said earlier, was to tell the story of the UAE and did it for one newspaper
06:20and had various conversations behind the scenes. If we were to set up a small agency that could
06:25take that approach, that storytelling approach and tell the story locally, regionally and
06:31internationally through print media, through broadcast media and through digital, you know,
06:37would that be a viable proposition? And happily for me, it turns out it was.
06:42So when you look back, was there one or two big clients early on that made a difference
06:51financially or more importantly, made you think, actually, this might work?
06:56Yeah. I mean, we were, we were lucky, I would suggest, because of the position that I had been
07:01in, you know, with so many contacts in government organizations and semi-government organizations.
07:09We were in a position where we were in the conversations already that other people would
07:13go through years of procurement processes to get to. So we were quite lucky to sign a couple of
07:21big, what we might call institutional Abu Dhabi government clients early on. And it kind of set
07:27the benchmark for what we wanted to do. Of course, then there were only four people, myself and my
07:32business partner, Matt, and two of our Arabic directors who are still with us today, actually.
07:39And we grew from those four people to 120 people now with offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai,
07:46Saudi, a couple of people in Egypt, a couple of people in London. And yeah, all along the way,
07:54we had that kind of through line of telling that kind of institutional story for the UAE
08:00and everything else kind of built around that.
08:02So you get those key institutional clients, and then how is it that you end up becoming
08:09more of, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but you become more of a,
08:14more than just that, you become, and I think you're one of the, I think Seven Media is one
08:18of the best success stories of the UAE. People who come here and then create something and then
08:23build it up into one of the, if not the biggest independent PR agency, certainly one of the top
08:29two or three, correct?
08:30Yes. Yeah.
08:31So how is it that you then made that leap and you said, okay, we need to do more than just
08:36be maybe a boutique agency. We need to become bigger.
08:42Well, we, we didn't necessarily have it. Look, we had some guiding principles that we stuck by
08:47and we kept it really, really simple at the start. Here is what we do. We are results driven.
08:53We were very lucky not to have come from a PR background. So I didn't have any preconceptions
09:00of how it should be structuralized. So we just did it how it felt best. And it was all
09:05around generating results. And that was the, that was the primary thing and creating the space,
09:10the culture and the environment for the talent to be able to achieve those results and do good
09:14stories and, you know, have measurable successes for our clients now. So we weren't constrained
09:21by a preconception of what a PR company or a communications company should be.
09:25So that gave us a certain amount of freedom and being independent enabled us to be nimble. And
09:32there are companies that we were, when we were 10, 12 people strong, we found ourselves in pitch
09:39rooms next to, you know, networked organizations with a hundred thousand staff. So I felt like a,
09:47a kind of, you know, scrappy upstart, which was great because you got nothing to lose, right?
09:53You're biting at the ankles of the opposition. And I love that kind of, that approach, that,
10:00that startup approach. And it's all about energy. And I talk about this all the time, that,
10:05that energy is really the thing that carries everything through. But we started with some
10:11government and some lifestyle and some consumer clients and just slowly, but surely we added more
10:16clients to the roster, more services. And now we are a 360 agency with, you know, storytelling,
10:26with full creative services, with all in-house video production from, from, from storyboards
10:33through shooting, editing to fine cut, full digital and social media and programmatic
10:40digital marketing, search engine optimization. So all of those things that enable clients or
10:47organizations or businesses to communicate with their customers or audience for, to achieve their
10:54goals. We've got all of those tools in our arsenal. So over time, we just grew it piece by piece
11:01and bit by bit. And it became what it was. We never had an idea that we wanted to get to a
11:07certain size. We just wanted to produce quality work over and over again, consistently and stay
11:15ahead of the curve. So you talk about the quality work and you also talk about 360 degree approach,
11:20which I think is something that your industry and my industry are trying to figure out.
11:26And we're talking mainly about video, of course. So for, for you, do you see your role,
11:33what it is that Seven's doing? I think it's called Seven Studio, right? There's studios.
11:38Yes.
11:38So is it what Seven Studios is doing is, is that more of what clients want? And
11:47is it just storytelling through video format?
11:49I think that, you know, what clients want is sometimes different than what clients need. So,
11:56our initial point is to go, you know, what is their kind of business goal? What's their strategic
12:01goal? And how can we use some of those tools that I just mentioned to take them from where they are
12:07to there? They might think they want video, but unless you know what you're going to do with that
12:13video or what its purpose is, or...
12:15Yeah, they might want video because everybody's doing video.
12:17Yeah, exactly. And how you take it to your audience and what you want the audience to
12:21do in the 10 seconds after they've watched the video and how you then facilitate that
12:25through digital means. So you one click away for, from the action that you want the audience to do.
12:30So there's a lot that kind of goes into it, but you know, we can do everything with storytelling
12:36right at the, at the heart of everything, but all of these channels of communication,
12:41different ways of ways of creating content. And you know, we do certain campaigns that,
12:48that are everything from billboard advertising on Shakespeare Road through to a documentary,
12:55which may be put on one of the networks. And, you know, you've all seen things like
12:59drive to survive. Well, that's got a heavy publicity. I think the number of F1 fans
13:04who saw that increased hugely. So there's all of these different tools now in communications and
13:13people who are traditional PR people kind of decry the fact that there's been a reduction
13:20in the number of print titles, but the opportunity to take stories and put it right under the nose of
13:27your audience of highly targeted audience has never been greater.
13:32So when you talk about being results driven for us in the world of media, and I would think that
13:38you're probably consider yourself part of the world of media. What is it that clients are
13:44looking for? And again, are you finding that you have to educate clients or are you giving them
13:50options? And then they say, they they'll say, I want results when it comes to
13:58turning call to action into somebody actually buying something, or is it they just want
14:03more views? And is it, how much do you have to hold their hand through the process?
14:08Yeah. Well, there's such a vast difference from one client to the next. Some are incredibly
14:15commercially savvy, know exactly what they want in terms of business goals and conversion, lead
14:20generation, and then customer acquisition. That's one thing. And then others on the, particularly on
14:26the, you know, more institutional side of the UAE, it's still about nation buildings. It's
14:32about awareness and education of a local regional and international market about the, about the UAE
14:40in particular, and what it does, where it's values, what does it stand for? Cause there's
14:45huge misconceptions around the world. So it could be anything from, from the, what we call the top
14:50of the funnel, which is awareness right down to the bottom, which is conversion over a very
14:55specific, sharp goal. So when you are trying to figure out what is the next trend,
15:02either in the PR world or what your clients want, do you think you're, do you think you're setting
15:08the trends or do you think that you're jumping on what's happening with younger generations or
15:13consumers? Or do you think it is your job to figure out what is the next big thing before it is the
15:19big thing? I think that, you know, a few years ago, we were the first PR comms agency to have
15:26in-house videographers. It sort of happened a little bit in response to a specific client need.
15:33And then we dialed it up when it turned out that people are in it. I wasn't necessarily at that
15:38point to know that the short form video would be so impactful. And at that point when it was,
15:44we were already set up with all of the in-house talent. But yeah, I mean, it's about making sure
15:52that you stay ahead of things as much as possible. Just stay relevant, stay, stay modern, but don't
15:59make yourself a hostage to trends either. I think a lot of times people go, here's a trend. We must
16:05do this. We must be that trend. I always tell clients stay true to your strategy and, you know,
16:11utilize the, the trends as part of it. So don't just run around hitting trends
16:18because if you do that, you're not being true to your own brand and your own mission statement.
16:23So are you having to be a consultant as well as offer real work for your clients?
16:32Yeah. I mean, that's really the way it works the best. When you bring in 7's strategy team,
16:42that goes down into what we call creative strategy where taglines are written and campaigns are
16:47formed. And then the segmentation of the audience, depending on what the goals are,
16:52the content creation that we know will be relevant to those different audiences. And then the
16:57execution where you take it to them with a call to action. So if you, if you follow all of those
17:03steps, that's great. Some people just come to us and they've already done their campaign and they
17:07want us to execute it because they know that we've got the contacts and that we have the software
17:13on digital in order to be able to achieve certain goals. But for me, it works best when you use
17:20all of the different elements of that 7media has to offer.
17:23So I think because, maybe because we've known each other a long time, maybe because you're a
17:27former journalist, I think we can have an honest conversation about why, in my opinion, PR in the
17:32GCC is awful for the most part. I think there are some exceptions, but I think that PR in this part
17:39of the world, especially the agencies, I don't think that they have honest conversations with
17:47their clients. And so what I'll say is that too often in other parts of the world, you might have
17:56a story that's 25% positive about a client, 25% that's negative and 50% that's neutral. And you'd
18:02see that as a win. In the GCC, I find that a PR release, specifically a written piece, has to be
18:10100% positive, or else a client's going to get upset within the agency, or the agency is going
18:17to be calling either myself or one of my reporters to complain. So why is there that disconnect?
18:24Is it the agency not speaking properly to the client? Or is the client just thinking that
18:30because they're in this part of the world, they can demand whatever it is that they want?
18:34I think that there's, there's probably a mixture of, of both of those things. I think, I think it's
18:41developing and you know, it's a young country as well. And, and while we do have some newspapers,
18:50which, which are older legacy papers that have gone through the years, there's been a huge amount
18:57of change here. There's been, and it continues to develop. So I think that, you know, a mixture of
19:04both of those things, but I think we're seeing things starting to change and particularly around
19:09the idea now that, that we do a lot around owned media. So people can self-publish, so they can
19:16hit their audiences almost directly without having to go through, through the conduit of the,
19:22of the kind of legacy media, which is another way of being able to, to publish.
19:26But you're right. If you're outlining a solution to something, you do have to explain what the
19:34problem was that you're solving. And, and there's sometimes a reluctance to, to do that. But I always
19:40advise people, you know, you, you, you know, the starting point isn't always completely rosy.
19:46You know, we're making change, we're making a difference. Let's just be as open and honest as
19:52we, as we can about it. And people, audiences are quite understanding when it comes to that
19:57and quite forgiving and quite, you know, pragmatic about the fact that it is a young country that
20:04we're working on and there's constantly change for the better and improvements that, that are
20:10being put in place.
20:11Do you think that there are still a significant number of your clients that are interested in
20:17legacy media, or are they more interested in what it is that Seven Studios can do
20:22and will just self-publish?
20:24Yeah. I mean, I have to catch myself on a little bit because it gets, you know,
20:28the new things are always the exciting things, aren't they? But particularly in this part of
20:32the world, particularly in this part of the world, the kind of institutional newspapers of record,
20:39particularly the Arabic language ones, but also this publication and others, you know,
20:47hold a great deal of gravitas and authority. So the certain blogs and websites, they get huge
20:54reach, but, you know, unless you're also able to be published in more, more serious titles where
21:03the audience know that the stories have been fact-checked, you know, you're only doing part
21:09of the job. So I think that the, what we call legacy or institutional media or print media,
21:16that's no longer only print is really important and shouldn't be ignored.
21:22So looking back over the, I guess it's been 15 years since you started Seven Media,
21:29three questions. Your most satisfying win?
21:35Yeah. I think, I think it was probably when, when we won about 11 years ago, the contract for
21:44Formula One and Gas Marina Circuit, because we took that off a huge global agency. And we knew-
21:52And you still have it.
21:53We still have it. We've run the whole media center, the press office for the last,
21:57I think this was our 11th Formula One just gone. And we hit records every year. And,
22:04and I think that the, the, the energy and the spirit of an independent having it, we, we, we,
22:09we just cared a lot more than other people might. And I always say this, you can't become complacent.
22:15You've got to keep going because there are now startups who are what we were 15 years ago.
22:21Now we're competing with them. So you've got to play every single pitch,
22:26every single activity, like it's the champions league final. You know, you, you get complacent
22:31and people take things off you. But that was the satisfaction for me. You know, as some guy from
22:38working class from the North of England, being able to go in and take business off of big
22:44organizations and build something that, that was incredibly satisfying.
22:47Okay. And the second question, your hardest professional moment?
22:52I think, I think possibly, possibly around COVID. I think it was, it was a time that was hard
23:00somewhere around March, 2020, just when everything was starting to go into lockdown. And just before
23:09we had 50, five, zero clients, either stop contracts or what this new word pause a contract,
23:17because they were not wanting to part with money in uncertain times, but we still have a lot of
23:23staff to pay. We still have all our overheads and we were kind of concerned for a time.
23:29And it was just the hard yard, the pulling together of all of the staff and all of the,
23:34all of the people, we were a little bit fortunate in the, we, the private sector stuff,
23:39the consumer stuff really, really took a hit, but we still had the, the government work
23:45and that kind of transitioned into telling the public health story.
23:49We did huge COVID-19 relief campaign for the Abu Dhabi government, which actually raised
23:55a billion dirham, which was distributed to harder hit members of the community.
24:01So we were able to also use our video and our digital things to move away from where people
24:09might've had events or press conferences. We could, they still needed to communicate.
24:13So there was just a little bit of a hairy time there where I thought I wasn't sure exactly what
24:19was going to happen, but, but we kind of came through that. And then the other positive of that
24:24is it took us back to sort of look under the bonnet of the agency again and go, where are we
24:33fatty? Where are we being, you know, complacent in money that we're spending? And it gave us a
24:39tighter rein on the, on the business as well, which was a, which was probably a good thing.
24:44So it enabled us to pivot. It enabled us to audit and show our strength and togetherness
24:51as we came through the other side of it. Nice. And then this is the one you and I
24:56post a fair bit on LinkedIn. And the biggest response that I've ever received is when I
25:02talked about what I think my KT's biggest fail was in the time, the 15 months I've been here.
25:10So I ask you, because I think people really learn from this personally, as well as people who
25:16listen. So professionally, your biggest failure. I think, I think that one of the things when people
25:22ask me about starting up a business, whatever it might or might not be, it's the, I say, don't get
25:28carried away with promises until the contract has been signed. And just early on, we got really,
25:36really excited and celebrated wins of contracts that never came to pass. Just because the people
25:44liked me, they still had to run it up past their bosses and their leadership, and they couldn't get
25:50it signed off. And it wasn't their fault, but it was my own fault for assuming and just taking
25:55everything at face value. So those kinds of assumptions and that this kind of, I don't know,
26:03positivity tripped me up a couple of times early on. I didn't learn from the first, second, or even
26:09the third one of those. But it's why I always tell people who are starting up business, just because
26:14people say things to you, it doesn't mean it's going to happen because, you know, if you stay
26:20with, if you're pitching to a big client and you're asking them to come over to a new startup
26:27independent agency and move away from a big networked global agency, and that goes wrong,
26:36you know, for whatever reason, well, they get fired. You don't get fired for staying with the big
26:42networked global agency, but you do for taking a chance on the smaller ones. So people might
26:49love the idea of what you're doing and they may tell you, yeah, we're going to go with you and
26:54we'll be your client and we'll be giving you millions in revenue, but until the ink is dry,
27:01don't count your chickens. Yeah. There's safety in numbers. Yeah. Greg, thank you so much for
27:06being with us today. I appreciate it. Thank you, Michael. It was great. Cheers.