Making Media
Episode 32 The Man Behind Richard Branson and Virgin’s Brand
Making Media

Episode 32: The Man Behind Richard Branson and Virgin’s Brand

Making Media

Episode 32

The Man Behind Richard Branson and Virgin’s Brand

Greg Rose is the Content and Communications Director at Virgin. We cover how Greg convinced Richard Branson to take social media seriously, Virgin's overarching social strategy, and the mechanics of running social accounts for a wide variety of companies.

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(00:03:06) - (First question) - Greg's backstory and how he started with The Virgin Group 

(00:05:37) - Pitching his social media idea to Richard Branson and getting him involved

(00:07:24) - Sharing the Virgin brand and content ideas across all companies 

(00:08:31) - How he convinced Virgin to lean into social media

(00:11:53) - Measuring success on social media 

(00:12:41) - The mechanics behind the early days of Richard on social media

(00:14:39) - Finding the balance between organized posts and authenticity 

(00:16:25) - Insight into what Greg has learned about brand accounts  

(00:18:44) - Talking in the brand's voice while trying to stay relevant and grow on social media 

(00:20:21) - Brands that Greg admires 

(00:22:08) - Matching a new business's brand to the masterbrand while maintaining some individuality  

(00:25:06) - The importance of brand collaborations and activations 

(00:26:28) - How the companies respond to negativity and public backlash online  

(00:27:51) - How Richard's path to success could influence others and be emulated 

(00:30:17) - Integrating Holly Branson into the brand and amplifying her voice

(00:31:58) - How much of Greg's job is reactive versus proactive 

(00:34:24) - Combining PR with the rest of the social media vision  

(00:36:09) - The value behind advertisements that don’t highlight the service provided 

(00:37:37) - Greg's love for ghost writing and how it ties into his role at Virgin 

(00:38:23) - Keys to becoming a good ghost writer

(00:41:33) - Debrief

 

The Man Behind Richard Branson and Virgin’s Brand

Introduction

Dom
Welcome back to Making Media. Our guest today is Greg Rose. Greg has worked closely with Richard Branson at Virgin for nearly 15 years. As Virgin's Content and Communications Director, he is responsible for EC from Richard or Virgin’s companies across social media, Richard’s autobiographies and more traditional public outlets.

He's the man who convinced Virgin's famous founder to take social media seriously in the early days, and he's built Virgin's digital image in sync with Richard's philosophy and outlook ever since. Matt and I discussed all aspects of that process with him, and we unearth what he's learned about managing a huge personal as well as a corporate brand. I hope you enjoy our conversation with Greg Rose.

Greg's Backstory

Matt
All right, Greg. Excited to have you here. And I think we're going to spend most of the conversation talking about your career at Virgin, working closely with Richard, everything that goes into being the content operator for a brand. But I think it's helpful to actually start with your backstory and sketch out a little bit about the path that took you to Virgin in the first place. So can you share some of the backstory on yourself?

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