The Man Behind Richard Branson and Virgin’s Brand – Greg Rose – [Making Media, EP.32]

Our guest today is Greg Rose, who has worked closely with Richard Branson at Virgin for nearly 15 years. As Virgin’s Content and Communications Director, Greg is responsible for what you see from Richard or Virgin’s companies across social media, Richard’s autobiographies, and more traditional public outlets. He is the man who convinced Virgin’s famous founder to take social media seriously in the early days and has built Virgin’s digital image in sync with Richard’s philosophy and outlook. Matt and Dom discuss all aspects of that process with him and unearth what he’s learned about managing a huge personal and corporate brand. Please enjoy this conversation with Greg Rose. __ For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Scribe. Scribe is the presenting sponsor of this episode of Making Media and the magic behind the Colossus transcripts. One of the best decisions we made at Colossus was transcribing all of our audio into a searchable transcript library. We had been using another provider up until the summer of 2022 but we were constantly having issues with accuracy if our audio was just the slightest bit impaired. Whether it's training sessions, internal Q&As, or for media purposes, the value of transcripts is huge. And we are not alone. Scribe is the transcription service that powers all of S&P Global - like CapIQ - and the client list includes our friends at Tegus. Go to joincolossus.com/scribe to unlock 150 minutes of free transcription and test their capabilities. ----- Making Media is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Making Media, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @ReustleMatt | @domcooke | @MakingMediaPod | @JoinColossus  Show Notes (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 Greg 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