INTERVIEW INTERVIEW
weaknesses, with a discrete plan and exit befitting the product and sector. The Erasmus hub is the engine that drives the creation of this capital value. We’re a team of what I suppose you could call ‘creative capitalists’ - brand strategists, writers, designers, film-makers and producers all of who have real entrepreneurial nouse.
How does Erasmus bridge the gap between the worlds of media/creativity on the one hand, and the world of VC/finance on the
other? And are there many examples of how this has worked successfully?
We’re entrepreneurs not luvvies. Our skill is identifying ways to disrupt markets in ways that consumers want to buy into and then creating that experience for them. Giving them a new, better proposition. If you’re a financial investor looking to back B2C innovation, what’s not to like?
Do you have any direct competitors? What does your industry say about you?
We’re not aware of anyone else who combines our mix of brand strategy, creative and incubator skills. As regards the packaging, communications and content platforms we create for our brands, then of course we have lots of peers. We compete with brand innovation firms, ad agencies, web agencies, design consultancies etc. But maybe the thing we’re becoming best known for is ‘brand content’. Instead of making 30-second TV commercials and buying media slots to place them in, we have taken quite a big lead in creating longer-form entertainment formats that reach our target audiences more powerfully. It could be a music app, a beautiful 100-page magazine, a surfing documentary or even a feature film (as we did last December) - the brands we build are often patrons of bespoke content that has far more oomph, more cultural currency - so it earns a much bigger place in the hearts and minds of the people it’s aimed at. I think our friends in the media village thought we were weirdo dreamers at first. Then they saw the results and that we were building success with big guns like Coca-Cola. Now Ross, Graeme and I get asked to speak at conferences and all that malarkey. They don’t call us ‘weirdo’ quite so much now - more often it’s ‘pioneers’, ‘innovators’.
Are you looking at branching out into other territories? Where are you looking at and why?
We’re always looking for opportunities to disrupt product categories and conventions to create new value. We’re working on three such opportunities in the Lifestyle, Entertainment
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and FMCG categories across the Americas. We’ve just opened an office in Los Angeles to exploit them.
Erasmus seem to deal with different sized clients, from Coca Cola and Tetra Pak to Jeremy Gilley’s Peace One Day organisation. What challenges do you face on either end of the scale?
Big partner or small, what we’re looking for is human beings with the same ambitions as us to collaborate with. Nothing else matters.
With the right partners who share our vision of creative-led commercialism, mountains become molehills. We work with some fantastic partners - some are ‘corporate’ on the face of it, others are your more obvious ‘entrepreneur’ types. But they’re all out there hustling with us every day. If you know anyone else like this, tell them to give us a call!
For more information on Erasmus, visit their website at erasmuspartners.com
THE -ELEVATOR.COM THE -ELEVATOR.COM
ABOVE: WEÕ RE NOT AWARE OF ANYONE ELSE WHO COMBINES OUR MIX OF BRAND STRATEGY, CREATIVE AND INCUBATOR SKILLS
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