Marketing and Technology Driven Storytelling

This week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with @Gerri Phillips, Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer of @Cue Gravity - a company that’s built its niche helping retailers tell their story successfully by blending the physical and the digital.

While Cue Gravity is already working with top-tier brands across the U.S. Gerri is now leading the U.K. charge, focusing on bringing that U.S.. experience and success to the UK.

🌟 Some of the most interesting parts of our conversation were:

✅ Why UK businesses are more sceptical of tech innovation than the U.S. 

✅ How content, technology, and storytelling combine to drive retail performance.

✅ What Gerri’s learned about building a support network when you’re starting out.

✅ What it’s like launching in a new country with no team, no pipeline, and no profile. 

✅ Why “tech for tech’s sake” is a problem, and how to avoid it with a strategy-first approach 

Transcript

Adam Cooper (00:01.524)

Okay, so today I'm joined by Gerri Phillips, the co-founder and chief experience officer at Cue Gravity, an experiential tech company that blends cutting edge technology with immersive brand storytelling. So Cue Gravity has gained some strong traction in the US and Gerri is now leading the charge over here in the UK. And so today we're going to dive into a little bit about what it takes to break into a new market, build some brand awareness, scale a team.

So Gerri, welcome to the Fractional CFO Show. How are doing today?

Gerri (00:34.19)

Hello Adam, thank you for having me. Yes, I'm very well enjoying this much needed sunshine that we've got in the UK right now.

Adam Cooper (00:40.814)

I know it's very rare, it's very rare, but no, thank you very much for bringing that to the podcast. So before we get started and dive into a bit more about Cue Gravity, it'd be great to start and understand your journey a little bit. So can you share a bit about your background and how you became involved with Cue Gravity?

Gerri (01:00.568)

course. So I started my career in market research actually, working for Rothmans and whilst I kind of knew it wasn't somewhere that I wanted to stay, it really gave me a sort of good entry point into marketing and some valuable insights in terms of data and how to use it. But as I said I didn't want to stay there and then I was lured by the shiny lights of the agency world.

And I moved over to that world where I worked my way up through account management for, and this is going to show my age, but various above the line and below the line agencies, because we don't quite call it that now, before joining a production agency as a client services director. So at that company, I built an account management function from scratch, firstly in the UK and then subsequently in the US, which is where I lived and worked and met my fellow co-founder.

and Cue Gravity was essentially born.

Adam Cooper (01:59.68)

Amazing. Okay, great. And so obviously you've played a large role in Cue Gravity starting up, but now have a slightly different view and we'll come onto that with your new hat on in terms of here in the UK. But in terms of the company as a whole, what was the original kind of vision for Cue Gravity?

Gerri (02:18.636)

I think it was about blending.

the physical and digital commerce. This is going back now nearly 10 years ago and whilst know tech is at the forefront of brands and retailers now, it certainly wasn't then. It was very siloed. know this is talking of the day when omni-channel was kind of the buzzword. I feel that we're kind of a lot further afield with that now and it really is about making retail that area of that destination for experience and you know I'm sure you're familiar with the term digital.

because that's essentially what brands and retailers are trying to achieve. But that's where we position Cue Gravity as an agency that could deliver that kind of fidget tour experience.

Adam Cooper (03:05.162)

Okay, very good. And obviously you're in this new exciting phase of growth and leading the UK expansion. What is it that's excited you most about this part and this stage of the journey?

Gerri (03:18.262)

I think, well, I've been very much working on the sidelines in the US. In the UK, we really are a kind of startup, and we're in that startup mentality. You know, the US side of the business is very established. We're working with some amazing brands. And kind of what's exciting me now is kind of bringing that to the UK. But obviously, what comes with that is many challenges. know, so we work with some prestigious brands over there.

You know, we've fulfilled some amazing projects, even award-winning projects. You know, when you've fulfilled the ambition of the likes of, Peter Marino architects and executed a kind of state-of-the-art digital experience for Tiffany in their flagship in New York.

you'd think that would translate to the UK and people would be kind of knocking on our doors. That really isn't the case, know. So markets are very siloed, they operate very independently and they're all working with sort of designated vendors and suppliers. So getting in front of people is incredibly challenging but that's the challenge, that's the excitement, you know, bringing something new and fresh with a great portfolio to the UK and European market.

Adam Cooper (04:27.754)

Okay, great. It sounds exciting and I'm sure challenging as well. And I know obviously you mentioned there your own journey from kind of a corporate environment to agency world and now into startups. And that's quite a common journey for many of the audience of this podcast, that kind of transition from corporate to startup. And it's not always the easiest. So I'd love to hear a little bit from your perspective what...

some of the personal adjustments were for you moving from that more structured corporate environment to sort of the unpredictability, I guess, of a startup.

Gerri (05:03.982)

Completely. And I think one of the hardest adjustments for me is that kind of working remotely away from my team, because the core team is over in the US. But in my previous life, I was always surrounded by a team. You know, when we're working on kind of new business pictures, it was very collaborative. It was a lot of late nights, all hands to the deck. But now it's still late nights because of the time difference. But I'm on Zoom. And for me, the biggest challenge, you know, although we have partners in the UK and Europe,

It's not the daily catch-ups, it's not the colleagues that sit next to you to bounce ideas off. You can't just grab ten minutes with somebody in the same way when you're sat in an office. So for me, the time difference across geography has been a challenge. Also, I'm kind of doing a lot myself, so I'm attending all those meetings and events on my own, whereas before it would be myself and a team, and that has taken a lot to adjust. For us, our aim is to have a full team in place by the

of the year but we are very much kind of in that chicken and egg process you know we need to land the clients to build the team but we need a bigger team to sort of onboard the clients so I think it's like a typical startup challenge that I'm sort of overcoming at the moment.

Adam Cooper (06:19.598)

Yeah, no, it's a very typical speaking from personal experience as well. And I think that that kind of team being in different places and then trying to do everything is a challenge.

Gerri (06:31.394)

Yeah, and I think having that structure, you know, it's not that I'm not motivated, but I'm very good at sort of digging into one thing and then actually trying to dig into something else. You know, when you're working in an agency environment or, you know, in a corporate world, I feel like your day is much more structured. You know, you have to wear a lot of different hats and switch it up very, very quickly. And, you know, time is not always my friend. I probably need a day that's 48 hours to kind of fulfill everything that I need to do.

Adam Cooper (07:00.812)

Yeah, I know the feeling. You get to like seven o'clock at night, you realize you haven't actually got through any of the lists that you, that you...

Gerri (07:05.706)

No, that's why you and I are emailing in the evening. That's the first time you kind of get to it. yeah, I think, and I kind of miss that. I'm a very organized person, but I kind of, in some ways I miss it, but then in some ways it excites me at the same time. I love the variety of what I'm doing and ultimately I'm sort of managing all that I need to manage.

Adam Cooper (07:26.828)

Yeah, absolutely. Is there anything that you thought would be easier about starting up over here in the UK that's actually turned out to be harder than you expected?

Gerri (07:35.98)

I think, you know, just getting in front of people.

I'm finding it a challenge. I really have gone back to basics in terms of a new business strategy and what we're doing, exploring our ICP. We have a really strong client portfolio. We work with amazing brands. We are rolling out, for example, in the US Rolls Royce, their visual identity across North America. It's an amazing brand to work for. do some really cool forward thinking technology in their showrooms. For me, if that was put

in front of me when I was working for a brand, I'd be like, wow, yeah, you want to get on board. But it certainly doesn't work like that. Because I think some people think the US is much more advanced and forward thinking than we are. But actually, it's kind of the other way around. If you think of a typical mall in America and the sort of traditional retail brands, Europe is way ahead in terms of technology and what they're doing and what they're trialing and experimenting with. So again, where I feel there's more opportunity in the US because there's a lot more of that sort of stagnant environment.

I think we over here and indeed through Europe are much more advanced in putting technology into retail environments.

Adam Cooper (08:47.854)

Yeah, no, you touched on it there actually. It's interesting about, you know, starting in a new market. And we met with Jason Miles from Condé Nast, who was talking about opening up in new markets and some of the challenges there from a sort of finance and accounting perspective. from a marketing perspective and getting the brand's name out there, you know, I wonder, you know, it's a bit like starting up again, right? So you're not...

Gerri (09:13.005)

Thank you.

Adam Cooper (09:14.912)

you don't have that same reputation and that same credibility. What have you found to be some of those biggest challenges in terms of building credibility, sort of entering into the UK market?

Gerri (09:26.35)

Well, I think it's just getting known. We have amazing case studies, as I said, but it's going back to those startup basics. It's creating a content marketing funnel. It's building your presence on social. It's delivering DM. It's participating in online communities. I'm doing a lot of networking events. It's creating strategic partnerships. It's going to trade shows and events. It's hard-legged work.

Adam Cooper (09:28.206)

Mmm.

Gerri (09:53.848)

but that's the only way you're going to get visibility. We all get, you know, we drown in emails on a daily basis and messages on LinkedIn, you know, whereas that might be a method of reaching out to people, you kind of get lost in a pot. So it needs to be much more about having presence and being where your ICP is essentially.

Adam Cooper (10:16.366)

And you mentioned networking, is how we met obviously and the other sort of routes. What's worked best for you so far and what hasn't really gone to plan?

Gerri (10:20.302)

the course here.

Gerri (10:29.55)

I think building my own personal LinkedIn profile, you know, I'm trying to...

write about more, about the industry and my viewpoint on it and trying to position myself more as a strategic thinker, which I am, but I'm not very good at promoting myself in that way. So that for me has been a challenge, but it has opened conversations. The networking, it really depends on the people in the room and it's very varied. For me personally,

I don't think I'm going to meet my client, or future client in that room potentially. It's much more about the wider network and who they know and what they're doing. So yeah, it's a challenge.

Adam Cooper (11:22.54)

Yeah, absolutely. And I've seen you on LinkedIn and I know that you're really putting yourself out there. So respect for that. I also know how challenging that is in and of itself. How do you stop yourself getting frustrated when you see that something you've spent an hour crafting only gets like five impressions, or five likes and 500 impressions or something? What's your kind of, how do you keep that motivation?

Gerri (11:28.206)

I'm

Gerri (11:41.558)

Yes. Exactly. It's so inconsistent in terms of, you know, something lands and it just explodes and it wasn't expected. So, yeah, it can be quite demotivating. And also, it's just the time, you know, to, you know, I'm always out and about, you know, the best way of, you know...

sort of gleaning information is being out, know, being in London, being in the cities, heading over to Paris and seeing what's happening over there, you know, but it's just all time. So, you know, it's that kind of exploratory and exploration, exploratory, exploration that you need to do and then to think about it, digest it, and then think about your strategic viewpoint on that. yeah, again, it comes down to time. But there is, I don't know, it's kind of the Wild West, LinkedIn, you know, it's...

It's so inconsistent in terms of what you get from it and the number of impressions that you get on a post. So you just celebrate when something lands well.

Adam Cooper (12:41.858)

Yeah, I think that's the key is not getting too fixated or too heads up on like one area or one channel or one post. It's just like trying different things, isn't it?

Gerri (12:49.792)

Yeah, yeah, you can get demotivated quite easily if you were to take it too literally in that sense.

Adam Cooper (12:56.974)

100%. And particularly if you're a solo, sort of individual setting something up or you're a small team, there's so many opportunities to get demoralised and so it's so important to keep yourself going and sort of pick yourself up, dust yourself down and keep going. well, you know.

Gerri (13:11.864)

Yeah, you sound like you're talking from experience, Adam.

Adam Cooper (13:14.722)

Could be, could be. I think one thing you touched on before, I'd love to dive into a little bit is around the differences in sort of terms of the retail and sales and client perspectives of US versus UK and Europe. So I'd love to understand a little bit more about that and yeah, what are some of your findings and experience about, you know, trying to start up in the UK and those kind of different perspectives?

of UK clients versus US clients as far as you're aware.

Gerri (13:47.726)

What I touched upon briefly before, think Europe is much more advanced in terms of where they are on their tech journey. don't think it's necessarily, you know, some people are absolutely smashing it, there's no denying that, but I don't necessarily think it's always been implemented well, but that is the challenge for me. Whereas in the US, I think they're earlier on in their journey, you know, the adoption

is

It's much more in the earlier stages. I think people are much more open to conversations in the US, whereas in the UK, a lot of brands have sort of trialed it. And actually, it hasn't worked for kind of whatever reason. They're kind of moving away from it. And I think there's this whole world where tech can be seen as gimmicky or not premium. That's because they've not had a robust strategy in place to actually deliver it or what they've

previously was not implemented properly and you get into that kind of world where was sort text for tech's sake which is what we work with our clients to avoid because that's exactly what you don't want to happen.

And also that's the reason why we moved into content because when we're looking at technology, content is king. The technology is the platform, but it's about the brand, its identity, its value. There's a brand story that really kind of brings that experience to life. So that's why that's sort of another area that we are now sort of venturing into and that we've worked with for various brands, actually in Europe as well with the content side of it. But I think just looking at the two markets individually,

Gerri (15:35.712)

I do feel that the US, they're much more open, you when I was living there and working there, you know, in different life, but they're much more open to having meetings with you and understanding, like, what it is you're trying to do. You might not necessarily, you know, convert to business, whereas I think the UK as a whole, they're a little bit more closed off in terms of, you know, venturing into the unknown or exploring new suppliers and vendors or partners.

Adam Cooper (16:03.938)

Yeah, that's interesting. And you say there about perhaps it's because the UK market, they're slightly been burnt by previous experiences, by implementations that have gone wrong or sort of strategy that's been missing. How do you counter that? How do you get around that?

Gerri (16:22.796)

I think it's, that's when you kind of, portfolio comes into play and your case studies and your testimonials to support the fact of what you're doing. And also our approach is very different. A lot of brands are working with integrators. They're not working with, you know, our model, which is effectively an agency model. You know, as I said before, I'm from a sort of marketing advertised background, you know, working through account management, our approach to it. know, when we, you know, the incubation of Cue Gravity was about being more of a consultant, you know, we work with our clients to

determine what that strategy is, what journey they want to take their customers or consumers on, what objectives they're trying to achieve, and then avoiding that whole tech for tech's sake. It's really what's the brand story, what's the experience they're trying to create, and how can technology enhance that experience.But I don't know if there's a new...

store called Future Stores in Oxford Street. don't know if you're familiar with it, but it's floor-to-ceiling LEDs and we were quite excited about it as business to see really how brands would bring it to life. But it's getting quite a lot of bad press because people, the brands that have been in there, know, the press is saying it's not been well executed. And I think, you know, technology, although it's kind of everywhere around us, you know, there's not teams in-house or, you know, within agencies that really are sort of working on the

strategic side of it. It's just, you know, let's just put something in and see if it lands. And I think, know, future stores is a really good example of that because the two excavations that they've had, you know, the screens are being treated as billboards. Whereas what that should be is a blank canvas for brands to really push that forward thinking technology and a real opportunity to create that, you know, wow, sort of immersive brand experience for consumers. So that's why we try to work very and approach our projects and working with our clients in a very different way. It's like,

what is it you're trying to achieve, rather than saying, right, I just want a screen in a shop window, or I just want an interactive display, or whatever. It's understanding what their pain points are, what they're trying to achieve, and the journey they want to take their customers on.

Adam Cooper (18:33.408)

Interesting. Have you been involved in future stores? that from just a...

Gerri (18:37.472)

No, I just kept a very keen eye on it because it's ultimately where we're trying to push that. The amount of money that brands spend on print, for example, if you're looking at any sort of campaign or activation work in store, it's such a laborious process. One of my roles as working for an agency, and actually Starbucks was our client, and if you think of the number of Starbucks stores and when they're constantly changing, they're printing

materials and their new campaigns and their new seasonal offers and all of those things. The work that goes behind that, know, the wastage in terms of like the paper, the physical paper that's used, you know, we're always trying to sell in the argument that if that was digital, you know, it could change, you could change in a second what the content was. But that's why content is so key because if you look at, you know, just walk down Oxford Street and you see one store versus another, you know, the content and how that technology is being used varies so dramatically and the impact.

it has, even though it could be the same spec screen facing out, positioned in the same place because there's very tight restrictions with Knox Street, you have to have it so far away from the window, can deliver a whole different story. that's why we're excited about future stores, it just doesn't seem to, I'm not saying it won't, but I think they're very much still in the infancy stage of it.

Adam Cooper (20:01.838)

That's great and a really good example of how I'm sort similar generation to yourself, if I may say. And so when you think back to the beginning of our careers and how it was always about keeping the client in mind, keeping the client first, understanding the pain points that they're feeling, those things never go away, never change. The technology might change or the medium or method might change, but ultimately it's all about trying to solve a problem for someone.

And I think we are very, it's easy to lose sight of that with the sort of the shiny new thing that comes along, right?

Gerri (20:35.438)

Yes, and as I said, you really have two camps. You have brands and businesses that are we need technology, we need to do this, our competitors are doing this, I wanna have this and this and this, and everything's shiny. And then you walk into a store, you only have to go into a lot of the beauty departments. I was in Harvey Nicks last week, and you're like, everything's just shouting at you and competing for attention. And that's what you.

That's a scenario where we don't want technology to play a role because it's overwhelming for the senses and that's what we want to avoid. It needs to be much more subtle, much more interactive and play into making it more personalised for the consumer, not just something really screaming at you. So that's kind of the one camp. Then, as I said before, you get the other camp that it's like, technology, it's gimmicky, it's not premium, we don't feel it's luxury, we don't feel... There's that argument again. And again, it's because it's not being thought strategically and implemented.

as best it can be.

Adam Cooper (21:32.75)

Absolutely, Okay, good stuff. just changing tack slightly, you mentioned that you're working with teams, obviously based in the US, but you're trying to build a team here in the UK. How are you approaching that? You mentioned you haven't got enough hours in the day to do the day job. So how are you finding the time to try and build a team from the ground up as well?

Gerri (21:54.082)

Well, I think that's the challenge, as I said, it's like chicken and egg. We need to land a couple of clients before we can really excel in the team building. I've been working with, I'm trying to work with partners, sort of do mutually beneficial agreements in terms of, I'll scratch your back, know, scratch mine, something like that. it's what you, at the moment I'm exploring kind of which areas we really need to invest in. But, you know, as a startup, you don't have a big pot of money to build that team. So it's really,

sort of cutting it right back and thinking like what is our essential need right now.

to fulfil what we need to achieve and it really is sort of kind of slow steps. So at the moment I'm exploring having someone, because it is about being on social and having presence on there, know, coming on board to sort of assist with the social aspect side of it. But I'm hoping by the end of the year it's going to be a producer and a creative and, you know, a technology bod. That's kind of the goal.

Adam Cooper (22:55.128)

Sounds like you almost have a business plan there and a financial plan. Can I say that?

Gerri (22:57.486)

Almost. Almost.

Adam Cooper (23:02.314)

Excellent, excellent. We're actually joking aside, like do you, how is it working with the team in the US? I know when I've been involved in setting up or starting new businesses where you've got a head office and then you've got satellite offices for want of a better term, there's a business plan and there's a budget and the team that are in the local market have to sort of plan out what they need and then go back if that's sort of being hit or missed.

If I can say that. How is it working with you and Dan and the team over in the US? Have you done it as formally as that or is it a bit more sort of relaxed and flexible?

Gerri (23:38.542)

I would say it's a little bit more relaxed and flexible. We have been very fortunate in the US because there's been, you know, our core, our first client in the US was Tiffany. And obviously we've done some amazing projects with them, which has been brilliant. But there was a lot of people have left and joined new companies. And this is why relationships are so key. So we have been very fortunate to kind of grow organically. That doesn't mean, you know, we had COVID in the middle of this, you know, was all retail was

dead, nobody wants to go to retail, it's all going to be online, we're never going to leave our house ever again. It doesn't matter about the store, it serves no purpose and we've got into that whole world of dark stores, they were just fulfilment centres. I feel we've taken a massive U-turn and it's gone completely the other way and we were just on the cusp of that in the US and I feel that

As I said, we've been very fortunate because our growth has been very organic. actually over there, we are having the other problem where we don't have enough people to fulfill what we need to do, which that's a challenge that we're overcoming and that's in place as we speak. But having satellite teams, obviously the US is huge. So we have certainly like our installed teams are all over, dotted all over the US. So it's just about collaborating and pulling it all together logistically to kind of make it work. But in our world,

Adam Cooper (24:43.566)

Hmm.

Gerri (25:03.896)

you know, we are kind of project, obviously we could have a number of projects happening at any one time, but you know, ultimately it's the installation of what that project is and the execution and then it's just about maintaining it. we don't have to be, we can work in quite an agile way because of the nature of what we do.

Adam Cooper (25:25.13)

Mm-hmm. Okay, great. And I guess final question on the teams. You mentioned there about the partnerships that you're working with and the mutual agreements and the backscratching. What lessons have you sort of learned from that experience that you didn't know before? Because obviously when you're in a corporate environment or agency environment, there will be the odd partnership or the odd opportunity, but it won't be as extensive or as...

scrappy, I guess, as it is when you're when you're doing it as a startup. So what have you learned from that that you weren't aware of before, would you say?

Gerri (25:58.414)

I think everyone you meet, will be... You shouldn't dismiss anyone because relationships are so fundamental in...

in a business and where I'm currently at and doing what I'm doing here in the UK. any expertise, advice, knowledge, you you should take it all. And that for me, you know, I think when you're in sort of backed by that corporal or in that big agency world, you have your internal teams and they, someone does X and someone does X, you you don't feel the need to look outside of the box for that because it's all kind of internal and anything outside of the box because you haven't got it internally. Whereas now I feel like I'm much more open

to all relationships, so to speak, although that can take, again, it comes down to the time. But there is, when you're starting a business, it's all hands to the deck in terms of utilizing those relationships as opposed to your internal teams. So for me, not that I've ever dismissed anyone, but I'm...

I try to maintain as many relationships and try to work together in a mutually beneficial way. I'm always exploring what we can do for each other as opposed to dismissing it at the outset.

Adam Cooper (27:13.006)

No, that's a really good point. You're right in that your perspective of those kinds of relationships has to differ when you're in a corporate world than when you're in a startup scale up world. no, that's interesting. Good lesson. I just sort of...

Gerri (27:20.194)

Yes.

Adam Cooper (27:27.916)

wanted to ask you, you've talked about, you gave the example of Harvey Nicks and future stores and the beauty environment. And so there are certain types of industries or businesses that I guess benefit from what you do and this kind of technology storytelling more than others. Is there a kind of a rule of thumb around which industries or which type of businesses you're approaching or you feel benefit most from it now that again, you're

with your UK hat on, I would say.

Gerri (27:59.854)

I think obviously anyone within a retail space, know, if you've got an estate and you're wanting, you have customers and you're wanting to create an experience, you know, obviously that you don't have to, you can be a luxury, can be, you know, you bargain basement or obviously it doesn't matter. think an area that I'm sort of really interested in is sort of DTC because the growth in that world, again, it goes back to that sort of post COVID and there was so many DTC brands that, you know, we don't need retail.

We, you know, our online business is X, we don't want to do wholesale, you know, that was very much the sort of thinking at that time. But as we've seen, those brands have moved, you you look at...

I'm trying to think of one now like, you look at the growth of Gymshark for example, know, they're growing at an exponential rate and it is all about creating a community, creating an experience, you know, a reason to not just to go and purchase at the store and you know, the store's not transactional, it's a place where people want to hang out and sort of that community feel. So I think the sort of world of D2C and those much more sort of young brands that they want to experiment more.

Adam Cooper (28:47.758)

Hmm.

Gerri (29:13.23)

And it's not about the big budgets, it's like being clever with the budgets and thinking about what it is, the experiences they want to create and then using us working with them to bring that to life from a technology standpoint.

Adam Cooper (29:28.61)

Hmm, definitely. And I guess, you know, one thing you mentioned before was around the sort of implementation and where it can go wrong and potentially not sort of sell what you do as well to the UK market, let's say than the US. But one of the challenges you mentioned is also around content and content being king and creativity.

as a result, so how do you balance that? How do you make sure that you're able to get implementation that works well with creativity and content that works well? I mean, it's the holy grail, I guess, but how do you find sort of working with clients to best balance that to make sure that you tick both boxes?

Gerri (30:13.838)

I think again, we can only advise if we're not working with a client in terms of their content, we are just looking at the technology, we can only advise on what that is and use examples and case studies to support our argument effectively. That's the best you can do. In an ideal world, we would...

do it all and we work with them to, you know, their in-house creative teams or, you their creative agencies to determine what the story is, what the experience is, you know, what the customer outtake is of that. that, you know, obviously then we can bring that into execution. In terms of the actual technology itself, you know, again, we can only work within a budget and offer the best.

product within the scope of budget, but it's about the installation because if you're just looking at screens, if you look closely, if you walk down the high street and you look closely, the installation side of it, the frame that it's in or the way the screen is or the pixels are out, it can look really shabby really, really quickly. So again, it's coming up with the best product, but also it's maintaining that. So when we put anything

Adam Cooper (31:24.279)

Mmm.

Gerri (31:30.474)

in for clients. 

have SLAs, we have frequent trips back to maintain it and again that comes back to our kind of agency proposition as opposed to just being an integrator because a lot of people are just you know build it, install it and then that's it, that's their job done. So we do much more hand-holding in terms of that.

And as I said, the content side of it, can only advise. And if we do have the opportunity to work with other creatives, or we have our own in-house creatives in the US as well, it's a real mixture. And it's a real mixture in terms of what the client wants, really. There's no set rule by any means. It's not that, you know, my days, was like we'd come up with a creative campaign or a shopper campaign, or, you know, it's not as rigid as that. And with any kind of new client, and you know this, you kind of start with small steps.

get their confidence in you, build their confidence in you and then you can kind of build, know, not sell in but effectively, you know, develop that partnership further.

Adam Cooper (32:28.398)

Excellent. Okay, good. so changing tack and I'm moving on to what we call our business book bonus section. And this is where we ask our guests to recommend a business book or podcast or other resource that's been really influential for you in your journey that you could recommend to the audience. So what can you recommend, Gerri? What's been helpful for you?

Gerri (32:52.462)

So for anyone that's worked kind of agency side, you know it can be a stressful place. There's lots of egos and personalities to manage and there's lots of daily pressures internally and externally. And then the production agency I worked for, I was the only female on a board. So that came with its challenges. So one of the books that really, really helped me was actually The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters. I don't know if you're familiar with that.

but just really how to cope in stressful situations and how to react. And it's all about kind of training that reaction because as human beings, we have a tendency to react. And if you ask my husband, you could probably say that, you know, I'm not always the most patient and my reaction isn't always the best one with him and I, but in a professional world, you have to train that and you have to work at that. And that comes with experience.

So I think in my early years of working within account management, that was something that really helped me and supported me in terms of driving forward what I needed to do and how to manage those different personalities and pressures.

Adam Cooper (33:58.542)

Excellent, okay, that's a great one. Chimp paradox Steve Peters will put a link to that in the show notes and I know As am I that's as I said earlier, think similar similar generation, but like the oldest of the goodies right? Oldest of the goodies, so

Gerri (34:02.638)

It's an old book, I am old.

Exactly. But podcasts, I listen to a lot of the retail podcasts that, you know, it keeps you up to date and abreast if you're not out visiting stores and malls. inside retail is one that I listen to quite a lot. Retail gets real. Rethink retail. So very retail orientated. But in terms of people, a person I...

really quite aligned with in terms of sort of viewpoints. Although he is somewhat controversial at times. It's Scott Galloway, I don't know if you're familiar with him. And he does a very good podcast called Pivot with Kara Swisher. And I do actually find it quite entertaining. So yeah, that's kind of up there for me at the moment.

Adam Cooper (34:41.848)

Yeah, I know him.

Adam Cooper (34:51.982)

That's a good one as well, because I think he's based in the UK now and she's over in the US, right?

Gerri (34:54.912)

He is, he had to leave the US because he couldn't handle it anymore. I think he lives around Marleybone somewhere.

Adam Cooper (34:58.318)

He's done a runner. Yeah, no, I think so. No, he's great and that's a great podcast. So good recommendations there. Thank you. And before we wrap up, is there anything that we haven't covered that you'd like to mention or if not, where can the audience connect with you and learn more about what you're doing?

Gerri (35:16.366)

So I think we've sort of had a good sort of coverage in terms of what we do and hopefully I've responded to your questions adequately and sort of fulfilled what we needed to do. yeah, find me on LinkedIn, Gerri Phillips and then Cue Gravity is just our website, qgravity.com.

Adam Cooper (35:36.426)

Excellent, excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining me today on the Fractional CFO show, Gerri. Really appreciate your insight, your perspective and your time. Thank you.

Gerri (35:44.344)

Thank you so much for having me.