Kathleen Griffith joins Lisa Berger, Edward Hertzman and Dalia Strum in the MouthMedia Network studios for this week’s episode of Content is your Business. Kathleen Griffith is the founder/CEO of Grayce & Co, an agency working with general market brands to future-proof strategy by considering women in their narrative, and female-equity brands to go further and faster with women.
The relationship between big and small brands with marketing
Griffith shares how her strategy agency works with the entire supply chain, including content strategy, working with iconic brands like Vice and Verizon, along with a big opportunity with small and emerging brands. She discusses how the agency can leverage what they learn from smaller companies for big brand clients, and bring big brand thinking to smaller upstarts. She brings up Glossier as an example and explores the focus on women entrepreneurs creating editorial and informative media content squarely around what women need without pushing product or service, putting editorial and media first and product second, and how conversations often start with that and the fact that a brand is getting something wrong with female consumers. Griffith mentions the need for greater intimacy and access into the lives of women, and how creative often misses the mark, why advertising isn’t enough, and how the solution isn’t mere storytelling, but often instead positioning the message as a “girlfriend”.
Build Like a Woman
Griffith wanted an opportunity to work with people who want to create positive messaging, to speak to the audience in a more nuanced way, so she began creating a culture of people she wanted to work with. She explains the deep attention to culture within the agency, and how many things revolve around food and the touching family genesis of the name Grayce & Co. Griffith talks about her experience with Build Like a Woman, where she took initiative which involved taking agency services and democratizing them with aspects including intelligence, growth, project management, a digital grand playbook, and a business plan, Build Like a Woman. She discusses the goal to get these women to seven figures or beyond, for pre-seed and then so they can raise money. She also clarifies why it’s not for her agency to determine whether a woman is qualified - if the founder believes an idea, it’s good for them. Plus, a debate about what makes a quality startup.
What’s next?
Finally, Griffith talks about working with Cannes Lions , and “See It, Be It”, which gave her the opportunity to work with the “world’s biggest festival and awards for the creative and marketing communications, entertainment, design and tech industries”, and how the industry is behind driving change, moving from 3% creative directors to more than 10% already. Personal questions are answered by Griffith, with mentions of significant inspiration from other people, being the compilation of the five people closest to you, what one would do if one weren’t afraid, and freefalling and catching oneself. To listen to the full podcast, click here!