Meet the MF team - Virginia Bray

Official Job Title

Director

But what do you actually do?

I divide my time between running the business and managing projects. It is as important for me to spend time managing our operations and drumming up new business, as it is delivering day to day marketing assignments for our clients.

So if you could write an alternative job title that really describes what you do…

Chief Plate Spinner.

Tell us a bit about your background

I have worked in the technology sector for most of my career and experienced the industry in many different guises. Prior to founding Marketing Fusion with Diana, I ran marketing teams and sales operations for various tech companies both large and small, then worked for agencies for 10 years. I have seen some of the ups and downs of businesses achieving great success and then falling on tougher times. This has put me in a strong position to weather the storms of running our own company and I believe has helped us stand the test of time.

What have been your career highlights so far?

Getting Marketing Fusion off the ground in pretty challenging economic circumstances is something of which I am extremely proud. They say that 50% of new businesses fail in the first year but we have been growing steadily for 6 years now. Diana and I founded the company in 2013 – we started the business from scratch as two experienced freelancers joining forces and now have a team of 6. Having our own agency is a dream come true and continues to be a huge career highlight for me.

Favourite client project and why?

We had a very exciting project working for a high profile print company, where helped them make the shift from a traditional product-focused approach, to a storytelling people-focused one. We created a series of videos which featured the central character Claire, an office manager, and built a set of stories about how the products affected her life - making small but significant improvements to her working day. These ideas evolved into a series of campaign kits which were translated into different languages and used in multiple countries. I really enjoyed introducing this client to the power of storytelling, and the long lifespan of this campaign is testament to its effectiveness.

What exciting projects do you have coming up?

Telling the MF story! We’re like the classic cobbler’s children whose father is too busy to mend their shoes, so this year we have decided to really focus on marketing our own brand, by ramping up our digital profile and refreshing our content. We want to bring our online presence to life to fully reflect the innovation, creativity and energy we put into our work.

What qualities do you bring to the Marketing Fusion team?

I’m definitely calm in the face of a crisis. I’m like the proverbial duck – relaxed on the surface, swimming frantically underneath!

Favourite tools of the trade?

HubSpot is such a great tool for managing many of our operations and giving us an overview of the business. It’s a day to day holding pot for a lot of our information and I find it indispensable. I use it for prospecting, business development, managing operations, email and our own marketing.

What makes Marketing Fusion stand out from the crowd?

I believe the fact that we’re not a traditional agency sets us apart. Some of the things we do for our clients go beyond what you would normally expect an agency to do, as we try to guide our clients as well as delivering the campaigns they need. For example, we can help devise or co-develop a brief, and support people to step back and define what they really want to achieve from a project. We don’t just deliver campaigns, we support them in achieving their business goals.

Describe Marketing Fusion in a 5-word sentence

Creating and executing the vision.

If you could take Marketing Fusion on a team building day, where would you go?

I like doing practical activities where you have something to show for your efforts at the end of the day, so I think a Cordon Bleu cookery course would be brilliant. The team have varying degrees of expertise in the kitchen so it would be a fun (and hopefully delicious) bonding exercise!

How will you be spending your next day off?

Trying to wrench my mind away from work! I live in the countryside on the edge of some beautiful forestry land with lakes and woodlands, and we have some lovely country pubs in the area. So I’ll be meeting a friend and the plan is to go for a long country walk with Max the dog in tow, followed by a cosy pub lunch.

Final question: If you were to trade places with a famous or successful person for one month, who would you like that person to be?

I would love to trade places with Karren Brady on The Apprentice. She gets to be a fly on the wall in some outrageous situations which look hilarious. It’s such fun to see the shenanigans of the contestants who supposedly work ‘in business’, but don’t do business in any way that’s recognisable to me!