Greg Jones, managing director of Mischief, on the PRmoment podcast

PRmoment Podcast

This week on the PRmoment podcast I’m interviewing Greg Jones, managing director of Mischief.

Mischief has a fee income of approximately £5m and employs 55 people. It’s part of the Engine Group. Mischief’s sister PR agency within Engine is the corporate shop MHP.

Greg’s a rare example in PR of a creative director who has got the top job.

He started his career at Shine, before stints at Slice (Engine’s consumer PR firm at the time) and then moving to M&C Saatchi before co-founding his own business called Glass Jar. He then moved on to Splendid and finally back to Engine joining Mischief as creative director before getting the CEO job last year, when Frankie Cory left.

[00:01:49] Greg talks us through how he took over as the CEO of Mischief when Frankie Cory left last year.

[00:03:19] Why hustle has remained part of the Mischief DNA from the day that it was formed by Mitchell Kaye.

[00:03:56] Why there have been three stages of Mischief.

[00:04:10] How can creative agencies age and retain their “heat”?

[00:04:34] Was Greg surprised when Frankie Cory left?

[00:05:28] Why the agency CEO role is such a stressful job.

[00:05:55] How Greg looks back on his time at Shine with Rachel Bell, 10 years ago, as a vital part of him preparing for his current CEO role.

[00:07:44] Why, when Greg knew Frankie Cory was going to leave, his instinct was not to go for the MD role.

[00:09:08] Does Greg believe that we're going to see more creatives become the CEO of PR firms?

[00:11:01] Why Greg, before he joined Shine in 2002, described himself as a "lost soul".

[00:12:50] Why Rachel Bell gave Greg the self confidence he needed for his career to thrive – and why before meeting her, he didn't have that.

[00:15:05] How Greg founded an agency called Glass Jar and eventually decided that running his own business was not for him.

[00:21:16] How come Greg is a qualified psychotherapist?

[00:27:54] Why brands increasingly want creativity that works in a consumer market and across a corporate context.

[00:30:44] What type of work does Mischief do today?

[00:32:48] As part of the Engine Group – to what extent does Greg work alongside his advertising and creative peers across shared clients?