Gerry Hopkinson's guest appearances

Gerry Hopkinson

The PRovoke Media Podcast

PRmoment Podcast

The New Abnormal

Chris McCafferty

Lord Chadlington

Mitch Kaye

Burson Cohn

Jim Hawker

Barbara Bates

Weber Shandwick

Dan Glover

Torod Neptune

Alex Grier

Asad Dhunna

Andrew Bloch

Francis Ingham

Tim Sutton

Brian Morrissey

OwlTail

Series ThreeThis episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features Gerry Hopkinson, CEO of Selbey Labs, part of Selbey Anderson - the UK's fastest growing independent marketing group.  The mission of Selbey Labs is to deliver prediction powered by data, people and imagination.Gerry's interested in finding patterns and short-cuts to understand and predict human behaviour, market shifts, cultural shifts, new market and business models - anything that might minimise threats or maximise opportunities for people, agencies and clients.Selbey Labs harness data science, AI, psychology, ethnography, forecasting, semiotics, behavioural design (and a few other things...) to inform their work and create new tools and methodologies. Gerry's a big believer in the synthetic act i.e. taking a number of components and creating a system that does something new and useful = creative innovation.In this interview we discuss all of the above, along with the experience he gained running previous agencies and of his viewpoints around the dynamic concept of  'Anticipatory Leadership'.

Series Three This episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features Gerry Hopkinson, CEO of Selbey Labs, part of Selbey Anderson - the UK's fastest growing independent marketing group.  The mission of Selbey Labs is to deliver prediction powered by data, people and imagination. Gerry's interested in finding patterns and short-cuts to understand and predict human behaviour, market shifts, cultural shifts, new market and business models - anything that might minimise threats or maximise opportunities for people, agencies and clients. Selbey Labs harness data science, AI, psychology, ethnography, forecasting, semiotics, behavioural design (and a few other things...) to inform their work and create new tools and methodologies. Gerry's a big believer in the synthetic act i.e. taking a number of components and creating a system that does something new and useful = creative innovation. In this interview we discuss all of the above, along with the experience he gained running previous agencies and of his viewpoints around the dynamic concept of  'Anticipatory Leadership'.

Gerry Hopkinson 'Making sense of a changing world'

This week on the PRmoment podcast, I’m interviewing Gerry Hopkinson, owner and CEO of Unity.Unity is a £2.7m fee income consumer PR consultancy based in London. Clients include the likes of Axa, Vue, Freesat and AEG. Unity’s fee income has grown by 30% in the last 12 months.Gerry is a Canadian who came to the UK aged 24. His early career was spent at PR agencies QBO and Band and Brown. He also had a stint in-house at Mastercard. Gerry co-launched Unity with Nik Govier in 2005.As many of our listeners will know Nik Govier left Unity in 2018. [00:01:43] Gerry tells us about Unity's hectic couple of years[00:04:59] What do brands want from their public relations? What is its function? What needs does public relations answer for clients and for wider society?[00:06:55] Why truth is, by its very nature, subjective. [00:07:23] How do you bring emotion to ideas and facts so that people really feel them and act upon them?[00:08:07] Why most politicians are either engineers or magicians. [00:10:42] Why modern public relations needs to be about psychology, social science and behavioural science.[00:13:15] Gerry talks about the concept of social proof and its relevance in communications – how we as humans tend to believe and want to do what others are doing.[00:16:03] Gerry describes the break up of his and Nik Govier’s partnership as "like a divorce" and how he still has still has "huge affection and admiration and respect for her."[00:16:20] How for many "relationships, there is a natural course. All things come to an end." [00:17:26] How Gerry went through a pretty formal process of self-criticism when Nik Govier left the business. Where he asked himself "What am I good at?” and "What am I not good at?"[00:24:12] Gerry explains what he means by the statement "Unity is my life".[00:25:06] Gerry identifies three things "that had come unstuck" at Unity version one. [00:28:31] Why learning is what gives Gerry the most enjoyment at work.[00:28:53] Why Gerry believes "for capitalism to survive, it must evolve."[00:30:01] How a lack of trust is eroding a lot of what we take for granted in civil society.[00:30:50] Why the way we create wealth and create jobs is starting to have a pretty serious and unsustainable impact on the world.[00:33:35] What does purpose mean to the SMEs of this world?[00:35:57] Over the course of his career, who have Gerry's mentors been and what has he learnt from them? [00:38:40] Why Gerry has built Unity's employer brand on "hustlers and dreamers."[00:40:22] Gerry talks us through the lessons he's learnt during Unity's tough times and the good times. [00:41:11] Why agencies must decide if they are consultants or outsourcers.[00:44:01] Unity as a business has often hovered just below the £3 million pound fee income level – Gerry talks about how he wants to break through that.[00:46:07] Why Gerry hopes Unity will make an acquisition or two...

This week on the PRmoment podcast, I’m interviewing Gerry Hopkinson, owner and CEO of Unity.Unity is a £2.7m fee income consumer PR consultancy based in London. Clients include the likes of Axa, Vue, Freesat and AEG. Unity’s fee income has grown by 30% in the last 12 months.Gerry is a Canadian who came to the UK aged 24. His early career was spent at PR agencies QBO and Band and Brown. He also had a stint in-house at Mastercard. Gerry co-launched Unity with Nik Govier in 2005.As many of our listeners will know Nik Govier left Unity in 2018. [00:01:43] Gerry tells us about Unity's hectic couple of years[00:04:59] What do brands want from their public relations? What is its function? What needs does public relations answer for clients and for wider society?[00:06:55] Why truth is, by its very nature, subjective. [00:07:23] How do you bring emotion to ideas and facts so that people really feel them and act upon them?[00:08:07] Why most politicians are either engineers or magicians. [00:10:42] Why modern public relations needs to be about psychology, social science and behavioural science.[00:13:15] Gerry talks about the concept of social proof and its relevance in communications – how we as humans tend to believe and want to do what others are doing.[00:16:03] Gerry describes the break up of his and Nik Govier’s partnership as "like a divorce" and how he still has still has "huge affection and admiration and respect for her."[00:16:20] How for many "relationships, there is a natural course. All things come to an end." [00:17:26] How Gerry went through a pretty formal process of self-criticism when Nik Govier left the business. Where he asked himself "What am I good at?” and "What am I not good at?"[00:24:12] Gerry explains what he means by the statement "Unity is my life".[00:25:06] Gerry identifies three things "that had come unstuck" at Unity version one. [00:28:31] Why learning is what gives Gerry the most enjoyment at work.[00:28:53] Why Gerry believes "for capitalism to survive, it must evolve."[00:30:01] How a lack of trust is eroding a lot of what we take for granted in civil society.[00:30:50] Why the way we create wealth and create jobs is starting to have a pretty serious and unsustainable impact on the world.[00:33:35] What does purpose mean to the SMEs of this world?[00:35:57] Over the course of his career, who have Gerry's mentors been and what has he learnt from them? [00:38:40] Why Gerry has built Unity's employer brand on "hustlers and dreamers."[00:40:22] Gerry talks us through the lessons he's learnt during Unity's tough times and the good times. [00:41:11] Why agencies must decide if they are consultants or outsourcers.[00:44:01] Unity as a business has often hovered just below the £3 million pound fee income level – Gerry talks about how he wants to break through that.[00:46:07] Why Gerry hopes Unity will make an acquisition or two...

Gerry Hopkinson, owner and CEO of Unity, on The PRmoment podcast

Jackie Cooper

Two of the PR world's leading creative lights join the Echo Chamber after their agencies — Edelman and Unity — came top of the Holmes Report's recent Global Creative Index. In conjunction with Arun Sudhaman, the group discuss what sets the best public relations work apart, talk about the PR industry's efforts to become more creative, and explore differences between creativity in PR and advertising.

Two of the PR world's leading creative lights join the Echo Chamber after their agencies — Edelman and Unity — came top of the Holmes Report's recent <a href="http://www.holmesreport.com/long-reads/article/edelman-and-unity-top-2016-global-creative-index" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Global Creative Index</a>. In conjunction with Arun Sudhaman, the group discuss what sets the best public relations work apart, talk about the PR industry's efforts to become more creative, and explore differences between creativity in PR and advertising.

Creativity + PR with Edelman's Jackie Cooper &amp; Unity's Gerry Hopkinson.