Tim glances down at his phone. 19 comments on the latest post uploaded to his LinkedIn profile. Today he’s a speaker at the biggest technology conferences in the USA. His LinkedIn followers will be able to enjoy videos of his keynote, and his company has just been featured in a magazine as one of the most profitable start-ups for the last financial year. Abreast of the latest trends, Tim’s considering launching his profile in the metaverse. He’s been invited to a workshop next week to weigh his options.
But how? How does a busy CEO like Tim, with 4 regional offices and a large team find the time to manage his businesses, while creating relatable thought leadership content?
You could say that Briar Prestidge, CEO, and founder of Prestidge Group, is always striving ahead. Raised in the rural New Zealand town of Darfield, she envisioned a life far greater than she could have imagined for herself than what a sleepy small town could offer. And that is both the charm and the edge of Briar. She doesn’t need to see the full picture before she makes a move. She’s able to turn ideas into lucrative realities. And her clients are the beneficiaries of her visionary approach.
Prestidge Group was one of the world’s first personal branding agencies for executives and the voice elite clients from all over the globe, supporting them from their offices in Dubai and New York. After what many people initially dismissed as a trend, personal branding has now grown to a market value of over USD 7.26 billion. And it’s Briar and her team’s innovative approach that sets their agency apart from the traditional PR pedlars.
Briar was cutting her teeth in corporate at a time when most of her peers were being distracted by social media in 2015. Fashion and beauty influencers or content creators, as we now know them, had started to amass large communities of people on social media. Briar explains: “It was clear to me that social media was beginning to drive media as a whole. Rather than reading physical magazines or newspapers, people had redirected their attention and were spending hours on the likes of Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. So why weren’t CEOs using their social media channels to post thought leadership, and weaving into their corporate communications strategy? It seems so funny to think back now, as in today’s world many CEOs are active on social media, but back then it did take a while for them to adopt it. At Prestidge Group over the years, we have seen first-hand how well-positioned content builds trust with your consumers and stakeholders. It also generates media interviews and keynote opportunities. The best part? You’re in control of your narrative and what is shared to your community on social media in case there is a crisis.”
And for Briar, life is a constant evolution. For the last year, she has been exploring how to take CEO brands into virtual reality into what we may one day call the metaverse. When asked about the future of social media, Briar said: “We now place huge weights on our digital identities and people are very reliant on social media, even more so since the pandemic. I believe that the future of the metaverse will continue to be a natural progression for how people will interact digitally in the future. It will impact all parts of our personal and professional lives.”
When asked about her recipe for success, Briar credits curiosity and commitment, “I’ve learned the value in not dismissing trends outright. My attitude has been to stay curious and I’m always open to change. Our brands should evolve, just as we do as individuals and society does over time. How can we stay relevant? How can we be part of the current narrative, and also drive it forward? This commitment to evolution gets me up an hour earlier each day. It makes me squeeze in an extra meeting. It pushes me to do better for myself and our clients.”
When she’s not with her team catapulting clients’ profiles, Briar Prestidge is designing her suit collection BRIAR PRESTIDGE – The Label, and elevating youth and entrepreneurs through her work as an NLP business practitioner and mentor for start-up communities and universities.
Briar Prestidge has her sights firmly set on the future. And when the future comes, her clients will be there waiting to greet us. While Briar will likely be found drafting the blueprints for how we travel deeper, and more successfully into time.
