How To Unlock Those Milestones To Launch Her Own Business; The Content Cloud.
Pro Perspectives
Liv Gascoine has worked with every brand you want on your hit list from New Balance to Gymshark and every influencer you want to work with such as Saffron Barker and Lily Sabri. She is the queen of influencer marketing so how did she unlock all of those milestones to then launch her own business; The Content Cloud.
Name: Liv Gascoine
Job Title: Co-founder of The Content Cloud Network and Freelance Influencer Manager
1. What do you *actually* do day to day?
I run a creator content agency partnering brands to content creators for social activations. Working with influencers, briefing creators and supporting brands to win on social. Mostly chatting with brands and creators we love, to get them together to create shit hot content. As a start-up agency, lots of pitching to new clients, bringing creators onto our cloud, briefing in content and spending way too many hours on TikTok.
2. What’s your plotted career history?
I started as a fashion intern at Connects, (6 months)
Then moved to communications agency Gung Ho, convinced them to give me an internship where I convinced them I could lead all of their influencer gifting and partnerships which at the time they have started to activate for clients, but they didn't really know how. Three years later I was managing influencer partnerships and campaign shoots and activations for New Balance, Speedo, Ellesse and many more. Moved through intern - exec - senior exec but left in need for progression and more ££.
Moved to Fanbytes - as an account manager (for one month lol) as my dream job at Gymshark came up as an athlete sponsorship manager. I was there for 1.5 years and managed the likes of Saffron Barker, Lily Sabri, Milly G Fit, Busy Bee Carys and was essentially the middleman between the UK female athletes and the brand team. Responsible for managing how we activate our ambassadors, managing their yearlong contracts + ensuring we were working with them in interesting ways.
Following Gymshark's restructure I decided to move back to London and started as Influencer Manager at VMLYR working solely at Boots UK. I was there for a year, and it was in this role that I really saw the value and true ROI of working with grassroots and 'UGC creators' for content and conversion working with traditional influencers and where myself and my business partner found the gap for an agency that could connect brands with content creators in a reactive way.
3. What got you into your chosen career path?
Deciding to write my dissertation on influencer marketing because I realised everything I loved was related to it - bloggers, social media, tastemakers and how brands work with them. And then seeing Sedge launch her agency via an Instagram post and sending you a DM I think at 11pm one night after a night out in Nottingham Trent, and before I knew it was interviewing and got the job.
4. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received in your career?
If it doesn’t make you rich, happy or famous, don’t do it. (still working on this)
5. If you were starting the working world today, what area interests you and why?
Maybe the tech side of influencer marketing, I would start the first influencer tool platform.
6. In your career, what was the moment when you felt like you really went to the NXT LVL?
600+ people applied for my Gymshark job so when I finally got that job and met Ben Francis over a slice of pizza, that was a very exciting moment.
7. What’s the wildest part of your career?
Going to Utah at the start of the year with a client and going to a shooting range as a 'relationship builder' was pretty wild but also pitching to brands like L’Oréal Paris and Office shoes when we're a start-up agency always feels pretty wild.
8. What’s is your superpower and the one thing you’re really fucking good at?
Turning around projects in a couple of weeks at a standard that traditional agencies can take months to execute.
9. What would be your biggest pointer for someone trying to get a job like yours?
Grow a network of creators, brands and contacts - having a network is the key to starting an agency.
10. What’s in store for you for the NXT big thing?
We're hoping to launch a content studio in the next few months and starting to manage creator first campaign shoots from coming up with the concept for OOH, website + social so we're super excited to see our creators in stores, on websites and not even just on social, but in more traditional marketing.