Chris Gale
Chris completed his BA (Hons) in Marketing in 2005. After five years in advertising in London, he recently co-founded an ambitious advertising agency – and he’s not looking back.
A head start
"I thoroughly enjoyed Bristol - it's a great place to study and my course covered all aspects of business life, so I left with a good set of business skills. My placement year with Eurosport really helped my career, too. It helped me focus on what I wanted to achieve. It also led to a permanent job offer from them two years later.
My first job after graduation was selling advertising space for the Haymarket Media Group in London. I only spent nine months there, but I learned some important skills, such as negotiating, closing sales and managing clients.
Then I got the call from Eurosport in 2006, inviting me to join their advertising team. I worked my way up to Group Head of International Advertising, managing a team that creates television, online and mobile advertising campaigns for blue chip clients.
Going it alone
It was a great job, but I'd always wanted to set up my own business, so in May 2010 I co-founded Odyssey Mobile Interaction with a fellow industry executive. We're an advertising agency focusing on mobile phone technology - primarily smartphones and the marketing opportunities they present. We help our clients make the most of this new medium, by creating marketing campaigns that connect them directly with consumers.
Starting from scratch
There's a lot to get to grips with when starting your own business. Everything from creating a website to designing a logo, and deciding how to position ourselves in the market. One minute I'm pitching to large blue chip clients, the next minute I could be filing. But we've been really lucky to have friends and contacts who helped get this up and running. They saved us a lot of time and money in the early days.
The best bit is being my own boss. It's so exciting seeing things taking shape as we attract more clients. On the downside, I often work 12-hour days, seven days a week. There's just so much to do!
It wasn't an ideal time to start a business, and taking the plunge took courage, but I don't regret it one bit. We've only been running nine months, and already we have some great clients, including Warner Brothers, William Hill and Eurosport - so we're heading in the right direction."
Page last updated 10 August 2011