team gb olympic athlete partners with national media and marketing agency

Media and marketing company, the Ascot Group, has announced it will be sponsoring an Olympic hopeful in 2023.

The Ascot Group, which is made up of seven companies including Business Leader, will be wholeheartedly supporting young Judo star, Lele Nairne, as part of its ongoing commitment and investment to make a positive impact on the wider community.

Born and raised in the South West of England, Lele is an incredible athlete, and the Ascot Group has agreed to support her ambitions of becoming an Olympic medallist and Judo world champion.

Andrew Scott, CEO and Founder of the Ascot Group, said: “I’m delighted to announce that we will be sponsoring and financially backing Lele’s training and worldwide competitions throughout the year.

“Lele is a fantastic athlete who has trained in Judo for most of her life. She has already ranked 23rd in the world and now has her sights firmly set on the 2024 Paris Olympics.

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“Lele is someone we can really get behind and be incredibly proud of. Her drive and passion for Judo is inspirational, it’s clear that she lives and breathes everything associated with the sport.

“I can’t wait for the whole Ascot team to show its support for Lele as she embarks on this exciting journey to Olympic success.”

Lele Nairne comments: “It’s amazing to have the Ascot Group and its group of companies agree to be a sponsor. I’ve got some really exciting things in the pipeline for the next 12 months and with the support from Andrew and his team, I’ll be a step closer to achieving my goals.”

Embracing YouTube before most people had even heard of it, through perseverance and grit, Caspar Lee rose to become one of the biggest content creators on the planet.

From his bedroom as a teenager in South Africa, he built his channel amassing a seismic following and leading him to collaborate with many of the world’s biggest stars including Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Ed Sheeran and Kevin Hart.

Caspar leveraged his success and cofounded a global influencer marketing business. The company operates globally with 100+ employees and boasts many of the world’s leading brands as clients, including Coca-Cola and Google. He also co-founded Creator Ventures, a $20m VC fund investing in start-ups alongside a syndicate of top creators, musicians, athletes and actors.

We met at his company Influencer’s offices for an exclusive discussion about his transition from YouTuber to entrepreneur, tips for raising investment, failure and much more.

CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND?

I was grew up in South Africa. When I was sixteen, I launched a YouTube channel, and my family and friends didn’t think it was very good. After two years, I only had one thousand subscribers, but I stuck with it, and it began to improve.

I started to collaborate with other YouTubers and eventually built an audience of over six million subscribers and I was able to travel around the world. The creator economy opened lots of opportunities for me.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?

I have a business I founded called Influencer. We have over a hundred employees, five offices around the world and we work with brands like Google and Coca-Cola.

I also have a talent management company with Joe Sugg and an investor fund called Creator Ventures, which has $20m to invest in consumer internet companies and those in the creator economy and social media space.

IT MUST HAVE BEEN DIFFICULT BEING ONE OF THE FIRST YOUTUBERS AND PEOPLE TELLING YOU IT WASN’T A CAREER?

Yes, it was. When I was sixteen, people were saying ‘Caspar why don’t you just stop and get a proper job?’ Within the last three years, I have noticed a big change in the space, and it’s now seen as a ‘legitimate’ career where you can make money and be successful, whereas it wasn’t when I started out.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IN THE FIELD?

Collaboration, consistency, and creativity. The most important is collaboration, not only within creating content but now within business and brand building too.

Creativity also means just putting things out there and throwing ideas into the world. People don’t care if every video is perfectly produced and how it performs. It’s about being consistent and getting stuff out.

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO A BUSINESS OWNER WHO SAYS THAT SOCIAL MEDIA ISN’T FOR THEM?

I would say it is becoming relevant to all businesses. For example, I have a student accommodation company in Cape Town. It’s a traditional sector but we’re using social media to build a brand because our current and future customers are looking at brands online and their social media accounts before they buy.

If you walk up the street and see a gross coffee shop, you’re not going to go in. It’s the same if you come across a bad Instagram or Facebook page for a business – you might not engage with them. It just needs to be good enough because it may not be your primary source for business but it’s there in the background. It needs to be good because people will find it and search for these pages whilst they are checking out your company.

HOW HAS IT BEEN TO ADAPT FROM BEING A CONTENT CREATOR TO AN ENTREPRENEUR?

There are many differences but also so many similarities. When you are an entrepreneur, you are forced to build a team but as a content creator, you can get away with doing everything on your own.

Also, with a business that has one hundred people, I can take a step back and have weekends to myself as I know that together we are building something, and I am not relying just on myself.

As a creator, when you become successful, people want to work with you and you can create cashflow easily. However, when you start a business, you realise how difficult it is to make money. Even if you do an amazing job, you can still lose clients. This forces you to create a different structure and surround yourself with the best talent.

HAS BEING IN BUSINESS CHANGED YOU?

I feel as though I am always learning and adapting. I’m currently focusing on taking the ego out of things and not trying to create narratives around people, as in life we can be quick to judge and create personas of people that aren’t as they should be.

People can have a bad day but that shouldn’t define them. It’s not about anecdotal feelings you have, it’s about what somebody is achieving day-to-day and the results they are delivering.

IT IS CURRENTLY A TOUGH TIME FOR MANY BUSINESS LEADERS – ARE YOU FEELING THIS TOO?

It is a tough time in the AdTech space, but influencer marketing is growing. We’re doing well but it’s not always been by design and I can’t say that I have planned all of the good things that have happened.

In business, things can happen outside of your control, but you must deal with them. I find it frustrating when you see people who are successful in business saying how great they are and how they planned it. But when things go wrong, they blame outside factors. You need to be consistent.

CAN YOU SEE YOURSELF SETTING UP ANY OTHER BUSINESSES?

Yes I can, because I don’t need to go in and be the expert and run all of the operations. The skills I have are around marketing, social media and content creation and they are transferrable to other sectors. I have been lucky enough to have people that understand the sector they are working in, and they want to bring me in to collaborate.

Social media is so important for both consumer and B2B businesses – I have partners who will know the market and I can add value with my expertise.

YOU HAVE A $20M FUND YOU ARE INVESTING IN COMPANIES – WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

It’s seed to Series A funding and we’re looking for companies that already have traction and we will deploy between £100k and £500k into a business, alongside other investors. Who the lead investor is will influence our decision because having good people alongside will make a difference.

We also want to make sure we can help the business – do they understand social media and marketing and do they need the help of content creators? We invest in businesses where we can add value.

You will see that we also bring famous actors or sports stars – like Patrice Evra –into deals and this makes our fund unique.

DO YOU BELIEVE THE TREND OF TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES CELEBRATING A FUNDRAISE WILL CHANGE AND FOCUS MORE ON MAKING MONEY?

Yes, I do. It is no longer as cool to raise money at a crazy valuation. People have realised that many of the businesses that do this end up falling over. By pushing yourself to have a high valuation, you’re shooting yourself in the foot because you need to prove to investors you can justify this. Start at a lower valuation and have consistent growth and don’t put that pressure on yourself.

People are so fixated on numbers and you can raise capital at a huge valuation but what is the point if you have given away tonnes of equity and you may not get to see any return? You’ve essentially trapped yourself, but many people are drawn to doing this because they can announce it online.

WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO BUSINESSES LOOKING TO RAISE FUNDING?

The devil is in the detail. Make sure you’re aligning yourself with a partner that will give you and your business a strategic benefit. Don’t give deals and discounts to some investors and not others too because it can look bad.

You also need to put a lot of effort into learning your presentation and preparing the questions you may be asked. Don’t pitch for somebody’s money without knowing the product inside out.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS YOUR ‘WHY’?

To have fun, to learn, and to make a difference. I will also say that money will not make you happy. There is a study that shows that if you earn $70,000 you can be comfortable in life and earning anything additional doesn’t bring further happiness.

Of course, if you have no money, then money can help, but generally more and more won’t bring you happiness. In fact, lots of wealth is meant to give people freedom but it can sometimes do the opposite. 