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Greg Thompson
president / Partner at Big Loud
Professional Background
Greg Thompson brings over two decades of unparalleled experience as a senior executive in the Music, Entertainment, and Media industries. Recognized for his exceptional leadership skills, Greg has mastered the art of developing visionary strategies, meticulously implementing detailed plans, and inspiring teams to achieve ambitious goals. His career showcases an impressive record of adaptability and persuasive communication, making him a trusted figure among clients and colleagues alike. Greg's leadership expertise spans various critical areas, making him a highly sought-after executive in the music industry.
General Management
In his role as Executive Vice President at Capitol Music Group, Greg managed an expansive team of over 120 staff members across several prestigious labels, including Capitol, Virgin, Astralwerks, Motown, Blue Note, Capitol Christian Music, and Capitol Nashville. His role involved overseeing cross-functional department management across various sectors, including sales, promotion, marketing, publicity, creative services and video production, digital planning and production, strategic research and insight, and in-house brand partnership agency work. This pivotal experience allowed Greg to not only strengthen these functions but ensure a cohesive approach to talent and project management, resulting in enhanced operational efficiency and success.
360 Organizational Strategy & New Business Development
A significant achievement in Greg's career was during the merger of EMI Music Group with Universal Music Group, where he played a crucial role in the organizational strategy, transformation, and restructuring of the business. His leadership was vital during the relocation of headquarters from New York to Hollywood, CA. His strategic insight and management acumen guided Capitol Music Group into a new era of growth and evolution, successfully navigating the complexities associated with major industry mergers.
Visionary Brand Building & Marketing Strategy
Greg's innovative approach to marketing and brand building has left an indelible mark on the careers of some of the music industry's greatest artists, including U2, Madonna, Katy Perry, Coldplay, Lady Antebellum, Sam Smith, and 5 Seconds of Summer. His ability to creatively foster artist development and brand positioning has led to worldwide acclaim and commercial success. His philosophical approach emphasizes the collective power of creativity, strategy, and passion that resonates through the artist's connection to their fans. This visionary marketing strategy continues to serve as a standard for success within the industry.
Financial Acumen
Greg has demonstrated extensive financial acumen throughout his career, supervising multi-million dollar marketing and promotion budgets. He has a sharp eye for identifying opportunities that yield significant revenue growth through alternative sources such as brand licensing deals, tour sponsorships, and partnerships with major media conglomerates. His strategic financial oversight has allowed organizations to thrive in a competitive environment, ensuring their success while maximizing profitability.
Education and Achievements
Greg earned his Bachelor’s Degree from the renowned Michigan State University, where he honed his business acumen and fostered a passion for music and entertainment. His academic background provided a strong foundation for his subsequent achievements and career trajectory, enabling him to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world challenges effectively.
Organizations and Contributions
Throughout his career, Greg has held numerous prestigious positions across various organizations, making significant contributions to the industry:
- He presently serves as a President/Partner at Big Loud, a subsidiary of Live Nation, where he continues to influence the entertainment landscape.
- Previously, he held the title of President at Maverick Music, a division of Live Nation Entertainment, where he was pivotal in shaping the company's strategy and direction.
- Greg also held several executive roles at EMI Music, including Executive Vice President of Marketing & Promotion and Executive Vice President of Promotion. His leadership forged a new path for promoting artists and innovating marketing strategies.
- Additionally, he served as Executive Vice President - Promotion, New Media, and Tour Marketing at Island Def Jam Music Group, expanding the company's outreach and effectively merging traditional and digital marketing methods.
- Earlier, he owned and operated GTM Entertainment, developing a first-hand understanding of the industry's needs from a ground-level perspective.
- His career also included significant roles at Elektra Entertainment during its partnership with AOL Time Warner and as Vice President for Top 40 Promotion at Chrysalis Records.
Achievements
In his illustrious career, Greg Thompson has not only led teams to achieve successful outcomes but has also been a consistent innovator in the areas of artist development, marketing strategy, and business growth. His achievements include:
- Successfully developing and executing marketing campaigns that elevated artists to incredible heights, resulting in record sales and international recognition.
- Driving transformational changes in corporate structure and strategy during significant mergers, leading to enhanced operational efficiencies and increased market share.
- Leading multi-functional teams towards increased collaboration and motivation, resulting in a unified vision that translates into successful market execution and artist development.
- Building long-term relationships with major brands, leading to lucrative partnerships that have diversified revenue streams and opened new business avenues for clients.
Greg Thompson is more than just a senior executive in the Music, Entertainment, and Media spaces; he is a visionary leader dedicated to driving success and making impactful contributions within the industry. His extensive background, coupled with his profound expertise in general management, organizational strategy, brand building, marketing strategy, and financial oversight, makes him a remarkable personality whose influence continues to evolve the music landscape.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
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Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
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Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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