Georges Tertois is Co-Founder and General Manager at Eidgensi, a creative media agency for the new era of the internet.
Tell us a bit about your role! Is there a “typical” day?
It genuinely is different each day. The question I constantly ask myself is “how are we ahead of the curve?” By necessity, this means that my team and I are working with the newest emerging technologies, and developing ways to harness them to power our client’s creative campaigns.
But really, it's not much different to any other job in tech or marketing: you’re either managing a problem or solving for it.
What was the biggest challenge in getting to your current position?
I made a huge career switch early on, launched a start-up that didn’t go the way we planned, and worked in a fast-paced creative agency – but to be honest I see all these experiences less as challenges, and more as moments that shaped who I am today.
Every time I’ve faced and overcome an issue has been a wider part of my personal growth and development that has got me to my position as Co-Founder and General Manager at Eidgensi.
What is your personal background and what role did it play in your career?
I'm from a really, really large family. My mum is one of nine, and my dad is one of nine. So I've got 52 first cousins. And with that many people, you learn pretty quickly that you can’t always be the loudest in the room. You instead learn how to bring value to any conversation.
It’s also taught me not to take myself too seriously. Whenever you pitch, the people in the room with you are almost always wanting to see you do well, and no matter what happens, it’s never going to be as bad as your family teasing you at Christmas.
Knowing how to navigate the different characters and personalities of a family that big has shaped how I approach connecting with clients and building relationships within business.
What is your biggest career-related win? What is your biggest loss?
In a previous role, I was part of the team that helped Just East transform its digital offering, which allowed them to increase market share. And of course, all routes led me to Eidgensi – the greatest win of all.
A loss would be the canned wine start-up I founded with friends, we put our heart and soul into the project, but in the end couldn’t achieve the scale.
Which individuals and/or agencies do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?
My old mentor, Charlie Lyons, who was managing director at Beyond and is now CMO at GrowLabs Organic. He's a real inspiration and a friend. I worked with him for around eight years, and he taught me everything I know. Check out GrowLabs if you have a chance, the branding and storytelling around the company is brilliant.
If you could go back to your teenage years, would you have done things differently? Do you have any regrets?
Not to sound cheesy, but all the challenges and decisions you make as a teenager are part of your tapestry of life. You learn as a human being to become the person you are today. So I’m not sure I’d have done anything differently.
I did an accountancy degree, while learning on the job. So while many of my friends were having the full uni experience, I was learning my trade in an office.
At the time I sometimes wished I was doing the same as my friends, but working in industry taught me not only to be resilient, but to step outside my comfort zone – which is what led me to leave accounting to become a marketer in the first place.
If you weren’t in your current industry, what would you be doing?
If I was good enough, a professional athlete, but failing that, an author. Two very different answers there I know!
What’s your one big dream for the future of the industry?
The mass realisation of the potential of Web3. There’s a lot of bad press about it at the moment, and a lot of bad players. But that doesn’t mean that Web3 isn’t the future – not just of marketing, but how we interact in online spaces.
As more use cases emerge, we’ll see a shift of public opinion and wider adoption of web3. Ultimately, I’m looking towards having one billion Web3 users globally – although I don’t think this is a dream, but a reality that will be realised in time.
What are your top tips for aspiring creative professionals?
Get out of your comfort zone. You're never going to do anything if you stay in your lane. If you're not in the sector you want to be in, take a chance and try something else. When I changed career, people around me thought it was more stable for me to stay as an accountant, but I jumped ship and went into the creative sector. Safe to say it was worth it.
What are your top tips for other creative leaders?
You're only as good as the team behind you. Right? So set out your vision for a project, but realise that the people around you are going to be the ones bringing your vision to reality. Be kind, hire great, train well, and give people the time to develop and grow.
As I said before, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the help that my mentor Charlie gave me along my journey, and I aim to repay that by helping those around me to achieve.
When you think about your team, what is the thing that matters to you the most?
That they are happy and enjoying themselves. We spend a lot of our life at work, and while it's not always going to be rainbows and butterflies, if my team likes what they’re doing they’re going to produce better work. I’m a firm believer that when you work well as a team, you can solve any challenge.
Do you have any websites, books or resources you would recommend?
Plenty! Both Twitter and TikTok are great sources for Web3 tips.
Some books I’ve found valuable include:
- Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss and Tahl Raz
- Black Box Thinking: The Surprising Truth About Success by Matthew Syed
- Scale at Speed: How to Triple the Size of Your Business and Build a Superstar Team by Felix Velarde
