Engaging digital media

George Briggs Media connects brands with customers


Photo by Heather Davidson
Photo by Heather Davidson

An entrepreneur, creator and student, Alexander Marshall is the founder and chief creative officer of the video communications agency, George Briggs Media.

Marshall said he always knew he was going to have a career in a creative field that integrated digital media — he has a large amount of experience in the creative industries, having previously owned a clothing company and pursued an advanced arts placement in high school.

However, it wasn’t until Marshall began studying business at Wilfrid Laurier University at the age of 21 that he really began to build his vision.

“I went into business school primarily so I could leverage a lot of my design and arts skills,” he said.

While Marshall was in his second year of the BBA program, he began to seek out an opportunity.

“I saw that there was a big gap in the way brands were utilizing digital media to communicate with their audiences. They were treating it like traditional formats of branding and marketing,” Marshall said.

Ultimately, he wanted to build better dialogue between brands and their consumers, and thus George Briggs Media was formed.

Marshall used the Laurier LaunchPad program in order to help establish George Briggs Media. In fact, Marshall was a part of the first Laurier LaunchPad program to ever be implemented for undergraduate students.

He believes the program was extremely helpful in George Briggs Media’s success. He said it provided like-minded entrepreneurial students with a supportive community, as well as mentorship.

Laurier was also George Briggs Media’s first client, allowing Marshall and his team to work with the university on a number of video projects.

He explained he is currently taking some time off school in order to effectively manage the company and ensure that all operations are running smoothly.

However, he plans to return to school this January and finish up his remaining coursework following the expansion of the company.

Marshall has launched a new division called GB Collective, which is a collaborative co-working hub for creators and designers.

According to him, there is a lack of support for these types of workers in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, and GB Collective helps to facilitate meet-ups in order to create opportunities.

“What we want to do is help transpire opportunities,” he said.

Marshall explained how business people are knowledgeable about methods that help execute ideas, however it also takes the creators, writers and scientists to develop a final product.

He encouraged Laurier students to utilize the Laurier LaunchPad program in order to leverage oneself and the community and reminded students who are looking to start their own business to take their micro-communities into account.

Many people look toward big and successful mentors for guidance, however opportunities may derive from anywhere.

“Between all the mediums, whether it is fashion, graphic design, video, it is like you got a giant tool box and each one of these formats or mediums is just another paint brush,” he said.

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