​The Broadcast Sport Interview: Jamie Hindhaugh

A year on from his appointment as UK MD and regional CEO of Gravity Media, Broadcast Sport caught up with Jamie Hindhaugh to find out how he has transitioned from the world of broadcast to the world of production facilities.

His key focus over the last 12 months has been dealing with the aftermath of Gravity Media’s global merger with EMG.

For the first 18 months after the merger, the business was known as EMG / Gravity Media.

From its name alone, the company appeared as two separate businesses that had been bolted together and couldn’t quite decide how to present itself to the outside world.

But, in the middle of this year, a global name change back to Gravity Media was suddenly announced.

As Hindhaugh explains: “In some territories, Gravity Media was a much more dominant brand than EMG, but in the UK in particular, there was a very strong EMG presence as well as a very strong Gravity Media presence. So a lot of work was involved in how you pull those two organisations together to act as one.”

Pressed as to what this work involved, Hindhaugh says: “You’re trying to create one culture, one team mentality, bringing it all together. Being able to get behind one name gives you a much clearer identity, and that’s just as important for our customers and the clients that we work with as well. There was genuine confusion internally and externally about what the merger really was.”

“The opportunity we had by bringing it all together as Gravity Media means we’re not just an OB company, we’re not just a fly pack company, we’re not just an RF company, we’re not just a specialist cameras company, we don’t just have state of the art production centres, we are all of that,” he adds. “We’ve now got one team that works across all of that, whether it’s operational, commercial or financial or on the delivery side as well. You go onto our website now and it’s just Gravity Media. So, it’s that galvanising effect. It’s much more than a name change; it enabled us to look at what are our values as one enterprise.”

Gravity Media now spans 37 locations across 11 countries with 100+ OB trucks, 30 studios and production facilities. EMG has become a sub-brand of Gravity Media, specifically for OB vehicles. It joins a plethora of brands that are now part of Gravity Media, many through company acquisitions. These include CTV, Broadcast RF, Aerial Camera Systems, Gearhouse Broadcast, HyperActive Broadcast, Input Media, and Telegenic.

With the settling on a single brand name, Hindhaugh believes: “You’re collapsing different cultures and different ways of working into one and you need to identify what that culture is, what that approach is. So, we’ve now got one set of values that everyone works to as part of Gravity Media. For me personally, especially with the UK with all of those different sub-brands being out there, it’s a real chance to say yes, we are one team.”

To get a true understanding of the way things work, the different services and job roles at Gravity Media, Hindhaugh has spent a lot of the last 12 months on a journey of discovery. He says: “A lot of my time has been looking at how we operate the warehouse; how we make sure when we turn up on site it’s got the right kit on it; and how we enable our crew to get the right support to deliver that service.”

One of the key services Gravity Media specialises in is remote production, through its Westworks, London remote production hub. It counts Formula E, ATP and TNT Sports as clients. “I’m really proud of Westworks, I think it’s a phenomenal and quite a unique facility and it is a really big tool in our armament in helping clients to be able to look at working differently,” says Hindhaugh. “But we’ve still got a huge fleet [of OB vehicles] and I think, especially in the UK, there are many reasons why big trucks will still be around.

“When we’re working with clients, we look at the location and whether the production should be remote or not or if it could be a hybrid approach with a remote surface. Our job is to enable the storytellers – most people know the story they want to tell and I think having a grown up conversation about whether remote is right or wrong for certain jobs is really healthy. But we would never be arrogant enough to say we tell clients how they should do it, we work with them to look at what the best options are.”

As someone who was previously a client of Gravity Media, while COO of BT Sport, Hindhaugh has first-hand experience of what good and bad service looks like from a facilities provider. “I come from the other side, so I know what it’s like as a customer and bring this mindset into our organisation. It brings in a different understanding, which I try to share and I think people respond to positively. My biggest take away from BT Sport was how we built an amazing place to work, and the perceived lack of hierarchy, the passion to just want to be the best. When I look at what we’re achieving at Gravity Media, it reminds me of that. That whole focus around understanding our clients’ requirements, knowing what makes them tick and knowing the challenges they face.” 

The next challenge now for Hindhaugh is to ensure the broad range of services offered by Gravity Media is more clearly understood by the industry. He admits: “We’re very new into the rebrand, and I think there is an opportunity for us to be clearer about the range of services we offer. It’s still a very competitive environment and we need to constantly look at how we evolve. There’s a huge amount to do. It’s a tough industry, you can’t get away from that, and you can never rest on your laurels.”