In a new regular format of the PRmoment Podcast with Ben Smith we’ll be catching up with UK public relations leaders - and our guests will share their in hindsight secrets that they wish they'd known when they started their businesses!

Today we're chatting with Greg Double, creative director of consumer PR agency Mischief.

Mischief is the consumer PR arm of MHP. MHP and Mischief are owned by Next Fifteen, which acquired them from Engine last year. Mischief has recently won Diageo and Team GB accounts. Other clients include Lego, Just Eat, and Ocado. MHP which owns Mischief has a fee income of about £33 m and 200 employees.

Greg has previously worked at Frank and Ready 10. He has been at Mischief for 3.5 years.

And thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors of the PRCA.

Here is a summary of what Greg and I discussed:

2 mins Greg confirms the re-appearance of the Mischief brand as the consumer arm of MHP!

4 mins Greg gives his first in hindsight lesson: He should not have started his career at Blue Rubicon! (now Teneo.)

“I was too young to start in corporate PR...everyone had done a Masters!”

“I was too immature to be in that game”

“The graduate scheme was Apprentice style…I’d never been tested like that before.”

“You have a responsibility to keep learning.”

11 mins Greg gives us his second in hindsight lesson: Don’t get bowel cancer at 33.

“I’m down half a bowel, I had chemotherapy last year.”

“Deborah James is the reason I got checked, which was very lucky for me.”

“We need to destigmatise chemotherapy!”

“The obsessive part of me has been erased away a bit.”

“I’m constantly terrified it’s going to come back…so I’ve made some staunch lifestyle changes.”

“I love that I still care about my work.”

“I’m proud mentally I’ve retained a balance.”

21 mins Greg first had symptoms in Oct 2021, when the Omicron strain of COVID was kicking off - which meant he was unable to get a GP appointment.

“Because I had private healthcare, through work, there is a legitimate argument that work saved my life there.”

“The NHS is the best in the world for saving your life, the worst in the world for knowing your life needs saving.”

25mins Greg outlines the symptoms that mean you should go and get checked out for Bowel Cancer.

Things to look out for: Blood in your poo, if your poo habits change, waking up in the middle of the night desperate to go to the toilet.

27 mins Greg talks about why he will no longer eat processed or ultra-processed foods.

30 mins Greg talks about his third in hindsight lesson: Don’t be afraid to evolve your career.

“By embracing opportunities your career will end up in a better place.”

34 mins Greg talks about why “demographics are useful but fundamentally dead”

35 mins Greg describes the work Mischief is doing to try and bring science to targeting an audience with a specific passion.

“Demographics are growth limiting”

“Earned is essential for passion…you can’t pay for passion - you have to earn it.”