Meet the founder of Myth to Measure
Florie-Anne Virgile is the CEO and founder of Myth to Measure, a London-based multimedia storytelling agency. Passionate about content and relevance, she is also a producer and news correspondent with more than 12 years experience, producing over 50 documentaries and corporate films in her career. Through her work at Myth-to-Measure, founded in 2018, she specialises in Video, Digital and Corporate Communication, Executive Production and Fixing, Website Creation, Public Relations and Social Media services, with international clients including Business France, CrypPro, Arte and Topla. She is also the co-creator and producer of Life Of The Artist, a digital arts series that offers another experience of art, explores artist studios, and gives insight into contemporary art and the creation process.
What’s the ethos and mission behind Myth-to-Measure?
Our vision is to provide high quality and consistent content with character, for all budgets. It’s important to me to work with clients big and small, and offer a premium service at all times. We work with young businesses, corporate, charities & TV, in the UK, France and abroad. Our mission at Myth-to-Measure is also to work as a hive for talents. We spend a lot of time meeting with directors, digital artists, copywriters, casting them and matching them with our clients. The agency is very agile, hiring freelancers for the projects, allowing for fairer pricing of work. Great storytelling doesn’t have to be inaccessible.
Where does your and the team's inspiration come from?
I love meeting people, discovering their stories and finding new ways to tell them to the world. I have chosen this path to feed my insatiable curiosity.
I have a deep interest in human psychology and sociology, which I’ve studied at Sciences Po (Institute of Political Sciences) in Paris. I can spend hours with my team trying to find the best way to convey not just a story, but also the personality and the life of the people we interview or feature in our campaigns. That is why I chose to turn to real-life stories with Myth-to-Measure: I love brainstorming and being involved on the creative side of the projects.
What is your role within the business and what does a typical day look like?
I’m the founder and CEO at Myth-to-Measure. On a typical day, I start off with a team meeting, where we review the agenda and priorities for the day. This is usually followed by client meetings, and a creative review of current projects with my Creative Director. I live in Balham, so when I’m working from home I like going to local cafes and shops for lunch, then work on my clients’ campaigns with the team in the afternoon. We exchange a lot of ideas throughout the day, discuss world news and potential angles for stories. If I have to isolate and work on a tight deadline for example, I will stay away from my emails so I can focus on that particular task, then catch up with the team. We have an open line of communication, and I think it is key to our success.
Tell us about your experience prior to launching Myth-to-Measure?
I have a psychology and journalism background, and was a producer in France for over 10 years before I moved to London and set up Myth-to-Measure. Storytelling has always been my passion. As a producer, I have produced all kinds of videos, either in animation, real-life footage, 3D and more. Within my first company, Docland Yard in Paris, prior to Myth-to-Measure, I produced more than 50 documentaries and corporate films, including 3D and animated graphics, and/or use of a green screen.
Why is it important for you to nurture your team and specifically young women entering the professional world?
We are currently a team of six and growing, and I’m very proud to be welcoming so many talented new team members to Myth-to-Measure. In particular, I’m pleased to have hired so many women, many of whom are making their early strides into the world of work. This can be a very challenging time for them, between the pressure of starting a career, finding their footing in a struggling economy, in the midst of the pandemic, and in general, in an industry that is still biased towards men…
I’ve always been eager to support women, and to hire and train them while offering professional development so they can grow into their positions. I hope to see a change in the media and content industries, and I believe change starts from within.
What ethical practices are being carried out behind the scenes?
Equality is one of our core values at Myth-to-Measure, especially equal opportunities. We also value mental health and a good work/life balance for the team. Mental Health Awareness Month is coming up and it really resonates with us. I want my team to be happy at and outside of work, and we openly communicate on this. We’re also committed to doing our bit for the environment, and we have planned something very special with the whole team for Earth Day. Stay tuned!
How do you keep positive and driven while navigating the entrepreneurial journey?
I love my job, and I’m always eager to meet new people, tell their stories, and go beyond expectations. I enjoy this element of surprise in our industry, as one week is never like the next, and I get to work on so many different projects: from food expos to documentaries, new technologies to charity campaigns. It’s never boring, and it makes up for any hurdle that may come on the entrepreneurial journey. When I look at the work accomplished by the team, I feel really proud of what we’ve achieved in such little time, and it makes me very hopeful for the future.
How would you break down the importance of branding to early-stage founders?
When you launch a business, you need to think about your identity: who you are, what mission you’re on, what change you want to make in the world. You need to think of what makes your story unique, so we can communicate it to your audience. Branding is part of that. It sends a message to people, and I find it fascinating to think that every little element, colour or symbol has meaning or hidden message. Storytelling associated with branding is really fun, so perhaps try to not to view it as a chore. If anything, it is an opportunity to find your people. I often meet entrepreneurs who think of communication as their lowest priority. It’s easy, when you start a company, to get lost in all the things that you have to achieve to make it work. But communication should be a priority, as 14% of small businesses fail because of poor marketing, and there should be an allocated budget for it in your business plan, from the start. The way we work at Myth-to-Measure, we act as a sort of part-time communication director for our clients. We help them figure out their needs, prioritise within their budget and timeline, and produce their communication tools.
Why do you feel it’s important to keep quality, authentic, storytelling alive?
Storytelling is what keeps us excited, connected, alive. When we were all stuck at home, and starting to get tired of watching the same cat memes, this is when we thought of making our latest project Life Of The Artist, digital. People were in quarantine and needed to escape, and what’s better than art to explore new horizons? This is when you see the real impact of storytelling, when you can allow people to immerse themselves in a story, and connect to others through it - whether it’s people from the past or present, from any part of the world. Storytelling is a way to make us witnesses of the greatest and most important things happening in our time, and only by keeping it authentic can we convey the truth of what it’s like to live in our world.
What’s next at Myth-to-Measure?
We have recently launched our new Public Relations division at Myth-to-Measure and it’s a very exciting time for us. For years, we’ve been producing digital content for our clients and regularly found ourselves unable to help with their PR needs, so this is all changing with our new senior hire and this new PR branch. We’re growing, and launching new exciting projects for our clients. We’re also expanding our Life Of The Artist series to new regions around the globe soon, and developing a charity programme in Jordan, collaborating with an NFT platform to produce more videos. This is going to be a big year for us!
