Nature is a strategic insights-based consultancy that has provided data-driven analytics results for clients and businesses.
The agency aims to deliver methodological excellence, robust research, and analytics that are important to underpinning important decisions and provide insights in an accessible way to clients.
James Jayesuria is a partner and managing director of Nature in Sydney, and spoke to Mediaweek about the growth journey of the insights company, maintaining its start-up values, and the evolving industry.
The Nature growth journey
Jayesuria has been part of the consultancy since 2017, starting at the Melbourne base as a senior associate director. In 2019, he took up the opportunity to relocate to Sydney to set up the company’s presence in the harbour city and better service clients in New South Wales, bringing his family along with him.
As a partner and managing director of the agency in Sydney, Jayesuria shared that his day-to-day in the business is quite diverse and changes week by week.
“When it was just me up here, a lot of my role was leading the team and the office’s business needs,” he recalled.
“Now we’ve got a much larger team of eight people. I’m in close contact with them daily, ensuring our accounts are running smoothly. I’m still heavily involved with client projects.
“With the partnership group down in Melbourne. I connect quite frequently with my business partners, generally ensuring cohesion across the business,” he added.
In addition to working with 50 consultants between Sydney and Melbourne, Nature also has a presence across the ditch, with few consultants working remotely in New Zealand.
Nature has had quite a growth journey over the years, particularly at its base in Melbourne. Jayesuria said: “That happened prior to my arrival at the agency but certainly happened in my final years when I was in Melbourne.
“In Sydney, we certainly exceeded our own expectations in terms of our growth. In the three years that we’ve been in operation, we have delivered, at last count, over 230 projects to a very diverse and robust client base of 60 organisations in Sydney.
“In our first two years, we had incremental growth and revenue, essentially doubling year on year. We’re set for another really strong year of growth to close out FY22, as well,” he shared.
Nature has a broad base of clients and works with brands across all stages of maturity, from traditional brands and transformation journeys all the way through to new brands disrupting their industry.
“We work with clients across the industry. In Sydney, for example, we work with a lot of media organisations and financial service organisations, we work with FMCG businesses and retailers, and that’s similar to what we’re doing in Melbourne,” he said, also noting their work in the technology industry.
Start-up values
The Nature MD explained that while the agency has grown and matured, it still maintains its start-up values instilled from its beginnings in Melbourne and early days in Sydney.
“For us, it’s about really the culture that we facilitate through openness, influence, connectivity, flatness, and critically ownership that what they do will make a difference, rather than feeling like a cog in a machine.
“When we talk about start up values, it’s all about everyone within the business having an aligned vision. When you start a business or a traditional start-up, per se, there are aligned ambitions, whereas, in businesses that are more established, it may be less clear.”
Jayesuria said that it is essential to ensure the consistency and alignment of the company’s direction. “That’s really about being the best. We’re not trying to be the biggest agency with the most clients, or the highest revenue or anything like that. We feel that comes from striving to be the best, both in terms of what we deliver to our clients and the experience that the team has working with us,” he said.
The evolution of the industry and future of Nature
Looking at the evolution of the insights industry over the years, Jayesuria said that the proliferation of media and fragmentation of data made the insights used to consult with clients readily accessible.
“It means there are sources of information that can be used to contextualise, augment, and corroborate data from primary sources. This isn’t new. There’s more access to this information nowadays, and increasingly so into the future.
“Whilst we’re not trying to change our business, it’s just important to be on the front foot with what those sources are and where they are useful to provide our clients with the best solutions,” he said.
The Nature MD noted that the level of sophistication from clients has grown over the years and their need to partner with agencies that are truly trusted advisors.
“When I started in my career at a large global agency back in 2007, some of the clients were just after data, and some of the work that that agency did was essentially just the provision of data.
“Certainly at Nature, but I think increasingly, clients are becoming more sophisticated. They’re not just after numbers; they’re after stories and insights. As a result of that, there’s a need for them to partner with the best agencies, and that’s what we’re about,” he said.
The Nature MD shared that in addition to an evolving industry are the changes expected from talent and clients from the consultancy, from parental leave policies, public holiday swap-outs, diversity, and Indigenous Affairs.
“As an agency, by really focusing on creating an environment that’s the best environment for people, we attract and retain the best people. And the best clients come, the most interesting projects come, and it all works together.
“People don’t just come to work because of the policies that you’ve got in place. The work has to be challenging and interesting as well. We know our team gets a kick out of working on strategic projects that have impacted businesses, the diversity of the businesses they work with, and the challenges they help those clients overcome.
“Clients will only come to you if you’re offering them the best outcomes, and equally, talent will only work with you if you’re offering the best culture and environment and the clients to work with.”
Over the past 10 months, Nature welcomed a slew of new hirings to the agency. He noted that talent are not only interested in roles but are interested in everything about the culture of the organisation, the benefits, and policies.
“Back three or four years ago, you’d find that when you’re interviewing someone, it was more on our side to decide whether we wanted a particular person, whereas now it seems that it’s a lot more about sharing on from both sides – which is a great thing.
“The interest from those people is not just about the job; it’s about the environment and what it will be like to work with that agency,” he said.
Looking to the year ahead, Jayesuria said the goal was: “certainly to grow the footprint in Sydney, and to continue working with the best businesses here on challenging projects.”
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Top image: James Jayesuria