THE STORY
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So, this drummer walks into a hifi store.
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It was 1972 and Steve Bryant, along with wife Jun-Ann, were students looking for jobs. A position at a stereo shop, selling music and quality audio seemed like pretty nice work to them. So, they landed sales and cashier positions respectively and ultimately came to operate their college-town stereo and record shop until ’76. By the time graduation and son Chris came along, the store's regional reputation had spread, leading to an offer from the big city of Atlanta from a stereo dealer called Hifi Buys.
Bright lights, big city.
Throughout the transition to this major market, Jun-Ann focused on Chris and soon his brother Kevin, while Steve focused on the business. Over the next nineteen years, he transitioned from sales guy, to manager guy, to VP guy, to equity partner and EVP guy. His responsibilities included store operations, marketing and team development. Over the last dozen years or so at Hifi Buys, Steve worked with three talented partners and a very special team to help grow the company ten-fold. In '95 he cashed out, you gotta love this country.
The Bryant Group takes the show on the road.
In ‘96, taking the battle-tested and effective skills and processes from his 23 years of retail experience, Steve formed the original Bryant Group. His book Lessons My Customers Have Taught Me became required reading for thousands of sales professionals and his articles and columns were appearing monthly in the trades. Soon he was sharing these advantages with retailers, trade associations and retail service providers throughout the US and Canada. Then, while doing work with warranty underwriter AIG, he found himself in a Manhattan skyscraper meeting with a client known as Nationwide Marketing Group. After the meeting they shared a limo ride from New York to Philly that changed everything.
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A perfect partnership.
Nationwide’s leaders described their association of hundreds of independent dealers with the scale and resources to create all the sales, education, and marketing assets that Steve could have only dreamed of as a single retailer. He knew he just had to work with these guys and multiply the impact of his resources across their membership. Soon, a partnership was born. It started small but by late ’99 hundreds of members had become thousands. Increasing production capacity became a must in order to create enough marketing and educational video assets for them and their vendor-partners.
Right Mind Media, go big or go home.
As the 20th Century arrived, Chris and Kevin -- those Bryant brothers mentioned earlier -- were students operating their own retail golf shop. The Bryant Group was on the launching pad and the fuse was lit. They understood the opportunity, closed their retail business and joined Steve to found the Bryant Group’s successor, Right Mind Media. RMM's primary client was Nationwide Marketing Group and due to the group's rapid growth, it soon became Right Mind's only client. The need for increased quantity, quality, and efficiency led them to the construction of full-service script-to-screen studios near Atlanta and to the launch Nationwide Prime Media.
Nationwide Prime Media, the sell-through machine that changed the rules.
The team expanded to fourteen in-house pros plus a team of dozens of independent production and technology contractors required to meet demand. Throughout this period, the company developed an array of proprietary online learning systems, advanced digital signage platforms and versatile media management archives. These heavy-usage resources were capable of serving thousands of retailers, manufacturers and service providers along with tens of thousands of salespeople and managers. Needless to say, the video content required to feed these media-gobbling platforms, along with the group’s internal communications, trade shows, magazines and events was formidable. The thousands of projects, assets, systems, and technologies produced over those two decades were primarily developed in-house. Those countless learnings, mistakes and successes continue to feed the company's innovation, efficiencies, and capabilities to this day.
The Bryant Group, 2022 the culmination.
At the beginning of 2022, the new Bryant Group was created. Today's Bryant Group is a network of experienced professionals with decades-long track records of success in their areas of expertise. Its mission has remained constant: “Helping individuals and companies prosper by improving their customers’ experiences.” From back-of-napkin ideas to formal creative briefs, the team is comfortable with it all. From concept to conversion, if it’s a media, messaging or distribution challenge, the team's probably done it, and a lot of it. Experience includes manufacturing, retail, finance, insurance, energy and even a Starr .
Having their financial interest in Nationwide Prime Media acquired, the The Bryant Group's ongoing relationship with Nationwide Marketing Group has transitioned. Today, work in the appliance, electronics, furniture, bedding, outdoor living, cabinet and flooring space is done exclusively with cooperation and consent from their friends at Nationwide.
So far, it’s been a fascinating and rewarding ride, all of which has prepared The Bryant Group for Next. The team is drawn to exciting challenges, working with positive people who have a passion for what they do. They're very experienced at helping CEOs, CMOs and HR professionals achieve their objectives, and particularly enjoy turning the visions of Entrepreneurs into reality. With a 26-year track record of proven capabilities and commitment to clients, The Bryant Group is clearly focused on the success of the companies it is trusted to serve.
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