Answers to common questions about 808 Talent, who we are and how we work.
Questions and answers
808 Talent runs retained executive search, and the market intelligence behind it, for Media, Entertainment and Sports Technology companies across North America and EMEA. It hires for senior leadership and specialist appointments where the market is small, international or difficult to reach.
Media, Entertainment and Sports Technology, from the camera to the fan, for companies across North America and EMEA. That covers creating, managing, moving, delivering, monetising and engaging: from live and sports production through to streaming, AdTech, audience data and fan engagement.
Ben Swanton. He began working in Media Technology search in 2006 and founded 808 Talent in 2014. The firm is founder-led: Ben leads the client relationship and the judgement around each assignment, supported by research, delivery, operations and specialist support.
It runs in six stages: Brief, Map, Engage, Assess, Intelligence and Appoint. The brief is shaped around your business objective and the reality of the market, the whole market is mapped, candidates are approached personally and assessed in depth, and 808 Talent stays involved through offer, negotiation and acceptance. Together you agree a shortlist of three to five assessed candidates.
Market evidence for the decisions that sit before, around or sometimes instead of a search. It covers salary benchmarking, talent mapping, competitor structures and market feasibility. The work can be commissioned together or on its own, and a search doesn’t need to follow. It ends with a board-ready report and a walkthrough of the findings with your stakeholders.
No. 808 Talent runs searches for start-ups, scale-ups and established businesses. At start-up stage the critical hire usually creates a capability the business doesn’t have yet; at scale-up the search expands with the role; for established businesses, appointments follow a change in strategy, ownership or model.
For business conversations about Executive Search or Market Intelligence, email Ben Swanton at ben@808talent.com. If you are considering your next move, please get in touch through the Talk to us page.
No. Understanding what a client needs, assessing people and deciding who to put forward are all done by people at 808 Talent. AI doesn’t decide who is shortlisted, put forward or hired, and CVs are not put into ChatGPT or Claude. A small number of AI tools help with the work around that, such as meeting notes and research.