Seasons Greetings from all the herd at Brands at Work.

Not everyone is able to enjoy this time of year however so we wanted to make a small difference for those in need.

We made a little film below that explains more. Just click to play.

Brands at Work has appointed Pawel Romanowski as client account manager to help manage and develop the agency’s key clients – including Prudential and Deloitte.

 

Pawel brings a wealth of experience gained from seven years in the events industry, starting with event management and developing business at leading international venues including Marriott Hotels and King’s College London, and more recently at CWT.

 

Pawel will be working with the agency’s global commercial director, Rupert Lane to proactively nurture and develop relationships with existing clients and to help the agency expand into new sectors.

 

Lane said: “We are delighted to have Pawel join our herd. He has a strong background in our industry and a proven track record of developing and cultivating client relationships. His invaluable experience of the pharma, oil & gas, and technology sectors, that have compliance legislation governing events, will be of huge benefit to us as we expand our client base in these areas.

 

Romanowski added: “Brands at Work has a unique vibe, their approach and creativity really appealed to me. This is a really exciting time to join as the agency continues its worldwide growth.”

Our Managing Partner, Karen Kadin recently gave a fascinating interview to Conference News about what ‘Experiential’ really means, and how you immerse the audience without pulling cheap stunts and being gimmicky. Read her insights here;

https://www.conference-news.co.uk/features/immersing-audience

Karen Kadin, our managing partner, was quoted in an article in C&IT about ‘flight shaming’ – read her full comments below:

 

‘I can’t fathom how anyone wasn’t moved by Greta’s emotive but scientific address to our world leaders and I’m adamant that we all need to do more. There are a number of industries who have a pervasive culture of frivolity and who fly for the sake of flying; people who fly three or four times a week and think nothing of hopping on a flight to LA for a game of golf or lunch with a client and then flying straight back. Whilst I acknowledge that building relationships with clients face to face is important, I think that more could be done to make these trips more purposeful by adding other meetings to the trip.

We have to be aware that our industry has a hugely positive impact on destinations that rely on tourism. We can’t cripple a country’s entire economy by cutting business events and incentive travel. Incentive tourism has a place, but we have to ensure that any negative impact is offset and that events are as worthwhile as possible.

 

As an industry, we can evolve the pre-production process by cutting back on flights to client meetings and site visits. As trust between a client and an agency is established, the regular client / agency meetings can evolve into a more virtual relationship. We have a client in Hong Kong and the first time we worked with them we attended a lot of meetings to build the relationship. Now that trust is firmly established, they are more than happy to meet us virtually whenever possible. We also have clients in Boston and have established a team on the ground who meet the client face to face with the rest of us patching in from whichever country we are in.

 

Site visits are critical but the whole team doesn’t have to attend; technology and virtual tours can help reduce the number of people who have to fly. There are other ways of getting to meetings, and we do encourage train travel where ever possible, but the vastness of the US means that it is totally impractical to expect a delegate to drive from Washington DC to Austin.

 

Another consideration is the use of local suppliers – we have a policy of using local suppliers rather than flying people in wherever possible. This has the double benefit of not only reducing environmental miles, but also further feeding the local economy and acting as a force for good.

 

 

Will we see clients reduce their events due to flight shaming? A number of years ago, a few of our clients reviewed their events strategy and put a stop to flying for a year and didn’t run their big international conferences for both monetary and ecological reasons. They saw a definite drop in employee motivation and engagement and so the events were reintroduced and are now very well thought through, impactful, cost effective and business critical.’

We very proud to become a charity partner of Meetings Needs, the events industry charity that has distributed £1 million to more than 287 charities across the globe. Rupert Lane, our global commercial director said: “As we grow we are developing our CSR activities and we were looking for an active charity to partner with. We were really impressed with the proactivity demonstrated by Meetings Needs both in the UK and overseas and we all felt that they are a worthy and relevant partner for Brands at Work. Over the coming months we will discussing next steps with the team, getting involved with the charity’s events and also planning our own activities.”

 

Brands at Work becomes charity partner of Meetings Needs

Brands at Work won the coveted C&IT UK Agency of the Year Award last year and so Karen Kadin, managing partner was invited to judge the awards this year. We discuss the importance of awards; the impact winning has had on her agency and her advice for hopefuls next year:

Why do you think that industry awards are important?
‘I never used to place great importance on industry accolades – preferring to quietly crack on with our work ‘under the radar’, but we fairly ambivalently entered our first awards last year and after an impressive sweep I somewhat regret not entering sooner. I now realise how important industry recognition is for the agency’s sense of pride and staff morale; it’s had a positive impact on talent attraction and retention, helped solidify existing client relationships and gives instant credibility with prospects.

It is important for us to continue to elevate the standard of creativity and innovation and the impact of the events industry. At a challenging time in the global economy, being able to demonstrate the value of live communications for both internal and external audiences and the measurable direct impact and benefit to corporates is more important than ever.’

What did you personally look for in an entry?
‘Clever creative first and foremost; was there a guiding insight, a killer creative hook, and a unifying red thread that connected all of the touchpoints into a clear narrative and an awesome live experience? Did the entrant try something bold, brave and unprecedented or did they reimagine previously proven approaches?

Did they create genuine audience engagement with beautifully presented content and imaginative storytelling rather than big, brash, brazen, gratuitous production gimmicks for the sake of them – although there is definitely a time and place for that too.’

How are disagreements between judges dealt with? Were there any entries this year that the judges didn’t agree on (without naming names of course!)
‘There were some good, healthy debates between the judges, but it was beneficial that we were a truly diverse group because we all brought our own experiences and perspectives to the process. When it was truly neck and neck between entries, any demonstrable ROI or other metrics of event success gave a submission the extra edge.’

You and your fellow judges have the task of choosing the winners, what would be your top tips to potential awards entrants?
‘Share the glorious details! Rather than spend the majority of your submission’s limited word count on unimportant box ticking ‘event hygiene’ items that don’t stand out – use vivid descriptions and supporting imagery to detail the delegate journey, bring to life the creative stories and the clever nuances. Demonstrate how you went beyond the traditional ‘bums in seats’ approach to engage and immerse your audience in innovative and theatrical ways.’

BaW won the C&IT Agency of the Year last year – how did that feel and what impact has it had on the agency?
‘There has been an undeniable lift in the Brands at Work herd’s pride which had a positive knock on effect on our creative work and strengthened our client relationships. It has been hugely beneficial in attracting new talent – from having to pitch our relatively unknown agency to recruits in the past to now having a flooded inbox of inquiries from top industry talent. We’ve even had some new business inquiries from our raised profile.

Winning the Agency of the Year award was a watershed moment for us. I am blown away by how far we have come – from our very humble beginnings as a start-up, the ensuing years of hard graft to now getting the recognition of our peers in the industry – it has made the years of hard work and sacrifice feel well worth it!’

 

https://www.citmagazine.com/article/1616870/win-c-it-award

 

We’ve always wanted to hit the charts, so we we’re all super excited to find out that we are now officially one of the Top 50 UK event agencies!

We’re a brand new entry and to go in as high as we have is yet another clear sign of Brands at Work’s rapid upward trajectory. Our size and experience ensures big agency thinking together with boutique service, and just the right size to handle your next event. Congratulations to all the Brands at Work herd – your passion, dedication and creativity is taking us from strength to strength.

https://www.citmagazine.com/article/1491427/top-50-uk-event-agencies-2018

Our Managing Partner, Karen Kadin recently attended roundtable discussion, ‘How delegates absorb information’ hosted by Conference News. See here to read more https://www.conference-news.co.uk/features-tech/how-delegates-absorb-information