A few months ago, you could be forgiven in thinking the global pandemic would be something we were looking back at by now, rather than still living amongst it. However, it is now evident that being COVID-secure is here to stay for the foreseeable future and something that everyone must adopt in order to thrive in 2020.
We’ve seen how brands have adapted their messaging over the last six months, from the tidal wave of ‘stay at home’ adverts featuring home videos of anything & everything you can do within your own four walls, to now more bespoke and true to the brand content where the current situation is implied, instead of being the story headline.
That being said, as live events are yet to fully restart in the UK (roll on October 1st), it will be vital to the success of future events to carefully balance the brand content with the required onsite guidance to ensure the experience is COVID-secure. As we’ve seen our High Street adopt social distancing guidelines and rig screens around their stores, live experiences and events must too adopt these practices, not just for the protection of their audience and staff, but also their brand and the perception of it.
There is a lot to learn from other industry practices over the last few months, particularly the leisure industry. Positive online reviews of days out now feature lines such as ‘social distancing measures were fantastic’ and ‘great day out with lots of hand washing facilities’, and it is clear that attractions cannot just deliver a great day out anymore but must also do it in a COVID-secure way.
So, how do you ensure your live event showcases your brand in a positive light when it comes to being COVID-secure? As ever in the world of events it is not a one size fits all solution. Experiences vary in size, format, and location, meaning the required practices will vary too.
We have therefore put together a guide to explain some of the tools and methods we will be adopting for our client’s events moving forward, to ensure not only their audience is protected, but their brand is too.
You can view the full guide here.
We are delighted to rank in this years C&IT Top 20 UK incentive agencies for the second year running. Earlier this week C&IT Magazine published the table as part of their ‘State of the Industry’ report.
Incentives and reward programmes are an ever-growing offering from Strata, and a key part of our strategy to offer a single touchpoint for all services to our clients.
With the passing of our first birthday we thought it was time to reflect on the first 12 months of trading as Strata.
Strata, a name chosen specifically to represent the broad layered offering, brought together the best of Crown and Communique. Offering everything from strategy and creative, through to asset management and storage, at the heart of the agency sits an experienced production and logistics team. With Communique’s expertise deep rooted in experiential events and exhibitions, and Crown’s expertise in B2B and content production, all the core elements needed to form this unique agency were in place.
Two examples that illustrate this vision coming to life come from long-standing clients of Crown and Communique – Allergan Medical Institute and Groupe PSA – who have expanded their business with us through new contracts with us as a direct result of the merger.
During 2019 Allergan went through a tendering process for production services, which up until then was seen as very distinct and sourced through a separate supplier. We were included in the tender process – the first opportunity to showcase Strata’s broad layered offering – and we were awarded the contract due to demonstrating how one agency, not two would deliver improved communication, faster response times and help reduce costs for our client.
Another long-standing client of ours is Groupe PSA. Crown had been delivering conferences, press and media events and incentives for Groupe PSA for several years. One part of the Groupe PSA business Crown could not deliver was dealer events, with no infrastructure or expertise in place to do so, until the merger with Communique. During 2019, Groupe PSA tendered for their dealer marketing events and we were awarded the contract as a result of a blend of strategic and creative input, infrastructure expertise and the appeal of one account team, bringing commercial efficiencies and added value for our client. We are now working on many live projects with Groupe PSA and have a team member permanently based in their office alongside their in-house events team.
Our CEO Simon Hambley said: “When you decide to merge your business and create something new as we did, you never really know how it is going to turn out. The main reason we believed it would succeed is because we had road-tested working together and are close to our clients. We could see that they had a need for that broader offering through one touchpoint. Through an agency that can deliver brand consistency and commercial efficiencies, without compromising on quality.
While it’s been a year of building and investing for the future, we could not be happier with how it has gone. Our unique offering has struck a chord with our clients and opened up new opportunities.
Allergan and Groupe PSA are just two examples of the vision in action. The agency has won other new clients in the automotive and services sector, who were looking for all of the same benefits. All of this has helped Strata deliver a strong first year with further growth forecast in 2020. The energy within the agency is tangible. It’s been an exciting year and we are looking forward to many more.”
Ewan Hurford-Jones our COO added: “We are thrilled with the way the business has performed in line with our vision. Of course, it’s not all plain sailing. We have had to work incredibly hard to keep up with the growth, while managing the integration of two companies. We’ve also grown the number of people in the business by more than 30 per cent this year and we are still recruiting.
It’s allowed us to bring in some great new people with fantastic experience, as well as young new blood to train and develop for the future. What has been most amazing and rewarding for Simon and me, is seeing how our teams have stepped up and handled the challenge and how quickly we have become one team.
We have transformed the agency into a different business. One capable of so much more and able to operate at the highest level. We’ll continue to focus on our clients’ needs and evolve as they evolve. We’ll continue to invest in our people, processes and infrastructure, and we’ll stay focused on what we do best, live events.”
Strata Creative Communications has expanded into Europe with a new operating base in Lyon, France, which allows the full-service agency to branch out of the UK to extend its reach, and widen its service offering to their clients.
The new base increases the facilities and working space for the agency, which to date has operated from two UK sites in Fitzrovia, London and Brackley, Northamptonshire since launching in 2018. This expansion provides a foothold for both asset storage and a workable base for staff, to enable smooth delivery of existing and new client events outside of the UK despite the recent changes caused by Brexit.
CEO, Simon Hambley, comments: “The long-term vision for Strata has always been to expand outside of the UK and we’re delighted we have been able to realise this after such a challenging year. This new footprint provides us with the ability to manage events outside of the UK without the worry of Brexit complications and delays, which in turn enables us to provide practical and timely solutions to our clients regardless of location.
The ever changing landscape of live events and post-Brexit trading pressures require us to be flexible and adaptable to our client’s needs, and this new space increases our ability to meet that demand and facilitate event delivery both in and out of the UK.
The recent turbulence within our industry has been a challenge, but this expansion is part of our long-term strategy to strengthen our service offering to our clients and create a better platform for delivering live face-to-face events in 2021 and beyond.
We are delighted to be announcing twelve new additions to the agency across all departments from client services to logistics, and finance to operations.
Laura Awcock joins in the role of client services director dedicated to supporting the agency’s pharmaceutical business. Laura brings with her over eleven years’ industry experience from her time with Global Event Solutions, including her most recent position as operations director responsible for a number of leading pharmaceutical clients.
The automotive client services teams are further bolstered by Rhian Head, account project manager; Amy Pragnell, account executive; Lucy Burton, account executive and Sam Murphy, event officer, who is implanted within a client team.
Other senior hires include Alison Franklin who heads up the event operations team, and Sarah Stanyer, senior project manager. Steve Dubois assumes the role of event operator helping the event support teams, bringing with him many years of automotive events’ experience. Jenny Warrick joins as finance administrator to support the finance team.
The agency is also delighted to welcome three new interns as part of their respective Event Management courses – Elizabeth Shirley, Libby Penny and Charlotte Bute.
Our CEO, Simon Hambley said: “Over the last six months the agency has been responding to the growing needs of our clients by investing in our talent base across all the different layers of expertise. Our multi-layered approach allows us to service the needs of our clients and deliver a wide spectrum of projects from end-to-end, through one touchpoint. Delivering real efficiencies without compromising on creativity or quality.
I’m delighted to welcome Laura, Rhian, Amy, Lucy, Sam, Alison, Sarah, Steve, Jenny and our three new interns – Elizabeth, Libby and Charlotte to the Strata family. We have an exciting future ahead!”
Last week we were delighted to debut in C&IT Magazine’s Top 50 agencies – in 16th place. This is significant to us as it’s one measure that we’re on the way to achieving our vision – to be recognised as the most successful client-focused and client-relevant UK agency in the events sector.
It’s also important to us as we know this is something our people value and are proud to be associated with. We will only be successful in achieving our vision by having the best people in the industry working for us, proud to work for us, driving us forward every day to achieve great things for themselves, our clients, Strata, and the industry.
And it’s our people that I want to focus on here… this week is Eventwell Week, a week established by people in the events industry, to shine a spotlight on the wellbeing of people in events. Whilst these themed national weeks and days do sometimes face criticism for being “flash in the pan” as opposed to something that should be considered every day of the year, they are a great opportunity to stop, reflect and consider what things might need to shift in the balance between work and life to ensure that health and wellbeing is prioritised.
At Strata we do place the wellbeing of our people at the heart of our culture and are proud of what we think is a relatively unique approach to our people’s career development and personal wellbeing, every day of the year. Our CEO, Simon touched on our happiness programme in a recent article, and its place in the business strategy of organisations within the events industry. And campaigns such as #Eventwell19 highlight there is still very much a need to raise the profile of wellbeing and mental health within an industry which is still very traditional in many senses of the word.
Mental health is a specific area within wellbeing that we have focused our attention on over the past six months. We recognise that mental health, much like physical health, needs to be maintained and managed responsibly within an industry associated with stressful deadlines and long hours on site. We have so far invested in training six of our people as Mental Health First Aiders, as part of our duty of care to our teams. And an internal taskforce has been formed who are responsible for being the first point of contact to support those showing the early signs of stress and anxiety at work.
The Happiness Programme is an ambitious one with a clear purpose of providing our people with the support and infrastructure to produce work of outstanding quality within an agency culture that they relish being a part of. We recognise that to ensure we continue to innovate and deliver beyond client expectations, we need a talented workforce who are engaged, effective, loyal and healthy, and supported in their ambitions to progress and develop within this dynamic and exciting industry.
Whilst it’s still early days in the roll out of our Happiness Programme, as we approach our first birthday as the newly formed Strata, we are excited about further developments and initiatives which we’ll continue to roll out to support the health and wellbeing of our people, our clients, and the industry. Watch this space, and in the meantime, be well and event well!
Can happiness be the key to sustainable performance in the events industry? While there are opposing opinions around the subject of happiness as a strategic tool in the workplace, many studies support the simple belief that happy employees equal more productive employees. In an industry which is all about people, and bringing people together to create emotional connections and long-lasting relationships, at Strata we believe that happiness is an emotional intelligence that needs to be nurtured and prioritised at a strategic level. It’s called the Happiness Programme – more on that later. The ripple effects and potential for the growth of employees, clients, the agency and the industry means that everyone stands to benefit if embedded within the culture of an organisation and if delivered with authenticity and consistency.
The Harvard Business Review amongst others, regularly publishes reports and studies covering the importance of emotional intelligence, and the social skills that are critical for ambitious professionals and leaders to master. Happiness, is one emotion that is regularly referenced; how it impacts our work lives, and in turn how we perform. In a time where people crave experiences over material possessions, happiness is also talked about as the new wealth. Happiness has the potential to deliver genuine riches – both in terms of personal wellbeing and commercially, for forward thinking brands and business. A growing school of thought positions happiness as the sweet spot between pleasure and purpose, and this ideal is now more sought after than ever by employees and by consumers. People are expecting more from their employers and from the brands that they choose to spend their money with. An organisation that is able to successfully harness a business model centred on happiness, is one that has the capability to truly succeed and deliver sustainable performance in the long term, retaining its best people and attracting the brightest new talent, in the process.
But does happiness have what it takes to convince the hardest of critics it deserves its place in the business strategy of an agency? Does it really have a place in an industry with a reputation for long hours, demanding projects and resilient people. Especially so when we consider all of this. It’s well reported that the events industry is regarded as one of the most stressful industries to work within. CareerCast regularly ranks the role of event professional as the fifth most stressful role behind the military, emergency services, and that of being an airline pilot. Immovable deadlines are cited as the reason why… and when you take into account the live environment – where anything can happen, and the responsibility of people’s safety is in your hands, it stands to reason. And stress doesn’t discriminate. Even the most resilient of people are susceptible to the long-term effects of stress.
And it’s only now that we’re starting to hear more about the impact of this on-going stress with reports and stories of event professionals suffering from mental health issues, with little or no formal support from their organisations. This old school notion that you should just get on with it, and deal with the consequences that come with the job is not a sustainable, nor compassionate way to lead an organisation. Having worked in the industry myself for the last 30 years, I’ve seen how much has stayed the same in terms of attitudes, while everything around it has evolved at such pace with advances in technology, and the always-on nature of the workplace nowadays.
We also have a new wave of people coming into the workplace to consider. They are demanding much more of their employers in terms of their corporate social responsibility, purpose, and the balance they seek between work and life. The events industry is in danger of not keeping or attracting young, fresh thinking people if we don’t evolve how we do things and how we run our businesses.
There are of course those who believe that the pursuit of happiness brings with it intense pressure to achieve something that can never be perfectly achieved. And my reaction to this is that it comes down to how you define happiness. I share the opinion that happiness does not mean being cheerful all the time. It’s about accepting the good with the bad, and reframing the bad. And of course happiness is a highly personal thing. The way we define happiness at Strata is by ensuring that employees are supported in their individual ambitions and areas of specialism. We want our people to feel like they make a meaningful contribution to the vision of the company, that they have a purpose in that future, and that they have good, trusting relationships with the people that they work with.
So, yes, the happiness of our people is something that has its place at a strategic level at Strata. It’s called The Happiness Programme – an all encompassing programme that’s purpose is to provide employees with the support and infrastructure for them to produce work of outstanding quality within an agency culture that they relish being a part of. The programme was conceived by Casey Evans, Creative Director at Strata and our own Happiness guru and includes seven areas of focus as follows: the culture of the company, reward and recognition, personal development, diversity and inclusion, health and wellbeing, social experiences and giving back to the community. We are also looking at how we can support clients with their own wellbeing, and how to incorporate wellbeing into the events that we organise, understanding the opportunity and platform we have not only to encourage the happiness of our own staff, but the happiness of those people that we come into contact with every day.
Today we are delighted to announce three new appointments across the agency to support growing partnerships with existing and new clients. Mike Parrott joins the senior leadership team in the newly created role of head of incentives and client services director, Ecem Pasa joins the creative department in the role of junior designer, and Martin Yexley takes on the position of event operator.
The new appointments come directly off the back of a strong start to 2019, which has seen the team deliver high profile conferences, roadshows and incentive programmes for long-term clients including Vauxhall and Citroën, Royal London and Sony, in addition to, yet to be announced new clients. Of particular note is the growth of our incentive travel business, and wider performance improvement programmes, which has led to the appointment of Mike Parrott, who previously held senior roles at Grass Roots, Maritz and AYMTM.
Our CEO Simon Hambley, said: “The first six months of operation for the newly formed Strata has been strong with the delivery of high-profile events and programmes for existing clients, along with a number of significant new client wins. As such, we need to bolster our talent through a number of key roles so that we can continue to offer exceptional end-to-end solutions to our existing clients, and service the new clients with the same attention to detail. The new appointments across our two locations reflect the depth and breadth of our value proposition from strategy and creative through to production and operations, and from consumer programmes to B2B. We’re thrilled to welcome Mike, Ecem and Martin to the team.”
Mike Parrott, client services director and head of incentives, Strata adds: “This is a hugely exciting move for me, not least because of the potential that exists since the merger of the two companies into Strata and its subsequent growth. I’ve worked with a number of agencies and brands over my 25-year career, and there’s an opportunity to make a real difference to the motivation programme offering here using my cross-industry experience of automotive and consumer electronics, in particular. And with a spate of new client wins over the last few months, I look forward to working with a portfolio of exciting brands, and hopefully attracting some new ones to boot!”
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