We are delighted to announce that not one, but two of our fantastic Strata employees have been named in the 2021 C&IT 35 under 35 Agency A List, which celebrates outstanding event professionals.
Gina Cundy and Isabelle Toussaint – both of whom work in our live events production team – have been recognised in this year’s esteemed list.
The news follows recent promotions for both Gina and Izzy, in recognition for creating live brand experiences for clients throughout the last twelve months, despite the turbulent situation the industry has been facing.
We are extremely proud of both Gina and Izzy for having the wider industry endorse their hard work and unique talents. To hear more from the ladies head to the C&IT Website to download the Agency A-List brochure.
Congratulations to everyone that made the list.
We are very excited to announce that we have been shortlisted in the 2021 CN Agency Awards in the Best Medium Agency category.
This is the first time we have entered the CN Agency Awards, so it’s fantastic to be shortlisted on our debut entry, especially in this highly sought after category.
After a turbulent year, which was only our second year of trading, we’re thrilled that the hard work and creative solutions our team produce are being recognised across the industry.
Congratulations to everyone that has made the shortlist. We’re looking forward to the 1st July already!
Earlier this year our work with Vauxhall, launching their new Mokka, made the shortlist for the Best Virtual Product Launch at the Digital Event Awards.
Read the full virtual product launch case study here.
Strata Creative Communications, a leading independent brand experience agency, has continued to champion grassroots development by hiring past interns on a permanent basis, filling Project Co-ordinator vacancies.
Sophie Austin and Charlotte Bute are the most recent, in a long line of past interns, to join the agency after completing their studies. In addition the agency welcomes Jessica Winterton, also a graduate with placement experience, into the same position. All three will join the growing production team and report into Andrea Bishop, Director of Live, to support the delivery of upcoming virtual, hybrid, and live experiences for their diverse portfolio of client brands.
Sophie, a 2020 graduate with a first-class honours degree, has already started working at the agency and is supporting the delivery of upcoming virtual events. Charlotte and Jessica will be joining the team later in the Spring once they have completed their studies.
These new hires are the latest to join the growing agency, which is actively recruiting for other vacancies in their creative and live events teams.
Sophie Austin, commented: “I wanted to return to Strata because of the variety the agency offers. Their broad client base and experience in all kinds of campaigns and events means that every single day is different, and I can constantly develop my skills as a result. The team really supported me during my placement and the responsibility I was given is a testament to the mentors I worked with, and how your work ethic is recognised and valued. I’m excited to continue my events career with the Strata team and can’t wait to get stuck in as a permanent member of the team.”
Andrea Bishop, Director of Live, Strata comments: “I’m delighted to welcome back two of our past interns into permanent positions, and of course Jessica who is new to the agency. Both Sophie and Charlotte left an impression on Strata during their placement year which has now paid off! The tenacity and passion shown from all our interns always delight us, and its fantastic to see the development programme we run really does result in confident and capable team members at the end of it.
All three women had great hurdles to overcome in graduating at a time when the pandemic has hit our industry so hard. But the experience they have gained working on virtual events and projects outside of their studies has enhanced their skills and demonstrated to us their drive to create fantastic events and experiences.
We are preparing for the high demand we are seeing already in work since the road map has been announced by the government. And although live events will see undoubtedly have a triumphant return, we know that virtual and hybrid experiences are here to stay.”
Strata Creative Communications, a leading independent brand experience agency, has strengthened its leadership by appointing three long serving members of the team to the board, as part of its ongoing plans to grow and challenge the larger more established agencies in the industry.
Giles Cattle, Andrea Bishop and Paul Querfurth have all been appointed as board directors. With responsibility for Creative, Strategy and Business Development; Live and Virtual Events; and Public and Consumer Engagement respectively. They join the four founding board members.
Their wealth of knowledge and experience in the events industry brings new expertise to the boardroom, and will lead a more strategic structure within Strata, thus opening opportunities for more staff to progress.
The new structure reflects the changes seen by the agency, where clients are planning a new events portfolio that includes virtual and digital solutions as standalone communication methods, rather than being a temporary solution to the current situation.
Having specialists in event delivery, strategy, and engagement at board level ensures clients receive a cohesive offering from the agency, which ultimately results in business efficiencies for their brand.
Our CEO Simon Hambley, comments: “Pre Covid19, Strata were growing rapidly. Our strategy to offer more of what every client needs through one touchpoint and deliver creative excellence, brand consistency, and business efficiency, was delivering successful results for our clients.
These appointments were always part of our plan to expand our leadership team and devolve control, following the success of our integration. Being appointed to the board at Strata builds on continued active involvement with clients day-to-day, and adds renewed energy and more ideas to the board, to continue to deliver better for clients, and the agency.
While 2020 was a challenging year for all businesses in our sector, our long-term goals have not changed. We have continued to deliver for all our clients, both virtually and physically. The turmoil has accelerated the shift to digital and Strata were well placed to exploit this. We predict that once the vaccine is distributed successfully, we will see a marked return to face-to-face events, alongside hybrid and virtual, and we are armed with new ways to deliver better ROI, better engagement, and better reach. We are preparing now for that future opportunity.”
Photographed, from left to right, Giles Cattle, Andrea Bishop, Paul Querfurth
We’re delighted to be awarded the bronze for ‘Best conference by an event agency’ at the Conference Awards 2020.
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This event was recognised for its creative approach to deliver efficiencies across three business brands by hosting their dealer events back to back in the same venue over three days.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It was a real team effort to produce this event and it is a true example of all our teams working together to create a fantastic experience for the guests. Here’s to many more awards under the Strata name.
You can read more about the Conference Awards here.
Event details
Three events, for three brands, over three days, in one venue.
We produced three brand’s dealer events in one venue back-to-back over three days; sharing infrastructure, maximising investment in production and achieving significant cost savings year on year for Groupe PSA.
A combination of innovative production techniques, a large collaborative approach across the brands, and cost savings negotiated by us, delivered a heightened experience for over 1,800 network partners.
Production management of over 20 vehicles, both heritage and concept, brought each brand to life on the 20m catwalk stage, and in the expo & hospitality area. State of the art LED screens and presenting ‘in the round’ created a new dynamic experience to the annual event and gave the attendees a reason to sit up and pay attention.
Creating event identities that resonated with the audiences ensured successful delivery of the business messages across all three brands, resulting in 94% average satisfaction ratings. In addition our direct clients were thrilled with the results and our service.
If you want to see more then view the full case study.
Izzy Toussaint, Senior Project Manager – Recognised as one of the 2020 CN 30 under Thirty winners
We’re extremely proud one of our hard working team members – Izzy Toussaint – has been recognised in this prestigious list of industry professionals, especially in this turbulent year.
This accolade is great recognition for all the hard work Izzy has put in over the years with us, and most recently whilst working on a new EV automotive client, delivering safe and secure socially distanced live brand experiences.
Izzy has been part of the Strata family for many years and originally came to us as an intern whilst completing her degree in Events Management. Izzy is testament to the belief that hard work and dedication pays off. Congratulations Izzy!!
You can read more about the CN 30 under Thirty 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.
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