Meet the Team Creating #awesome Event Strategy for Brands

Event Management companies come in all shapes and sizes. Some focus on planning particular types of events, such as conferences or incentives. Others build a business based on serving a particular industry, such as tech.

And some, like This Space Events, create an agency that provides a holistic approach to their client’s event strategy. They see an event as one element of their client’s overall brand campaign and they believe it’s their job to make sure the reach and success of an event goes well beyond the guests simply showing up at the door.

2016 has been a big year for This Space Events. They have moved into a brand new Headquarters – a three storey building where they can showcase their products, invite clients to meet and even host training sessions for their clients to learn more about event compliance, security, styling and creative event development.

They’ve also grown their team to include some rock stars of the industry who are wowing their clients with their creative skills. And, they’ve added to their services to provide their clients with an agency that can do it all – event management, brand strategy, digital, styling and design.

This week we’re going to take a look at how an agency like This Space Events operates and take a sneak peek at an event they recently executed for a leading media group in Australia held at the brand new Sydney venue, The Blue Room Bondi.

Getting the Event Brief (The start of something beautiful)

Before they start work on an event, This Space Events likes to fully understand their client’s business, their objectives and where they want to situate themselves in the market place. “We want to know about their long term goals and understand how the event can impact their future campaigns”, explains Lynleigh, Head of Client Experience and branding and marketing specialist.

For this particular event, the client wanted to create an immersive experience that enable them to deepen their relationship with their own clients while launching new products and creating lasting brand memories.

Establishing the brand (Exposure beyond the event)

The theme of the event was “Your night with…”, so the team created an easy to use hashtag of #your[insert-client-name]. This hashtag was not only used for this event, but will be applied for all future events too – establishing a digital bank of images online.

The brand and hashtag were then represented on key items throughout the event. This included a branded vodka luge perfectly positioned overlooking the ocean – something a lot of guests enjoyed to the max. They also arranged for a crew of very good looking wait staff in branded t-shirts to serve cocktails in branded coconuts – both the waiters and the cocktails were heavily photographed, tagged and shared (#success).

Styling the event (More than just the look and feel)

Introducing Emma, the team’s talented senior stylist. Prior to joining the team, Emma travelled the globe, worked on Game of Thrones and created events for leading brands in Australia and overseas (a fab resume!).

For this particular event, Emma explains that it was important to create a space that would appeal to the younger, social media savvy guests that were in attendance. There needed to be Instagram-worthy photo opportunities everywhere they looked.

The client wanted to create a really fun party vibe and make the guests feel like they were at the HOTTEST PARTY IN TOWN (and it was!). The styling was chic, without bring too over the top and allowed the branding elements to blend in without being too obtrusive.

Bring in the Digital Dude (Barry White)

It’s no longer a secret that using video at your events is a sure-fire way to communicate your message more effectively. Choosing to use an event agency like This Space Events, who have an in-house digital department, is a great way to ensure a cohesive campaign that works before, during and after your event takes place.

Introducing Barry, Head of Digital at This Space Events (and sometimes singer of such hits as Can’t Get Enough of Your Love Baby…). Barry’s job with this particular event was to create a highlights reel of the client’s new products that were being launched at the event. Insert a quick word from the CEO and you’ve got a snappy little video ready to kick off the event.

Creating video content is a great way to engage the younger guests and the media – they are more likely to stop and watch a clever little video than listen to a long speech. The video can then be used again at future events and form part of the follow up campaign post-event.

The Venue and Catering (The essentials)

For an event to be deemed successful you need to get the essentials right first – that means picking a suitable venue and ensuring everyone is fed adequately. However, it’s the skill of pulling this all together with the branding, styling and communication that makes an event truly successful.

Zoe, Event Manager extraordinaire, was responsible for picking the newly opened The Blue Room Bondi as the location for this event (via Event Birdie of course!). Zoe worked closely with the venue’s superstar manager, Sophie Watchel, to ensure food and beverage was exceptional (aka Instagram worthy and delicious).

The duo dreamed up the idea of a lavish antipasto table that would form one of the centrepiece experiences of the room – the guests could not get enough!

Other highlights of the event included giving guests glow in the dark fairy floss served on glow sticks and inviting along Sydney’s hottest young DJ to create an instant dance party!

**The solution finders: When it was clear that the guests had no intention of stopping the party on time, they quickly organised for the neighbours, The Bucket List, to stay open later and the party moved over there! #brilliant #solution

In-house Production (Making it happen)

It’s all well and good for the creatives in the team to come up with amazing ideas, but if it wasn’t for Effy, Head of Production, the event would potentially still be on paper. Effy is the one that makes it all happen – she keeps their warehouse in immaculate order and ensures each event is installed (and when it’s over – removed) with pure efficiency. Perhaps it’s her skills developed as a Police woman that keeps everyone in check.

The vision and values (From the Tribal Leader)

We have left mentioning Julia, the Managing Director of this fabulous team, to the end for good reason. Julia is the backbone of This Space Events and started the company 14 years ago with a vision to create an event agency that delivered more than event management. Julia is a communicator, passionate collaborator and relationship builder. She invites clients to join This Space Events’ family and loves helping brands grow with the help of her team.

Having moved into the new headquarters earlier this year, Julia was determined to create a space where she could share her own skills and advice with her clients. This Space Events will be hosting a series of private sessions that will give their clients the knowledge needed to create event better event campaigns.

Image credits: John from Harustudio for Business