by midnight on Monday 28 November
Alana Irwin, senior account manager, Havas Sports & Entertainment
Irwin was tasked with bringing her strategic thinking to the Barclay’s end of season campaign which gave a football fan the opportunity to handover the Premier League trophy to the winning team. Throughout the campaign, Irwin reacted quickly to the news agenda, spotting the unique opportunity when it was clear that underdogs Leicester would win, creating a new story for media. When journalists were in need of alternative news lines on the Leicester story, Irwin was able to run a press office which delivered 31 pieces of national broadcast including BBC Breakfast and ITV national news and 48 pieces of national print. Trust for Barclays increased 15% and brand warmth and consideration increased by 13% and 14% respectively.
Becci Thomson, business development manager, The O2
Thomson has overseen the O2's biggest ever awards year, with the venue entertaining over 35,000 guests, an increase of 5,000 compared to last year. She also secured the Business in the Community Responsible Business Awards 2016, which was the largest ever seated dinner in the arena with 1,600 guests. A further 4,000 guests were hosted for more intimate award ceremonies at campus venues ‘indigo at The O2’ and ‘Building Six’. Becci played an instrumental role in the development of this year’s experiential Christmas party. She negotiated a partnership with creative event production company Theme Traders to create a Party in a Pear Tree: The 12 Days of Christmas. Because of Thomson's hard work, Christmas parties at the O2 push the limits of every guest’s imagination and immerse them in a completely different world.
Beth Nicholas, account director, Sense
Ben McCarthy, senior event manager, Wellpleased Events
This year, McCarthy progressed from event assistant to senior event manager. He was fundamental to the choreography and management of the Victoria Gate shopping centre in Leeds, which houses the largest John Lewis store outside of London.
Caitlin Kobrak, junior strategist, George P Johnson
Kobrak is co-creator of Event: First Steps, which aims to help the next set of event professionals understand the breadth of the events industry, and see the many career possibilities available. She has taken on an ILEA board role as director-at-large for Education for 2016/17. Kobrak was also part of the Cisco Live Europe Social Media team and the past 12 months have seen a continued development in enhancing the different social platforms and type of technology the agency is experimenting with – to showcase the benefits of both Cisco and Cisco Live.
Chantal Kerr-Sheppard, events manager, Which?
A series of achievements have contributed to a successful year. Following the success of the Santander SME Summit series, Kerr-Shep was promoted to senior project manager at Banks Sadler and then went on to lead L’Oreal Matrix Conference 2016 in Amsterdam. Following this, she moved to Which?, the consumers association, creating and developing events which aim to influence policy change with business leaders, politicians, academics and consumers.
Daniel Underwood, brand manager and sponsorship and partnerships, Vodafone
Underwood's role at Vodafone defies his age. He has made Vodafone's sponsorship strategy richer and helped to target young consumers. In addition, he pro-actively sought out new agencies – including FreemanXP – to bring fresh thinking and creativity to the brand and its activations across music and the arts. He led the creation of Vodafone’s music platform – Vodafone Future Breakers – a partnership with Global that is activated through its headline sponsorships of music events. He was responsible for the delivery of several music sponsorship activations this year, from 80,000 people at Wembley to live streams from Ibiza.
Deborah Kelly, head of UK sales, London & Partners
Recently promoted to head of UK sales at London & Partners (L&P), Kelly is a force to be reckoned with. She champions business tourism in the UK, driving in new event enquiries from across the agency and corporate world. From unlocking London for experiential to driving in significant pipeline business. Kelly also supports L&P's vast partnership base of hoteliers, venues and event management companies and is a fantastic brand ambassador for London at many of London & Partners overseas events. She is also VP marketing & communications for MPI, UK and definitely 'one to watch' in the events industry.
Elena Clowes, operations manager, ILEA UK
In the last 12 months, Clowes has created and maintained ILEA memberships, and has gone to great efforts in coordinating the five committees that make ILEA work. Clowes has been dedicated and focused when overseeing the monthly events for the agency.
Emily Koppit, senior account manager, Pretty Green
Since joining the Pretty Green team in 2013, Koppit has seen five promotions in just three years. Over the last 12 months, she has headed up Pretty Green’s event team to deliver OnBlackheath Festival in partnership with John Lewis, helped to stage a John Lewis experience at a festival site in Leeds and negotiated with 15 brand partners to provide contra product in exchange for festival exposure. Koppit led the agency response when creating the 3D window design for Pandora, and has been instrumental in the Pandora account surpassing its targets. She is described as a fantastic problem solver, able to think on her feet and form creative solutions.George Bateman, account director, Experience12
When Bateman was approached with the proposal to build a seven-metre-high church replica at MCM ComicCon for the launch of a TV show with only three weeks to complete the project, he rose to the challenge even in the face of multiple structural sign-offs, late artwork supply and content not being supplied until the day before the show was due to launch.
Hannah Jackson, senior account manager, Havas Sports & Entertainment Cake
Jackson has overseen campaigns for Carling and EA within tight time frames, including the launch of a new TV show maximising the partnership between Carling and the Premier League. She was responsible for managing stakeholders such as Sky and the Premier League, as well as multiple agencies. She also played a role in the launch of EA’s game Titanfall 2, for which a scene from the game was created in real life. For the launch of a new football show for Sky Sports 1, Jackson managed the planning and running of the event, as well as the PR and social amplification of the show’s content.
Hannah Pierce, head of events, Roundhouse
In 12 months, Pierce has confirmed more than £1.6m worth of business, with just two other members of staff for most of the year. She is responsible for the partnership with Bauer Media, and was promoted to head of events in June. In the same month, Pierce single-handedly managed Roundhouse’s biggest event - the BMW 100th anniversary celebrations. The event ran for 24 consecutive days, including a seven-day build, 12 days of exhibitions and private events, and a five-day de-rig. The success of her efforts meant that the activation brought £650K worth of income to Roundhouse, and more than 6,000 people came to see the exhibition.
Hayley Thomas, managing director, Red Marketing and Events
Thomas was integral to the launch of the British Motorsport Festival China, on behalf of Morgan Cars China. She was responsible for strategy and positioning, sponsor and stakeholder securing and engagment, PR and media engagement with information of the event shared with over 10,000 Chinese journalists and reported on by over 300 outlets. In addition she took charge of social media content creation and development, and managed to increase followers on the company's Wechat (Chinese Facebook equivalent) by 800% and on Weibo (Chinese Twitter) by 126%.
Jay Burgesson, director, The London Kitchen
in January 2016 Burgesson became a director and shareholder of The London Kitchen. In the last 12 months he has managed over 180 events and fed over 25,000 guests. Standout events from the last year include the House of Peroni immersive Italian food and drink experience at Proud East and the Creative Circle Awards for 650 guests at the Roundhouse.
Kate Morris, senior events manager, M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment
Morris is responsible for the co-ordination of large scale international events for large-scale brands in the sport and entertainment industry. Her role requires her to work closely with PR teams, as well as focus heavily on brand awareness and drive engagement.
Kirsty Henderson, account director, Havas Sports and Entertainment Cake
Very wanted to kickstart the festive season ahead of other retailers, and Henderson was integral to the brand's campaign. She oversaw the project, managing logistics from a 60ft projection of their new advert across the Thames onto County Hall, a boat packed with influencers and festive treats to travel down the river. She also organised an army of 100 gift givers and carol singers, 240 presents in 120 boxes wrapped, boxed, labelled and to be given away, brought in Strictly Come Dancing star Laura Whitmore to reveal the campaign and do the countdown, as well as a large-scale supporting publicity campaign. The campaign has been one of the most successful for the brand to date.
Laura Burroughs, project manager, TRO
Burroughs met and exceeded all expectations managing the workloads and welfare of two busy teams delivering a combined 200+ events a year for BMW, whilst still delivering top-quality national campaigns. She planned and delivered the BMW Track Day at Goodwood Festival of Speed. BMW tasked TRO to successfully fulfil all driving slots over the course of the Festival of Speed. Laura delivered the activity at full capacity, which saw over 560 people experience BMW product in a track driving environment, as well as finding time to help out the team running the main stand on site during build and live dates.
Laurence Hinton, brand manager, Accolade WinesHinton negotiated with the British and Irish Lions for Mud House Wines to become an official sponsor of the New Zealand tour 2017 and has also been busy pushing Echo Falls Fruit wine in the UK. Activations included a sponsorship of The Luna Cinema with sampling across the country and the second year sponsoring Chester Ladies Day.
Louise Jenkins, senior producer, Jack Morton
Jenkins was crucial to the production of the closing ceremony of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, as well as taking on the role of lead producer for the Samsung Olympic and Paralympic showcase pavilion in Rio - the Samsung Galaxy Studio.
Luke Hodson, founder, Urban Nerds
Hodson has been responsible for doubling the size of Urban Nerds as it moves from promoter and fashion label to influencer agency. Experiential work this year includes campaigns for a diverse range of brands, from Burger & Lobster to Converse, Beats to Dr Martins and Twitter to Puma.
Lynsey Horsfield, account director, Sense
Horsfield’s proud experiential story of the year was the delivery of the award-winning Guitar Hero campaign, the first foray for Sense into the world of gaming with Activision. Horsfield headed up a three-man team taking the brief from concept to reality in under eight weeks. The campaign expanded Sense’s overall knowledge of the unique world of gaming and opened up new business opportunities in the sector as a result. Her standout achievement was her promotion to account director in less than 12 months due to excelling on project lead and delivery for a number of clients, including Innocent, Activision, and EDF.
Martyn Scoates, 3D designer, TRO
Scoates was an intrinsic member of the team for the activation TRO delivered for Pepsi at the UEFA Champions League Final 2016 in Milan. Working on the project from the pitch process right through to delivery, he was responsible for all the creative elements TRO proposed and went on to activate live. His contributions focused on the structure visuals and plans, and he liaised with the production team to ensure the plans for the various stand areas were viable from a logistics perspective. In addition, he worked up design options and created a website to demonstrate to the client, enabling Tro to present the ideas by virtually walking the client through the proposed plans.
Olivia Danzig, operations manager, FreemanXP
Phoebe Cherry, director, Smart Live
Cherry secured, designed and delivered a brand launch and employee engagement event for Kantar. In addition, she designed and managed a brand experience to launch Here East – the biggest, boldest, innovation centre in Europe. For the launch, she helped to organise a bespoke performance from the Studio Wayne MacGregor, a hybrid supercar showcase and and interaction with cutting edge technology, including 3D printing and robotics, in the Innovation Centre.
Rachel Jennings, senior account director / client service lead, Circle
Jennings oversees the client service team, managing millions of pounds of award winning work, as well as mentoring growth. She has played vital roles in the agency's work with EA, as well as its PlayStation work, celebrity cruises, GSK, Bonne Maman and many more. She now heads Circle's internal training programme, sits on the DMA's face to face council and is active with the IPM and women in marketing events.
Rebecca Walker, business development manager, FreemanXP
In only 12 months at FreemanXP, Walker has helped to build relationships with the agency’s existing and potential clients. She has played an essential role in the growth of FreemanXP’s accounts outside of North America. In particular, she worked closely with a pharmaceutical client and provided support both in the lead up to and during an event, ensuring that the client’s needs had been exceeded. FreemanXP continuse to work with the client on a global scale.
Rhiannon Ball, head chef, Boulevard Events
Ball led the design, theming, creation and execution of the menu for Boulevard Events’ entry into the Event Awards Caterer of the Year 2016, at which the company was highly commended. She also took charge of catering at ILEA UK's annual Halloween event at Cirque Le Soir, which required a shipwrecked-themed menu. She created a sea of blood, and edible sand, as well as a 1m x 2m model ship broken in half, which she then set on fire to create the desired finish.
Ross Bailey, CEO, Appear Here
Bailey has already been listed on Forbes 'Under 30'. His company, Appear Here, describes itself as a marketplace to list, discover, and book temporary retail spaces around the UK. Under his direction, the company aims to book and secure retail space for events and make it an easier experience. Appear Here has been chosen by designers, start-ups and international brands.
Rui Cruz Alves, project manager, TFI Group
Rui is driving technology and creativity for the agency as part of his new project manager role, and has also assumed the role of VP membership for ILEA UK. He played a fundamental part in the annual Jose Cuervo experience, designing and building the bespoke mini-registration website, creating and managing the programme for the group, as well as managing the whole experience on site.
Sam Scott, account manager, Verve Live Agency
Scott is described as a ‘rapidly rising star in the Events industry’, and is commended for understanding client requirements, and always nailing the brief. Over the last year, he has been managing the Guinness sponsorship account, notably the sponsorship of the Six Nations and the Guinness Pro12 Final in May. During the Six Nations, he oversaw experiential events taking place in three locations - Cardiff, Edinburgh and London. Most recently, he was fundamental to the Guinness sponsorship success at the Autumn Rugby Internationals, November 2016.
Sarah Pick, account manager, Hot Pickle
Shauna Mahoney, account manager, Experience12
Having joined Experience12 straight after university, Mahoney has already progressed to account manager. She has been commended for embracing responsibilities that go beyond her day to day tasks, and works hard to increase her skillset. Within her first 9 months she initiated discussions with a global PR and SEO agency to demonstrate how Experience12 could help them drive digital SEO through physical, experiential experiences. In addition, she managed the delivery of a national touring campaign for Universal Pictures and received praise from the client for her work.
Steve Hughes, senior brand manager Experiential, Pernod Ricard UK
New to the events industry as of 2015, Hughes had worked to deliver objectives for a number of different brands and has helped to stage large scale activations, all while adapting to a complex industry. He has worked on campaigns for Chivas, Brancott Estate, Absolut and PJ with the stand-out campaign being Campo Viejo's Lake of Colour. The event spanned five days and welcomed over 2,500 consumers to the pop-up wine bar. The 360 degree brand experience delivered 24.3 million digital impressions nationally.
Victoria Hart, head of client solutions & events, Retail Week (EMAP)
Hart has worked hard and helped to stage Retail Week Live, an event which grew by 19% and earned five NPS points this year. She added new commercial experiences to the event, worth £20k to the business, including a live lounge with a massage parlour and digital caricatures. She built partnerships with brands T2 and Coca-Cola, which saw them bring to life a pop-up version of their stores on the exhibition floor. Hart has also represented Retail Week speaking at a number of external events and conferences this year and has been shortlisted for Leader of the Year at the PPA Connect Awards.
Zara Kerwood, digital project manager, George P Johnson
After joining the agency at the beginning of this year, Kerwood has taken control of two large VR projects - for AT&T at Mobile World Congress and an interactive experience at Cisco Live EMEA. Her dedication and enthusiasm has helped to drive footfall and engagement for both projects, as well as cement the agency’s relationships with both clients. Because of her digital creativity and knowledge, George P Johnson’s digital experiences are now built in-house.
Zoe Hodges, senior account manager, Exposure
Hodges used her drinks industry expertise to deliver the new brand positioning of Drambuie, and stage a five city tour of the brand’s new experiential concept ‘The Brass & Crimson’. The venue concept incorporated futurist live jazz, a team of expert Drambuie bartenders and a fully immersive 1960’s New York-style bar. She impressed with her contribution to the Bacardi Festival activity, and became fully involved in a rigorous programme of festival activations over a very busy summer.
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