I got into the event industry because I worked in a sales promotion role and wanted something more creative and varied than BOGOFs. At the time experiential marketing as a discipline was starting to emerge in the UK and I got the chance to work at RPM, who were spearheading this movement. It was too good an opportunity to turn down.
I have worked here since I established Purity in 2007, prior to that I was managing director of Theatre, an agency I started in 2003 as part of the Dynamo Group (now MSQ Partners). I felt there was, and still is, true scope in the industry for emerging, independent agencies to offer something new and innovative.
I was attracted to this particular role because it gave me the opportunity to shape a new business that fitted well within this new, emerging sector, demonstrating to clients that smaller companies can raise the bar through best practice. We have an approach that seeks to improve standards and acknowledge that the landscape is changing. It’s also given me the opportunity to build a team of experienced professionals who have created and share the Purity values that all our clients benefit from.
Not many people know that the Purity head office, 'The Funkbunk', was once an old World War II auxiliary hospital, as we are actually based on a wartime airfield. It was also a milking shed on a dairy farm before being converted into our office.
The best event I've been involved in was without doubt the London Olympic torch relay in 2012. We supported Samsung throughout the year and those ten weeks (May to July) were the highlight of my career. Seeing the way in which the whole country supported those 8,000 torch bearers from the very first day in Land’s End to the last in London was truly remarkable. The work put in by everyone involved went beyond anything I have experienced before and showed the world just how special the event industry is within the UK.
If I could do it all over again I would have started my own agency sooner. There’s nothing quite like going through those early years, working every hour and then bringing in the people alongside you to share in the growth. Now we’re more established I look back at that time and realise just how crazy it was.
The one thing I can't stand is brands who fail to deliver a positive customer experience through a basic lack of selection or training of their staff or representatives. It is extremely frustrating to see brands that have invested so much in their brand image let themselves down in this way. It is even more frustrating that we seem to be all too accepting of this.
Outside of work I spend my time... I don’t base-jump, go kite surfing or fly planes, but I do love sport so can be found supporting Northampton Saints when I’m not running a taxi service for my kids.
If money were no object I would travel around the world to every major sporting event - the World Cup final, British Lions Tour, Ryder Cup, Superbowl, IPL final, World Series play-offs, F1 in Monaco… the list goes on and on and so would I.
If I could switch places with anyone else in the industry it would be... at this very moment in time, it would probably be Sandra Marfut, Fifa head of special events and guest management. The eyes of the world are all on Brazil. It’s the world’s most widely viewed sporting event. A World Cup in Brazil is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and to be involved at this level would be sensational.
If I ruled the event industry I would seek to get experiential at the top-table through a body with a voice in the same way the DMA, IPM, MAA and EVCOM act. Each of these do a great job integrating experiential and brand engagement into their interests, but the industry is mature enough now to have a body to represent those within it and work to drive best practice.
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