When did you launch your agency and what were your reasons for going it alone?
We launched JE Events in December 2014. Previously, we had been working as event managers with other staffing agencies and with clients directly for a number of years. We realised that there was a gap in the events market for us to fill: the requirement for bilingual promotional and hospitality staff.
Although staffing is a very crowded market, we believe that our hands-on approach to staffing will differentiate us from the competition, enabling us to take on more projects. We really understand our client requests and treat our staff as an extension to the team.
Which campaigns have been your favourites to work on this year and why?
Our favourite campaign to work on this year was Happn. We had contacted the French dating app in December, offering some experiential marketing ideas to activate their brand in the UK. This was our first 'big' campaign, providing four brand ambassadors and a singer/guitarist at Liverpool Street and Oxford Circus on Valentine's weekend.
Handing out leaflets and Love Heart sweets as a charm, our amazing staff handed out 2,500 leaflets, resulting in more than 10,000 downloads of the app in two days.
How successfully has your agency traded so far?
So far, we are really pleased with the success that JE Events has had. We have only been running for three months, but we are already seeing an average monthly profit of £4,000.
Furthermore, we have had so much support from other agencies, including Woof London and Staff Live. Without this support, JE Events wouldn't be in the position we are in today. We are also in the process of building more personal, long-term relationships with production and catering companies. This is our company ethos, a personal, hands-on approach to staffing.
What have been the biggest challenges?
As there are just two of us here at JE Events, we are limited to the amount of client requests that we can manage. Also, building a brand as a start-up is incredibly difficult, as there are already a number of reputable staffing companies in the UK.
To combat this, we use a number of different marketing techniques to advertise our brand, including leafleting, business doughnut drops, personalised poems and social media management. Our final challenge is monetary - we have an incredibly small budget when it comes to pitching to new clients, so we are always creating innovative ways to overcome this.
What have you got coming up in 2015?
This is set to be a busy year for JE Events. We have a number of festivals this summer that we will be staffing, and a really exciting project taking place in Cairo, Egypt. We will also be looking to recruit an account manager to help manage our workload and get further recognition for JE Events and our values.
Do you have any long-term goals, targets and strategies for your agency?
Our primary goal is to build connections with a few established experiential companies and staff campaigns for brands that they manage. Our key long-term goal is to offer more than just staff. Having worked in the field for just over 15 years, we believe that we can offer creative marketing ideas in addition to experienced staff.
In the next couple of years we will be looking to open up an office in Cairo, as this is such a niche market yet to be explored by promotional staffing companies. Our target by the end of this year is to be one of the most talked-about staffing agencies in London and, as JE Events expands, we want to become one of the most reputable staffing suppliers in the UK.
Our strategy for 2015 is to develop our knowledge of the market, and with extensive experience in field marketing campaigns, the switch to sitting in an office every day is something we are embracing. Key components of our business such as inbound marketing and social media are also areas that we are looking to develop. However, JE Events is more than up for the challenge, and we look forward to staffing some of the most prolific campaigns in the coming months.
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