It comes as the agency announced its latest financial results and business performance during its first year of trading. Story, which launched on 5 November 2013, has achieved more than £2m worth of sales during the last 12 months, and delivered 28 events on behalf of such clients as Amex, Brit Insurance, PWC, Savills and Trek America.
Kay told Event: "Following a successful launch year, we aim to grow the team and increase overall sales by 50% to £3m. This will be achieved via growth in all areas of the business with specific focus on developing existing accounts and winning new business through creative pitching.
She added the company's focus next year will be on creative pitches for more consumer-facing events, particularly for brands within the beauty, fashion and media sectors. "Our account management will be key to this and will be a focus for development," Kay explained. "There are also some brands where we have only been doing annual events, but we are looking to work on bigger event programmes for them and it's encouraging that our clients are keen to support us in this way as a start-up."
January 2015 will be the company's busiest month to date, with a number of pitches and events secured. This includes a pitch for a product launch for a tobacco brand, as well as a three-day off-site for Hult University featuring a conference, team-building activities and themed party nights.
In December, the agency will be organising a product launch event for Trek America, as well as team-building and Christmas party events for Formula 1 management and Adidas staff respectively.
Story launched trade event the London Christmas Party Show in June, which saw 630 pre-qualified guests attend during the two days. The success of the inaugural event has resulted in the agency bringing it back next year on 2-3 June at Victoria House, as well as developing a new event called the London Summer Event Show, which will take place at One Marylebone in London on 27 and 28 January 2015. Event magazine has been confirmed as the official media partner for both shows.
The company’s Venue Search London business, which includes almost 1,000 venues, has booked more than £1m of events for over 70 clients in its first ten months. Story's plan to develop this will be to improve search and enquiry functions on the website, as well as hiring a dedicated booker for the Christmas 2015 period.
"Launching Story was extremely exciting and to have experienced the success that we have seen within such a short space of time is extremely rewarding," Kay said. "We have delivered events on a larger scale than we were expecting and seen some brilliant client wins. All in all we’re thrilled to have achieved so much in our first year and can’t wait for the next 12 months."
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