Maclay will head up the agency’s new London offices in Marylebone Lane and will lead Verve’s expansion in the UK.
Verve, which is headquartered in Dublin, announced this summer that it would be targeting the western European market to cater for a demand among the firm’s existing multinational clients to work on projects across the region.
The new London office has also allowed Verve to respond to an increasing number of requests to participate in tenders from potential new UK clients. Its existing client roster includes Coca-Cola, Guinness, Unilever, Dropbox and Google.
Maclay joins Verve from IMG, where he was head of experiential for international consulting for more than six years. As part of this role, he helped to deliver a wealth of live experiences including the AG Barr Commonwealth Games activation in Glasgow, London 2012 Olympic Games activations for British Airways and Rio Tinto, a new brand identity for the International Fencing Federation and HSBC’s ‘Wimbledon in New York’.
Ronan Traynor, founder and managing director of Verve, said: "Our push into the UK market and further afield into Europe is all about preserving the attention to detail and commitment to achieving results that has made Verve a success in the Irish marketplace. We partner with the industry to enable firms of all sizes to achieve on strategic goals through live events, from sales events and conferences through to employee experiences and consumer activations.
"James has a fantastic track record of creating just the kind of events our clients appreciate and has the right experience to drive our expansion in the UK. I look forward to working alongside him as we extend our work with our current clients into a new market, and broaden our reach to include new customer relationships."
Maclay added: "I am excited to be joining Verve and to play a role in the success of its expansion effort. Our aim is to become one of western Europe’s leading event management and brand activation companies, matching the position of our Irish operations where we are the largest independently-owned company of its kind.
"The level of ambition and sense of possibility that is tangible at Verve makes for an exciting work environment that combines the culture of a start-up with a commitment to results to reflect the firm’s 23 years in existence."
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