Cameron Roberts uncovers how UK-based agencies are returning to the international scene and creating networks the world over.
Agencies are frequently at the top-tier of event delivery partners. UK-based agencies specifically, have garnered a reputation for executing events of the highest quality the world over, showcasing the creativity, excellence and uniqueness of the emerald-isles’ events offering.
But hosting events on the other side of the globe come with its own unique challenges. Without an existing supply line, organisers are asked to deliver with partners that agencies may never have met face-to-face. With sustainability also being the word of the day – flying in-house team members to site is becoming a less popular option, presenting another challenge for organisers.
To find out how agencies are tackling these issues, I spoke with Daniel Curtis, CSO and partner, emc3; and Andrew Dawson Wills, operations director, Smyle.
Face up
International events are returning at pace, Dawson-Wills said that Smyle is returning to pre-pandemic levels, with 40% of its business being international events. But with all of the external pressures surrounding the return to live events, what’s the impetus to return to in-room meetings?
According to Dawson-Wills, the pandemic has had a lasting effect upon audiences, having been deprived of in-person experiences for so long. He said: “People missed that in-person sharing, peer to peer. As much as digital has grown, its main strength is that it offers global brands something different. It’s also easier when you’re trying to bring senior teams together or do town halls, all those internal meetings.
“I think when you’ve got consumers involved, or big international events, people like to be able to get back in the room with other people. We’re social creatures, right? So, there’s only so much you can do through an online audience piece.”
The thirst for live events is not the only way that the pandemic has impacted international events. Curtis spoke about how audiences are now no longer neatly located where their businesses are. He said: “One thing I think that’s changed is that, as companies have become more remote, clients don’t always know where all of their attendees are coming from. So, an attendee may be headquartered in New York, but they may live 300 miles away, they may not live anywhere near the office. This means that you can’t rely on the fact that your customers are going to be in the location where you’re doing the event.
“To some extent, it’s a challenge for the sales team. To another extent, the hybrid model works really well in that you can aim at the local market, then open it up to a broader audience of remote workers by using an online option.”
The demand for supply
Delivering an event abroad is full of pitfalls, but not having a connection with the local supplier base is one that could cost organisers, as not having an adequate support team has been the death of many an event.
Events agency emc3 works in North America for many of its international events, in this region, the agency relies upon existing connections to help build up a supplier base. Curtis said: “We will look for recommendations from our network before looking to work with someone we would interview, we would work with them offline before we go in front of clients with them.
“If we are working with a partner, who is going to be taking a big chunk of responsibility on a project, we would make sure that it wasn’t a remote situation and would have someone from our team on site.”
The theme of trust continues with other, further flung, regions also having suppliers selected through network connections. Curtis continued: “When it comes to places like China or the Middle East, we have partners that we work with who we trust. For example, we did an event in Singapore for LinkedIn in 2017, where we had to build a quite complicated stage set. We didn’t feel entirely comfortable with the local production partner being able to deliver it exactly, so we brought in some people from the Middle East who we worked with before.”
Smyle’s approach to partners in unfamiliar region is reliant to venue-partners, according to Dawson-Wills. Utilising hotel and venue preferred suppliers is a way to connect with new event partners from out outset.
He did, however, warn against taking a venue’s word as gospel, advising organisers to do their own research to ascertain the value a preferred suppliers may bring to an event. Dawson-Wills said: “I think the key the key thing here is really understanding from the venue, their relationship with this preferred supplier, then having conversations with them and making sure that whatever their supply is checked over by a tech team.
“You just got to be doubly careful about that trust, because sometimes the relationships have in house are not born out of quality or merit. They’re born out of the business decision.”
