Stand out performance
Thank you very much for all your efforts [at Kent 2020] - much appreciated.
We have 27 qualified leads and a good number of business cards to follow up on too.
Many people complemented us on our stand, Prioryman and our Blazers and all were extremely surprised when we said that it had been our first exhibition ever!
Bob Pitman, Managing Director, Priory Business Group PLC
Creaseys' Budget Breakfast
Our client
Creaseys is one of the top 100 firms of accountants in the UK and has eight partners and approximately 90 support staff, based at offices in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Established for more than 150 years, the practice has two specialist divisions: Corporate & Business and Private Clients.
Objectives
Creaseys' clients turn to the firm for advice after every Budget and, with a new coalition government in place and an Emergency Budget announced soon after, the team at Creaseys knew that it had to be ready to help clients to understand any key changes.
The firm took a proactive approach - as it does with every Budget - and decided to hold a ‘Budget Breakfast' soon after the event. The partners turned to The Marketing Eye, its retained marketing services company, to organise the event.
Solution
Once the date for the Budget was announced - it was decided to hold the breakfast event within 48 hours of the Budget speech. The main priority for partners at Creaseys was to interpret what the Budget would mean to its clients - so Creaseys relied on The Marketing Eye to pull together the event.
Delegate recruitment
Initially, The Marketing Eye liaised with Creaseys to ascertain who should be receiving invitations - and the list was wide ranging, from clients to local business leaders and professionals.
The Marketing Eye created a database of invitees and, working alongside the team at Ecce Media, established an effective online invitation and registration system. Very quickly, an email was circulated, inviting guests to ‘save the date'. These emails were closely monitored and The Marketing Eye could see which invitees had opened the emails and who were showing initial interest.
Formal invitations were circulated a few days later. Reminders were sent to those who did not open the original email or who had not replied, while those people who had confirmed their attendance were kept up-to-date with emails giving further details and joining instructions. This sustained email communication resulted in more than 200 people attending on the day and a drop-out rate of less than 10% - a very positive outcome for an event of this nature and size.
Venue procurement
The Marketing Eye was also tasked with securing the venue for the event - The River Centre in Tonbridge. This is one of only a handful of venues locally which can hold more than 200 guests.
The venue works well, as it is on two levels. Attendees are able to enjoy a full English breakfast downstairs, before moving to the conference room upstairs for the presentations.
The team at The Marketing Eye worked closely with the venue, making all the arrangements - ordering the food and beverages, liaising with the venue team and organising the AV requirements. It also conceptualised and arranged the Creaseys' branding at the venue - ranging from banners at the entrance to an impressive backdrop to the speakers created with lighting.
Speaker support
The Marketing Eye also oversaw the writing and designing of the PowerPoint presentations - from those referred to by partners in the presentations, to a ‘Creaseys' year in review' presentation, which ran as a rolling display during the breakfast. The team at The Marketing Eye also loaded the PowerPoint slides onto the Creaseys' website afterwards.
Branding
The Budget Breakfast was the first opportunity which clients and local professionals had had to see the firm's new branding - something that was also conceived and designed by The Marketing Eye. A more modern and fresh interpretation of the existing logo and branding - it met with universal approval.
As a branded reminder for all attendees, The Marketing Eye worked closely with a specialist printing company to produce branded tax cards, with details of the newly announced tax rates. These were turned around within 48 hours of the Chancellor sitting down.
Speakers
In addition to presentations from tax partners at Creaseys, there was a need for a keynote speaker - somebody who understood the local business climate. The Marketing Eye has a wide range of contacts in the local business world and approached David Philpott, chairman of the Kent branch of the Institute of Directors (IoD).
David was delighted to be asked to speak at such a high-profile event and said, afterwards, that he had received some ‘very good feedback'.
The event was free to attend - but Creaseys asked for donations for its ‘charity of the year' - The Pickering Cancer Drop-in Centre in Tunbridge Wells. Guests were extremely generous and more than £400 was raised - which delighted the charity's Co-founder, Polly Taylor. The Marketing Eye has been at the forefront of the development of the firm's CSR policy and liaised with The River Centre to find an appropriate area for the charity to erect a small exhibition stand. Here, guests could find out about the work that the charity does.
PR
The Marketing Eye's PR department organised press coverage, both before and after the Budget Breakfast. The event was attended by Keith Lewis, Freelance Business Reporter from The Kent and Sussex Courier and The Sevenoaks Chronicle, who wrote a piece about the Breakfast in the paper the following week.
The business section of Kent on Sunday publications ran a large piece on the event (including a photograph of David Philpott with Emma Roberts, chief executive of Creaseys).
Post event marketing
We designed and produced a comprehensive 5000-word review of the Budget, which was emailed to more than 2000 people on the evening of the Budget speech and was available for printing and download the following morning.
With the success of the local event, Creaseys is now rolling it out to other locations - including London - and The Marketing Eye is involved in organising these events as well.
"The Creaseys Budget Breakfast is well-regarded locally and there is a lot of pressure to maintain that reputation - so we have to keep the event relevant and make sure it is well-organised and memorable," said Neil Edwards, Managing Director of The Marketing Eye. "We had a short timeframe to work in - but our experience in event management meant that the event came together successfully and we've had some very positive feedback."
Results
Results from the exit survey were very positive: 90% of attendees found the event useful, 88% said there were likely to recommend Creaseys and 25% said that their opinion of Creaseys had measurably improved as a result of attending.
There was also a large amount of unsolicited feedback - with guests feeling that they had been given a very comprehensive overview of measures announced in the Budget:
"A very informative and thought provoking start to the day. It was a well-balanced presentation, with a very interesting guest speaker."
Michael Payne, Payne & Son (Silversmiths), Tunbridge Wells
"Another first class Budget Breakfast."
Nick Green, Handelsbanken, Tunbridge Wells
"Lovely group of people, good food and venue and a really informative Budget briefing."
Anna-Marie Buss, Bussroot, Paddock Wood
"A very professional and informative event. The speakers were impressive, knowledgeable and engaging."
Dominque Keehan, Aston Scott, West Malling
