Pod Staffing are proud to be this year’s sponsor of the IPM Awards as Associate Partner.

Pod is an award-winning promotional event staffing agency that provides the perfect human connection between your brand and your audience. Their extensive experience, expertise and meticulous eye for detail help recruit a diverse network of global talent to ensure brand activations connect, engage, and run seamlessly from beginning to end.

Pod is currently being led by Simon Bexon, who has over 15 years of industry experience. Simon has overseen Pod’s recent rebrand and pushed the agency in a new direction with exciting campaigns on the horizon, such as hosting the Champions League Final in 2024.

Simon explains, “We are thrilled to be back hosting the IPM Awards again and look forward to celebrating 90 years of the IPM together with all the chosen finalists within the promotional marketing industry. Our diverse staff members have worked closely alongside the IPM Board to help deliver the running order for the event and present all awards to the finalists and winners on the day.”

Pod can provide talent from across the staffing industry which covers multiple sectors including Brand Experience, Experiential, Mystery Shopping, Retail Marketing, Merchandising and Sampling. Please contact simon.bexon@podstaffing.co.uk for any enquiries

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Staffwise are proud to become the latest member of the IPM. Staffwise is a software as a service company (SaaS), boasting a simple yet highly sophisticated staffing and job management system. Staffwise is the wise way to manage staff, create schedules, book shifts, pay people and design reports.

Founded by Mark Waddington, a successful tech-savvy entrepreneur with a background in digital media and marketing, with over 20 years’ industry experience. Mark designed Staffwise as a fit for purpose, innovative, agile system. It is a digital solution for the staffing industry across multiple sectors including Experiential, Mystery Shopping, Retail Marketing, Sampling and Brand Experience.

Mark explains, “We’re excited to be part of the thriving IPM community, I’m looking forward to working with other IPM members who could benefit from our time-saving software and bring a unique offering to the membership group.”

Current clients include global brands Omnicom Group and Imperial Brands, as well as IPM members Kru Live, Kreate, Pod Staffing, Circle Agency, Hel’s Angels and i2i Marketing.

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By Gemma Moore, Staffing Director at TRO

With IRL experiences on the rise, the importance of people – the face of those experiences – should be high on the list of considerations. In an uncertain world – the gig economy, fake news and so on – and having been deprived of human connection during the pandemic, people are crying out for the human touch. As tech takes over, brands who facilitate a more emotional connection can truly stand out, and staff can play a huge role here. Even with the most beautiful set or stand as a backdrop, the experience that a staff member creates for a customer needs to count, leaving a lasting and positive connection with that brand. The value of finding the best staff has never been higher.

I have a relentless passion to source and retain the best talent. Expectations of what Brand Ambassadors of today need to deliver are high. They are the “Swiss Army knife” of live activity. They are storytellers and content creators. They are brand aligned, culturally connected, social influencers. Above all, they need to facilitate great experiences. They are vital pieces of the experiential puzzle, so placing a strong emphasis on how they are recruited and retained is crucial.

Giving responsibility to a staffing agency to bring any brand alive ‘in real life’ requires significant trust. TRO understands this importance, therefore whether we are recruiting for a one-off event or long-term retail programme, our ‘humans first’ approach is applied to every single element of campaign delivery. Building a human connection from the very beginning of their recruitment journey means we understand where our ambassadors are best placed and can match roles with the work they love to deliver. This translates to engaged teams who deliver a brand’s story as if it were their own.

Our approach has helped us recruit long-term running experts for the likes of Under Armour; it’s enabled us to quickly facilitate nationwide event programmes at scale for brands including Unite Students and Lucozade; and it’s allowed us to provide staff to support brands at some of the biggest events in the country, from the London Marathon to Goodwood Festival of Speed to the Isle of Wight Festival.

We can’t wait to see our industry return to its full potential, and we are big believers in the huge role that people can play. If you share our thoughts, you can read a little bit more about TRO Staffing here, and if you want to chat we are always up for a conversation so don’t hesitate to get in touch. After all, it’s all about the human connection…

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In celebration of their 14^th birthday GottaBe! have revealed their new logo. When they launched back in 2008, the market demanded bold logos, but in more recent times, the market has become more streamlined, and brands are stripping back to basics. So, to stay in line with the trends and remain relevant they also needed to make a change.

GottaBe! has come a long way since it first launched as a PR and communication agency. Whilst the number of services they offer has grown over time their branding was not presenting those services on offer at GottaBe!. The old logo left some confusion about who they were and what they had to offer.

“We are evolving, and so is our portfolio of services hence why we needed to align our brand to what we do. Our new look opens up a new chapter in our history, and over the coming months, as we reveal the next surprises, it will help us to highlight our competitive edge even more” – said Tomasz Dyl, Founder and Managing Director of GottaBe!.

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The power of face to face lead generation at events and tradeshows to a targeted market is something businesses are undeniably going to miss over the next 6 months. Digital marketing is great but actually speaking to customers and creating a connection and engagement with a brand is so much more powerful in person. With the announcement of the 6 months, lead time before an event or exhibition in the UK can run – clever companies are looking at socially distanced ways of still creating experiential activity. We have run street marketing campaigns throughout lockdown for local customers which have been really successful and our staff have only given us positive feedback. People have been really happy to see a smiling face and engage in a safe interaction. experience staff in France have also run a countrywide roadshow thanking logistics hauliers and truckers with a coffee and voucher. We have also had a shopping centre activity running for various brands.  Retail centres are still very busy and stands can be socially distanced and safely run. Pop us and street marketing are also pretty much risk-free financially – they can be moved on short notice and being outdoors – do not risk any current restriction. Marketing agencies should definitely be looking at running some roadshow activity or a pop-up activity. People are missing social interaction and it’s a great opportunity to differentiate your brand in a crowded digital world until the event industry returns next year.

experience staff are a worldwide event, exhibition and promotional staffing agency. We provide legally employed, professional event staffing solutions for events, pop-ups and roadshows across the United Kingdom, Europe and Worldwide. We have created thousands of effective staffing experiences for marketing agencies and event organisers. Our agency is a proud member of the IPM – the Institute of Promotional Marketing the trade body representing the promotional and event services industry. We are Covid-19 safe agency and provide safe, social distancing staffing services and best practice for our clients.

Contact experience staff on hello@experiencestaff.com

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London, UK (Wednesday, 15 July 2020) — Revealing the truth behind the impact of Covid-19 in their benchmark report, Liveforce gives a voice to the event and promo staffing industry. Following a survey sent to over 6,000 event professionals, this report measures the business impact of coronavirus, analyses recovery strategies and forecasts the future for UK event and promo staffing agencies.

“No longer able to sit by and wait for things to unfold, our team at Liveforce wanted to provide a degree of certainty in an uncertain time – even if those certainties have a negative starting point!” Greg Lusk, Co-founder, Liveforce

Covid-19 has had an impact on every part of our lives and its lasting effects are a concern for everyone. The events and promo industries have been hit particularly hard, with 55% of event staffing agencies predicted to run out of cash within the next 6 months. Despite generating an estimated £70bn to the UK economy and providing 700,000 jobs, the industry as a whole is in a phase of uncertainty.

“We are not in the same boat. We are in the same storm! But very different boats!” Michael Wyrley-Birch, CEO, TRO

The aim of the report is to benchmark the industry with a fact-based, emotion-free indication of how professionals in the industry are coping, what has helped thus far and what the future may hold. Find out when the industry is predicted to return to “normal”, how event and promo staff feel they’ve been treated by their agencies and who is likely to go out of business before the market returns.  It’s not all doom and gloom!

“78% of staff still want to work in the Events and Promo sector despite the effects of Covid-19”

Armed with knowledge Liveforce truly believes it will be possible to weather this storm. The report is available for download from https://bit.ly/32g7xm9.

Launched in 2019, Liveforce is an end-to-end staffing platform built for event and promo agencies to streamline the recruitment, management and scheduling of their temporary workforce. Their innovative processes cut through unnecessary admin time, bringing direct savings to the hundreds of staffing agencies worldwide that currently rely on their platform. Newcomers Liveforce quickly established themselves as a market leader as they aim to further revolutionise the event staffing industry. For more info please visit https://liveforce.co.

If you would like more information about this survey please call Mark Walls at +44 7951 205432, or email mark@liveforce.co.

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In February 2020, experience staff had our busiest year forecast yet – we were in the middle of a hugely successful London retail pop up store and were quoting for the Tokyo Olympics. Seemingly overnight – sparked by the cancellation of Mobile World Congress – the world and experiential events stopped. Twelve weeks have now past and it’s been a challenging and brutal time but also the valuable time of reflection for us as an agency. Things we took for granted – from international travel to hugging a friend really do seem so simply valuable now. However, things do sometimes need to change and stop for us to progress. It’s been important to recognise what is truly valuable to us and how we can grow and continue. We also have watched with interest the spark in digital events and Zoom and the online connection it can bring. From VR experiences to the integration of live social media channels and communities at events – combining the digital and real-life world was already growing in experiential. This has undeniably brought a change and value to events. Continuing the creative digitalisation of events and live streaming moving forward will mean that brands can access and promote their event to wider communities and followers and this can only be a good thing. However, I feel from the lockdown photoshoots on doorsteps to Zoom fatigue – what can’t replace and what society is craving is human connection and interaction. Events and experiences connect brands emotionally with their customers. We have been really lucky to work with brands who spread kindness and build community through experiential events and we really want to support the return of this safely.

It is undeniably going to be challenging and a new norm and brands are going to have to adapt while we overcome this time but re-connecting with community safely is an important step in not only re-building brand loyalty but in re-connecting society. Simple things that we took for granted such as physical consumer engagement will undeniably need to be managed and venue size will have to be considered. Outdoor venues and smaller pop-up areas will be easier to manage for instance and sampling may need to take place from bins instead of direct hand to hand interaction while we move through this time.

I do however feel there is another positive – this will also make many agencies step up in their care and management of the health and safety of staff. There are still countless agencies operating without employer’s liability insurance for their staff in the UK and there are also agencies employing freelancers directly abroad. Risk assessing events for health and safety – ensuring proper uniform and clean environments can only be a good thing for brands and staff. We have also been considering a few measures to assist our clients and staff to run an event safely while social distancing and covid-19 restrictions are in place including;

• Risk assessments in line with the HSE guidance
• ‪Increased hand washing and guidance
• ‪Enhanced deep-cleaning
• ‪Supply of powder-free surgical gloves
• ‪Supply of anti-bacterial soap, hand sanitiser and gels
• ‪Infrared no-touch hand sanitiser dispensers
• ‪Hand wash logs
• ‪Social distancing floor tape and signage
• ‪Infrared no-touch thermometers and temperature log sheets
• ‪Weekly wellbeing assessments
• ‪Health questionnaires and staff check-ins each day

Ultimately, the safety and health of our staff are paramount – many of our staff are also currently on our furlough scheme which we were keen to support but would like to get our staff back working safely. We believe our brands have important messages to promote and communities to support and build. We really hope that with a confident and sensible approach – experience staff can support and help the experiential and event community return back to the norm over the summer and for the remainder of 2020.

experience staff are a worldwide event and experiential staffing agency employing promo staff and brand ambassadors for global brands. With local offices in London and France – we are growing as an agency and promote legal staffing, kindness and community in experiential.

www.experiencestaff.com

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Selfridges London Beauty Hall will host a special Blackjack-staffed gift-wrapping service to customers purchasing SUQQU lipsticks for Valentine’s Day. This service coincides with the launch of the SS20 Collection that includes a range of new lipstick shades, which can be individually gift boxed and finished off with a personalised tag and ribbon.

Dena Weal, Marketing Manager for SUQQU, says: “The launch of our new lipstick shades from the SS20 Collections come at a time of year when many will be thinking about dressing up for date nights. It’s also a time for celebrating female friendships with the increasingly popular alternate ‘Galentine’s Day’. This is a peak time for lip product purchasing, as well as gifting, so we wanted to offer our customers an extra special finishing touch. Last month’s personalised gifting in honour of Chinese New Year was so well received that we wanted to partner again with Blackjack to bring this idea to life.”

Simran Sidhu, Account Manager at Blackjack Promotions, adds: “Once again we were excited to work with SUQQU in one of the Capital’s key shopping destinations on a campaign with real heart! Valentine’s Day is big business for the beauty industry, which of course means it’s also an opportunity for brands to stand out by offering something with a human touch. Personalised gifting – from a beautifully handwritten gift tag to a professionally tied bow that hints at the contents, show thought and consideration. We love helping brands connect with their customers in this way.”

The personalised gift-wrapping service will be available on the SUQQU counter in London’s Selfridges Beauty Hall in time for Valentine’s Day – 7th, 8th, 13th and 14th February (3-7pm).

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Award-winning staffing agency POD is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of their Northern branch; POD North opened on the 3rd of February 2020 in York. Middlesbrough native Danni Hill, an established member of the POD London HQ family, will head up the Northern office from which POD will cater to the evolving staffing needs of both brands and agencies from the Midlands all the way up to Scotland. This reflects an industry shift from London-centric activities and activations to a more nationwide outlook, opening possibilities for close, rewarding relationships with staff and clients in the north of the country and the great network of cities found there.

Through this new move, which coincides with the agency’s 10th birthday, POD hopes to be able to service their Northern clients and events better – they will also now be closer than ever to their valued Northern staff who currently make up 25% of the POD database. As a company whose ethos revolves around nurturing authentic personal relationships with their staff, the new branch will play a vital role in offering a base to manage and communicate with the northern members of the POD family. From recruitment drives to onboarding programmes and live project management, POD North allows for that vital face time needed with both staff and clients.

Joe Sheppard, Managing Director of POD Staffing, says: ‘This is a really exciting direction for the future of POD. It addresses our need for a Northern base where we can further strengthen our relationships. POD is a company which puts cultivated, personal relationships and human connections as a top priority; by having more face time with clients and staff we can ensure we are delivering our projects to the best of our abilities, while staying true to our core brand values.’

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Chris Wareham, Managing Director at Mash Staffing, shares how brand experience is reshaping retail to create better connections with consumers. 

Experiential is a relatively new concept in the history of marketing, emerging only 15 or so years ago with the integration of event and promotional marketing, as well as a growing awareness of the effect that immersive brand experience can have on a consumer. While digital marketing may be the headline grabber in terms of growth, experiential has steadily become more recognised as a key discipline within the marketing mix.

And now the concept of experiential seems to be spreading its wings further.

It is well known that the retail industry has been suffering from a perfect storm of rising e-commerce, high business rates, corporate landlords, declining consumer confidence and changing demand led by a trend for experiences over things. Many big name retailers have fallen, or have been forced to significantly scale back.

But some retailers are riding this storm – and it seems that the introduction of experiential within the retail environment is one of the principal reasons for this.

In 2014 Waterstones was in trouble – its attempts to compete with Amazon on the same terms (lowering prices, introducing their own ebooks) wasn’t working. So the book store changed direction, and started offering what Amazon couldn’t – passionate, well informed staff; appealing environments; literary inspired events like Harry Potter Nights; and titles stocked to meet local demand. And five years on, the retailer is turning a healthy profit.

More and more retailers are tuning in to the idea of giving shoppers something they can’t get online, and the term retail experience has grown across the industry. Brands are getting involved too – working in partnership with retailers to connect directly with customers. We run Lavazza’s in-store demonstrator programme, and understand the huge difference that a one-on-one brand experience can make.

But some brands are now taking this concept even further.

Samsung’s new experience space at Coal Drops Yard in Kings Cross – Samsung KX – is redefining the traditional retail concept – and as their staffing partner, we’ve been directly involved. Sales targets don’t feature; our staff are purely tasked with curating bespoke experiences for visitors and bringing Samsung technologies to life.

The merging of retail and experiential hasn’t only moved in one direction for Samsung. On a recent experiential marketing campaign we trialed selling product directly from the stand, and made a credible number of sales. Not only does this help justify the campaign from a budget point of view, it also meets consumer demand – reflecting our ‘now’ culture and delivering ultra convenience.

Currently, Samsung KX is an exceptional example of how brand experience is shaping retail. But as e-commerce becomes ever more sophisticated, and new generations grow up without the tradition of High Street shopping, it is not too difficult to imagine retail spaces falling further under the remit of a brand’s marketing department.

Staffing the future of retail

The more value you place on the interaction between consumer and in-store worker, the greater the spotlight you shine on the person delivering that experience.

We have been able to use our expertise in experiential marketing to help brands and retailers deliver brand experiences in store. For some clients – like Nike and Lee Jeans – our team provide training for in-store staff. For others – like Lavazza, GHD and Beats – we provide brand experts to work in-store, building brand presence and directly helping to meet sales targets.

If you would like to find out more about Mash Staffing, get in touch with Rachael Staples at rachaels@mashstaffing.com

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