This article is brought to you in association with Macroart

Agency Spotlight, the latest addition to the Event Industry News site, profiles the top of the pyramid, the design and creativity behind brand activations, experiences, exhibition USPs and the greater live event model.

Sponsored by print specialist Macroart, these pages will profile agencies of all sizes, looking at how and why they started, with what ambition, key projects, relationships with the supply chain and a whole lot more besides.

If your agency has a fitting story to tell, get in touch: Kizzy@eventindustrynews.com 


Agency: Smyle Creative
Formed: 2003
AnnualEvents: 100+
Staff: 51-100 employees
Offices: 3
https://smyle.co.uk/

Mantra:
The Idea is Everything. Make it smart, make it bold, and make it matter

Formation:

Founders Matt Margetson and Rick Stainton ran separate technical production and events companies as sister operations before formally merging into Smyle Group in 2007 in order to facilitate growth as an integrated creative agency.

Founders: Matt Margetson & Rick Stainton

Matt has a passion for creativity and innovation that has driven many of our biggest account wins and activations and is heavily invested in ensuring we are delivering to the highest possible standard for our clients. He leads the teams to seek out the best thinking and newest technologies and champions putting the idea at the heart of everything we do.

Rick, oversees the growth strategy of Smyle Group which has won the UK Event Agency of the Year award a record 5 times in last 11 years. As a co-founder of The Global Sustainable Events Summit, its new format came from Rick’s belief in engaging with the full spectrum of the events and live communication industries in sustainable working, as well as building on Smyle’s ISO 20121 certification. Rick has been voted into Event magazine’s Event 100 club every year since its inauguration.

Smyle has also been recognised as the fastest growing leading agency in the industry through its entry in The Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 in December 2018 and The Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 in February 2019.

Key services and sectors served:

We are a creative agency, dedicated to creating extraordinary live events and digital experiences.

By fusing creativity and technical innovation together, we leave ‘ordinary’ behind and take our clients to bold and inventive places. We cover the full spectrum of brand experience delivery from strategy and comms, creative ideation and design studio, through to content creation, with a unique in house model that includes technical, scenic and video production.

In short, we’re passionate about understanding our clients’ ambitions and connecting with the people who matter to them the most.

We’re proud to work with some of the top global brands in a range of sectors including Technology, Consumer, FMCG and Media.

Case Study: World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF)

One of our most pivotal briefs was to bring world and business leaders from the Muslim and non-Muslim World to ExCeL London for the ninth annual World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF).

We designed every step of the guest journey to ensure multi-stakeholder buy-in at the most senior levels of government and business. We designed the event’s creative, undertook logistical and delegate management and delivered complete on-site technical and production management.

We delivered flawless execution in the main plenary, gala dinner, a contemporary lounge area, a live stage featuring numerous Islamic artists and an array of custom created exhibition stands.

Taking place in Europe for the first time, the event needed to attract leaders, innovators and investors from a total of 128 countries. In the end, we surpassed all expectations with more than 2,500 international delegates, including David Cameron, HRH the King of Jordan and 16 other global leaders.

Our client noted that “this was without a doubt the most successful and best event we have produced in the series” and Smyle was commended for ensuring “that everything down to the last detail had been thought about.”

Case study: Red Bull Music Odyssey

A totally different brief was last summers Odyssey for Red Bull. They needed an event to drive awareness and engagement with Red Bull Radio, and build a stronger association with the target market of 18 – 25 year olds.

We delivered over 50 artists across 6 simultaneous boat parties on the Thames. The Odyssey was led by a giant LED screen which broadcasted live VJ creative and content and created a dynamic spectacle in front of the city’s key landmarks.

The event was a sell-out with over 1,300 guests across all 6 boats, resulting in one of the biggest parties the Thames has ever seen.

Red Bull also smashed their media targets with over 60,000 listeners on Red Bull radio and a social media reach of over 35 million.

What the future holds:

Keith O’Loughlin joined Smyle in January as CEO, bringing his 30 years of creative entrepreneurialism to lead the agency in to an even brighter future

The next step in our growth means a continued focus and investment in

1. our talent and development programmes
2. our client engagement offering with a particular emphasis on strategic consulting and creative technologies
3. our commercial development, including possible acquisitions and partnerships in the UK and overseas

Recent large scale investment has seen us more than doubling the size of both our Country and Town houses as well as increasing our full time team numbers by 25% in last 18 months.

Finally, we hope to see even bigger and braver work with our existing and new clients.


This Agency Spotlight is sponsored by Macroart

Macroart challenges the assumptions about a ‘typical print company’. With a fair bit of cool kit to turn clients’ visions into reality, Macroart’s enthusiastic, committed and talented team delivers some of the most complex print projects in live events, retail and interiors.





Kizzy Allott
Author: Kizzy Allott