Due to our successes, since the beginning of the year Identity has appointed new key team members to lead our Business Development Team. John Woollaston joins the company as our Commercial Director, Toby Havord is appointed as our Experiential Account Director, Caleb Joseph joins us as the MICE Business Development Manager and our Head of Digital Shéa Bennett has now been appointed the new position of Head of Brand Experience.

Take a look below to find out more information about our new key members.

John Woollaston – Commercial Director

John brings 19 years of senior sales and marketing experience to Identity, specialising in new business development. John has a wealth of knowledge born from a career in some of London’s finest marketing agencies and publishing houses, together with senior positions in tech and event companies. This big brand experience garnered covers data management, digital, creative and strategic planning. John is a skilled integrated thinker always bringing positive energy, a belief in hard work and a desire to nurture client partnerships.

John has been around a bit so to speak, having worked extensively in both client side and agency side. What excites him about his role at Identity is that he gets to wear both hats.

“The wonderful part of how we work is that we can be a client’s right hand in their marketing process by affectively becoming an extension of their team, taking away the pain of the design and production process involved in producing an event presence, be that a simple shopping centre activation or a 1000 ft.² exhibition stand.

On the other hand, we can also be our clients one-stop shop by providing all of the event solution process from idea inception through to design, production and build of an event experience all in one place. This offers our clients a huge range of opportunity and capability to choose from and is relatively rare in the market with such event providers usually being either agency or supplier.”

John sees huge advantages in the future for identity as it develops its customer base. “We have a real opportunity to carve our own space and we going to take it.”

Shéa Bennett – Head of Brand Experience

Shéa is a highly experienced holistic brand strategist with 15 years of history and a proven track record in marketing, digital and activations. Formerly head of digital at Identity, Shéa joined the firm in 2015 and has championed Identity’s path into the growing demand for immersive, strategically-led live event experiences that drive footfall, generate leads and deliver a superb return on investment.

In his new role as head of brand experience, Shéa has been tasked with furthering the growth of Identity’s proposition within this space, which includes apps, experiential and gamification, across their entire client portfolio, while also attracting new business. Recent successes include the hugely successful Angry Birds booth at Licensing Expo Las Vegas for Rovio.

“The delivery of a memorable, consumer-pleasing, live event experience has never been more important for brands,” says Shéa, “The days of ‘build it and they will come’ have long passed. Brands have to think about the why, what and how long before any project reaches the design stage. Specifically, why are you doing this? What do you want your customers to do? And how are you going to make that happen?

This is where Identity’s years of expertise can really pay dividends. By choosing us your integrated events partner, we will work closely with you to ensure that there’s a little bit of magic included in your project to delight visitors, boost overall ROI and ensure that your core objectives are met.”

Toby Havord – Experiential Account Director

Toby has over 20 years of experience within experiential marketing, producing large scale roadshows, events and product launches for the likes of Adidas, BMW, Diageo, Heinz, Kellogg’s, Samsung and many more. Toby’s experience in the industry has allowed him to work with account teams to deliver a complete in-house service, working from brief to completion on live events, experiential campaigns, product launches, pop-up shops and exhibitions. Working closely with stand designers, builders, production teams and suppliers, Toby has managed to execute amazing campaigns on behalf of clients and their brands.

“It’s an exciting and interesting time within the events and experiential Industry,” Toby notes, “The change over the last ten years has been remarkable in terms of consumer experience and their exposure to bigger and bolder brand activations. With a more demanding and savvy consumer, the industry is being challenged to produce a more personal and memorable experience.”

Caleb Joseph – MICE Account Manager

As Identity’s specialist within the Meetings, Conference, Live Events and Press launches (MICE) sector, Caleb thrives on innovation which looks to create a memorable experience with a full return on satisfaction corporately and personally. Caleb creates branding opportunities and branding implementation, whether it be internally or externally to create a catalyst to further catapult businesses towards their full perceived potential.

“I am really looking to spearhead events away from your run-of-the-mill type hotels or venues which lack character, and more to utilising the fantastic showcase of blank canvas and pop up spaces, and those Instagram-esque event spaces which are so accessible. It’s about creating that memorable experience that not only engages one’s intellectual capacity but all their senses, whether its mouth-watering food and drink to keep you fueled during events, to creative brand implementation.

Versifying events is certainly a key trend within MICE this year, along with the huge trend being carried on in 2018 – the use of technology. I believe the advancement of MICE based technology is one that all great meetings and events should use but as a tool to enhance the overall experience, not replace the human touch. I am looking to offer a service as opposed to sell a product to our clients, a service that looks to fully foster our client’s company vision and further grow their brand and its values even more so on a global platform.”

Having a vast and all-round experience of experiential to high-end conferences nationally and internationally, combined with his knowledge and qualifications in Organisational Psychology, Caleb is passionate to bring further success to businesses and establish their true identity on the world stage.

About Identity

Identity is at the forefront of brand implementation and live events. With more than 20 years’ experience in the design, management and build of world class promotional experiences for our clients within the conference, exhibition and experiential sectors,

Identity delivers a single point of contact service, bridging the gap between agencies or in-house events teams with contractors, providing the support that they need to meet budgets, exceed expectations and maximise return on investment.

For more information on how we can help you with your next event, call Identity today on 01323 469111 or visit email us at letstalk@identitygroup.co.uk.