The teams kickstarted the day with business updates and creative showcases from each company before Mr B’s Executive Creative Director Kate Gorringe ran an AI workshop. Challenging each person to trial AI with one of their most mundane tasks, the gauntlet was thrown down for some truly random outputs.
Following on, the postponed annual awards, held at mini golf bar Par 59, gave us the opportunity to celebrate some very worthy winners who have lived and breathed our company values over the last few months.
Senior Account Manager, Hannah Reed, snapped up the ‘Never stop learning’ award, demonstrating her commitment to challenging herself on a daily basis. Despite having only been with the company for six months, Hannah’s ability to take on any challenge has won her fans in the studio and with clients alike. Hannah has made a huge impact, and even delivered a studio breakfast that helped the rest of the team learn a thing or two.
The next award ‘Bring good energy’ went to Account Director, Liv Cox, whose boundless enthusiasm and charm makes sure that projects stay on track and clients are delighted. Liv is currently channelling some of that energy into taking on six half marathons in six months for Macmillan. If you want to help her on her way you can sponsor her here.
Recently promoted Midweight Designer, Ali Al Amine, won the ‘Think bigger’ award for his restless pursuit of creating incredible work. As well as impressing clients from Regina to IHG with his talent, he researched, wrote and designed our guide to fair and inclusive recruitment. Ali pushes us all to challenge ourselves in every area for better outcomes.
The newly created ‘Best team’ prize was awarded to the creative and client services combo who delivered the Lego Leadership Playground project, which relaunched a leadership initiative across the global organisation. The project involved strategy, design, video, digital assets and presentation materials.
Rounding off the awards voted for by the Senior Leadership Team, Associate Strategy Director, Gareth Atkinson, won the coveted Mr B Award. Mr B himself, Simon Barbato, chooses the individual who he feels has made the biggest strides for the company in the last year, and Gareth never settles for ordinary!
The last award of the night is given to the player’s player. Voted for by the whole company, the Best Friend award is the ultimate accolade, and comes with a prize of £1000 towards a holiday. This year’s deserving winner was Creative Artworker, Neil Lenihan. Neil was noted by the team for endlessly supporting his colleagues and delivering high standard work without fail.
A special nod to the two winners of the of the quarterly spot prizes. First up, Senior Designer Charlotte Clowes, who has remained unflappable in the face of a number of fast-paced projects. Always smiling, Charlotte delivers impressive creative work without fail and still managed to take on the 26.2 mile Macmillan Mighty Hike in September.
FutureKings Head of Operations, Karen Pennington, who won the company’s catchily named KOQOTQA prize for her sterling efforts in helping FutureKings deliver an outstanding performance over the last quarter.
With the excitement of the awards over, friendships were ‘putt’ to the test with team mini golf and interactive darts. As our first fully integrated family outing, we can all agree it was the best all agency day by par!
