A new world

Back in May 2020 we worked with one of our most innovative clients, Relocate magazine, to bring their prestigious annual awards ceremony into a lockdown world. The challenge was to keep all the excitement and camaraderie of a regular awards ceremony whilst adhering to the restrictions we found ourselves in at the time. After some brainstorming we came up with, what I believe, were one of the first ‘virtual’ awards ceremonies of the Covid age.

This new format proved to be very successful and the resulting ceremony absolutely captured the international nature of the event but also made the participants feel part of a big family. Relocate were kind enough to write an article about how we produced it.

The new challenge

So when Fiona Murchie from Relocate contacted us this year about the event, we thought we knew what we were doing – more of the same. But Fiona pushed us to develop something new again. Because lockdown in the UK has eased recently, we were able to have modest gatherings outside of up to 30 people. That meant there was an opportunity to bring together a small number of people in person. As always, we love a challenge and so we created, what we believe to be, a new category of award ceremony – the hybrid.

The setting

Being that it was Spring and Relocate’s HQ is set in the gorgeous Kent countryside, the decision was made to hold a mini ceremony in their grounds. Jayne Constantinis, who hosted the ceremony from her own home office last year was able to be with us in person this time and was on hand to host the event both on site and for the wider internet audience. Thankfully the weather played ball and we had judges, sponsors and nominees both on site and connecting in from all over the world.

The result

The result was a new type of event that reflected the optimism currently felt in the industry as we cautiously come out of covid lockdown. Those that were allowed to be here in person were able to socialise and network outside in a beautiful setting and those further afield were able to participate and be part of the ceremony with their virtual contributions. The event was a success and the feeling within the production team is that we have pushed the boundaries once again and continue the tradition of innovation both within the awards and the sector.

Photos by David Madden

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