30 August is a significant date for Outlook Creative. Any guesses why?
Yes, it’s the penultimate day of the summer (*cries in British weather*). No, it’s not the collective sigh of relief at it almost being time for the kids to go back to school.
It’s actually way more significant than that.
We’ll give you a clue: for us this year, summer’s not the only season drawing to a close with the arrival of September.
That’s because on 30 August, we bid a fond Outlook Creative farewell to two of our longest serving and much-loved Seekers. Jason, our Design & Digital Director, and Amie, our Operations Director.
With a combined 51 years of service between them, both Jason and Amie have played key roles in shaping the Outlook Creative we know today—which it’s fair to say is completely unrecognisable from the place they joined over 20 years ago.
We’ll miss them hugely, and it’s impossible to thank them enough for everything they’ve done over the years. But before we get too mushy, as with all goodbyes it’s only right that we take a good old trip down memory lane.
You ready? Step inside the Outlook Creative time machine…
The year is 1996. Spice Girls’ Wannabe is top of the charts. Acid-wash denim is all the rage. The nation’s buzzing with the hopeful prospect of football coming home (too soon?).
Jason, however, is walking through the Outlook doors for the first time, having taken a chance on one final job application before boarding a one-way flight to Australia.
“It was a completely different place back then,” he muses. “It was much smaller—I think only around 10 people—and it was heavily event-focused.
To put it into context—and God, this really does make me feel old—when I rocked up on my first day, they had no Apple Macs, just a couple of really rubbish PCs using software I’d never heard of for slide production. The Internet wasn’t even a thing. It was still faxes and couriers for moving assets and files around.”
Mad, right? Jason agrees. “I really did wonder how I was going to get on, and whether it was the right choice for me.” Luckily for him (and us), he was soon enveloped by the Outlook charm—as was Amie, when five years later in 2001, a series of sliding doors moments led to her first day on the reception desk.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” she reminisces. “I saw the job ad in the Chronicle and dropped round my application in person. Bill, the Finance Director at the time, recognised me from his local, the Bold Dragoon, where I’d been working.”
Little did Bill know, Amie had already been shortlisted for the role. “I started the week before my 20th birthday, was handed a branded mug with my name on it, and immediately felt like part of the family.”
“Believe in yourself and don’t wait for things to fall into your lap. I’d also say be kind and full of praise for your colleagues—let people know you value them!”
Of course, such extensive tenures come with a whole heap of memories. When asked for his standouts, Jason can’t help but smile. “I’ve got loads, as you can imagine. And the majority aren’t publishable!”
We’ll have to use our imaginations for those. But some of the more SFW ones give an idea—think travelling round the world, including a pretty memorable client sales conference that took him to Palm Springs.
“They had the astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, as guest speaker, and camels being paraded through the audience as part of a big reveal. The local techies working for us on the event decided to abseil down the hotel wall to meet us on the patio for beers!”
While Amie’s favourite memories may not feature wild animals or abseiling techies, her 23 years at Outlook have been shaped by the same two key components: people and fun. “I’ve made some of my best friends here,” she reflects. “And it’s these relationships that have made me who I am today.”
When asked about personal highlights, she paused for a moment. “A real proud moment for me was getting my seat on the LT in April 2017—the first woman to do so, having worked my way up from my very first role here.”
This impressive trajectory embodies Amie’s parting advice for her fellow Seekers. “Believe in yourself and don’t wait for things to fall into your lap. I’d also say be kind and full of praise for your colleagues—let people know you value them!”
Jay, however, takes a slightly more practical approach: “Never eat yellow snow.” He laughs, before continuing, “But on a serious note, time really flies and 25 years at Outlook genuinely only feels like five. So make sure that, as well as working hard, you’re taking time to savour and appreciate the work you produce, the brands and clients you’re working for, and the impact your work can have.
Never take that for granted. Step back and take pride in what you individually and collectively have achieved—the business is only as good as its people, so take care of each other, be respectful and helpful, and make the most of every minute. Even during the busy and difficult times, which ironically is when you really learn about yourself and your colleagues.”
“Step back and take pride in what you individually and collectively have achieved—the business is only as good as its people, so take care of each other, be respectful and helpful, and make the most of every minute.”
Wise words indeed.
Now, we couldn’t let them leave without sharing a few of our own favourite memories. Read on for cracking anecdotes, standout moments, and bonding over the best team in the league.
“I’ve worked with Amie for 13 years: 9.5 whilst I was in the Events team and the last 3.5 in Operations. If I had to describe Amie in three words, they would be compassionate, dedicated, and inspiring. One memorable moment was when I was tasked with sorting the stationery cupboard, which was a complete mess. Amie simply said, “bin it.” I took her words to heart and ended up discarding a lot of old paperwork that seemed useless. In my eagerness to tidy up, I mistakenly threw away our branding bible containing all our old brand logos. Amie then had to climb into the skip outside the building to retrieve it. Watching Amie climb into the skip was quite the sight, and we couldn’t help but laugh.”
Sarah Skates, Assistant Operations Manager
“I have known Jay for over a decade now. He brought me into the Outlook fold many years ago, which I will always be grateful to him for. I suspected when he asked me which team I supported in my interview, and I said the mighty Spurs, things were going to go well. I will miss the comedy and the constant laughs we all had in the studio, especially when the sun came out and the team went a little crazy. A sneeze made Jay jump into action and get that door open sharpish.
Good luck Jay, we will miss you. And COYS!”
Pete Hanson, Senior Creative Artworker
“When I interviewed Amie for the receptionist role at Outlook Audio Visual in 2001, I knew she was destined for great things. Despite having no experience, her personality, warmth and can-do attitude won me over. I had a gut feeling she was the perfect fit for the company. Little did I know she would go on to achieve so much over the next 23 years. I am incredibly proud of the remarkable woman Amie has become, her career progression at Outlook is a testament to her hard work and leadership qualities.”
Rachel Beard, HR Administrator
“Jay—thank you for all the genuinely brilliant memories. From the daily post-lunch studio insanity to the Outlook 5-a-side football team and everything in between. Whilst the work has always been a top priority, having a good laugh has been right up there too. Thank you for your mentorship, trust and overall good times—they have all shaped the person I am today. Would you like ham with that?”
Andy Upton, Art Director
We love the art of simplicity at Outlook Creative, so I’ll precursor this with a back of a napkin version so you know what to expect: This is all about the power of listening to clients. And I mean really listening.
Because it’s only when we really, properly listen that we’re able to evaluate everything to deliver an approach that not only meets a client’s needs but goes one step further. We do this by showcasing the wealth of our connected capabilities and how, together, they can help drive a marketing and communications strategy forwards in a more unified way.
As you will have seen, we’ve undergone a bit of a brand makeover ourselves. No sooner had we started planning for it than an opportunity to pitch for Nikon landed. It was the perfect opportunity to test some of our initial thinking.
Despite the work not being fully fleshed out, the vision for our new proposition was pretty simple—articulate our wealth of capabilities and expertise via a tight narrative that’s really easy to digest.
Like every brand, it’s vital for people to ‘get it’ but we also wanted to ensure we were in a position for clients to understand what we’re all about—and not just in relation to a channel-specific brief, for example. As a creative agency that’s rooted in production reality with a myriad of in-house skills, we want our clients to understand the breadth of support we can offer.
It’s this positioning that also segues into the bigger picture of connected experiences. In the context of wooing a potential new client, it’s often a perfect storm of gentle interrogation and the asking of some revealing questions that, you never know, might yield a revealing answer. It’s that vital additional insight that enables the crafting of a proposal that’s a little more exciting and provides some real value.
And what client doesn’t like to receive an agency response that’s nailing the initial ask, but also goes beyond by highlighting other areas that could be exploited for the greater good?
Sometimes it’s also about taking some calculated risks that, based on our discovery, research and experience, feel relevant and authentic for the client—providing real value that’s specifically designed for them, not a retro-fitted, copy-and-paste job.
Back to Nikon. Upon receiving the original brief for a small event in Copenhagen, we knew there was also an opportunity to take full ownership of their exhibition programme across Europe. So, we proved efficiencies, consistency and economies of scale through a creative and strategic plan that was bedded in the parameters of sustainable production, logistics and delivery.
Our plan gave the Nikon team peace of mind that we could not only execute an exhibition booth they’d be proud of but do that at scale across the continent, while also considering the integration of communication and content solutions.
We’re a full-service creative agency and, as the context of this conversation was around events, it naturally leaned towards some of our other core capabilities. The way in which we now talk about ourselves also does this—it’s our goal to be a safe pair of hands for clients, whether we’ve worked together for a decade or we’ve just met.
We recently spent a day with all of Nikon’s key stakeholders in Amsterdam. Pete Michels, our Creative Director, and Mark Hadland, Nikon Client Lead, delivered a creative workshop that stripped things back to basics to identify Nikon’s most pressing needs and how we could help—everything from brand and specific market challenges to channel executions.
We’re proud to be working with Nikon and the exciting journey we’ve already taken together has helped build a solid foundation. The relationship is developing organically, driven by our new proposition and inquisitive nature along with our core values: commit, collaborate, create.
From a standing start following a competitive pitch, we’re now delivering all their microscopy exhibitions across Europe. We’re working closely together on all their design and digital output; we’re delivering brand and communication guidelines, along with an event toolkit that drives consistency across Europe while accommodating the nuances of their local markets and the need to deliver various campaigns at different scales.
The toolkit focuses on the implementation of a connected experience strategy and an authentic communications plan to drive richer, more meaningful experiences and refreshed creative and design that pulls everything together. We’re also making sure we can quantify the engagement at each event and can now detail customer journeys that prove the power of certain customer experiences and engagement tactics.
It’s a rewarding feeling to embark on a new client journey that is truly anchored around elevating and building their brand amongst their customers and industry peers but also their employees across the European business.
If there’s one takeaway, it’s that our new approach has recalibrated our people and our client relationships in a really positive way. We’re all fully charged and ready to embark on whatever you may want to throw at us.
This goal is a key component of our wider ambition to build an agency that partners with clients for the long-term. Clients that become friends, brands that become ours as much as yours. We want to become an extension of a client’s team—a trusted partner. We thrive on that type of long-lasting relationship and the open dialogue it creates. It takes listening, being inquisitive, and staying proactive in seeking out the next opportunity or challenge for our clients. It’s also what makes us proud to be part of Outlook Creative.
Keen on building a long-term partnership with us? Or want to expand on an existing one? Drop us a line: sales@outlook.co.uk
Congratulations Hema Mistry on your promotion to: Senior Designer
Hema is a huge fan of tigers and travel enthusiast who is constantly looking for the next cheapest city break… If she’s not searching for the next quirky food hall, Hema can be found tattooing herself up with the latest henna tattoos!
“Hema’s positive attitude, approach, and willingness to collaborate along with creating great work has led to this promotion. It is well deserved, and we look forward to the next chapter in Hema’s career here at Outlook.”
Adam Sherlock, Joint Managing Director
“We are delighted to recognise the progression Hema has made over many years working at Outlook and in line with the quality of Hems work and her positive feedback from clients and colleagues, this is a promotion very much deserved!”
Jason Farmer, Director of Design & Digital