From B Corp’s first-ever festival to TIME100 Climate Leadership Forum, live events have become a defining tool for companies looking to create impact. One of the latest IPA Bellwether Reports confirms what many of us in the industry have already been seeing: events are the top-performing category in marketing spend, with a net balance increase of 12.3%.
At The Wilful Group, we are seeing this shift first-hand, helping organisations turn events into media moments that turn their company’s purpose into a national story.
This year, we partnered with Anthropy UK, the national three-day gathering of purpose driven businesses and leaders committed to rebooting Britain at the Eden Project, as its official communications partner. Our work began with crafting a compelling media narrative ahead of the event, including the announcement of this year’s theme in October 2024 and building momentum towards the agenda reveal at the London Stock Exchange in January 2025. This culminated in our team running the on-site press office at the Eden Project, securing attendance from top-tier media, and coordinating high-profile interviews with the BBC and ITV. Our efforts generated over 550 pieces of media coverage, significantly elevating the event’s national profile.
For Business Diversity Connect, Europe’s largest ethnic minority supplier diversity conference, hosted by Minority Supplier Diversity UK (MSDUK) and European Supplier Diversity Project (ESDP), we led the communications around diversity and inclusion within the supply chain. Ahead of the event, we secured opinion opportunities for the CEOs to share insights on the financial benefits of inclusive procurement and managed the press office throughout the three-day conference. Our work established them as leading voices in the sector, resulting in high-profile media coverage across outlets including BBC, Reuters, and CNBC.
And for over a decade, we have been the communication partners with Inclusion@Lloyd’s, a joint initiative to promote diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the Lloyd’s market, on Dive In, the largest talent and culture festival in the world. Since its launch in 2015, Dive In has grown from a UK-based initiative of a handful of events in London to a worldwide movement with 2024 seeing 45,000 sign-ups from 81 countries. It has played a pivotal role in improving representation across the industry and in setting a global standard for inclusive workplace cultures.
We have led the PR and content strategy throughout its journey, from helping with the original development of the festival, creating event manager toolkits, to managing the global press office, to producing videos, communication campaigns and managing social. In 2024, we helped reposition Dive In as a business-critical platform for resilience and innovation, driving record attendance and strengthening its global influence.
We understand the nuances of purpose-led event communications and we help our clients amplify the value of their work, cutting through the noise and reaching the audiences that matter – whether they are industry leaders, policymakers, talent or future partners.
