EP 51: Property, pavilions and partnerships with Andrew Foord, JLL
How do you make the most out of events and conferences as part of your marketing? As I was heading to UKREiiF last month I interviewed Andrew Foord, Head of UK Marketing at JLL before and after the show.
I wanted to see how they approached a major conference where they took a large contingent of staff, hosted their own pavilion and ran a raft of networking events. It's a fascinating conversation which I hope you enjoy.
Resources and links
Find out about Abbas Marketing here
Check out JLL’s website
Find out more on UKREiiF
Support the show
Sharing us on social
Following us on Apple or Spotify
Leave us a review on Apple or Spotify
Or tell a friend about the show who you think will benefit.
More podcasts.
Transcript
Ayo Abbas 00:05
Hello, and welcome to the Built Environment Marketing Show. And I am your host Ayo Abbas. I am a built environment marketing consultant who works with architects and engineers who want to do marketing that's a bit different and makes an impact.
Ayo Abbas 00:20
Last week, I spent some time in Leeds at UKREiiF, which was a major real estate exhibition in Leeds and in this episode, I am talking to JLL, who were also at the show. And it is a bit of a before and after, where we talked to them before they went out to the show, and how I guess they were tackling it from an event perspective as a sponsor, but also as a firm taking a large delegation to an exhibition and conference, and I guess how they managed it and ran that. And just to show that not all things go to plan. I had also intended to do some 'during' recordings, but there were a few technical gremlins, so that didn't quite happen. So we had to kind of rerecord a few times. And Andrew has been a great sport, which has been lovely. Anyway, I'll let you get on with listening to the before part with Andrew. Enjoy.
Ayo Abbas 01:15
Hi, Andrew, thanks so much for coming on to the show. Can you introduce yourself and your role at JLL?
Andrew Foord 01:20
Hi, Yes, I'm Andrew Foord. And I head up UK marketing at JLL.
Ayo Abbas 01:24
So JLL is going up to UKREiiF next week. And I guess why did you decide to take part is my first question.
Andrew Foord 01:31
Well, we're really proud to actually be a founding supporter of reif and also really pleased to be able to work with the reif team in bringing it back bigger, better for its second birthday. You know, UKREiiF aligns perfectly with our leadership commitment to help clients create transformative regenerative projects that really deliver on the big three areas of economic, environmental and social value. You know, not only that, but but as a business JLL is committed to driving investment into the region's and reef gives us a unique platform really to do that, as well as bringing public and private sector together.
Ayo Abbas 02:10
So, you've got your own pavilion there, haven't you, you're sponsoring one of the pavilions, how big is the kind of delegation that you're taking? How many people are you going how many talk?
Andrew Foord 02:20
Well, yes. This year, where we're bringing 90 from JLL, which is up from 60, last year. And I guess that just shows you how much we value the opportunity and how much we invest in it. Yeah, an important thing, actually to add to that is that 14 of those 90 are next gen contingent, and supporting our under 25s and our future leaders is, you know, really important, it's actually a critical element of the reif offer.
Ayo Abbas 02:53
I have to admit, when I was starting out and going out and actually going out with senior level partners and stuff, that was the way I learned the most about networking, it was such a way to kind of see how it's done, get to connect with people who wouldn't ordinarily me and yeah, and also get to meet with your peers as well. And it's a great way to start out. So well done on that. And in terms of kind of what is it you're kind of hoping to achieve from kind of UKREiiF , what's your kind of goals, what's your success, when I ask you in two weeks time.
Andrew Foord 03:23
I guess, you know, if we think about it, we want to build on the strong foundations of last year. So when I look back, we had overwhelming standing remotely response to the sessions we were hosting in our in our pavilion. So, you know, this year, we're gonna come back and we'll be will be with a bigger space this year. And we'll have even more content. And, you know, that allows us to really showcase who we are and what we're about and think about the product services that come under the umbrella of levelling up and region.
Ayo Abbas 03:56
So in terms of kind of what have you got lined up for the show? What what do people have to look for look forward to?
Andrew Foord 04:01
A packed agenda, should we say so? With within the pavilion, we're running nine of our own content sessions. We've got five guests sessions. And I guess these range from subjects such as pricing, the Low Carbon transition, we've got city leaders reception in that and we're actually running an exclusive screening of say, Wild Isles film which we got in partnership with WWF
Ayo Abbas 04:30
Is that the one with? David Attenbrough? One isn't it? Yeah, the one was on Yeah, okay. That's amazing. Actually important film isn't it.
Andrew Foord 04:39
Broad set of content. And I guess you know, importantly, it's not just about our pavilion, you know, were of course taking part in the mainstage UKREiiF panels. Our UK CEO will be joining one of the keynote sessions as well.
Ayo Abbas 04:53
You are going to be flying around that's a lot!
Andrew Foord 04:57
We'll be busy.
Ayo Abbas 04:59
And so you want to kind of talk about some of the kinds of key campaigns and themes. Is there any kind of, I guess what I'm gonna ask you next question. So what what are you most looking forward to?
Andrew Foord 05:09
Oh, well, look, I think it's very rare to be able to be in one place, we've got 7000, like minded delegates. So I've got colleagues from the past that have already connected through, you know, the REiiF platform that are looking forward to meeting. Real estate's a really fun and engaging place to do business in and I can't wait to go and meet face to face. And, you know, really get into the spirit of REiiF.
Ayo Abbas 05:47
Fantastic. No, that's brilliant. Thank you so much for kind of give us an intro into what you're gonna be up to the next week. And I look forward to kind of finding out meeting you next week, I guess.
Andrew Foord 05:57
Absolutely. Yeah. Can't can't wait to let you know how it's all going.
Ayo Abbas 06:02
Hi, it's Ayo here. And I just wanted to tell you a bit more about the show. The built Environment Marketing Show was set up during lockdown one as a way to help firms do better marketing. It was very much about having the conversations that I have with my friends and showing what best practice really is. In terms of me. Well, I'm actually a generalist marketeer. So I guess I know lots of things about marketing and how to put everything together. So I could be talking about you know, PR, or understanding what to do next strategy wise, or figuring out how to get in front of the right audience or what messaging you should be using. Those are all things that I'm kind of really skilled in and understand how to do for my clients. I now work for myself, and I set up my own consultancy at Abbas Marketing in 2020 and I'm working with a range of engineering and architectural firms, and even prop tech firms who really want to, I guess, talk the language of their clients and their audiences and do something a bit different in terms of their strategy and content. If what I do sounds of interest to you do email me at Ayo@abbasmarketing.com. And that's a-y-o, or head to my website, which is www.abbasmarketing.com. For more info. There's also a link in the show notes bye
Ayo Abbas 07:16
Okay, so we've heard about before, and their plans and their ideas. So what happened during and after?
Ayo Abbas 07:26
Hi, Andrew, welcome back to the show. So how was Leeds and UKREiiF for you?
Andrew Foord 07:31
Hey, well, yeah, thanks for having me back. Well, it did it again, didn't it? Sun shone on us. For a second year in a row.
Ayo Abbas 07:39
There were drips of rain now and then though, there were a couple
Andrew Foord 07:44
I pretend to not see those. I don't know about you. I thought there was a real buzz. Right? It was it was busy.
Ayo Abbas 07:52
It was really busy. And you know, what I loved was a) that everyone was really, I mean, I've never been before, whereas you have and I think it was the whole thing that everyone was really accessible. So like, you know, me, to be honest, my main place to sit was like outside the Bury Theatre on a bench and lots of people just came to say, Hi. But actually, everyone was really lovely. You know, you could be talking to a council leader, or someone who just like just literally sat on the bench next to you funnily. And that was a really nice part was that actually you could talk to lots of people, and everyone was just really open and having discussions, which is what I love. So how did you find it?
Andrew Foord 08:26
So I think that, you know, that was a takeaway in from, you know, we did have a lot of delegates, and that was a big takeaway from our leadership was that there was the right people having the right conversations, lots of conversations about investment opportunities. And our pavilion was was bursting at the seams. So, you know, I mentioned beforehand, we had lots of sessions set up to run through it. And, and for us, it really acted like our main stage to showcase you know, the broad set of content that we can bring around the REiiF themes, as well as some of our great sessions. Great partnerships.
Ayo Abbas 09:09
And was there any kind of session that really kind of you what stood out to you the most you that you ran? Which one kind of is the one that resonated more? Yeah.
Andrew Foord 09:20
Yeah, well, I'm not gonna pick my, I'm not gonna pick my favourites, but I'll a pick a few outs, which included the launch of our next gen regeneration paper, which looked at the impact of of reinvention and repurposing on towns and cities across the UK. So that was nice. It was nice to use REiiF as a launch pad for that. And we were quite literally bursting at the seams for that one with with people peering in from all angles. So if you didn't manage to get in, don't worry, it's it's launching this week. It's all going to be online. We also had a partnership session with BPF, the British Property Federation, ran a Towards Net Zero event. We had some residential sessions. So addressing affordable housing challenge, which was really good. And then on the final day, we also held a screening of our save our wild Isles video, which was CO produced actually by our charity partner, which is WWF. So I think what you can try and see the picture I'm trying to build is really broad set of content. So that was really well engaged with, across all the delegates that were at REIF. And of course, we enjoyed visiting the main stages, we have a lot of JLL people on the broader main stages as well. So, you know, when I look back at it now, I think, incredible amount of activity of content, of conversations, yeah. You know, as you can take a lot away from your three days there.
Ayo Abbas 10:56
So how do you track those conversations and that activity? Because you had a lot going on, didn't you? I mean, for the nine sessions in your own, in your own pavilion, you know, things like that and guest sessions and people on the speaker stage and as well as events as well, you also had events and you and dinners and things. So how do you track that?
Andrew Foord 11:14
Well, you're right there, there's a lot happening, we've been, I think there's a lot happening around the fringe, which is really exciting for REiiF because it brings another dynamic to it. We want to be data led rather than just, you know, get verbal feedback, the verbal feedback has been very good. But we want to be data led to we were we made sure that we understood who was coming in and scan badges. And we'll look at that content and that data and, you know, make sure that we are adding value to our clients, but also the people back at home JLL as such, understand how the interest in the sessions, how they were, how they were engaged with the etc. So as much as we possibly can, we'll use data to show you know, how we want to evaluate the success of REIF?
Ayo Abbas 12:11
And do you have like a CRM system type thing whereby your partners who are attending, because I guess a lot of it is going to be those conversations in the corridor, right? Like, how do you capture that as well as the scanning the badges, which is more of their standard kind of data that you can do that the more complex part.
Andrew Foord 12:31
completely completely right? And it's, you know, it will be the marketers challenge that for something like this? How, how do you get that real return on value?
Ayo Abbas 12:46
It's the real. Yeah.
Andrew Foord 12:49
And it's, it's how do you how do you track a conversation, right? But we do we have a CRM setup, everybody that attends REIF, understands how they should be using the CRM and tracking, tracking the conversations and the opportunities within the CRM.CRM. And, you know, that's, that's not just a selfish thing on JLL, that's to make sure that we put our clients first in that, you know, if one person has a conversation, it's better that that that client doesn't have to have that conversation multiple times.times. And we should be able to share that, that wealth of that, that knowledge and that conversation throughout everybody in JLL, that's going to have an interaction with that particular client. And you know, if you, if you come into that, with that kind of client first attitude, I think that we can show a lot of value towards that client. So, yes, it's useful for us, obviously, as an organisation to make sure that we use CRM well, and we use that. But I think that, you know, the benefits should also be for our, for our clients. Yeah,
Ayo Abbas 13:56
It's a really good point actually, well done. Oh, yeah. In terms of, I guess, how are you? How do your social media go during the show? And how did it go? Let you go off.
Andrew Foord 14:11
Lots, lots of really good engagement. So I mean, if you put it in the two pillars of we had a corporate strategy and then there’s our people you know, we had it we had a pre strategy, a pre campaign during and, you know, obviously running our post con content. And that's the it's great. I mean, lots of the lots of people who, who didn't come to REiiF in JLL, are able to kind of see it through the lens of that and it helps bring it to life. I love seeing the engagement and the comments through all of that. But you know, even more excitingly and also, you know, the network and the reach is of course the those of those of our attendees and delegates that are there. So, you know, I I love engaging with all of those post and just just seeing, seeing their thoughts and their ideas and their, you know, the kind of narrative that they build from the event because, you know, that makes it really it makes it real,
Ayo Abbas 15:12
because they're all gonna be so different because they're all gonna have different specialisms and areas and, and have had different conversations. And that's the real richness of it, isn't it of having a large delegation at an event? It's not just the corporate line, but actually, there'll be all those other Splinter conversations and all those kinds of richness really, right.
Andrew Foord 15:29
Yeah, you're right. I mean, I guess everyone takes a different journey. And I guess the nice thing for us is that we've got homebase at REiiF in the jello pavilion and, and you know, people kind of come in, it's almost like the long of it for us, and people drift out and then then then come back in and, you know, report back on where they've been and what they've seen. And
Andrew Foord 15:55
it works really, you know, it works. It does work very, very well for us. And, you know, is that home, that home team lounge between our sessions, and then we welcome, we welcome people in to come and hear from us, and from, you know, the partners that that we have on the stage with us in the pavilion, so, yeah, I mean, looking back really, really active, productive, three days, up at REiiF
Ayo Abbas 16:24
Your expectations, did it deliver what you needed?
Andrew Foord 16:27
Yeah, yes, yes, it did. And, you know, and I think that that's not just my viewpoint, that's, that's what I'm hearing from across the, across the full set of delegates, we had, you know, great to also have the next gen delegates in a really good future leader, future leaders there. And, you know, they engaged in some of our sessions, we love it when we have, you know, our young future leaders in the sessions as well. So, yeah, it definitely delivered on on what we hoped it would.
Ayo Abbas 17:00
So what plans do you have for the content that you ran at UKREIF and how you're going to, I guess, use it going forward? I know you're you launched a report, for example, at the show? And are there other things where you're going to make use of the presentations, the talks? And what's come out of UKREIF?
Andrew Foord 17:15
Yeah, I mean, typically, what we'll do is we'll run dedicated post event content and make sure that we're trying to reach those that really engaged in reef. But what I also like to do is, is look at any content that we've built and embed that across some of the thematic campaigns that we've got running through through through the year. So well, well, me, I am lucky at JLL that we've got a lot of we're a content producer.producer. So my challenge, my challenge is more. How do we package that up to be digestible? How do we package that up for market rather than it just feeling like we're throwing things out and over the wall all the time? So I guess my challenge is less? WhatWhat content? Are we going to have more? How do we make that effective? How do we make it accessible? And how do we make it engaging for people to, to read and be part of so? Yeah, my challenge is, is trying to create lots of content. Yeah.
Ayo Abbas 18:25
And did you record any of your session? So anything like that? Or wasn't that part of your plan?
Andrew Foord 18:31
We did a lot of video recording when we're there. We we enjoy video recording for us that that works? Well. We've got some, some some, you know, very active people that that are great on video. So we will we'll pull out a lot of post, a lot of our post content post event content will actually be video content. And typically, we see the engagement 4x on that compared to some static content. So there's some of that. We did that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Some of the guests some of our some of some of our experts, we've got a post event, quick highlights show reel, for example, that will that will have out, this week with Stephanie our CEO. Introducing, introducing that. We didn't record.
Andrew Foord 19:19
yes. Yeah. We, we we didn't, we don't record sessions. When when when we're there. I think we, we actually see that there's almost more engagement when people don't feel like they're being recorded. Or, or, or video sometimes. And when we do we're quite we're we're quite open and clear about that. But certainly keep your eye out for the video shots that will be coming out from today, I believe, actually,
Ayo Abbas 19:50
I will definitely link into that cuz I mean, that's really interesting. So I think if you've got the people there, it's like having those little, I guess smaller, smaller kind of actionable content that you can kind of take way with you, it's a great place platform to have that, especially if you've got everyone there at once it kind of enables you to do that. So that's actually really lovely. In terms of, I guess, what more have you got to do in terms of follow up on UKREIF in terms of as a marketing team? What's your kind of timeline for the next couple of weeks or so what's your
Andrew Foord 20:17
I think a lot of that is ensuring that our 90 people there, have followed up with those conversations that they were they were having, you know, for us, it's not about the three days when you're there, it's about the 30 days after, right.
Ayo Abbas 20:42
the 30, the 60. The 90 Yeah,
Andrew Foord 20:44
exactly It. And there'll be a lot of effort to make sure that it's not just fun in the sun in leeds. It's fun in the sun leeds. But those conversation that everyone said they were having is followed up, you know that we're following up with our partners that were also there. So they're the big next steps. And that's what we've got him in play currently.
Ayo Abbas 21:09
Brilliant. Thank you so much. I can't think of any more questions. Thanks so much for coming on the show.
Andrew Foord 21:15
Thanks for having me.
Ayo Abbas 21:16
Thanks so much for listening to the Built Environment Marketing Show. Don't forget to check out the show notes which will have useful links and resources connected to this episode. You can find that on www.abbasmarketing.com And of course if you liked the show, please do share it with others on social as it helps more people to find us. See you soon.
