Disney, Dyson, Dolby and a string of major regional brands met a whole host of leading agencies last Monday with the aim of kick starting new business relationships.

The event opened with a keynote from Disney’s European Martketing Director of Interactive, Alan Welsman who gave delegates an insight into some of the key marketing challenges faced by the entertainment giant. Alan also highlighted the importance of solid agency and client relationships especially in tough economic times and stressed the need for agencies to be ‘even more strategic’ and proactive when budgets are getting increasingly tighter.

The rest of the afternoon and early evening was then taken up by a series of thirty minute one-to-one new business and creds meetings with agencies meeting the clients they had requested to see prior to the day (and vice versa).

Based on the majority of feedback it seems that the agencies attended thought it was a productive afternoon. Here’s a snapshot:

“We found attending the forum incredibly valuable, and all but one of our meetings could quite easily lead to work which is a great position to be in.

Sam Hearn, Omni Productions

“It was a great event this afternoon. We had an enjoyable time and I think got some great leads and opportunities.”

Nick Meads – Sunshine Creative

“I really believe we made some good connections. It is always a challenge getting in front of people, especially in this climate and I think the event will without question have driven local business connections; which can only be of benefit to both agencies & clients.”

Al Kennedy – Open Communication Design

Mike Bennett, Bristol Media CEO stated:

This was our first ‘proper’ business event and it was a bit of a mamouth task to pull together. Trying to get 40 clients in a room on the same day proved very hard but it’s clear from the majority of feedback that we should look at running another event with a selection of new clients around April next year.

Mike continued:

Huge thanks go out to the CIPR, DMA and CIM for partnering Bristol Media on this event. Watch this space for more exciting joint events and collaborations.

Final word goes to Alan Welsman of Disney:

“I genuinely met with a lot of excellent agencies and got some good ideas that we may take forward into actual commissions. I think the concept of the Bristol Media group and events like this are extremely useful for clients to quickly and effectively get an idea of the landscape of agencies and skills in the area. If you continue these type of events, I think you will put Bristol ahead of other cities.”