Stacey’s 2022 Roundup
Time goes so quickly doesn’t it?
It feels like yesterday we were celebrating Covid regulations loosening; filling in horrific, long, difficult to understand forms to get into countries, finding venues for client events at the very last minute, cancelling client events at the very last minute, getting excited about meeting clients in real life for the first time, planning my wedding. This year looked promising, and very long. Covid slowed everything down, but time has now sped up like nobody’s business. I feel like I blinked and it passed by, so I’ve jotted down some of my high (and low) lights, in an attempt to remember and cherish some of the things that happened, both at Goho and in the wider world.
January
We started the year with BoJo in situ. Bumbling his way through a host of nonsense, we tried to ignore him and cracked on with planning events. BUT this was going to be the year of the train strike. We’re not sure if the universe was against us, or if BoJo was behind it, (he wasn’t, we’re not on his floppy radar, Mr Majeika he is not) but literally every single event we planned was thwarted by trains being cancelled. January definitely was the start of how things were going to go on for the year ahead.
February
With Covid finally on the blink, hopes were high for the year ahead, but then Putin put a big old stop to that by invading Ukraine.
At Goho though we had to draw ourselves away from the horrifying footage and disbelief of goings on, slap on a happy face and go into overdrive as one of our clients, WagIt, appeared on Dragon’s Den. The Twitter storm and social media community management that ensued was real. If you missed it, check it out, Nadia and Lola, her beautiful CKC sidekick, stole the show.
March
We finally got to celebrate Goho’s birthday. Each year since we launched we have had to cancel our celebrations, so this year was a biggie. We rounded up all our clients, past clients, partners and suppliers for a 2 day blow out that was everything we wanted it to be, and more.
A slap up lunch cooked by a Michelin starred chef under the railway arches in London’s Borough Market, started the celebrations. Guests were picked up in a Goho branded Veluba and transported to Turnips, (the badass greengrocer in BM) where we ate the most delicious food I’ve ever tasted, all of which had been sourced from market suppliers. If you haven’t been to Turnips yet, please get your ass there quick. You’ll thank me later.
The next day we treated over a hundred of you to a makeover and photoshoot at the Meyer Studios, complete with delicious food, Etan Rum, Something and Nothing drinks and the best goody bags we’ve seen, ever. (If we do say so ourselves).
April
The rainy month saw us prepare and deliver full 360 comms and event management for KLC’s Law on Tour. As per usual, it was perfect in every single way, just like Mary Poppins.
May
May is always our busiest month, but for some reason, this one was an absolute stonker. Starting with Brew//LDN at the legendary Printworks, we never knew a craft beer festival could be so good. If you haven’t been yet, next year will be the last ever event at Printworks before it gets knocked down for yet more yuppy London flats so get your tickets and we’ll see you there.
We planned and delivered IMMO’s inaugural company wide AGM in Portugal, with Stacey driving in from another event in Seville.
May was also Eurovision month. If you didn't know, Emma is a MASSIVE fan of Eurovision and watched some of the preliminary rounds from the hotel bar in Algarve, in between meetings. Ah, that’s dedication. (She’s told me she won’t be doing the same this year as it’s in the UK. Fair enough).
June
We didn't go to Glasto, it was the delayed 50th anniversary spectacular, so instead, we did the next best thing and took some of our favourite people to the Isle of Wight Festival. Needless to say, it was amazing, we’re already counting down the days to next year’s event, the lineup is AMAZING! ( I will take bribes if you fancy coming along). ;)
June was also the month we started working with Gritchie (That’s Guy Ritchie's team), and led the PR for their wandering outpost of the Lore of the Land Pub, with The Lore on the Lam at Henley Regatta.
July
July was quite busy for us, my neverending hen parties began, it was our second year supporting Primadonna Festival with their PR, we had a stand too, and spoke to anyone who would listen about Goho, our values and fantastic work, and started working with the amazing BooBee Co, off the back of it.
Then we legged it back to London to catch the Women's football final. It was bloody brilliant to see the girls bring it home. If we left the men to it, we’d still be waiting out in the cold.
August
It was our first GoShow. A slap up lunch at the glorious Pan Pacific hotel on the rainiest day of the year was spent slurping the best Laksa I have EVER eaten, and drinking the most delicious rose. If you haven't been there yet, go now!
Lots of sunshine, 40 degree heat, team holidays and more client onboarding ensued. We also started working with Gravitas at a really exciting time in their growth. I went off to Vegas to reenact The Hangover. I came back from Vegas to find the Queen dead and yet another PM at Number 10. This time a potato disguised as a woman.
September
The aforementioned potato, sorry, Liz Truss, managed to completely demolish our economy in a matter of weeks, before attending the Queen's funeral, and then quitting. (I’m only including this as otherwise I will 100% forget all about her).
We saw the longest queue ever seen in not only Britain but the world. The jury was out whether the Queen was in the coffin, but I was too busy watching the televised coverage of the queue not really moving, when I saw David Beckham pop in, crying. Conveniently they had to change the guard right when he got to the front so he got max air time. It made me like him even more though, such a cutie. (And from a professional perspective, what a bloody blinder his PR team played coming up with that, bravo).
With wedding planning in full-throw September also brought us LOTS of new clients, being the busiest we have ever been, Saffron joined the team permanently after being a freelancer for three months.
October
The Dave campaign for GIG went live, this was the result of many months brainstorming, hard work and partnership with the amazing TEN. It aired on Sky and was just fantastic, if you didn't see it, catch it here. And drop us a line if you want to do a recruitment campaign with a difference. It worked a treat.
Interflora re-opened their newly vamped up HQ with the teams going back to work there for the first time since before Covid. They hired us to do a launch event, and we created an immersive happening “The six senses of Interflora” which got all the staff using the space and loving their new office. This was a great piece of work from the team, showing we don't just do luxury 5 star hotels, we can make on-site office parties badass too.
November
Ofgem signed with us. This was an absolute career highlight for me. They were with a much bigger, west end agency before, and this confirmed we’re playing with the big boys now.
MyNFT showcased the first ever vending machine for NFTs outside the QEII Conference Centre in Westminster, raising thousands for charity, and attracting celebrities, tech geeks and art nerds alike. Liv and Emma popped down too, as did a whole host of press.
December
Ayesha started, just in time for the second busiest month of the year, bringing with her a breath of fresh air, a bucketload of energy and some much needed extra hands on deck. More train strikes tried and failed to ruin our Christmas party, client events, and my wedding. Snow came, and is actually still here but it’s no match for us. My wedding is in 2 weeks. It’s gonna be epic.
The team has worked so, so hard this year, and so we’re closing on the 21st so they can have 2 weeks off. They deserve it so much. I just want to say thank you to every one of them, Liv, Mari, Mike, Saffron, Em, Jon, Tracey, Al and Ayesha…. You are bloody brilliant. I can’t wait to see what we achieve next year, and with you lot of superstars by my side, I have no doubt it’ll be amazing.
