How does culture shape the way the marketing industry functions? What role does it play in successful businesses, and how does this influence the ways we need to communicate?

Last week, we joined leading business owners and creative professionals from across the world to explore these very issues at VMC 2023 - a one-day event which was hosted at The Rose Bowl, located in the heart of Leeds city centre.

One Nine Nine was an integral part of the programme - with Managing Director, Barnaby Patchett and Multimedia Designer, Zak Lebetkin sitting on two panel discussions during the afternoon. 

It was a fantastic and educational day, and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting and networking with like-minded industry professionals. The programme had been carefully curated to address the role of innovation, creativity and sustainability in media and marketing communications - featuring an engaging range of keynotes and panel discussions led by renowned businesses, including Kelloggs and Tony’s Chocolonely.

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Fostering Creative Talent

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In addition to creating the VMC23 logo and brand guidelines, our Multimedia Designer, Zak  was invited to participate in one of the panel discussions, which focussed on how to attract and retain the best creative talent in today’s world.

Alongside Julia Cole (Strategic Marketing Consultant) Dr Oliver Bray (Dean, Leeds School of Arts at Leeds Beckett University) and Meeka Walwyn-Lewis (Head of Membership, BPIF), Zak offered his insight on how businesses can attract the best talent. Using his own personal experience of being a recent university graduate, Zak discussed how business owners should be looking to foster a comfortable working environment by creating personable teams with shared goals and values - as well as talking about the importance of feeling challenged creatively whilst at work. 

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A Session on Sustainability 

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Following Zak’s appearance, our Managing Director, Barnaby was featured as part of the sustainability panel discussion, “Buzzwords & BS”. 

Aiming to explore why the truth matters when it comes to issues of sustainability, this panel session was deliberately structured to challenge misconceptions, provide a reality check and discuss how sustainability influences business communications. Chaired by Darryl Danielli (Editor and Publisher, Printweek), this panel also featured Ryan McSorley (Co-Founder of NEAT) and Jonathan Tame (MD, Two Sides), who collectively dissected sustainability topics which ranged from greenwashing and carbon insetting to sustainability comms, palm oil and more.

With over 15 years of experience writing in the sustainability comms space, Barnaby was well positioned to provide his expertise on the nuances of sustainability. 

He highlighted how important it was that we challenge mainstream narratives, recognise limitations and accept that sometimes, compromises are essential when we embark on the journey towards “true” sustainability. Referencing real world examples such as palm oil and nuclear energy, he argued there are no silver bullets when it comes to sustainability, and also highlighted the need to challenge and look beyond the media’s representation of environmental issues.

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About VMC23

VMC23 is a one-day conference and exhibition that provides a vivid insight into marketing communication. To find out more about the event, please visit Innovation. Creativity. Sustainability. - Visual Media Conference

It was a pleasure to be involved in this conference, and we look forward to seeing how the event evolves over the coming years!