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This week we’re bringing you a very special masterclass from a recent live edition of the podcast that we held right here at our very own Easol House in Hackney, London. In 2016, adventurers James Whittle and Tom Caulfield, known as the Tempest Two, decided to row across the Atlantic—a 3,000-mile journey with no support crew, no prior rowing experience, and no real understanding of what they were getting themselves into.It took them 54 days and saw them face challenges that ranged from circling sharks to a Category 2 Hurricane. One life-changing adventure is probably enough for most people, but in the following years the Tempest Two have gone on to ride from London to the Sahara on motorbikes, scale El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, and complete a triathlon in the wilderness of Patagonia. But what makes James and Tom different from many other explorers and adventurers is that, as they put it they have, 'no right to be doing this’. They’re just two regular guys who simply throw themselves into challenges to help them realise their true potential. The other thing that makes them stand apart is how they’ve now translated these learnings from their experiences into actionable insights for businesses like Google, Nike and Airbnb to help build and instil a culture of growth and resilience for teams. In this episode, the guys tell the incredible stories behind their adventures and explain the unique skills and mindset they have adopted for success.
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This week we took the show live, with a special edition of Creators in Session held for you, our community at our very own Easol House in Hackney, London.
Captured during the evening, this tactics session - Add Everything - reveals how to unlock new revenue streams for your experience business.
Hosted by Easol Co-Founder and CEO Ben Simpson, we invited three Experience Creators from the worlds of festivals, music and location-based entertainment, to break down how you can deepen customer loyalty and grow your business by expanding your offering.
We’re joined for the second time on the show by Jamie Thomson, Director of snowsports and music festival Rise. Jamie explains how Rise - which drives over two thirds of its revenue from additional items outside of the main entry pass – has grown from strength to strength since diversifying the festival’s revenue streams.
Also on the panel we had Dawn Farrow, a sales and marketing expert, who specialises in promoting and driving revenue for IP brands looking to build out immersive experiences - like Batman, Friends and Formula One. She delivers valuable insights on scaling revenue whilst keeping crucial brand values firmly intact.
Myradh Cormican meanwhile, brings us the artists perspective, gained from her role as Head of strategic partnerships and digital at FRAME artists, where she supports top electronic music acts like Chase & Status and Patrick Topping in finding new ways to connect with their communities, including creating their own Experiences.
The conversation is an awesome deep dive into the delicate art and science behind the experimentation process of adding new layers of value for your customers whilst staying true to your core brand and product.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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We believe the best brand builders are world builders - from Tyler the Creator to Lady Gaga and Fred Again - more and more artists today are finding ways to express creativity and drive revenue beyond their music. The latest Creators In Session, which comes from a live event we hosted during Amsterdam Dance Event, sees us connecting with community-mind artist TSHA. She recently released her second album, Sad Girl, on London label Ninja Tune, and is finding new ways to connect with her fanbase in her new home of Ibiza.
In conversation with guest host NIKS fellow DJ, producer and co-founder of Black Artist Database – they dive into TSHA’s journey in the music industry, challenges she’s faced on her road to success and new opportunities for artists looking to grow beyond the music.
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The latest Creators in Session, comes from a live event we hosted during Amsterdam Dance Event, which took place at the home of friends, cycling brand Rapha. The day featured masterclasses for the electronic music community - from the likes of TSHA and Defected, through to this particular session, Curating Queer Spaces.
Guest hosted by the lovely NIKS, DJ and founder of the platform Black Artist Database, it saw us connect with Experience Creators Marieke Samallo of Amsterdam Milkshake Festival and Eloisa Blitzer of Barcelona's Maricas to discuss their commitment to protecting and empowering their communities.
Milkshake, which is beautifully described as being for "all who love", welcomes tens of thousands of attendees to editions everywhere from the Netherlands to Brazil. Maricas meanwhile, is a Queer club brand for female and non-binary identifying people, that's risen from beginnings in Barcelona's warehouse scene to throwing legendary parties at events like Primavera Sound.
In this conversation, they go deep on what it takes to build and nurture experiences and to help members of queer communities feel safe and seen.
Together, they discuss fostering safe spaces, listening to audience feedback, and overcoming challenges to create transformative, community-driven events. A must-listen for Experience Creators everywhere.
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In this episode of Creators In Session, we sit down with Pip Jamieson, the dynamic Founder and CEO of The Dots, for an inspiring masterclass on growing and nurturing vibrant communities.
We first discovered The Dots as a hub for creative talent and were immediately drawn to its open, friendly and curated community—a refreshing alternative to traditional jobs platforms. Today, The Dots has evolved into a thriving network of the world’s most talented creatives, and under Pip’s leadership, it continues to drive change in the creative industry.
In this insightful session, Pip shares how she and her team have built a groundbreaking B2B SaaS tool that is already being utilized by global brands like Soho House, Dazed, and Apple—before its officially been launched! She delves into the importance of growing and nurturing vibrant communities, why owning your community data is critical for global brand success, and offers actionable advice on how creatives can harness the power of AI.
Tune in to learn from a true advocate for creativity, diversity, and innovation.
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How do you translate the philosophy of an experimental online community into consistently awesome experiences all around the world?
Online collective Friends With Benefits has been redefining what community means in the Web3 era since its inception in 2020.
While their base is online, they’ve made their mark on the in-person experience space, hosting more than 225 events around the world ranging from intimate parties to three successful editions of FWB Fest in California. FWB describes that flagship event as “part festival, part conference, 100% secret third thing”.
Part of that success involves developing their governing “Pattern Language”, which allows FWB members to put on cohesive events globally.
For the latest Creators In Session masterclass, FWB CEO Greg Bresnitz talks to Easol's Co-Founder Lisa Simpson about the unique challenges and opportunities FWB faces, their mindful events philosophy, and what the future holds for creators, both on- and offline.
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The first port of call for the world’s biggest brands, Superfly has been pushing boundaries forward in the worlds of immersive and experiential since the early 2000s, originally creating the iconic Bonnaroo Festival and recently delivering landmark events for Netflix, Lizzo and The New York Times.
We sit down with Executive Vice President Lauren Guss, to explore where experiential is headed next, the secret to building great partnerships, and how she conducts countless stakeholders and demands at once to orchestrate truly extraordinary experiences.
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Creators In Session returns for Season 2, and we're diving into the future of live visuals with Peter Kirkup, Solutions and Innovations Director at Disguise.
For over two decades, Disguise's software has led the way in powering unforgettable live experiences for artists like Adele, Massive Attack, Beyonce and Ed Sheeran, and events like Glastonbury and Coachella.
In this episode, Peter shares insights on creating those “spine-tingling moments” —and how they can drive your business's success.
Included in this episode:
How Disguise’s technology integrates real-world environments with cutting-edge visualsKey insights for experience creators to harness new technologies like AI and XRWhat the future holds for immersive experiencesListen in and discover how to take your experience design to the next level.
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This week on Creators In Session, we’re reflecting on the highlights from the series so far. We just released our tenth masterclass, and we thought now would be the perfect time to reflect on some of the amazing insights we’ve learnt from our guests. We set out to build a series of masterclasses for you, our global community of experience creators, to deliver inspiration, actionable insights to help tackle the challenges we face every day.
So far we’ve connected with experience creators and experts from around the world. Our journey has taken us from LA to London, Puerto Rico and back via Amsterdam, going deep on everything from storytelling for growth, to ground breaking sustainability practices for your experiences.
Included in this masterclass:
The keys to building a winning-team that can support you in every situation
How to curate an experience that grows and nurtures your community
The secrets to predictable and repeatable sales year-round
What every creator can do to ignite their creativity
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In 2024, brand partnerships are everywhere - you’ll see them in your favourite films, on your social media feeds and of course at our experiences.
In a constantly changing economic environment, brand partnership revenue has even now become the primary source of income for some experience creators. This support however, doesn’t come easily - and what brands request in return, can often in fact leave experience creators feeling shortchanged.
Today’s guests, Sam Blenkinsopp and Natalia Christina - Co-Founder of Trippin and Managing Director of their creative agency All Corners, break out their playbook for building authentic brand partnerships with our Co-Founder Lisa Simpson.
Trippin has grown from a Facebook group for travel recommendations started by Sam and his Co-Founders Kesang and Yasmin, into a global content-platform powered by a diverse community of cultural pioneers and taste-makers sharing their local recommendations. Brand attention soon naturally flowed, and the platform went on to collaborate with the likes of Nike, Adidas, Versace, Tate Modern and the V&A, eventually leading them to set up their own creative agency, All Corners.
Included in this masterclass:
How to select the right brand partner for your experience
Assessing what value you hold in this space as a creator
Why brands are attracted to experiences with history and legacy
The key to a successful creative partnership
Who are Easol?
Easol is the first of its kind all-in-one ‘experience commerce’ platform built to support experience businesses globally, across all sectors including festivals, wellness retreats, food and drink, sports and adventure trips. With Easol, experience businesses have complete control to drive more direct sales, retain more revenue, own their data and run your business on your terms.
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This tactics session focuses on unlocking the power of storytelling in your content strategy. A follow up from our episode with Rise Festival on marketing your experience 365 days a year, here we go deeper on how you can use social-first storytelling as a tool to nurture your community, build trust around your brand and grow your business.
Our guest, Dulcie Horn has spent the last 10 plus years mastering this skill and is now working to super-charge the content strategies for world-leading experiences such as Glastonbury, Boomtown and Southport Weekender with her own content agency Chuffed Digital. As Dulcie says to her clients, “If you bring people together in real life, we can help you keep that party going in the digital space, 365 days a year.”
Included in this masterclass:
How to define your content pillars and build them into your sales funnel
What you can do you to uplift your community through your storytelling
Why chasing likes doesn’t add value
The keys to putting together an elite team for content capture at your experience
Easol is the first of its kind all-in-one ‘experience commerce’ platform built to support experience businesses globally, across all sectors including festivals, wellness retreats, food and drink, sports and adventure trips. With Easol, experience businesses have complete control to drive more direct sales, retain more revenue, own their data and run your business on your terms.
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Follow Chuffed Digital on Instagram
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This masterclass, recorded live earlier this year at The British Library as part of the AVA London conference, is all about the art of event curation.
Experience creators have an almost endless range of choices they can make to influence these reactions, whether that be through the talent they book or the way they design the stage, how they cultivate and protect their community, down to how security is trained and briefed to manage the crowd. With ‘exceptional’ experiences these choices are meticulously curated and intentional.
Easol’s Co-Founder Lisa Simpson hosted a group of five leading festival and music industry creators, to explore what it takes to curate truly exceptional experiences. Together, they covered a lot of ground - from how to take risks with your musical programming, through to the role of visual arts at your experience, marketing to Gen Z, and much more.
On this masterclass we’re joined by;
Filippo Palermo, Co-Founder at Australia’s Untitled Group, which produces some of the Southern Hemisphere’s most exciting festivals and events brands, from Beyond The Valley to Pitch Music & Arts
Derek Debru, Co-Founder at Uganda’s Nyege Nyege Festival, a platform for East Africa’s electronic music community
Pau Cristoful, International Booking Agent at Primavera Sound, NITSA and Mutek in Barcelona, and one of the most passionate music-lovers you could ever hope to meet
Nathanael Williams, Co-Owner of London venues Colour Factory, Moko and Jumbi, three spaces that exist to serve their vibrant local communities each in different ways
Sarah McBriar, the founder of AVA Festival, an event that has been a rite of passage for a generation of festival goers in Northern Ireland over the last decade
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In this masterclass, our Co-Founder Lisa Simpson spoke with a legend of the EDM scene , James Estopinal, better known as Disco Donnie. His events company of the same name is an EDM institution worldwide, responsible for selling millions of tickets across tens of thousands of experiences, including major festivals like Ubbi Dubbi and Texas Eclipse. Donnie has played a pivotal role in the spread of electronic music culture in North America, taking it from its rough and ready rave era of the 90’s to the multi-billion dollar industry it is today.
There have been ups and some clear downs along the way, but throughout his incredible career Donnie has always kept his passion and empathy at the forefront of everything he does. A natural storyteller, this session was a blast to record.
Included in this masterclass:
Early days promoting raves in New Orleans
Scaling Electric Daisy Carnival into a global EDM phenomenon
Regaining his independence as a promoter and buying his business back
Building out distinct brands for his many different festivals and club shows
Easol is the first of its kind all-in-one ‘experience commerce’ platform built to support experience businesses globally, across all sectors including festivals, wellness retreats, food and drink, sports and adventure trips. With Easol, experience businesses have complete control to drive more direct sales, retain more revenue, own their data and run your business on your terms.Follow Easol on Instagram
Follow Disco Donnie on Instagram
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In this masterclass, we spoke with experience creator’, Heather Story. From her early career days managing amphitheatres through to key roles behind the scenes at iconic American festival Bonnaroo and wellness pioneers Wanderlust, Heather is an expert in the careful balance of art and science that is event production.
Now managing the high-tech operation behind Netflix’s live Squid Game experience in Los Angeles, Heather’s career is a lesson in what it means to consistently pursue excellence. A leader and inspiration to her friends and peers, it was a pleasure to hear her philosophy and playbook for creating and executing world-class experiences.
Included in this masterclass:
The key considerations behind producing a high-quality experiences and events
How to build and manage a killer production team
What you can do to find hidden revenue streams in your experience
The importance of play in high-stress situations
Easol is the first of its kind all-in-one ‘experience commerce’ platform built to support experience businesses globally, across all sectors including festivals, wellness retreats, food and drink, sports and adventure trips. With Easol, experience businesses have complete control to drive more direct sales, retain more revenue, own their data and run your business on your terms.
Follow Easol on Instagram
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Our first ever ‘Tactics’ episode comes courtesy of Jamie Thomson and Lizzi Pepper, Festival Director and Head Of Operations at Rise Festival. The music and snowsports festival started in 2014 by Easol’s Co-Founders Ben and Lisa Simpson with their partner Will Habergham, attracts thousands to the French resort of Les Deux Alpes every December.
Marketing the event comes laden with challenges, from the time of year it takes place through to the hurdle of convincing many first time-skiers to book a ski holiday, but the resourceful team at Rise have converted these difficulties into an asset. Here they share their tactics for bucking seasonality, and marketing your festival 365 days a year.
Included in this masterclass:
How Rise Festival hacked their sales cycle
How you can plan to capture killer content at your event
Why using marketing personas isn’t always the best strategy
How you can turn your fans into your biggest asset
Easol is the first of its kind all-in-one ‘experience commerce’ platform built to support experience businesses globally, across all sectors including festivals, wellness retreats, food and drink, sports and adventure trips. With Easol, experience businesses have complete control to drive more direct sales, retain more revenue, own their data and run your business on your terms.
Follow Easol on Instagram
Follow Rise on Instagram
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In this masterclass, recorded during Amsterdam Dance Event, our Co-Founder Lisa Simpson spoke with Envision Co-Founder and CEO Josh Wendel. Envision, which takes place “where the jungle meets the sea” in the tropical paradise of Costa Rica, is a 7 day immersive-experience that thrives on the cutting-edge of festival production, curation, design and at the heart of it all - sustainability.
For Creators In Session he spoke on the unique challenges his festival faces, what he hopes his attendees take away from their experience at Envision, and why there is truly no competition for creating sustainable solutions.
Included in this masterclass:
Josh’s amazing journey to starting Envision
The challenges of putting on an event in the Costa Rican jungle
How Envision go above and beyond to achieve its sustainability goals
What all festivals can do to integrate sustainability into their events
Who are Easol?
Easol is the first of its kind all-in-one ‘experience commerce’ platform built to support experience businesses globally, across all sectors including festivals, wellness retreats, food and drink, sports and adventure trips. With Easol, experience businesses have complete control to drive more direct sales, retain more revenue, own their data and run your business on your terms.
Follow Easol on Instagram
Follow Envision on Instagram
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In this masterclass, our Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer Lisa Simpson sat down with Wretch 32 - the Rapper, Singer, Songwriter, Author and Creative Director of 0207 Def Jam Records.
Starting out as part of group The Movement alongside Grime royalty like Ghetts and Scorcher, Wretch’s unique lyrical ability and dedication to his craft has helped him achieve legendary status among rap fans all over the world. For Creators In Session he spoke on the balancing act between creativity and commercial success that many festival organisers need to navigate.
Included in this masterclass:
How to overcome creative blocks
Tips for communicating your ideas and vision
Marketing to different audience segments
How to respond to seasonality and shifts in demand
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In this masterclass, recorded live at Amsterdam Dance Event, we spoke with Josh Robinson - Co-Owner of Hospitality, an iconic drum and bass institution now with shows around the world across four continents.
Included in this masterclass:
Hospitality’s journey from a record label to now producing over 75 shows a year globally
The key factors to consider when working with partners for your events
How to build a brand concept that can be scaled with ease across multiple countries
What to do when events go really wrong - funny stories on the ground!
Who are Easol?
Easol is the first of its kind all-in-one ‘experience commerce’ platform built to support experience businesses globally, across all sectors including festivals, wellness retreats, food and drink, sports and adventure trips. With Easol, experience businesses have complete control to drive more direct sales, retain more revenue, own their data and run your business on your terms.
Follow Easol on Instagram
Follow Hospitality on Instagram
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Welcome to the first episode of Creators in Session: a masterclass series by Easol. The festival industry is growing and changing at a rapid rate. In this episode Easol Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Lisa Simpson, interviews Obi Asika, Artist Agent to artists like Chase and Status, Marshmello and Wiz Kid and Co Founder of the world’s largest Afrobeats festival, Afro Nation. The series kicks off with lessons in how to stand out from the crowd in a busy festival market, as Obi shares his story on building one of the world's fastest growing festival brands.
Included in this masterclass:
Obi’s journey from Drum and Bass Promoter and Artist Agent to Afrobeats festival founder From idea to reality: the origin story of Afro Nation through to experiencing hyper-growth today The driving factors behind the brand’s success and popularity The importance of representing and celebrating your brand’s communityWho are Easol?
Easol is the first of its kind all-in-one ‘experience commerce’ platform built to support experience businesses globally, across all sectors including festivals, wellness retreats, food and drink, sports and adventure trips. With Easol, experience businesses have complete control to drive more direct sales, retain more revenue, own their data and run your business on your terms.
Follow Easol on Instagram
Follow Afro Nation on Instagram
