Boys+Girls has launched a new brand experience agency called EXP. The new agency is headed up by Karleen Smyth, who held the role of senior experiential director with Boys + Girls for the last few years. During this time she worked on experiential projects for a range of clients including Three Ireland, LEGO, Jose Cuervo, Three UK and Ulster Bank.
The new agency will be staffed by a multi-disciplinary team which will work on a range of one-off local and global creative projects, including large scale festival sponsorship activations, live events, installations as well as digital projects.
“Brands, in Ireland and internationally, deserve something that’s new, creatively brilliant, disruptive and highly effective, delivering results like they have never seen before,” says Karleen Smyth.
“The launch of EXP, a new standalone brand experience agency, will be a game changer,” she says.
“Our focus is on injecting laser sharp strategic rigour into creative brand experience. For too long, experiential agencies have been producing ‘hit and hope’ work – shiny baubles with paper thin ideas, often in no way connected to an overarching brand idea – and, even worse, with no clear metrics of success matched to business ambition. That changes now with the arrival of EXP,” she adds.
According to Smyth, the new agency is already working on campaigns for Three UK and, through its membership of By The Network, it is supporting international projects for clients like Netflix.
“The age of ‘good vibes’ as the only metric of success is well and truly over and we’re putting the efficacy into experience,” says Pat Stephenson, founder and chief relationship officer, Boys+Girls.
“Having missed out on so much for the past two years, and as the nation emerges from the pandemic, consumers will actively seek put heightened brand experiences, ones with real impact and engagement for them and their friends,” he says.
“Brands that embrace that approach will win. Our perspective is that great brand experiences should and can create great business results. With work such as Three’s ‘The Island’ winning Gold Cannes Lions Brand Strategy, Cannes Lion for Brand Experience & Activation as well as a Gold Effie we’ve already proven we’ve got the formula to deliver,” he says.
