Kate Jamieson is the Content Director for Raccoon Media Group and has been with the company since March 2022. Carving out a little time from planning a packed calendar of global events, we sat down with Kate to find out more about her and how she manages to deliver content for an award-winning event portfolio.
Tell us a little about your background and how you came to the role of Content Director with Raccoon Media Group?
My background is in education publishing, I was in that industry for around fifteen years and commissioned textbooks for a variety of markets predominantly in Africa and the Caribbean. I juggled that line of work pre and post having kids, freelancing while they were little, then gradually returned to an office environment as their school hours increased.
From there, I moved into comms and PR, which morphed into marketing, eventually leading to a position as Head of Marketing for a chain of leisure centre operators. The three and a half years I was there included the Covid-19 period. The multiple lockdowns were an intense time and a logistical nightmare, navigating different rules in different locations for leisure centres around the UK and in all honesty, it broke me.
I left and took up a short-term communications role with the National Trust. Whilst there, the Head of Content role with Raccoon Media Group surfaced. A friend of mine was aware of the company and at this stage had been ‘nudging’ me towards it for quite some time. She already knew Mike Seaman, the CEO and because I was into running, she had the long-held belief that I’d be a great fit for Raccoon. So, I applied, and here I am.
Has the role been what you expected and what are some of the challenges you’ve faced?
I don’t know what I expected. At the time, I wasn’t sure that my skill set and experience were a natural ‘fit’, but I was particularly drawn to the role because it was an amalgamation of all my personal passions and hobbies – at the time, the portfolio comprised running, cycling, the outdoors and snow sports in the UK and the US! With hindsight, I realise that my skills and experience do align with the role, but sometimes you don’t fully appreciate that until you are in it and doing it. At the heart of it, content is an editorial function.
I spend a lot of my time having multiple conversations, absorbing ideas and doing research. What are the trends? Who’s cool? What works, what doesn’t? Then those ideas get distilled into the best of what can be put together with the people available and in budget. Content is about the experience of an event – that feeling when you walk away and think ‘wow that was really worthwhile’ or inspiring people to achieve and push for more personally or professionally, I find that very rewarding.
Raccoon is a fast-paced, rapidly growing business and with that comes numerous opportunities but also some challenges. We move quickly and adapt and pivot as necessary – adapting a truly entrepreneurial approach to running the business. Just when you think you’re on top of everything along comes a new launch or a new acquisition and our core team pull together to get that event off the ground, often in quite a short time frame. Needing to shift my mindset to new objectives quickly can be incredibly exciting but you can sometimes feel like you’re chasing your tail! My skillset is growing rapidly and I love that opportunity to grow and work alongside people who are as motivated as I am to get these events off the ground in the best way possible.
Global events with multiple audiences have also presented a huge learning curve. I am consistently learning about who the ‘customer’ is and who you need to create content for. The international shows have been interesting to navigate, and I admit I have fallen foul of not fully understanding how much geolocation matters. But that is how you learn. It is a real mistake to assume that your UK knowledge is the same elsewhere. You can’t just drop like-for-like content in place to place. Each show requires a lot of research and conversations to get it right.
As Raccoon evolves and launches and acquires more events our focus has started to shift into the B2B space and that is a whole other ball game, consumer feels very natural to me as I AM the customer for a lot of the events we run, it’s been a real learning curve to shift the mindset to how businesses operate, what their needs are and how I can best utilise my skillset to ensure an event is a worthwhile experience for them as a business and a professional. We have a lot up our sleeve at the moment that is very exciting so watch this space.
Can you talk a little more about the planning schedule, how do you shape content around events?
The timeline is interesting and longer than people imagine. Before you even deliver an event like The National Running Show, to some extent you will already have the content in your head for the next year. That can require not just mental preparation, but real action. Sometimes targets need to be reached out to a year in advance to try and secure them. You want to be in a position to whet the appetite for visitors and exhibitors to next year’s show.
Following the current year’s event, you will go into a wash-up period and evaluate what worked, what didn’t. At which point, you sense check the work you have already done for the next year and the assumptions you’ve made. If perspectives have changed or budgets have been adjusted, you may have to spend time unpicking threads that have already been sewn.
Strategy wise, we try to book big names first so the sales team can give exhibitors the confidence the event will have the footfall for ROI and that we as a business are investing in the future success of the event. Securing people is never as easy as it sounds, especially when booking A-list stars. Sometimes there is a reluctance to commit that far out because it could mean they are in the middle of a training block, filming or book tour etc so building relationships with agents and talent and finding ways to negotiate timings and contracts is part of what we do everyday
The build around content is not just about big names on stages, but catering for a wide range of audiences. You want to please different demographics and abilities and think carefully about what they want to see. What is new? What is cool? You drop in little nuggets to the content plan and gradually start to firm up where everything goes. Several months out from the show, the puzzle comes together. You look at the picture and think ‘ok, have I got it right?’. We then review, test and analyse until we are sure that what we are putting forward is fit for purpose, represents growth from the previous year and meets the demands of the audience.
How do you endeavour to keep Raccoon at the top of their game with content?
On top of creating and delivering events is benchmarking and idea screening. When you look for continuous improvement you need to be willing to adjust. A good recent example of this is our thinking around a new B2B event we are launching in November this year, a European-first, The International Running Expo (IRX) in Amsterdam.
Sometimes our plans for Content evolve as a Show matures. We can often go into a launch thinking content is not going to be a key driver for an audience, only to find that actually, having invested a few months in the build stage, it actually is key. IRX is a great example of this. From the outset we intended for content to add the ‘experiential’ dynamic for IRX but as we built the event and looked closely at what other industry events such as TrailCon in the States was doing, we quickly saw that the appetite for content was actually bigger than we originally thought. The hustle then begins to shape a content programme worthy of the event and the audience.
Delivering an experience is a constant learning process in fast paced industries with multiple layers of audience.
I’m now fortunate to have two fantastic people in my team and that allows me to work more strategically with plans for large growth in my division in the coming months and years.My role is to guide what they do but they have autonomy to make decisions about the events they manage. On a day-to-day basismy main remit is to work on launches and new concepts. Those are sometimes commercial ideas that will never come to fruition or can be events that quickly become the largest in our portfolio from day 1, but they all need the required research and attention, nonetheless.
How do you see the future of event content?
I think the future isn’t really about the current status quo. It won’t just be about stages and fireside chats. It will be about the icing, the extra activations around the show. For example, at The International Running Show, we will have shakeout runs, ice baths, yoga, breathwork, the after party etc. That is the cool stuff that brings people together and nurtures connections and inspiration.
Future events must also carefully consider the staging. If we are looking at one of our events like The National Outdoor Expo, people want to see their heroes ‘in situ’. This might be some cool biking skills, so you need to find a way of showcasing an element of that in a conference centre.
How do you keep your team motivated and deliver first class content production?
It is a balancing act of letting them enjoy what they do, as well as hitting milestones. Obviously, we’ve got a job to do, and we know the way that it must happen for the business and the timelines we need to work to and KPIs to hit.
But, a lot of what we do is fun, and it is important that we don’t lose that fun element. It can be a little demoralising when you are trawling through speakers and keep getting ‘no’s’. At those times, it is more about taking away from the big, pressured stuff and seeing what we can still achieve. Having conversations with everyday people achieving amazing things, doing something lovely, or epic for charity. It’s about allowing the team to go back into conversations that are equally valid and reminding themselves of why we are doing it, and the communities we are doing it for.
Raccoon also has a vibrant, dynamic culture and we do a lot of fun stuff. Just last week, we played the cereal box challenge at HQ on a Friday afternoon and we have regular social meetups. In this industry you really need that balance between work and play.
