About Will
I am a senior marketing leader with over 12 years’ experience driving brand growth, audience development and commercial performance across live entertainment, sport, music, venues and the arts. Having held senior in-house and agency leadership roles, I have developed and delivered marketing strategies for major brands across the UK and Europe, combining creative and strategic thinking with a strong understanding of audiences, technology and the landscape and commercial drivers behind successful live experiences.
In my current role as Marketing Project Manager at Legends Global (Europe), I lead complex marketing projects across the UK and European venue portfolio, working directly with senior leadership, venue teams, clients and commercial partners. My remit spans multi-million-pound venue launches, redevelopments and mobilisations. Recent projects have included major mobilisations with three Premier League clubs; the launch of a new arena and the incorporation of a major arena and concert hall into the Legends Global portfolio; and co-ordination of initiatives including premium hospitality concepts and digital transformation.
Across sport, venues, festivals, F&B, hospitality and technology, the common thread in my career has been using marketing to solve broader business challenges. Whether selling tickets, developing audiences, winning clients, launching venues, creating new revenue propositions or transforming digital capabilities, I bring together people, partners and disciplines around a clear strategy with a creative flair, and translate ambitious ideas into measurable commercial growth.
Strategy Specialisms
Business and Brand
- Business Plan creation
- Industry, Consumer and Competitor Analysis
- Research and Forecasting
- Organisation Design
- Goal Setting
- Lead Generation and Business Development
- Partnerships
- Personality and Brand Voice
- Visual Identity and Creative Direction
Marketing and Comms
- Digital and physical
- Content and original editorial commissions
- Media planning and buying
- Press and PR
- Sponsorships
- Activations
- Fan engagement and customer service
- In-event marketing
- Crisis comms
- Team management and recruitment
- Briefing and management of third-parties – press agency, influencers, designers, videographers and photographers
Clients and Campaigns
Awards
bluedot
Best Medium Festival (UK Festival Awards)
Festival of the Year (Live Awards)
Line-Up of the Year (UK Festival Awards)
Kendal Calling
Best Marketing Campaign (UK Festival Awards)
Festival of the Sky
Best New Festival (UK Festival Awards)
Best Non-Music Festival (UK Festival Awards)
Testimonials
Will is a very talented, creative and resourceful marketer and project manager. He is a consummate professional and a great person to have alongside when in the deadline trenches
Mike Walsh
Head of Music at Radio X and XFM · Mercury Prize judge
Will has a brilliant ability to apply and execute his creativity. He makes great stuff happen.
Chris Hawkins
BBC Radio 6 Music
Working with Will during his time at The Warehouse Project was an absolute pleasure. Whilst he was client side and us the agency, it always felt like we were a team trying to achieve the same thing. He was great at motivating and was very understanding of how things worked our side and what we needed to deliver our results. He’s incredibly calm, a quick thinker and manages to bring the right level of humour in just when it’s needed.
Angie Towse
Founding Director at The Rest Is Noise PR
Creative Direction
A selection of launch videos I have overseen creative direction and promotion for, including the incredible animated Parklife 2018 by Studio Moross, and videos created with Entirety (Pendulum, Reading & Leeds), Rancefilm (Jimmy Choo, Ralph Lauren) and Smith & Lyall (The Chemical Brothers).
From concept to storyboarding, through soundtrack licensing (with the likes of YOUNG, Universal and Sony), and the all-important ‘starting gun’ to create momentum for a huge campaign.
Projects and Activations
Explore an array of special campaigns, venue launches and content series I have led on the strategy and delivery of…
bluedot presents
A Weekend In Outer Space
Online Event, 2020
Following the postponement of bluedot’s 2020 festival, I oversaw the curation and marketing of a live online weekend of talks, performances and workshops. ‘A Weekend In Outer Space’ was built around a fictional narrative of leaving earth to explore space, with specially-created idents and scripted performances alongside headline content. I managed the creation of the concept, including branding and website build, in addition to typical marketing responsibilities such as online and offline promotion, press and partnerships.
The weekend’s programme included the below, all of which I was tasked with co-ordinating:
- Exclusive live performances and DJ sets from the likes of Orbital, Daniel Avery and Roni Size, accompanied by bespoke VJ performance which I commissioned and oversaw.
- Classic archive performance from Elbow commissioned for exclusive broadcast, requiring liaison with the artist, management and label, and completion of copyright processes with Universal.
- A day of panels and ‘In Conversation’ talks featuring remote guests across three timezones including Professor Brian Cox and Ann Druyan. I oversaw the curation and booking of guests and presenters, and in many cases researched and scripted the panel discussions.
- A full ‘bluedot presents’ takeover of ‘Tim’s Twitter Listening Parties‘, featuring previous headliners New Order, Hot Chip and more taking part in tweetalong album listening events.
A Weekend In Outer Space increased bluedot’s online festival presence and accounted for a significant increase in ticket sales for the 2021 event.
Kendal Calling Radio
Online Event, 2020
I devised, curated and marketed Kendal Calling Radio, a four-day live online radio station available on smart speakers and the Kendal Calling website, with supporting content throughout the weekend on the brand’s online channels. This charity fundraiser project involved the development and curation (including guest booking) of over 25 shows, branding and design, the creation of the station’s audio identity and the production of the shows alongside AudioAlways (BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 5 Live), in addition to management of the station’s technical team.
Shows over the weekend included:
- A daytime schedule of kid-friendly breakfast show with CBBC’s Alex Winters, lunchtime with BBC Radio 6 Music’s Chris Hawkins and drivetime with Hits Radio’s Hattie Pearson
- Takeover shows from festival favourites including Frank Turner
- A ‘Kendal Calling Chart Show’ voted for by fans of the festival to find the best loved track of the festival’s 15-year history
The online weekend raised a significant sum for the festival’s charities, and accounted for a spike in ticket sales for the following year’s festivals.
bluedot presents
Plate Up! at COP26 Glasgow
Partnership Activation, 2021
A special partnership with The Vegan Society for COP26 in Glasgow, celebrating our blue dot and raising awareness of The Vegan Society’s Plate Up For The Planet campaign. Plate Up! with The Vegan Society developed through a three episode podcast series and culminated with a special weekend of events at COP26, featuring panels and in conversation talks, live music, DJ sets, comedy and spoken word. I devised and curated all marketing for this partnership campaign, including
Guests across the podcast series and Glasgow events included Moby, Chris Packham, Dale Vince and Fay Milton.
bluedot presents
Microdot at Glasshouse
Activation/Venue Launch, 2020
For Microdot 002 bluedot launched the new Glasshouse centre at bruntwood’s Alderley Park complex. This special day of science, music and cosmic culture featured drone workshops, yoga classes and live music plus the curation of Luke Jerram’s GAIA in the foyer of Glasshouse, open to the local community.
bluedot presents
Microdot at Hatch
Activation/Venue Launch, 2019
The first Microdot saw us take over the launch of the new Hatch venue in Manchester’s student village. bluedot curated a free-entry day of music, science and cosmic culture, featuring Cassetteboy, DJ Paulette and more, special Dot Talks curated by Jodrell Bank Observatory plus family fun with walkabout characters and kids raves/
Parklife Official Launch Party at Hatch
Activation, 2018
We followed up the festival launch with the curation and marketing of a special pop-up store activation in Manchester’s student district – selling limited edition merch, albums by Parklife artists and festival tickets – launched with a free-entry launch party.
Parklife x Crack – The Daily Planet
Content Campaign, 2018
A special Crack magazine produced as part of Parklife’s physical promo campaign, The Daily Planet was distributed nationwide across retail and University locations to hit the student-heavy Parklife audience. I oversaw the content (including exclusive interviews and sponsored content features), advertising and oversaw the design process alongside Studio Moross.
Will Orchard 