Who we are
Jo Taylor
Director
jo@flyakitearts.com
I’ve been working in the cultural and non-profit sector for 30 years. For the last 4 years as Director of Audiences at Rambert and a member of the Executive team, where I oversaw all marketing, digital, community and participation activity. I led a rebrand resulting in audiences at an historical-time high, as well as transformation in terms of diversity, younger audiences and new-to-dance audiences.
Prior to this I was a Director of Morris Hargreaves McIntyre (MHM) for 10 years, and spent 15 years in a wide range of arts organisations including senior marketing roles at Welsh National Opera and Wales Millennium Centre. I’ve always enjoyed sharing ideas from conference platforms and through delivering sector training. I was Chair of the Arts Marketing Association for 5 years and am currently a Trustee of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Lorna Dennison
Director
lorna@flyakitearts.com
I have been working in the cultural, creative and leisure sectors since 2007 with a focus on using audience insight to inform strategy and make better decisions. I was previously Insight Director at Morris Hargreaves McIntyre (MHM), leading consultancy and insight projects including brand, audience development, product testing, membership strategy, evaluation, market positioning and feasibility.
What we do
We’re here to help you build your brand; understand your audiences; make decisions informed by insight; broaden and grow your fanbase.
We’ll involve everyone from the get-go so no one is left behind and absolutely everyone in the team is on the same page. We’ll ask audiences what they think so you’ll have real evidence and can be more confident of getting it right. And we’ll build simple tools so it is easy to put into practice. We do focus on the big ideas, but will never fly off leaving you with an unactionable strategy document.
Why we do it
The organisations we work with have in common a belief that they can make the world better. Brand authenticity is what compels the right people to make powerful connections with you and this is how fanbases form and grow. What if your brand articulated messages that were a compelling, authentic reflection of the benefits you actually offer? A promise clearly understood by those outside? Too often organisations end up with “Values” – a list of positive adjectives no-one knows what to do with. And then they do “Marketing” to tell the audience what they think they want to hear. If this sounds familiar we’d love to chat.
How we do it
- We will always
Provide simple, intuitive tools and solutions.
Listen and understand you. We’ll be collaborative and straightforward.
Have fun doing it. We’ll bring energy – so your teams are invigorated and empowered.
Be ambitious and challenge you. We’re invested.
- We'll never
Leave you with a meaningless set of adjectives, or a complicated matrix that you don’t know how to use.
Assume we have all the answers or offer a ‘one size fits all’.
Go through the motions. No death by powerpoint.
Shy away from difficult conversations if we can see a brighter alternative.