Oscars to Office – Merlin Venues on the Road

26 February 2019

We started off our week with a bang here at Merlin Venues – a day full of touring around London and visiting event agents with a very special guest.
Mondays don’t have to be boring, especially in the events industry and we’re here to prove it!

Starting the Day Right for Merlin Events

The day started off with a big power breakfast of scrambled eggs and salmon to get the events team going. We had a total of 4 event agencies to visit during the day, all over London: north, south, east and west! So (as most of you event profs know) it’s super important to keep your strength up as the day goes on!

We wanted to provide some selected agencies we work alongside on events with something to break up the monotony of a Monday. What better way of doing that, than giving the gift of ultimate glamour and Hummingbird Bakery cupcakes!

Seeing as it’s Oscars’ Week, we decided to take the ultimate iconic red carpet movie star with us: Marilyn Monroe. With her voluptuous figure, Hollywood smile and buckets of charisma, Marilyn Monroe is globally recognised as the queen of femininity and glamour. Following the Dua Lipa figure launch this year – the newest edition to the line up of strong iconic women within Madame Tussauds London – we wanted to take a classic icon with us. Marilyn stopped traffic… quite literally!

Where did we go?

We started our journey visiting Brook Green out west in Shepherds Bush. The team were so excited to get on the road, and after a little photo-shoot with Marilyn in the Merlin Entertainments London Office and in front of the Lastminute.com London Eye (two icons together!), we were on our way. Brook Green were certainly surprised to see us! Next, we journeyed down to Ex Events’ lovely Brixton offices and everyone on the way was recognising Marilyn! The team on the road were as follows: Carla Bishop and Dorothy Constantino (Merlin Venies Sales and Marketing Managers), Tom Dingley (Events Photographer who is celebrating over 5 years photographing for Merlin Venues!), Toby from Habitual Media and last but by no means least, Marilyn Monroe (the world’s most famous look-a-like, Suzie Kennedy).

We then made our way out east to see Wedgewood Britain in their fabulous exposed brick and wooden beam offices in Shoreditch. The team of around 15 were super excited to have their photos taken with Marilyn and get stuck into the Merlin Venues cupcakes! We even took a few shots outside in the glorious weather, perfect lighting –  the glow-up was real.  Finally we went on up north towards Edgeware and visited the fabulous Uptown Events who boomeranged the moment to their hearts content.

What made it a great day?

The team’s enthusiasm from the start was absolutely infectious – you could tell everyone was really excited to get on the road and counteract those Monday blues! I think we forget sometimes amongst the planning and the admin that the events industry is an incredible place to work, and we should appreciate and celebrate that more often. It’s unpredictable and showstopping – wouldn’t have it any other way.

Dorothy Constantino – Events Marketing Manager, Merlin Venues

This wasn’t the usual gig for me – I really enjoyed my road trip with the Merlin Venues team! We were all rearing to go and the reaction from agencies was amazing. I had such a fun day and can’t wait for the next time we go on the road!
Tom Dingley, Photographer

 I’ve been so excited to do this trip all month! We planned everything for it down to branded bomber jackets that I didn’t really want to take off… sad but true. We had a fantastic day visiting some of our lovely agencies. It was great to see their reaction to Marilyn and brighten up their (unusually sunny) Monday! The purpose of this trip was to re-engage with our agents for 2019 in a fun and innovative way!
Carla Bishop – Events Sales Manager, Merlin Venues

As you can probably guess, the global gigs I do are really varied  so I’m prepared for anything – I really enjoyed this day from start to finish and the surprise on the agencies faces never got old! Everyone loves Marilyn and I’m so lucky that I get to embody her as my career. The Merlin Venues team were a joy to work with and by the end of the day, we were like best friends!
Suzie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe Look-a-like