The Launch of DigitX by Tag Digital: With Stephanie Bruce
DigitX by Tag Digital is a brand new event that Tag Digital hosted at the UK Pavilion, on-site at Expo 2020 Dubai in March 2022. DigitX was created for event and marketing professionals looking to broaden their knowledge to help boost the performance of their event marketing campaigns. The event boasted incredible speakers from Google, YouTube, Meta and Tag Digital.
We sat down with Stephanie Bruce, Marketing Manager at Tag Digital, to hear more about the launch of DigitX by Tag Digital and to find out what’s next!
Can you firstly tell us a little bit about your role at Tag Digital?
I am Marketing Manager at Tag Digital, working closely with my colleagues on the Growth Team, to boost brand awareness, build brand reputation and promote our services to our target audience of event organisers.
I am involved in all marketing activity from social media management, organic and paid campaigns, content creation and the most fun part – events. I’m very lucky to have such an awesome team that supports me every step of the way.
What is the best part of your role?
It has to be events. We have really strong partnerships with the organisers of shows including Event Tech Live and International Confex, which we exhibit at every year. We get to connect with such inspirational and interesting people across the industry – clients, partners and friends.
I have worked at Tag Digital for over three years and this year has been my favourite year as we have been able to pull together our very own event DigitX and not only that, but on-site at Expo 2020, Dubai – The World’s Greatest Show! Expo 2020 Dubai’s theme was “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”, so it was amazing to be part of this. The experience is a memory that I’ll cherish for a long, long time.
How did the opportunity to host the event come up?
Hustle. [Steph laughs]. Joking aside, it took determination and perseverance. The Growth team at Tag Digital chatted a lot about Expo 2020 months and months before it started. For those who are not aware, Expo 2020 was due to start October 2020 and run through until March 2021, but due to the pandemic, it began October 2021.
Working in events meant that Expo 2020 was a hot topic in the industry. We also have a large portion of our clients based in the UAE, so I remember thinking “how can we get involved in this show and do something memorable?”
Unfortunately this might not be the glamorous response people might expect but it shows what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.
I got in touch with anyone and everyone I could who had any link to the expo. With the support of Scottish Development International, we managed to get through to a member of the event management team based in Dubai, working at the UK Pavilion. We pitched our idea and awaited an official approval from the UK Pavilion and got confirmation in January 2022, giving us just over 2 months to fully plan and execute the event. We accepted the challenge and the hard work paid off.
What was the highlight of the event?
It is difficult to whittle all the highlights down but the main highlight has to be meeting all of our clients, partners and friends in-person! We have all been through a crazy couple of years, so we wanted to give something back to our connections in the industry. We wanted to create a valuable experience, with actionable takeaways for the attendees, as well as the opportunity to relax and enjoy the penultimate day of Expo 2020.
Another highlight has to be the fact that the event was hosted at the UK Pavilion – it really is as incredible in real life as it looks in photos. It was particularly special as I’m really close to my team members who helped pull the event together, so I could share the experience with them.
What was the most difficult part of the process?
Probably the fact we were pulling together an event at a location in Dubai that we had never seen in-person before, when we are based in Glasgow, UK. We had support from the team working at the UK Pavilion, so we could get a basic idea of how it looked through pictures and videos but you really don’t get a feel for a venue until you are there.
As we hadn’t seen the room set-up, the screens and staging were all a bit of a surprise when we arrived – but it looked amazing! Huge thanks to Ross Allan, Creative Director at Somo, for designing the branding for DigitX (and for putting up with me in the run up to the event!).
We have learnt a lot from this event, what works and what doesn’t work so well. Next time, we’ll make sure to build on the lessons learned.
The biggest ‘lowlight’ had to be carrying VERY heavy boxes of stash for our guests in 32 degree heat through the Expo site, when we had no idea where we were going. I would have definitely done that differently and requested a lift beforehand!
How would you improve the event for next time?
As our first event that we have hosted, I was really happy with how smoothly the day went. For future events, we want to strengthen our processes for sharing event information and reminders, our attendee badge creation, and ensure the provision of thorough briefs to any external teams involved – whether that’s tech or catering for instance. We hopefully won’t have such tight timescales for our next event, and now we know what to expect, we will be able to make DigitX by Tag Digital even better!
What would be your advice for anyone wanting to do something like this?
Set your sights big. Set high ambitions as you never know what you can achieve. The Tag Digital team really does inspire me to be the best version of myself. Everyone works hard for one another, but we have loads of fun at the same time, which I think is so important. Tag Digital co-founders, Laura and Craig Davidson, have created a strong growth environment, encouraging every team member to push themselves out of their comfort zone to really make the most of every opportunity. Don’t be afraid to give something a go, and if it doesn’t work out, then learn from it and be better next time around!
What’s next for the Tag Digital team?
I can’t share too much yet but there are some very exciting conversations happening behind the scenes at the Tag Digital HQ right now! We have a huge client base out in the US, so hosting an exclusive, in-person event or two across the pond is a must. Watch this space!
Book a call with the team if you want to find out more.
21 April 2022