Aside from hosting lots of regular creative classes in our London Bridge studio, we do lots of other creative things. One of which is help companies bring their brands to life. We've done quite a few of these (with companies like Diageo, River Island, Warner Music, St. Katharine Dock's), so we thought it may be useful to walk you through one of them!

Natasha who works in the distillery for Beefeater Gin got in touch asking could we help to host fun, short, creative sessions linked to the Beefeater Gin brand for 60 guests - in 2 weeks time! It was for the world's biggest gin-based cocktail competition at the time - Beefeater MIXLDN 7. Many of the guests were competing in the event too - exciting!

There was going to be four 1-hour sessions for 15 guests at each to do something creative and memorable related to the Beefeater Gin brand during the day. The question was - what and how?

With only 2 weeks until the event, we arranged a quick call to get clear on a few specifics - location, type of space, any brand imagery available etc. Diana got straight to playing around with some workable ideas that would work with 15 guests and;

• could be done in 1 hour
• would be fun and quick to pick up, so guests could get to know each other better and chat 
• weaved the brand into it
• wouldn't make a massive mess in the beautiful distillery!

We dabbled with lino printing, life drawing, but eventually settled on t-shirt design using

• hand cut vinyl
• red t-shirts with the Beefeater Gin logo already on
• scissors
• fabric paints
• stencils
• a heat press
• imagery inspired by the occasion

This class is particularly good as it has a lovely 'reveal' moment at the end once the t-shirt / tote bag is heat pressed and the vinyl is peeled revealing the design and colours - everyone is always amazed at what they made and sparks great conversation.

A price was agreed and we got the go ahead. After that we sent across the mandatory method statements, risk assessments, PAT testing, public liability insurance and COSH data sheets - the slightly boring, but important bits for some off-site sessions.

Communication was quick fire (we likely working quickly anyway, but in this case had to) and Natasha was great to work with. Within a few days we'd;

• brainstormed ideas
• sent some example photos of things we (Diana) made
• crafted stencils
• agreed a price
• agreed colours / imagery to use 
• got across all the necessary documents

Last two tasks were quickly sourcing stock and doing a space viewing so we could think through logistics for the day in advance (plugs, storage, access to water etc). With all that done, we were ready to go the following week!

We then got more clarity on what the marketing team there were happy with and any relevant hashtags / social media handles for posting.

Then we had the event itself, it was great fun and lots of brilliant t-shirts were made, check out the below! It was a fast-paced day with four groups of 15 guests back to back (60 total), but great learning for us early on in our journey. Thanks for having us Natasha and Beefeater Gin, your feedback was lovely too :). Then, it was back to the studio to host more creative classes that evening!

If you'd like help doing creative things with guests, customers or clients, drop us an e-mail on Hello@MYO.Place.