48:22 – The emotive annual summer conference returned in 2022!

After a 3-year wait due to COVID-19 restrictions, we finally got the whole agency together for 48 hours out of the office in 2022 (48:22). Now, with a team of over 70, this was our biggest event yet!

On arrival at the venue, everyone had time for a quick catch-up before settling down for the first of the day’s presentations– an agency update from our COO, Lizzie Styles, celebrating all the incredible work the emotive team have been doing to inspire change across the healthcare landscape and the achievements accomplished so far in 2022. This opening session reminded us of all the quality work completed for our clients and, importantly, the positive impact we are having on people’s health around the world.

The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Celebrating our Values’ and our great friends at Medics for Rare Disease (M4RD) joined us to lead our INTEGRITY session. Lucy McKay , CEO of M4RD and Dan Jeffries , one of M4RD’s patient advocates, who has not one but two rare diseases, delivered passionate and uplifting talks. They reiterated the importance of our work to their organisation in building awareness amongst healthcare professionals to ensure patients with rare diseases are correctly diagnosed and have the best possible journey in the management and treatment of their condition. Lucy and Dan’s work ethic and desire to turn their experiences with rare diseases, which have been predominantly negative, into a positive outlook and use their knowledge to help others was truly inspiring.

In the afternoon, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) helped us improve our communication skills during our EMPOWERMENT session on how to communicate effectively with others, learning how to relax in high-pressure moments – such as when presenting or negotiating – and providing key tips on how best to interact with others. Despite being communications professionals, we can still learn more ourselves; thank you, RADA, for the insightful (and somewhat humbling) session.

The team spirit at emotive has always been something we pride ourselves on. The afternoon also saw our competitive team spirit unleashed as we participated in an ‘old school’ sports day to highlight our AGILITY value. Everyone was split into teams, each with a dedicated coloured T-shirt. The events included an egg and spoon race, javelin throw, various relays, sack race and, of course, the mighty space hopper race. There were some exceptional performances, spectacular falls and plenty of smiles and laughs. The green team eventually took the gold medal thanks to a win in the final relay.

Energised and thankfully not worn out, everyone changed into evening wear for a night of celebrating excellence, kicking off with our Value Awards. A winner for each of the values (Agility, Collaboration, Empowerment, Integrity and Imagination) was presented with their awards before everyone enjoyed a fantastic summer BBQ and drinks throughout the evening.

Day 2 brought sunshine and another fantastic line-up. The day began with a session on IMAGINATION with Dave Birss, Dave spent most of his career in the world of advertising, both as a copywriter and an art director. He ended up leading the creative departments of some of London’s biggest and best agencies. Dave spoke about pushing boundaries, how we are all creative even if we don’t know it and how to get the best out of our brains to achieve excellence.

The final activity of 48:22, other than making our way home during a train strike, was a team pitch task to recognise our COLLABORATION value. Teams were given the same brief to conceive a way of reducing water waste when brushing teeth, with no restrictions on what that could be. The teams had 45 minutes to work together on their concept before pitching their ideas to the judges and the rest of the agency. Amongst what were some amazing ideas fleshed out in just a short timeframe, the grey team shone through with a campaign that stood out in terms of creative, non-obvious brilliance.

Everyone then set off home. Two fantastic days spent out of the office; face-to-face with old friends and new colleagues, interacting and bouncing ideas off each other, being reminded of the unique emotive spirit and feeling even more inspired to achieve excellence and transform lives throughout the rest of 2022. We’re already excited for next summer’s 48:23.