Hoares Bank Virtual Event

The customer

Founded in 1672, C. Hoare & Co. is the UK’s oldest family-owned private bank. The bank currently has two branches in London and an office in Cambridge.

The challenge

Originally planned as a live event from their branch in Fleet Street, the collaboration between Hoares Bank and the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) aimed to reinforce the bank’s relationship with its customers, help NYJO expand its network and raise money while giving all involved an enjoyable and worthwhile experience around great music and youth education. 

However, due to the local lockdown and safety measures because of the COVID-19 pandemic, live events and conferences were forced to cancel, postpone or alternatively in this case - transform into virtual events.  

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"May I just say a heartfelt “Thank you” to all of you? The whole thing was meticulously managed, thoroughly professional, great fun, and a huge success. Pats on the back to all!”

Nigel Tully, Executive Chair, NYJO

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The solution

The bank’s Events team planned the structure of the whole event and approached Sova Audio to produce the audio-visual content and to manage and coordinate all technical aspects of the webcast. 

To move the event online, while retaining the authenticity of the original concept, the NYJO concert was filmed and recorded directly from C. Hoare & Co., Fleet Street, and then edited prior to live-streaming for the virtual event.  Adhering to all COVID-19 Health and Safety regulations at the time, we set up a temporary studio in one of the bank’s function rooms, where the event was originally scheduled to happen. 

The musicians performed three jazz classics - Blue Skies by Irving Berlin,  Dizzy Gillespie’s A Night in Tunisia and Feeling Good by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, all with original arrangements by NYJO’s Mark Armstrong. In between the musical pieces, the performers were interviewed and were given the chance to explain more about their involvement with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra - the organisation that gave start to the iconic Amy Winehouse. 

To bring real-time interaction and audience engagement, the event was live-streamed on Zoom. Following the original concept and agenda, the plenary included the pre-recorded performance split into parts with remote speakers, Powerpoint presentations and audience Q&A in between.

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"Thank you so much for a brilliantly executed event last night, and all of your hard work in the lead-up. I hope you were as happy with it as we were – we have been getting some wonderful feedback about not just the content but how well executed it was. Not a small feat in these untested waters!" 

Magdalena Ziarko, Interim Head of Development

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The result

The meticulous planning and technical production resulted in a highly sophisticated and interactive virtual event and a true success story for our client C. Hoare & Co.  

Face-to-face interaction is not easily replicated online, however, the feedback from both guests and organisers show that well-crafted flow can keep the audience immersed throughout the entire experience.