News from the Booking Desk: September
written by
Erin Flock
The ground floor of our building is home to the Sandra Reynolds team of bookers and is always a buzzing hive of activity... Each month we share a little bit of news from the booking desk, so read on to find out what we have been up to in September!
This month is an exciting one - we speak to our talent Nancy Ocean about her recent campaign with Gatorade (featuring Serena Williams), which focuses on the theme of women empowerment and we also take a sneak peek into our upcoming podcast release with our Real Model, Anita Krishnan...
We have been listening to: We have enjoyed choosing different years this month to base our playlists on, a favourite being the year 2004. Top singles from 2004 include “Love Machine” by Girls Aloud and “That Girl” by McFly (what a great year!).
We have been reading: All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover.
Favourite brands we’ve worked with: Just Eat, Superdrug, Gatorade, Puma, Wallis, Plantur 39, Tanqueray Gin, TUI, Moroccan Oil, Wilkinson Sword, Santander, Liz Earle, Joules and Jojo Maman Bebe.
Making memories: Alex, Emma and Georgia will always remember their early morning shoot at Southwold beach that they had this month, for a client of ours who needed sea swimmers for an upcoming TV commercial - cold but lots of fun!
TEAM UPDATES
NEW SOCIAL & DIGITAL MARKETING COORDINATOR JODIE
Nice to meet you! I’m Jodie, the new social and digital marketing coordinator at Sandra Reynolds and my first job is to write this blog post! Like many of the SR team, I graduated from Norwich University of Arts. As a final project at university, I decided to explore ways that brands can create new community experiences within a digital space and working on this project made me realise how much I wanted to continue exploring this. Now that I'm part of the SR team, I can't wait to keep having fun with it!
I have always had a love for social media, having previously worked as a Social Media Manager for some beauty and lifestyle businesses alongside my studies. Having only graduated earlier this year, I feel very lucky to have found a job which links to my degree and interests perfectly and I’m very excited to get stuck in with some projects.
Speaking to the SR team has really given me an insight into all the behind-the-scenes action which goes on at the agency and I’ve loved hearing about all the thrilling campaigns our talent has been booked for. I’ve also enjoyed learning about the new “Spill the Tea” podcast that the SR team launched recently. During my studies, I often found that it wasn’t always easy to find information about the industry, so having this podcast available for people to learn about topics which should be spoken about more is amazing, I really look forward to sharing all the teasers and behind the scenes action across our socials.
A little bit more about me – I have always loved dogs, so to be welcomed by the team’s office dogs on my first day was a dream come true. I’m also very lucky to have two dogs at home who keep me busy on my days off, they are called Teddy and Winnie. I am also a fashion lover (shock!) and something I am a big advocate of is shopping second-hand where you can, I often spend a lot of my time finding the best fashion deals. I’ve found some of my favourite outfits this way and I’m always working towards becoming more sustainable with my choices, so knowing that SR is in partnership with Ecologi to help balance out their carbon footprint and positively make a change sealed the deal for me!
CAMPAIGN SPOTLIGHT
GATORADE CHAMPIONS WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
This month our model Nancy Ocean was booked to work on an inspiring campaign with the American sports-themed brand Gatorade. As a model agency with a large focus on diversity and personal empowerment, we are very proud to have been part of a campaign which aligns with these values. Having had previous experience with both photographic and acting roles, Nancy was perfect - not to mention how natural she is at portraying emotion in front of the camera. Filmed in London, Nancy got the opportunity to work on this beautiful campaign which features American tennis player Serena Williams.
The video leads you through several sports and the powerful women who take part in each of them, linking to themes such as connection, pride and being one of a kind (which is what we’re all about!). Watching the video moves your emotions with an empowering narration by Beyonce Knowles-Carter. Nancy even mentioned to us how the campaign moved her parents to cry, which we can understand completely.
We spoke to Nancy to get the inside scoop on the campaign, here is what she had to say:
SR: "Having been a part of such an inspiring campaign, what do you believe the overall message was to the audience?"
Nancy: "I think the overall message to the audience was to be resilient and to stay true to oneself. Even though the campaign was for Serena, I think any woman can take what she achieved and how she carried herself as an example that greatness is possible. It shows that we as females can go beyond what is expected of us. That if we trust and have loving people around us, we can shine and light up the way for generations to come. We can’t all be Serena but there is a Serena in all of us. It’s the little difference that we make in each of our little worlds."
SR: "Do you have a favourite moment from the day?"
Nancy: "There were so many moments. It was a long day. But working with the director Jake Nava, who also directed several videos for Beyoncé was an honour and seeing his vision come to life. Having a team of black hairdressers like Lucia and Rachel on set and not having to worry about how to do my hair was also a big relief. Seeing people from all ethnicities with different talents coming together gave me pure joy to watch. Being part of this was just unreal."
SR: "What was it like to be part of a campaign alongside Serena Williams?"
Nancy: "I didn’t know it was for Serena until the end of the shooting. They told us at the end and everything was very secretive. I just feel blessed and want to thank Sandra Reynolds and especially Daisy for making this happen. Forever grateful Daisy."
(Click here to view Nancy's portfolio, where you can also watch the full campaign video)
At SR, we understand the importance of a successful project, which is why we take great care to match our amazing talent with the client's creative brief, whilst always ensuring that our models are well looked after and enjoy their time on set. It was great to speak to Nancy about her experience and to hear her thoughts on the campaign. This month has been full of emotion and we were deeply saddened by the passing of Queen Elizabeth, this campaign reminded us all of the strong women role models in our own lives - including the late Queen Elizabeth who inspired us all. We would like to take this moment to express our condolences once again.
NEW EPISODE...
"SPILL THE TEA" PODCAST
September saw the launch of our “Daisy & G Spill the Tea” podcast, which if you haven't seen already is a must-watch! The podcast and videocast feature interviews with our Managing Director, Tessa Dewing, models, and industry guests. The podcast aims to give you the inside scoop, including topics which we feel should be spoken about more within the industry.
Daisy and Georgia have loved recording each episode and we are really excited for the podcast to continue to grow. Full episodes can be found on our YouTube and Instagram Reels. Make sure to watch our sneak peek of the new episode launching on Monday 17th of October, where the girls are joined by our Real Model, Anita Krishnan. Anita speaks to Daisy and Georgia about her journey to becoming a commercial model and also a very special Primark menopause campaign, which Anita completed recently (stay tuned!).
NEW FACES
As we head into the month of October, we are excited to welcome some more new faces to the agency. We’ve already started thinking about exciting opportunities the talent will be a part of across our divisions.
OUTTAKES!
We have had a great month featuring a lot of inspirational campaigns and as always, have had a lot of laughs! This month included two birthdays (Maria, and Poppy), filming and uploading our videocast with Ocean Navarro, a new first car for our apprentice Katie, a booked wedding venue for Jemima (woo!) and of course, that refreshing early morning shoot at the beach for Alex, Emma and Georgia. As we move into October, we now look forward to the autumn months and lots more exciting opportunities for our talent.
Get in touch with the booking desk today
[email protected]
020 73987 5858