Trybworld: ‘engaging Through Shared Active Experiences’

Two weeks ago, the City of London came alive with thousands of runners from some of the world’s largest corporate companies, all taking part in the 16^th edition of the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay. The event, owned and operated by TrybWorld, has expanded to 13 cities across the globe since its inception in 2007.

Following its recent rebrand from Square Mile Sport, we caught up with the Managing Director of TrybWorld, James Hassett, to explore what the name change means for the organisation and how the activations and services they offer can help the industry to re-engage with audiences in a way that delivers a lasting social impact.

Could you tell us a bit more about TrybWorld and what problem you are solving in the industry?

TrybWorld is a purpose-driven active experience agency on a mission to engage clients and employees in values-led shared active experiences that inspire greater connection, engagement and wellbeing.

We design, create, and deliver in-person and virtual events that bring people together through the power of physical activity that also leaves lasting positive social impact.

We’re helping organisations solve the problems of dis-connectivity and lack of engagement by creating platforms for them to connect to their clients, customers, and people more deeply in the most meaningful and memorable way.

Formerly known as, Square Mile Sport, we have owned and operated the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay for the past 15 years – Bloomberg’s largest client engagement initiative globally, delivered in 13 cities across 11 countries for 15,000 participants annually. Our recent rebrand to TrybWorld, has enabled us to expand our global expertise and experience to grow the positive impact we can deliver for many more brands around the world.

What would you say is the main challenge facing brands today? 

Our belief is that the world is changing rapidly, competition is becoming fiercer, and share-of-voice is becoming increasingly difficult to attain as attention spans are becoming smaller and buyers are being more selective than ever before. Businesses are looking for new and innovative ways to connect and engage with their customers, clients, and employees; to deepen relationships and communicate their brand values.

We feel that traditional methods of client hospitality and entertainment have become a little tired, lack any real ownership for the buyer to engage and communicate their values effectively to their audience and lack reputational control. Brands are looking for more and more in fast-changing landscape.

We believe client engagement should speak to the new values of forward-thinking businesses, integrating wellness, sustainability and inclusion in a more experiential way that is scalable, meaningful, and memorable, whilst also delivering a positive social impact.

Do you feel that traditional sport sponsorships are less effective in the modern world, and if so, why?

Sport sponsorships have been around for decades and there have been countless of examples of how effective this method can be for getting a brand in front of an audience and tap into the passion and emotion fans have for the individual, team, or competition/league they are aligning with. But we are seeing evermore now that for brands, it can also be risky. Sponsorships lack ownership and control for a brand, and reputational risk is only increasing, especially with the virality of social media platforms.

Additionally, as businesses strive for more progressive, inclusive and diverse ways of engaging clients, many of the traditional experiences do not cater for this in a modern way.

Do you feel that brands are struggling to connect their audiences through traditional forms of marketing? Why is a brand experience different? 

As brands moved from traditional analogue forms of marketing to adopt the digital world, the ability to pin-point target audiences, track, measure and evaluate data in minute detail has provided brands with a significant advantage in success-driven marketing over the past couple of decades. However, there are now so many brands competing in the digital space across a myriad of different platforms that audiences are overwhelmed with the deluge of digital content they are bombarded with every day. Combined with the immense level of distraction created by the abundance of technology, notifications and alerts, it is becoming much harder for brands to forge deep connections and build trust across their audiences.

Brand experiences are a way of creating an emotive connection – it’s not just about what a brand ‘tells’ a buyer anymore, it’s about how it can make them feel. A brand experience creates a more meaningful connection with the buyer or the client and can demonstrate its purpose and values through a lived experience rather than through one-way media. Audiences are also more likely to trust brands that really live out their shared values – the whole interaction with that brand is wildly different to just an advert on a billboard or pop-up video on social media.

Why do you think sport is an effective medium to bring people together?

Sport brings people together in a unique and compelling way – whether it’s from a fan or participant perspective – that few other mediums can deliver. The passion, energy, and emotional investment that sport creates is special, especially when shared with others.

What’s more, there’s immediate common shared interest with other people – they all go on a journey together and it’s really quite amazing how it has the capacity to change people’s lives at the same time. Sport also has the power to connect people to a deeper meaning or purpose. The benefits of the activity itself are one thing but it goes beyond that – elevating people’s sense of purpose and providing a channel for people to give back to social causes as we see so many incredible examples of every year at events like the London Marathon, and other physical endeavours across the world.

How do you ensure that sports-based experiences remain inclusive?

It’s ensuring that any event we design has inclusivity at the forefront of our process from the outset. This is especially important from a B2B perspective as we recognise the increasing importance for companies to address diversity, inclusivity and equality across any event experience hosted for their clients or employees.

We always want to ensure that as many as possible can take part in the experiences we create and we take great responsibility to ensure they facilitate teambuilding, create energy, build resilience, and also enable people to go away having had a memorable experience. For brands, this is critical, so we work with them to create event concepts that people are not intimidated by but equally provide them with a goal that will feel satisfying once it is achieved.

It’s one of the reasons the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay has been so successful, expanding from one race in London to 13 cities across the globe. Teams of ten runners from the same company each take on the challenge of running a one-mile looped circuit as fast as they can, before handing the baton over to the next team member. We have participants who walk the entire mile, and others who are running sub-5 minutes.

How has the connectivity to clients and employees changed post-pandemic?

The global pandemic impacted us all greatly and in several different ways. One consistent theme we’ve heard from most of the business leaders we’ve spoken to is around connection: to their people, their clients and even to their company values and purpose, or culture. In many businesses it’s proving a challenge to get teams to return to the office, and clients are less willing to travel regularly or gain approval for traditional client entertainment.

As we all strive to adapt to the new-normal, we are hearing every day of leaders’ desire to empower and engage their clients and people in experiences that improve wellbeing, deepen connectivity, and have a tangible and meaningful societal impact. Much research points to buyers and employees caring more than ever about who they buy from, work for and impact along the way so it is the responsibility of leaders and their brands to find unique and innovative ways to deliver on this.

What’s next for TrybWorld? What are the plans for the future?

Having re-branded and launched TrybWorld earlier this year, we are extremely excited about the feedback we’ve received and conversations we’re engaged in already to support organisations that want to have a real tangible impact, drive brand value and leverage a platform to meaningfully communicate what they care most about.

We’ve been able to bring our full experiential engagement programme back to life for Bloomberg – both in-person and digitally – across 11 countries and we can’t wait to utilise our experience, expertise, and global network to help other brands achieve stronger marketing platforms, enhanced levels of engagement, more impactful CSR and the potential to create added commercial value that helps to drive business forward.

As we continue to expand our team with a growing client base, I am truly excited for all the TrybWorlders, many of whom have been with us for a long part of this journey, to be able to spread the power of human connection and movement through shared active experiences that will all believe in so deeply.

Find out more about TrybWorld here.