ATCON25 - Winner of Conference of the Year
REIMAGINING A LEGACY CONFERENCE INTO A HIGH-IMPACT, DAY-TO-NIGHT LIVE EXPERIENCE.
Client: Autotrader
Audience: 1,000+ colleagues
Location: Manchester Central
Services: Creative Direction · Experience Design · Full Production · Delivery
THE CHALLENGE
It all started with one question: “How would you bring magic to life?”
We’d just won a small creative project for Autotrader and were invited to a chemistry workshop with senior leadership off the back of it. By the end of that meeting, equal parts pitch and performance, we’d landed the full-scale delivery of ATCON 2025. What followed was a full reimagining of their annual conference.
The brief was clear:
“Our goal is to boost Sales colleagues’ confidence by focusing on our excellent current products and data stories, rather than future products still in development. We want to emphasise what we have today and how it benefits our retailers.”
THE EXPERIENCE
Our Approach
We designed ATCON25 as a full, end-to-end experience not just a conference agenda.
By day
A 1,000+ person, multi-track conference featuring:
Bold keynote moments
20 breakout sessions
Interactive and purpose-led activations
Clear, confident storytelling around Autotrader’s current product offering
By night
A complete venue transformation at Manchester Central:
Immersive arrival experience
Dramatic lighting, staging, and spatial re-design
A high-energy shift in tone and atmosphere
Delivered in just two hours between conference close and evening reveal
It was ambitious, tightly timed, and pulled off with precision (and a lot of grit).
THE IMPACT
Results That Mattered
91% of attendees agreed:
“I believe our products provide great opportunities for both our company and our retailers/customers.”Internal teams left feeling confident, energised, and proud
“You exceeded all of our expectations — and they were already very high.” - C-suite
“We have never experienced this level of attention to detail — you’ve really elevated it.” - C-suite
Winner of Conference of the Year 2025!
