MARCH | ME, MYSELF & I
Matt Box
The senior strategist at experiential marketing
agency George P. Johnson provides his working
philosophy
Interview by: Tom Hall
strategist, a job I didn’t know
existed before I applied. People ask
me what it actually means. The best
answer I have is – it’s researching
the audience, competitors and
client to find the necessary steps
needed to get the client’s business
from where it is today to where it
wants to be.
Box is a part-time
stand-up comedian
and founder of
comedy night for the
creative industries,
‘Funny Business’
“Complaining is silly, either act or
forget,” is a quote from designer
Stefan Sagmeister that sums up
my philosophy on events, my first
experience of which came from
putting on alternative music gigs
while studying graphic design at
Nottingham Trent University. I
would screen print posters and
make a piñata for the headline act
and audience to smash up mid-
set. It broke the divide between
audience and performer and
instilled a DIY ethic in everything
I’ve done in events since, ranging
from fashion shows, club nights and
comedy gigs right through to huge
tech conferences.
I’ve worked in set-building, design,
animation and eventually as a
66
I’ve always been fascinated by
people and culture. How watching
a gig with hundreds or thousands
of people is so very different to
watching a recording of the same
show alone through a screen.
Research shows we’re 30 times
more likely to laugh at something
when we are with other people. I
always want people to say “I was
there when...” about the events I
work on. The worst thing an event
can be is forgettable.
Comedy was something I’d always
aspired to do. I would go to the
Edinburgh Fringe as a teenager
and be in awe of how one person
and a microphone could hold
the attention of a whole room.
Eventually I signed up to a stand-up
comedy course run by a charity
called The Comedy School that use
the proceeds of gigs and courses
to fund training in prisons and
schools in disadvantaged areas.
I decided to create ‘Funny Business’,
a comedy night for the creative
industries, when I kept bumping
into comics on the open mic scene
who had creative day jobs but
wanted to distance themselves
from what they did for a living.
It seemed bizarre to me that you
couldn’t bring those two worlds
together. Good stand-up is all
about communicating a message
effectively and getting a desired
reaction from an audience.
I met James Ross, who runs the
award-winning ‘Quantum Leopard’
comedy night, who told me he
thinks about a virtuous triangle
of trying to give a reason to get
involved for each element of the gig:
the audience, the performers and
the promoter. It really stuck with
me as that’s how I conduct my day
job at George P. Johnson Experience
Marketing. Funny how things work
out sometimes.