The Crane Event

20/05/2025

Apparently, it’s our birthday? Who knew!

Somehow, The Crane Event turns 9 today, and honestly, Jemma Crane (MCIM) and I have been too busy living it to notice, but what a wild, weird, wonderful ride it’s been!

From our beginnings in getting made redundant in 2016… to landing our very first client (hello First Ascent Group!)… to building something we’re really, really proud of.

So, here’s a little highlight reel from the last 9 years:

🍺 Thought about getting “real jobs”... didn’t.
🍺Started a business we controlled (where every day was 'bring your dog to work' day).
🍺Helped big dreamers make amazing things happen.
🍺Won clients, lost clients, learned loads.
🍺Delivered events across the world (places we still can’t believe).
🍺Made mistakes. Fixed them. Made more. Got better.
🍺Moved into an office above a pub (dreams do come true).
🍺Debated growing the team. Stuck to our own rhythm.
🍺Barely argued (we’re surprised too).
🍺Realised we don’t promote ourselves enough on socials. Panic post. Then stop again.
🍺Took action when Covid came knocking (lit up a s**t ton of buildings to say hi, we’re still here!)
🍺Built brilliant relationships with clients and suppliers (some we now call friends).
🍺Welcomed our own little Crane.
🍺Got tired. Really tired.
🍺Opened a podcasting studio.
🍺Panicked during the slow season. Then remembered: it happens every year.
🍺Complained to each other that we're exhausted during the busy season.
🍺Switched to a 4-day week. Life stayed great.
🍺Realised that we’re in control of our story. And it’s a good one.

Ah, nostalgia, it’s like a warm hug!

So to everyone who’s been part of our journey, thank you. Truly.

We’ll see you for next year’s Big 10. Who knows, maybe we’ll put on an event to celebrate...

10/02/2025

Looking back, lockdown was a funny old time.

As many events business’ turned to the world of virtual, we paused, breathed and took a very long walk.

It was on those walks we discovered our love of podcasts and, with our previous knowledge from working in the music industry, we jumped right in. First creating pods recorded entirely virtually, then visiting clients’ offices and setting up a makeshift studio to now this, The Crane Nest.

We house a dedicated space in the heart of Cambridge that provides:

🎙 Quality audio equipment
🔇 An acoustically treated room
💻 Editing and production services
🖥 Online recording
🕹 Remote recording
📪 Distribution services
🍺 A wide range of exceptional beers and ales to help loosen that tongue (well, that may be in the pub below).

So, get in touch and let’s get your voice heard.

More details here: www.thecranenest.co.uk

06/02/2025

Yesterday was a real treat visiting the London Summer Event Show, catching up with old friendly faces and meeting new suppliers, venues and experiences.

Our favourites were the deliciously personally branded Macarons from Minds, the perfectly poured cocktails from Mix and Match Ltd. and the absolutely brilliant terrarium workshop from Leafage

We can’t wait to introduce these to our clients!

23/01/2025

These dark winter nights and the historic architecture in our towns and cities are a perfect canvas to help raise awareness.

Over the years, we’ve been proud to give a quick turnaround with great results for such organistaions as Organ Donation Week, The NHS, East Anglia Air Ambulance, Pride, Trinity College and many, many more.

Whether it’s colour splashes, gobo projection or projection mapping, we’re here to add colour to your cause.

Want to know more? Let us enlighten you!

📸 St John’s - A Cambridge Diary

17/01/2025

First event of the year done!

This one was a gentle start with delivery and set up of an exhibition stand for First Ascent.

Flashback to almost 9 years ago and they were our first ever client as we started up The Crane Event.

Since then, we’ve been all around the UK with them, seen them grow to a powerhouse of tailored coaching & training, and even murdered* one of them for Xmas!

Thank you so much for trusting us with you event set up, we look forward to another great year!

*alright, so it wasn’t really murder but it was a very fun, immersive murder mystery evening. Pro tip: don’t murder the person who pays your invoices.

23/12/2024

As we prepare to wrap up another incredible year, we want to take a moment to reflect on all we’ve accomplished.

2024 has been full of creativity, collaboration, and record registrations!

From events on the steps of Westminster, conferences with guest appearances from a member of Busted, to huge community celebrations that brought the smiles, the fun, and everything in between.

This year we brought to life countless events across the UK, each tailored to reflect the personality and vision of our clients.

As we look to 2025, we’re thrilled to embrace new opportunities and exciting collaborations with our personalised approach to event production and marketing.

Thank you to our clients, team, suppliers, and community for making 2024 unforgettable. Here’s to an even brighter 2025! 🥂✨

02/08/2024

What a finish!

We had a last-minute request to help Trinity College, Cambridge celebrate alumni, Imogen Grant’s historic gold medal win tonight at The Great Gate.

03/06/2024

Happy Pride Month!

We were delighted to be asked by Trinity College, Cambridge to help kick off the month by illuminating The Wren Library facade in the traditional rainbow colours.

Thanks to Pink Lamp - Event Lighting Specialists with this one!

🏳️‍🌈

07/03/2024

The Brief (from ourselves): Write a blog post about the symbiotic relationship between event marketing & production, tie it to whatever’s been trending in the event world recently and throw in as many W***y Wonka references as possible!

Challenge accepted…

When offering a tour of his wondrous chocolate factory, broken promises and dissatisfied attendees probably weren’t what W***y Wonka had planned. So join us in keeping all your Oompah Loompahs in order as we explore the crucial alignment between event marketing promises and production delivery to ...

01/01/2024

Happy hangover! As we wake up to the New Year, may we cast some light on all your wishes and resolutions (and don’t worry if you haven’t made any) with our last day of The Crane Event Christmas Countdown.

Our grand finale illuminates the projects that raised awareness for good causes or added an extra-themed element to an event through the power of light and colour.

For those who don’t know, we kicked this off during lockdown with various other event suppliers to brighten up the skies around Cambridge to say thank you, and, well… it just kept going!

Our final illumination of 2023 was at King’s College, captured beautifully by our good friend, photographer Martin Bond. His A Cambridge Diary project offered a different view of daily life in Cambridge seen through Martin’s lens, and ran for a staggering 5,000 days. It's an understatement to say how proud we were to be involved in the very last image of the series.

If you’re interested in Martin’s work he has a brilliant book out showcasing his amazing images - https://www.acambridgediary.co.uk/shop-2/

And with that, our countdown is complete. We hope you enjoyed it, and we look forward to delivering more amazing events in 2024!

31/12/2023

On the eve of the New Year, we’re coming close to winding up our countdown, but before we jump feet first into 2024, it’s good to reflect on the circus that was 2023…

Speaking of which, for our penultimate day of The Crane Event Christmas Countdown, we think about when we brought the fun of the fair to an International Educational Business to welcome their VIPs.

We’re talking mindreading tour guides, personalised cotton candy as the guests arrived, mirrors crazier than a clown car, showstopping jugglers, and fairground games scattered around the school like confetti.

We’re all about taking a venue that people are used to seeing day in/ day out and turning it upside down to create a new world of wonder and fun and this certainly delivered.

We look forward to doing so much more in the new year!

And with that, we leave you some circus-themed advice from PT Barnum as perhaps a mantra to lead into 2024…

“No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else.”

Happy New Year!

Justin and Jemma
The Crane Event

24/12/2023

“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.” - A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

On the eve of the big day we want to thank our clients who trusted us, our team who supported us, and our suppliers who helped bring our visions to life.

Whatever we did, we certainly had fun doing it!

We hope the big man brings you life's contentment and we’ll see you on the other side.

📸 - hand-cut card by the excellent Silhouettist