How APR Creative built valuable C-suite connections at the Marcus Evans Summit

About APR Creative

APR Creative is a strategic creative marketing partner working with marketing leaders across FMCG, retail and B2B sectors to ensure commercial strategy performs in market.

APR Creative Overview

The Marcus Evans Advisory Board recognised APR as a best-in-class company in its category. Why do you believe APR stood out from the competition?

We believe we stand out because we combine senior strategic thinking, commercial understanding and creative capability in a way that genuinely helps clients make better decisions, not just better marketing materials. We challenge assumptions, go beyond the brief, and stay closely connected from strategy through to execution, which means ideas are both creatively strong and commercially grounded. Just as importantly, we have built long-term relationships with major organisations because clients trust us to understand their business, simplify complexity and help move their brands forward.

What makes APR unique?

APR is built around the idea that the best creative partnerships feel like an extension of your team, not a supplier relationship. It means we can bring senior strategic thinking to complex challenges while staying with the idea through identity, campaigns, digital, packaging, artwork, and execution. Alongside our strategic and creative capability, our unique, ArtSmart™ model gives clients flexible access to an embedded creative and production team that can scale with their business and has successfully supported major brands over many years.

What is APR’s greatest competitive advantage?

Our greatest advantage is our ability to make complexity feel simpler by putting understanding before solutions. We bring more than 30 years of experience across industries, combining creative curiosity with commercial thinking to help clients make clearer decisions, protect their brands, and turn strategy into connected creative outcomes. We are particularly well suited to businesses that need senior strategic and creative capability without the layers, overheads, or rigid structures of a traditional large agency. Our independence gives us the agility and efficiency to work as an extension of the client team and move quickly from thinking to execution.

Who are some of APR’s biggest clients and how has APR helped them?

Through our unique ArtSmart™ model, we have built long-term partnerships with leading organisations including Lactalis-Mainland Dairy, DON and Tassal. As an embedded creative and production team, we understand their businesses, protect their brands and work as an extension of their teams. Beyond FMCG, we have partnered with clients such CSR, ITW, Pact Group, iSelect, and Teachers Health across a broad mix of industries and business challenges. Our work spans brand and positioning strategy, identity, campaigns, digital, packaging and B2B communications, helping clients maintain clarity and consistency from strategic thinking through to execution.

Company website: aprcreative.com.au

APR Creative case study or whitepaper: ArtSmart, Gyprock Living and Kingswim

The Partnership

When Tessa Pacitti, CEO of APR Creative, first heard about Marcus Evans, the team explored the opportunity through calls, case studies, and testimonials to assess the potential return on investment. As a small business, the upfront commitment was significant, but the chance to connect directly with senior decision-makers made the investment worthwhile. Since then, the partnership has helped APR build valuable relationships, generate new opportunities, and engage with high-calibre prospects who would otherwise be difficult to reach through traditional business development channels.

The Challenge Reaching senior decision-makers without a large business development team

As an independent strategic and creative agency, APR needed an efficient way to connect with senior executives and decision-makers within large organisations. Traditional sales and marketing approaches often required significant time investment, cold outreach, and dedicated business development resources. As a smaller business, APR wanted a more targeted way to build relationships with high-value prospects while ensuring leadership remained directly involved in those conversations. The challenge was finding a channel that could consistently place the company in front of its ideal audience and generate meaningful business opportunities.

The Solution Direct access to C-suite leaders in a targeted environment

The Summit format gave APR access to senior executives and business leaders through a structured programme of one-to-one meetings and networking opportunities. Rather than relying on cold calling or traditional conference environments, APR was able to engage directly with decision-makers in focused discussions about business challenges, brand strategy, marketing, and growth opportunities.

The quality of the matching process and attendee profile helped ensure conversations were relevant and productive, creating opportunities to build genuine relationships with prospective clients.

What the approach enabled:

> Direct access to C-suite leaders and senior decision-makers
> Meaningful conversations with organisations that fit APR’s ideal client profile
> Reduced reliance on traditional cold outreach and business development activities
> More qualified meetings through targeted matching and attendee selection
> Stronger relationship-building opportunities with high-value prospects
> An effective marketing channel for a growing independent agency

The Outcome Turning access into meaningful business opportunities

For APR, the most valuable outcome has been the ability to connect with senior leaders who would otherwise be difficult to reach. What began as a cautious investment has evolved into a successful long-term partnership. Through the Summit experience, APR has been able to establish relationships with executives and organisations that align closely with its target market, creating opportunities that may never have emerged through traditional outreach methods.

Tessa describes the partnership as an effective way to market the business while allowing APR’s leadership team to remain personally involved in developing client relationships. Instead of relying on a dedicated business development resource, the Summit enables APR’s directors to have direct conversations with prospective clients from the outset.

Business Impact

> Access to senior executives and C-suite leaders within target organisations
> More efficient business development compared with traditional cold outreach
> Valuable opportunities to build relationships with ideal prospective clients
> Reduced need for dedicated business development resources
> Continued participation driven by the quality of meetings and connections
> A proven channel for promoting APR’s strategic and creative capabilities

How the Summit is different from other events
A more qualified environment for building relationships

For APR, one of the biggest differentiators is the calibre of the attendees and the structured nature of the meetings. Unlike traditional conferences where networking opportunities can be unpredictable, the Summit provides dedicated time to engage with relevant decision-makers in meaningful discussions. Tessa notes that the qualification and matching process has consistently delivered strong results, with meetings generally feeling highly relevant and aligned to APR’s business objectives.

The combination of:

> Access to senior business and marketing leaders
> Curated one-to-one meetings with qualified prospects
> A highly targeted audience aligned to APR’s services
> Collaborative support from the Marcus Evans team

creates an environment that APR believes is more effective than traditional conference or exhibition formats.

Results at a glance

 Metric                                Outcome
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Access               Direct engagement with C-suite leaders and senior decision-makers
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Business Development     Reduced reliance on cold outreach and traditional prospecting
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Meeting Quality                  Highly relevant and well-matched conversation
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Relationship Building         Stronger connections with ideal prospective clients
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Event value                          Long-term partnership driven by ongoing opportunity creation

Why APR Creative continue to engage
An effective extension of the business

For APR, the Summit has become more than an event. It is a business development platform that helps
the agency connect with the types of organisations it wants to work with. The ability to meet senior
leaders directly, combined with a collaborative account management approach and a strong matching
process, continues to deliver value year after year.

As a smaller business, APR particularly values being able to put its leadership team in front of high-quality prospects without the time and expense traditionally associated with large-scale business development efforts.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did you first hear about Marcus Evans? What background/AI check did you do on our organisation and credibility?

We received an email in 2018 that peaked our interest. We looked into the Marcus Evans website and requested a call to discuss the opportunity in more detail. A number of case studies and video testimonials were provided to highlight the potential ROI of investing as a sponsor.

What hesitations or concerns did you have when you were first approached by Marcus Evans?

To be really honest, at the time the formatting and design of the email looked like spam and certainly didn’t reflect the scale and positioning of Marcus Evans. It was really just by chance that the subject line or heading caught my attention and I decided to look into it further. Being a small business, the investment up front was significant so we were cautious but prepared to take a risk given the info provided and potential leads we could get.

What was your actual experience?

It has proven to be a successful partnership and gives us the chance to connect with C-suite leaders that we would otherwise not have the opportunity to do so without significant time and fruitless cold calling.

How would you describe the account management service you’ve had since working with the team?

Overall, account management has been good, with a clear shift in recent years to a more ‘Australian’ centric style of communication and support. In essence, way more collaborative and less ‘hard sell’.

How did you find the qualification and matching process for the meetings you had?

Very good, only the occasional delegate that was clearly ticking a box. With less meetings required of delegates this has also meant that matches feel more qualified.

Any other general comments or feedback regarding your experience?

As a small business, the partnership is an effective way for us to market our business with the calibre of clients that are our ideal target audience. It also means that we don’t have to employ a BDM, and that myself and our other director can be the ones making those top level connections.