5 Minutes with… Aarron Taylor
Aarron Taylor is design director at experiential marketing agency Backlash, which he co-founded in 2017. His career spans 16 years in the creative industry working across a variety of creative market disciplines; despite the breadth of his experience, his true passion has always been bold and highly-visual physical experiences for brands. This affection for the industry has seen Aarron empowering future designers by working with Falmouth University on an experiential marketing module each year.
Aarron says, “At Backlash we work across many activation types from traditional experiential formats such as vehicle roadshows, PR stunts and shopping centre stands, to retail pop-ups, visual merchandising, and store windows. To have a successful design career in experiential marketing you need to have a first-hand understanding how each of the environments work, whilst not being afraid to push the boundaries and challenge what is possible.”
LBB’s Zoe Antonov spoke to Aarron about how Backlash has changed from its establishment to today, as one of the leading names of British experiential, as well as how the landscape has developed.
LBB> Aarron, tell me about your upbringing and the first time you knew you'd pursue creativity as your career?
Aarron> I grew up in Whitstable in Kent, where my mum was a florist. I spent a lot of time in the shop. She was very creative and I think that is where it all started. Later at school, I was only good at art and design and didn’t really care about any other subject.
LBB> What were the first professional steps you took towards joining the industry and what were the lessons learned from this?
Aarron> After university, I moved to Berlin and actually worked as a graphic designer for a small fashion company. When I moved back to London, I sort of fell into my first job at an agency and it happened to be an experiential one.
LBB> You worked across a few creative disciplines - can you talk a little bit about each of these and how they brought you down your current path? Why was experiential always front and centre for you?
Aarron> I did a degree in illustration and printmaking, so I didn’t really use computers at university. I do remember having to learn that quickly when I left. I really have a passion for set design and we like to push this into our work at Backlash, and make sure we are taking inspiration from many different things. From that, I really like the development process, everything from designing and seeing the idea being built and brought to life. I also enjoy the manufacturing process and the way you can use new and interesting materials to create beautiful sets.
LBB> You co-founded Backlash in 2017 - how did this happen and what was that process like?
Aarron> Katie Peake (the creative director) and I had worked together for quite some time and at the time I was freelancing with her. She had the idea to set up an agency and funnily enough at the same time I had just got a brief for doing an event at Bread & Butter in Berlin for a friend at a PR agency. That is how Backlash was born. We had our first client call in a cupboard at the agency we were working at.
LBB> And what did your role at the company entail back in 2017, versus what has it developed into today? What are some notable projects you'd like to speak about?
Aarron> Back in 2017, it was just the three founders across everything and having to learn how to wear many hats. I was trying to work out how to use excel and accounting software and all the other things you need to have in place. So along with doing design and production, I was also doing all the company finances.
Today we have built an amazing team of like-minded people and very much put creativity first. I think it’s nice to see where we come from, and to see us today, able to inspire and do bigger and bolder projects.
LBB> How have you seen the experiential sector develop since 2017 and what is your advice to new experiential companies opening now?
Aarron> Experiential is an ever-changing landscape, gone are the days of it just being sampling. You need the expertise to work across a whole host of physical brand experience formats. The advice I would give is - don’t be scared of pushing the brief sometimes. The wild card ideas are most often the winners!
LBB> How can experiential companies make retail exciting today?
Aarron> Retailers need to be ever-evolving, and they need to be adding extra ‘wow’ moments to the consumer experience. Having campaigns that work in and outside of that environment will excite retailers and consumers alike, to ultimately drive sales. Brands should be taking their campaigns out of just London to allow people to have a similar experience across the country.
LBB> What does 'great design' mean to you today and more widely in the industry?
Aarron> Great design needs to really consider how the user is going to actually use it. In experiential, you need to look at the consumer journey, the touchpoints they engage with and consider how that is user friendly to make sure we are directing them with good design methods. Also, designing with a future life in mind is paramount. Ask yourselves, ‘Is this going to be reused again, or how will it be recycled?’.
LBB> And how do you spend your free time outside of work?
Aarron> I spend a lot of my time outside work with my husband and our dog at home on the Kent coast.
