As we head towards Christmas, we have been looking back at 2010: what an amazing first year for Hebe Media! We have done a lot this year and perhaps more importantly we have identified people, brands and cities with similar values who we are going to collaborate with in 2011.
Our Team
Our team has more then doubled in size during the year and we have more people ready to roll with us in early 2011. Simon has joined us to put energy behind the team's interest in the arts; Stacey has her ear to the ground for all things music; and Shang Ting heads up our Fashion and Trends squad. We have new people joining and collaborating with each of these departments early next year so things are only going to get more interesting in every area. Although we have separate 'titles' and areas of expertise, Hebe is very much a team and collaborative movement. Every fashion related project we create will incorporate music and art. Every music project includes fashion and art.
Before joining the team on a permanent basis, Simon had been working with people in all corners of the culture under his own brand, Roomman. In recent weeks we have decided to merge Roomman with Hebe, and we look forward to taking advantage of the opportunities this will create to work with artists, curators, galleries and museums, performance companies and more.
Some of the projects we have been involved with in 2010 have been really interesting. Leeds in Barcelona was a great example of stimulating international relations and collaborations. In a word... has resulted in a series of projects supporting experiments in writing, including a major exhibition at Shandy Hall, Coxwold that attracted the attention of audiences and critics alike. Hyper Island have arrived in the UK and early next year are opening their first international 'school' in Manchester. Leeds Online has developed into an amazing network with more then 43,000+ people now engaged. These are just a few of the projects we have loved getting up to our eyeballs in during 2010. We have also worked with Global PLCs, consumer brands and non-for-profit organisations. It has been a crazy mix but we have enjoyed every bit of it for different reasons.
Some of the people we have collaborated with in 2010
Individually Shang Ting has the amazing UK Observing Diary and is about to sign her first book deal. Simon helped The Independent pick its 50 Best museums and galleries and got married! Stacey has been spearheading our Spanish communication with the launch of Hebe Espanyol on Twitter and here on the blog. I have written guest blogs for The Guardian Leeds and helped as much as possible with projects like Leeds Digital Festival and the Social Media Surgeries.
All in all it has been a busy year. But speaking speaking personally, one I have really enjoyed. The same applies for the rest of the team. It has been a year of change for Simon:
"2010 has been a year of big changes, both in the world as a whole (economic, political, ecological) and for each of the team (weddings, migrations, job changes). In many ways it feels like all the change created the right conditions for us to start afresh, think differently, and do some truly special things. It's added up to be a year I for one won't forget, and has put much in place to help us grow further in 2011."
Shang Ting has also seen a lot of changes both personally and for the Hebe team in general:
"2010 has been an incredible year for me and for our team. I'm very grateful to be given the opportunities I've received this year, all thanks to Hebe. I'm also proud of myself for a few little things I achieved this year since I just graduated in 2009. Hebe as a creative group is so different now than a year ago, I'm looking forward to what will happen next."
Our newest team member Stacey is looking forward to what 2011 will bring:
"I haven’t been at Hebe for the whole of 2010 as I graduated University in June but from the minute I started I have been constantly learning. I promised myself that I would join a company where I can keep being creative and keep learning. I love the fun stuff Hebe brings, I love the necessary stuff that keeps us grounded and I love my team. Lee and Simon had a vision and it has continued to come to fruition every day. I am so glad I am a part of it and that I can help Hebe grow as it helps me grow everyday. Who knows where we will be in 5 years time, I just know it’s going to be somewhere good. I have so much faith in all of us and what we have to offer."
Looking towards 2011
Next Year we will be presenting some cool new projects. We cannot say too much at this stage, but we are really excited by some of the things we will be announcing after Christmas. We will be putting on more events, creating more interesting content and will also begin telling our own story. Although the Hebe Media brand is only 14 months old, our company is now more then 10 years old and we have done a lot of different things and worked with some of the world's biggest brands. We feel it is important to begin telling this story to add some context and 'back-up' to some of the projects coming in 2011.
Hebe TV will be launched early next year and will give a much greater insight into things we are doing here. Content will include interviews and insights from some of the people we work with, introductions to team members, diaries from our interns, exclusive music videos and loads more.
I hope this post has given a little more information to those of you not directly involved in some of our projects and we hope that next year we can share even more in terms of case studies and 'behind the scenes' stuff.