Yorkshire-headquartered brand engagement agency XSEM has strengthened its leadership team with the recruitment of new commercial director Rob Woodhead.
The former managing director of Simply Better, a Bingley-based events and marketing agency which ceased trading in 2024, Woodward has paid tribute to XSEM for successfully riding out a period that devastated the events industry.
The new hire, who has delivered campaigns for the likes of Shark Ninja, Arco and Greene King, said: “The timelines of XSEM and Simply Better were very similar and there were periods where we’d successfully collaborated on projects in the past, so there was a lot of commonality and familiarity with the XSEM team.
“I have huge levels of admiration for all the team at XSEM to see how they’ve not only evolved, but now thrived in the last few years. They have a strong proposition, a dedicated delivery team and a lot of happy clients. They’re on top of their game, and I’m very honoured to be joining the team to help them achieve their goals.”
Michael Gwilliam, co-founder and director at XSEM, added: “Rob is someone we’ve grown to know very well over the years. When we realised there may be an opportunity for someone of his experience to join the team here, there was a mutual determination to make that happen.
“He’s an enormously positive and infectious individual and shares our vision of making people happy. We engage audiences and bring brand experiences to life through immersive events, innovative marketing and game-changing rewards programmes. We’re very excited at the prospect of Rob taking us into new areas with our market-leading approach.”
XSEM, which was founded in 2003 by Gwilliam and co-founder Dan Bardgett, has won numerous industry awards for its successes, not least its innovative adaptation to online and virtual events during the global lockdown. It has since grown its operations to deliver brand experiences across a range of industries, including food and beverage, retail and construction.
