BOND: A story 20 years in the making
May 2004, Mayfair, London, around lunchtime. Two smartly dressed gents, clearly good friends, are walking and talking, barely noticing anybody else as they are absorbed in wide-eyed, animated conversation. Turning onto Bond Street, they stop. One says something and the other turns and smiles, warmly placing his arm on his friend’s shoulder. In joyful agreement, they head into the nearby pub to celebrate. And BOND is born.
Since being set up by Oliver ‘Olly’ Needs in 2004, BOND continues to embody the things he holds dear as an innovator, salesman, business owner, family man and friend: a company of people who have come to trust and rely on one another to consistently deliver the best 1-to-1 event experiences in the business.
20 years on and some hundreds of events in, the success of BOND's mission is reflected in the calibre of A&D professionals who have their BOND'ing time ring-fenced in their diaries year after year and in the unrivalled event experiences this creates for all. For, in consistently delivering on its promises, BOND has won the trust and continued support from the most respected brands in the design and construction industries.
(Animated big-brand logo's?)
BOND currently organizes and runs 8 events annually in the US, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East, focusing on the most thriving sectors in the architecture and design industries; commercial, hospitality, high-end single family residential, multifamily residential and interiors.
Every BOND event takes the format of an all-inclusive business retreat, centring around one-to-one business meetings between very senior architects and designers and ambitious, innovative manufacturers. Everyone stays together for 3 days and nights, so there's time and space to get beyond the sales pitch and enjoy some quality time with each other, away from daily pressures and distractions, everything organised by BOND.
The true pioneers of the 1-to-1 meetings forum concept, BOND has given manufacturers a viable alternative to the trade show ‘lottery’ which inevitably favours the big brands with big budgets. Over the past 20 years, BOND has won the support and affections of those manufacturers looking to compete on a level playing field with the big brands and for a direct route to a level of decision maker which simply wasn’t available to them before.
“BOND was created to really fill a gap between very senior architects and senior people from product suppliers. And, before BOND came along, there was no way that those two senior groups of people could really meet. 20 years on and looking back on the thousands of people that we've brought together and the mind-boggling amount of business that's been done because of it, our mission is still the same: to deliver what we promise, and that will never change."
Oliver Needs, President & Owner
Timeline
2004 - BOND is Born
Oliver Needs and Mike Murray come up with the name whilst walking their old stomping ground in Mayfair, turning onto Bond Street.
2005 - Arc US is launched
Who? Manufacturers meet with Design Principals and Heads of Specification from the Top 100 architecture firms in North America.
What? Commercial projects.
Learn more about Arc US here.
2010 - Arc Middle East is launched
Who? Manufacturers meet with Principals/Heads of Spec. working on the large-scale projects in the Middle East / GCC.
What? Commercial projects.
Learn more about Arc Middle East here.
2011 - Arc Latin America is launched
Who? Manufacturers meet with Principals and Heads of Spec. with large-scale projects in Latin America.
What? Commercial projects.
2013 - BOND Multi is launched
Who? Manufacturers meeting Principals and Developers with Multifamily Residential Projects in North America.
What? Multifamily residential projects (regular apartments, plus student housing and senior living.)
Learn more about BOND Multi here
2014 - BOND Diseñotel is launched
2nd event to go into a specific vertical/niche.
Who? Manufacturers meet with Principals in leading Architecture firms working on major hotel projects in Latin America.
What? Hospitality projects only.
Learn more about BOND Diseñotel here.
2014 - BOND Healthcare is launched
Who? Manufacturers meeting Principals and Owners from leading architecture firms working in Healthcare in North America. i.e. Head of Healthcare. Designing Hospitals, senior assisted living, clinics etc.
What? Healthcare projects.
2015 - BOND Custom is launched
Who? Manufacturers meet with Principals from leading firms designing high-end custom homes in North America.
What? Luxury single-family Residential Projects
Learn more about BOND Custom here.
2017 - Co-Founded Rise CSR program
Learn more about our social responsibility partner here.
2017 - BOND Regional is launched
Who? Manufacturers meet with Principals from leading regional architecture firms in North America.
What? Commercial projects.
2024 - BOND turns 20
Read the full 'Origins' article here.
The Next 20 Years!
Looking at the next 20 years, BOND would dearly love the 8 events they have to grow steadily and they know that this will rely on the event experience people have with them – who attendees find themselves talking to and being introduced to and how exciting those conversations are and the real business that comes from them.
BOND is determined to maintain its market-leading position by consistently delivering what these busy, ambitious project people need better than anyone else.
And the company leadership is changing, with Alice Russell and Luciana Coates very much in the driving seat now. If it's the Boomers and Gen-Xs who have grown BOND past 20 years, embracing and developing the technology available to them, the next 20 years will be the Millennials watch: Alice and Luciana and the people they’ve brought on board and the specialist technology that will help them bring the whole sales, marketing and op’s together so BOND's customers enjoy a better experience all round. And that’s the point – it’s BOND and the people they bring together that provide that experience – the technology is just there to help.
BOND's founding principles remain: that the best business comes from real relationships built through face-to-face interaction, and on a foundation of trust. And that as long as people put their trust in them, they will continue to reward that trust.