Tom Rutter and Alec Braun

co-founders, muster

Published on 03/03/2017

What makes a good agency leader?

There are two co-founders at muster Tom Rutter and Alec Braun.
Tom looks after the running of the business and the flawless delivery of our live experiences while Alec leads on the strategy and creative ideas.
We’ve found clients across sector respond really well to this dual approach and get exactly what they need from the ‘ideas’ guy and the ‘make it happen’ guy.

What excites you most about the industry?

muster deliver a different type of live event, what we refer to as ‘unmissable experience’.

We’re finding more and more that clients want to see bigger ROI on their event spend so we have to reach further than those lucky enough to attend by engaging remote audiences through mobile, social and PR channels.

This requirement is only going to increase in the next 10 years and we can’t wait to harness a truly connected internet of things to continue exciting and engaging audiences though live.

What do you consider to be a personal professional achievement?

We’ve now worked together for nearly 15 years, starting at the industry’s largest event agency (JMW at IPG) then transforming another agency into one of the industry’s most respected (Slice at the Engine Group). Our biggest personal achievement is setting up the new agency muster.

As part of The&Partnership’s cross-discipline group and working alongside Johnny Hornby we can truly integrate experiential with the other marketing channels from advertising and digital to influencer and PR to reach people all over the world.

What are your goals for you and Muster?

In the short term, we want to work alongside the great clients already in the building and put unmissable experiences firmly on their marketing radars.

Medium term, we want to build our own client base and deliver award winning work across EMEA.

Then in the long term, we have world domination in our sights and are aiming for a muster presence in both North America and APAC.

What has been the highlight over the last year?

Without a doubt the moment we went public and officially launched muster. To finally be able to talk to people about what has been, almost, the only thing we’d been talking to each other about. It’s very exciting and challenging in equal measures as well as the proudest moment in our careers.

What brand would you most like to work with? Why?

Everyone says RedBull and Nike here.

Both brands certainly doing amazing things in the brand experience space.

But, we want to transform brands through unmissable live experiences so taking a charity or start-up challenger brand on the road to award winning creative work that drives huge business returns is of more appeal.

You probably haven’t heard of the brand we’d most like to work with yet and with good reason…

…once you have it will be because of live event work we have delivered for them.

What is on the horizon at work in the next 12 months?

Rapid growth.

Flawless execution of the multiple projects we already have visibility on, growing our team of creative delivery experts and continuing to positively provoke clients into thinking differently about the power of live experiences.

Who do you find inspirational?

In our sector, creatives who push the boundaries and create amazing experiences – Tim Elliott has just left Jack Morton as ECD, he was a tiny man with massive ideas and we were both lucky enough to work with him.

In marketing, business leaders who strive for creative excellence – Johnny Hornby is one of the big reasons we’re now part of The&Partnership and is an inspiration to work alongside.

In life, we’re both god-fathers to each other’s daughters and quite regularly use inspiration from both their views on the world to craft and mold our creative thinking.