Live music company and reigning National Promoter of the Year DHP Family has turned to its homegrown talent to lead campaigns for its concerts, festivals, tours and venues.
Kelly Bennaton steps up to become Head of Marketing at the £25 million turnover business, with responsibility for managing the marketing of 1600 concerts per year and DHP’s festival portfolio, as well as developing the corporate marketing strategy.
Sophie Power becomes Head of Creative to develop the creative output of the Nottingham based company and oversee the visual communications of the inhouse brands in use across its venues, festivals and concerts.
Anwyn Williams takes on the role of Marketing Manager to deliver campaigns for some of DHP’s biggest shows and tours with a diverse range of key artists, as well as marketing for the award-winning multi-venue festival Dot to Dot.
Before starting at DHP three years ago, Kelly worked at the Association of Independent Music as the Events Coordinator, helping to launch the AIM Independent Music Awards. She started her career at the age of 17 as an independent promoter in Nottingham and is also an advocate for women’s rights, volunteering for local women’s charities.
Talking of her experience of being a woman in the music industry, she said: “I’ve been lucky enough to have some fantastic female mentors – Lara Baker and Alison Wenham at Association of Independent Music (AIM), and Lauren Barley and Allison Schnackenberg at Southern Records. They were always hugely encouraging and that made the sexism I came across in the wider industry much easier to deal with. DHP have also been very supportive, it’s great to have a boss that recognises the importance of equality in the workplace.”
Sophie started working for DHP eight years ago, after completing a degree in Brand Promotion; working her way up from Marketing and Design Assistant to Head of Creative. Growing up in Nottingham, many of her first experiences of live music and clubnights were through DHP venues.
She said: “I feel privileged to work for a company that has given me every opportunity it gives male employees, because I know the industry as a whole probably has further to go. There are a lot of strong and inspiring women at DHP and I’m lucky to count them as my colleagues.”
Originally from Leamington Spa, Anwyn credits going to gigs with her dad from a young age as kick-starting her passion for live music. She moved to Nottingham in 2010 to study Media and Popular Culture at Nottingham Trent University, becoming involved with the local music scene and gigs straight away, and taking her first role at DHP in 2014.
Anwyn said: “I’m looking forward to helping develop the amazing marketing team we have at DHP Family and the work we do, and very excited to be contributing myself to loads more of the great shows and festivals we’ll be putting on. It’s good to see that “women in the music industry” is becoming a topic that’s talked and cared about a lot more, and it’s definitely inspiring to see more women working in music and being recognised for their achievements, especially with getting to work alongside so many here at DHP!”
DHP Family managing director George Akins said: “I’m delighted that we have been able to turn to the talent we have working within the company to fill these three roles. As a forward thinking employer, we focus on providing opportunities for our people to progress throughout the business. I’m confident Kelly, Sophie and Anwyn will continue to do an excellent job driving forward our marketing and creative output.”