An Inspired Chat with Nils Davey of Highland Park

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Nils Davey. Check out our conversation below.

Hi Nils, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Integrity is the most important value here. While my energy levels vary they’re pretty up-tempo and I believe my intelligence (when it comes to work) is pretty high but what I value, and our clients value, is integrity. Trust, honesty and reliability are the most important factors in building our long lasting client relationships.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Nils Davey and I am a co-founder, managing director and creative director at PBZ LLC, an award winning experiential agency. PBZ specializes in creative direction, logistics and fabrication for theatrical design, brand experiences, and events.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
Although anxiety is a terrible affliction it does have its function if you can turn it into a sort of panicked energy to propel you through work. I think that’s what really drove me early on, a crushing sense of anxiety that I was not achieving what I wanted to or that I was missing out or actually just that my skills were not getting used at all. Now I’ve been running this agency for five years, and have previously logged another five years in the experiential industry, I think it’s time to release my anxiety and focus on the upside of everything. Try channelling positivity rather than stress and see how that works out.

What did suffering teach you that success never could?
I wouldnt really know what success can teach me as I’m still of the opinion that I haven’t had full success yet. Sure, our agency is doing well but everything is relative. Other agencies do better, others do worse. However, suffering both in terms of work and in terms of anxiety have definitely hardened my resolve and made me determined to seek my own fortune. I’ve withstood being broke, being homeless, being on my own in a foreign country and each experience has taught me that I can rely on myself and my mental strength to get me through.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
Lies is a very strong term. I think where the experiential industry gets it wrong is its reliance on data driven metrics and adherence to consumer or client thinking rather than exploring the emotional side of the business. If you’re looking to make a lasting impression on an attendee whether that’s to a theatrical performance, an event or a brand partnership the focus should be less on branding, logos, data collection and more on leaving a lasting emotional impact. Creating a core memory will leave an impression that can last a lifetime whereas no-one will remember how busy or how on brand something is within 24 hours.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If you retired tomorrow, what would your customers miss most?
I think our customers would miss our reliability and our creative thinking the most. When I talk about reliability here I’m not talking about turning up on time. I’m talking about our clients relying on us to provide them with the best possible work at their budget that has our full attention. We deeply care about our workand that shows in the outcomes and the long lasting relationships we have built with our clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.peebeezee.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/pbz.llc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/peebeezee/