Helping shift a 90-year-old brand from stuffy to diverse and thriving. From designing branded annual marketing wrap-ups to photographing every 60 events over the span of 5 years.

Project Scope

Graphic Design
Brand Direction
Brand Photography
Event Photography

a lady with a big grin amongst a room of suited people

In 1933, a club was launched for business men in Newcastle and the Hunter to meet for a luncheon, connect and hear from speakers who present their views, opinions and directions in business.

The business landscape has changed. Diversity and inclusion reigns. Women deserve the same opportunities as men, and as such this needs to be reflected accurately.

When we first got involved in Newcastle Business Club in Feb 2017. Holly Martin, from the Marketing GP pulled us in to design a monthly newsletter, wine labels and advertisements to promote the events.

That's fine, but the landscape of how news is delivered, shifted. People need it quicker, and traditional printed newsletters have a short shelf life.

The next issue was with photography. We started by contributing our own Newcastle landscape images to fill a content gap, but there's no emotions, no reason for people to buy in to that.

When I first visited an event in 2017, the room was filled with men. Here's the proof...

a room filled with predominantly men dressed in suits watching a guest speaker

The 85th year of Newcastle Business Club changed everything. We photographed every single event.

With guest speakers that attracted more women, a woman as president and a reframed brand and marketing campaign, we could photograph more diversity. Allowing for a more inclusive appearance. This was vital.

Since then we've created 450+GB of images, equating to around 14,000 photos.

From 2018-2023, we had some incredible presidents – Holly Martin from the Marketing GP, Craig Wellings from Hunter Signs, Stephanie Jordan from LM Property, Clare Ferguson from Verve Partners, Jim Garis from The Garis Group and Liz Murray.

They have led the transformation from dry to diverse, while we focused on capturing moments of joy and got to meet some incredible people, both members and guest speakers.

The biggest compliment we received, when sat talking to a guest, was when they said "the only reason I came was due to the photographs on the new website".

The photographs changed the perception of the club, engaged a new audience and convinced them to buy the tickets.

That’s the power of great visual branding.

It’s with great honour that we call time on our journey with the club as the photographers. We’ll miss shooting the moments, but we cannot wait to attend events as the branding nerds, rather than the photographers.

a blonde lady talks to a man at a business event
a group of people laughing at an event
a man looking at his phone with a surprised look on his face
a lady presenting on stage
a person taking a photo above their head
a lady in a green dress speaking on stage
a crowd of young people laughing
a man and two women talk on stage
a girl in a purple suit jacket laugh while sat at a table
a group of fashionable women are sat on stage talking to the audience
a young lady laughs at an event
a young asian lady speaking on stage
a local female mayor presents onstage
a young blonde lady smiles at the camera
an older lady presenting on stage
a festively dressed drag queen dancing
a woman laughing amongst a crowd
guest speaker with a crowd of people behind him
a young man and women mess around on stage together
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Testimonial

Martin Sully of Snapper Studio has delivered outstanding event photography services at the Newcastle Business Club lunches over the past five years.

Martin's professionalism, creativity, and ability to capture genuine moments have truly enhanced our events. His photographs beautifully reflect the essence of our club, and our Members, Guests and Guest Speakers have shared in our appreciation of his ability to provide high quality images for us to share across a range of platforms.

He has built terrific relationships with many of our members and guests over the years due to his friendly and affable demeanor.

We have been incredibly fortunate to have Martin working with us to help us beautifully capture warm memories of the life of the club from 2018 to 2023.

Liz Murray, Newcastle Business Club 2023 President
The 2023 Newcastle Business Club Committee stood smiling, ready for a photograph

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