KELLA Executive Leadership Summit Case Study
Grey Dog takes on the launch of KELLA’s exclusive event, designed for C-suite female leaders to connect, do business and raise each other up
A sanctuary for the extraordinary. This is what KELLA has worked to build with their platform and events; Grey Dog’s job was to channel that feeling of community into a brand-new Executive Leadership Summit for C-suite women.
KELLA founder Hannah Wrixon’s vision is to bring together ambitious, purpose-driven women at high-impact in-person gatherings where they can connect, learn and fuel their professional and personal growth. As Wrixon knows, holding an executive position can be isolating for female leaders; KELLA addresses that challenge by creating a space for women to support each other and form meaningful peer relationships.
The Executive Leadership Summit is KELLA’s flagship event, with world-class speakers, masterclasses and thought-provoking panels tailored for ambitious women focused on fuelling their leadership journey. At its core, the Summit is a place where friendships are formed and business gets done; where ambition meets authenticity and leadership feels a little more human.
The Brief
Grey Dog was charged with planning, promoting and executing the inaugural event in January 2025, as well as the second Summit, which took place in September. Our production, operations, marketing and design teams were all involved in making both KELLA Executive Leadership Summits a success.
Launching a brand-new event comes with a specific set of challenges. From creating awareness, establishing the brand and building confidence in it, to designing an engaging agenda and a marketing campaign that creates a buzz and fills the room with the right people.
Most importantly, we had to ensure KELLA’s specific promise was fulfilled: the Summits needed to feel like a community coming together, an inclusive setting for women to meet peers wishing to share their journeys, celebrate each other’s wins and form lasting connections.
Marketing
The client’s main request was to build momentum and get people excited about the Summits. Therefore, it was essential to introduce and promote the events, particularly the inaugural Summit, in a way that appealed to and engaged their target audience. We also needed to invite people to explore everything that KELLA has to offer, beyond their events, and spark the desire to belong to the KELLA community.
Our marketing team designed segmented email marketing campaigns that favoured quality over quantity, in an effort to increase engagement and decrease audience fatigue. Google, Meta and LinkedIn Ads campaigns were also launched for both events. For the September Summit, a combination of traffic-based, lead generation and conversion campaigns were launched across LinkedIn.
Amongst other strategies, we took advantage of the reach and influence of KELLA founder Hannah Wrixon, using short-video format to share messages directly from her on LinkedIn. The strong speaker line-ups for both conferences also helped boost interest.
Design
Our design team was responsible for creating all print and digital assets for the two Summits, both for on-site branding and for digital marketing purposes.
The sheer scale of the conference spaces presented one of the most interesting challenges for our team. Our goal was to make the rooms feel like KELLA —welcoming, warm, familiar—, without losing impact.
Following site visits to both venues, our design team developed creative and functional branding solutions to highlight the brand, enhance the on-site delegate experience and use budget effectively, all while working within KELLA's brand guidelines.
Production and operations
The January Summit was held at the Powerscourt Hotel Resort & Spa, in Co. Wicklow, while the September event attendees were invited to the Killashee Hotel & Spa, in Co. Kildare. Both venues offered the benefit of being easily accessible from Dublin, but also surrounded by nature and beauty, which delivered on the promise of taking guests out of their day-to-day for an extraordinary experience.
For the September Summit in Killashee, we saw the positive impact of gorgeous and well-staged outdoor areas that supported strong networking and more relaxed interactions between attendees. Incorporating more networking spaces and opportunities was a key priority for our event planners based on feedback from the inaugural Summit. Exhibitor booths also proved to be highly engaging in Killashee and presented even more occasions for guests to connect.
Speakers at both Summits were well received and highly rated by attendees, with post-event survey answers praising their authenticity, storytelling skills and practical insights. There was a total of 26 speakers between the two Summits, including best-selling author and life coach Gail Muller, author and editor Jo Fairley, HR wiz Dr. Marianne Roux, entrepreneur Sonya Barlow and athlete, musician and motivational speaker Niall ‘Bressie’ Breslin.
Outcome and feedback
Grey Dog’s goal was for the KELLA Executive Leadership Summits to have a lasting impact on attendees. We worked closely with the client to provide an experience that was unlike any other leadership summit these senior women would have attended in the past.
Speakers, venue, AV, sponsors, catering and every other aspect was carefully considered so the day could flow naturally and feel like a coming together of friends who have yet to meet.
There were plenty of thoughtful details that kept the day fun and the audience engaged, like delegate gift bags filled with products from female-led businesses and wonderful prizes from the event sponsors.
Feedback surveys confirmed that our efforts were well worth it, as both Summits were highly rated by attendees, with an average rating of 4.5 over 5 and standout strengths in networking, speaker quality and atmosphere. Guests left feeling inspired and connected, with many of them posting about the experience on LinkedIn.
The numbers too matched that enthusiasm, with over 200 senior female leaders in attendance at each of the events. Significantly, the second event showed clear growth and indicators of sustainability, like higher revenue, reduced costs and an outstanding delegate experience.
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