Guest · Experiential and events
Katie Mitchell
Managing Director, Seen Studios
A career from client side to the managing director's chair, spent making physical brand experiences that build belonging and serve two audiences at once.
About
Katie Mitchell is the managing director of Seen Studios, a B Corp experiential agency that builds stores, popups and events for brands living both online and in the real world. She is known for connecting the physical and digital sides of a brand into one journey, and for insisting that every experience is built around the audience first.
Mitchell began her career client side, an experience she credits with teaching her to understand the end user because she was that person. She moved agency side and now leads Seen Studios, carrying a heritage in traditional retail, window displays and in-store popups into a wider brief that spans mobile, social, experiential and digital. Over her career she has worked on store launches in the United States and events in the Middle East, and with brands including Converse, Nike, Zalando and Timberland.
As managing director, Mitchell describes learning to step back from her people first, emotive instinct and lead business first when a decision is right for the company. She champions Seen Studios as a B Corp, pushing the afterlife of experiences so an event set can be reused across retail, press, training and content. She argues that retail is no longer four walls, and that brands now have to design the whole journey a customer travels.
Career15 years
- 2018 to now Seen Studios Managing Director | Board Director
- 2022 to 2024 Seen Director Board Of Directors
- 2018 Seen Studios Client Services Director
- 2016 to 2018 Seen Studios Business Director
Show earlier roles: Karen Millen, TOPSHOP TOPMAN, UAE Crown Prince Court
- 2013 to 2016 Karen Millen Global Creative Manager
- 2012 to 2013 TOPSHOP TOPMAN Senior Creative - Flagship/Head office
- 2011 to 2012 UAE Crown Prince Court Creative Direction and Artist
How Katie thinks3 convictions
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Two audiences at once
Mitchell refuses to treat a physical experience as a standalone moment. She argues that anything built in the real world must also work online, throwing off assets and content that carry the story further and keep the C-suite happy on return. For her, the two audience test, online and offline, is the discipline that makes an experience commercial rather than merely expensive.
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The afterlife of experiences
Mitchell pushes back on the idea that an event ends when the doors close. As a B Corp, she says, reuse is a passion, and she points to a Converse set that became retail, press, PR and training. Segmenting the audience into retailers, consumers, media and creators is how she makes a single space work harder.
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Automation still needs humans
Mitchell is candid that automated, copy and paste new business outreach leaves her cold. She can spot a bot-written message and does not believe it is the future of growth. Automation can help, she concedes, but only alongside the personal touch, because people want to work with decent people they genuinely get on with.
