Welcome To The Ultimate Combination Of Accelerator, Marketing MBA And Wellness Retreat

Imagine: you’re in the middle of a 4,000 year-old rain forest. You’ve just walked amongst the ancient trees, paddled in the freshwater stream, had one of the most nourishing and delicious meals you’ve ever tasted and now you’re seated around a campfire in the twilight listening to the owls.

This is a very nurturing space, but it’s also stimulating and thought-provoking. While the whole experience is certainly very good for the spirit, this place is also about providing you with the ammunition – through workshops, coaching sessions and relevant networking - to push ahead professionally. And the people around the campfire with you are fellow business leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs looking for support and inspiration.

Welcome to Retreat And Rise Up, a fresh take on the kind of networking events and accelerator programmes that proliferate in the advertising industry. Designed by the creative ventures company And Rising, Retreat And Rise Up is a new initiative to help guide and underpin the ambitions of leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs, whilst also offering them the wellness support necessary to build health and resilience.

After the pandemic, And Rising had been exploring ways to help business leaders find the space for clear-eyed thinking and community-building away from daily professional pressures, refocussing on what really matters. The result was the launch of the first Retreat and Rise Up experience last year, set in an ancient temperate rainforest in Cornwall and offering a structured programme of support for mind, body and business.

That first Retreat attracted a mix of start-up entrepreneurs, marketers from well-known brands, investors, coaches, executives making a career switch - the mix of varied experiences fostered new collaborations and support networks and convinced And Rising that there was a real need for this new approach to helping leaders flourish.

Already representatives from companies such as Biotiful, Bold Bean Company, LVMH, Channel 4 Ventures, Karma Drinks, Stripe & Stare, Diageo, EY, Omnicom's Coffee & TV, and Unilever have had the Retreat And Rise Up experience.

And Rising founder Jonathan Trimble reveals why the programme has proved so popular and what Retreaters get out of it.

What inspired the creation of the Retreat & Rise Up concept?

Jonathan Trimble: Over the next 18 months, new brands and innovation will be key to the UK’s success story. We need more great new ideas to scale here and globally. We have amazing talent and backing on this island. What we lack are spaces to think and dream, with the support of a community to scale those ideas.

Retreat & Rise Up’s original ambition was to replicate the Y Combinator Summer School in Silicon Valley. But the UK’s needs are different, and so are the times.

The goal is to focus on products and tech, corporate innovation, and startups by connecting people with their best brand ideas.

How does the retreat align with your business objectives at And Rising?

And Rising's aim is clear: We want to build the future’s favourite brands. You can’t do that unless you provide wider support to founders and marketers.

So what are the founding principles on which the idea is based?

• Awaken the giant: We set Retreat & Rise Up in a four-thousand-year-old rainforest. The awe of the surrounding nature inspires expansive thinking beyond the bedroom or boardroom.

• Free from limiting beliefs: Who you are and what you’ve achieved is left at the door; everyone is open and safe to be 100 per cent themselves to back what they truly believe in

• Supported for scale: Enable groups to support one another before, during and long after the retreat.

Why is well-being something that founders and leaders, in particular, need to pay more attention to?

Wellbeing is a sticker on the box, but that’s not really what Retreat & Rise Up is about. Yes, there are wellness activities, and the food is incredible. But there are other places to 'get well'.

'Retreat' means to step back from daily life and reconnect with what’s important so you can feel clear and inspired. Whether a founder or in marketing, the grind of the day-to-day stops us from seeing the obvious things we can do to grow ourselves and our brands.

What would you say to busy sceptics who think retreats are a waste of time?

The human condition of limited time leads us to 'being busy.' In many cases, being busy is a drama rather than a force multiplier—very few brands are growing at the rate they should. Success comes with carefully choosing what you pay attention to and what you gift your energy with. At its heart, that’s all a retreat is there to do.

And how is Retreat & Rise Up different from a traditional wellness retreat?

Retreat & Rise Up is unique in focusing on brand innovation, not just self-development.

What can retreaters hope to gain from the experience that will really make a difference to them and their businesses?

The most common experience is focusing on one to three ideas that were lurking anyway, realising their importance over other activities and taking the first steps towards making them happen. The resulting support groups, big and small, that emerge from the retreat are what we get feedback on most—access to new connections, expertise, and most of all, friendships and support.

What can retreaters hope to gain from the experience that will make a difference to them and their businesses?

The most common experience is focusing on one-to-three ideas that were lurking anyway, realising their importance over other activities and taking the first steps towards making them happen. The resulting support groups, big and small, that emerge from Retreat and Rise Up are what we get feedback on most—access to new connections, expertise, and most all, friendships and support.

Companies attend off-sites all the time to get out of the office and stimulate a different conversation. Steve Jobs did this via retreats, where he and his teams wanted to be inspired, using nature to help do that. Still, today, the world's current most valuable brand—Apple—is a giant glass spaceship set in a forest. We have created the ultimate combination of accelerator, marketing MBA, and wellness retreat.

Being in nature, supported by great minds, taking part in wild swimming, yoga, great food, and working on future growth—I can’t think of anything more red-blooded for business.

For more details on Retreat and Rise Up, visit its dedicated website.