Squid Game, karaoke, and a finance director who contains multitudes.

It’s been a big year for The Avenue Group. New projects, new directions — and plenty of new faces around the place.

Which is wonderful, of course. But it does come with one unavoidable side effect: the in-jokes that once had the room in stitches are now landing to a sea of polite, confused smiles from the newer members of the team. Devastating, frankly, for anyone who spent years perfecting the delivery.

So it felt like the right moment to get everyone together, draw a line under 2025, and start building some new material.

The question, as ever with any group of people, was what to actually do. There are two kinds of people in any team — those who want a competitive activity and those who just want a pub. We know where we stand. The answer, as any good strategist will tell you, is both.

We started at the Squid Game Experience in Canary Wharf. Because nothing accelerates team bonding quite like mild panic, a bit of healthy competition, and finding out exactly what your colleagues are made of under pressure. It delivered on all counts.

And then, naturally, karaoke.

A brilliant night, shared with a brilliant team — old faces and new. The in-joke back catalogue may need some updating, but on the basis of last Thursday, we’re already well on our way.

A special mention must go to our Finance Director, Gurprit — who took to the Squid Game with a level of focus and ruthlessness that frankly none of us saw coming. Numbers are clearly not the only thing you’re brilliant at. You wiped the floor with us, and we’re choosing to be proud rather than embarrassed.

Here’s to 2026.

Carrie Bayley