Best Single-Venue/Market Event/Meeting (B-to-B)

Program Name: Vodafone Night Live!
Client: Vodafone
Agency: Global Events

Last year, UK-based telecommunications giant Vodafone discovered that it had a real quandary on its hands. At the consumer marketing level, the brand was pushing its newest offering, mobile television—an extra service for mobile phone users that came with a premium price tag. Among the company’s sales teams, however, there was a separate push afoot—because Vodafone’s sales bonuses were based on customer sign-ups, not the value of subscriptions, reps were selling the cheapest plans they had and not promoting higher margin services, like mobile TV. The company had to convince 2,500 of its own salespeople of the value of its premium services, especially its live TV offering.

So rather than roll out the PowerPoint slides and chicken dinner at its annual convention in October, Vodafone dropped its cars and driving tie-ins (the brand is a Formula One Racing sponsor) and focused instead on its number one offering—TV—transforming its sales event into its own version of “Saturday Night Live!”
The event was held in Madrid, at the La Caja Magica, or “Magic Box,” the city’s tennis park where the Masters tournament is held. It was the first time the venue had ever been rented for a private event. The main indoor court was transformed into four individual TV stages. While the program’s host introduced a skit or video clip, one of the two side-stages was being set for the following act. Pre-recorded TV spots, parodies and live music played by the band from Spain’s version of SNL livened up the transitions between acts.

The show featured comedians, musicians and the host of the Spanish version of the iconic TV program and included sketches about gossiping housewives, Mexican wrestling, talk shows and quiz shows. All of the keynote speeches and presentations were transformed into 15 comic sketches, eliminating slides, graphs and motivational speeches. Four scriptwriters worked for a month on the content.

After almost two hours of skits and giggles, the show came to an end and the sales reps moved  to another indoor tennis court that had been transformed into a nightclub featuring go-go dancers, djs, a lounge area and open bars. The event earned an 88 percent satisfaction rating and 80 percent of attendees received high marks for performance following the event.

Quandary: solved. Oh, and… live from Madrid, it’s Vodafone Live!

Program Name: Nespresso Citiz Trade Event
Client: Nespresso
Agency: Vok Dams Gruppe

Inspired by British Turner Prize winner Rachel Whiteread’s “Embankment” installation of white cubed casts, Nespresso created a cityscape modeled after that same work to celebrate the launch of its modern Nespresso Citiz machine.  Playing on the campaign’s central urban lifestyle theme, Citiz Sky Lounge on the 28th floor of the Westhafentower in Frankfurt’s financial district (picked for its symbolism as a modern city) attracted about 220 guests, among them retail partners, business partners and press. Guests could step into a three dimensional city with skyscrapers and streets formed out of 1,700 white cube casts.

As guests stepped off the elevator they encountered the clean, white landscape and then took in the breathtaking skyline of Frankfurt from a totally new perspective that tied in to the chic characteristics of the Citiz machine line. Guests also tested the product in an inviting setting with food and live music.

The installation drew a strong media turnout and inspired a documentary.
 

Program Name: Wrangler MT/R with Kevlar Product Launch
Client: Goodyear Tire and Rubber
Agency: Performance Marketing Group

Goodyear Tire and Rubber coupled its 2009 Dealer Conference in Washington, D.C., with ride-and-drives to demonstrate the off-road capabilities of its Wrangler MT/R with Kevlar tires over its competitors. More than 2,000 Goodyear dealers nationwide attended as well as select members of the media.

The challenge was finding an area with mud, water, hills, rocks, trees and sand to showcase the product’s abilities, all while making it easy to get conference attendees to and from the experience. During one of its site visits, the team identified a parcel of land adjacent to the convention center in the early stages of commercial development that it deemed perfect for the ride-and-drives. To create a true off-road environment, they added more than 720-cubic yards of mulch, 85 18-inch by 20-foot logs, 160 tons of stone and 60 large boulders.

The experience also provided an opportunity for area sales managers and management staff to interact with dealers on a personal level, which resulted in 80 Goodyear staff as in-vehicle facilitators. Dealers’ post-event advance sales orders for the Wrangler MT/R with Kevlar tire increased in nearly every region of the country.