Back to Our WorkSouth of France Sales Incentive
No. of delegates: 1,400
Location: Cannes
Event type: Incentive
Industry: Construction
Understand:
Having worked with this client on their incentive events since 2011, we already had an extensive and consolidated understanding of this client, their customers, and their shared values. Regardless, we still dedicated time at the outset of the project to ensuring that we had an up to date knowledge of our attendees’ needs and wishes.
For a trip that previously had a guest list of 200, the challenge with this event was trying to deliver the same level of celebrity, 5 star service to 1,400 people. Since this event format had been running for over a decade, we also knew how important it was this year to think outside the box, and try to out-do previous standards of supreme luxury.
Translate:
The priorities for this event were achieving quality and luxury at every attendee touchpoint. Not only did we want this to be a once in a lifetime experience for attendees, we also want it to be an opportunity for branch directors and our clients to spend valuable time with their customers, rewarding them for their loyalty. Despite the large attendee list, we wanted each attendee to feel like they’d had a really personalised experience, incentivising them to continue their relationship with the client.
Plan:
With the brief and core message of supreme luxury in mind, and a large guest list to cater for, we started to whittle down our network of venues and locations. Cannes stood out as the obvious winner, with the added bonus of giving our attendees the opportunity to be one of the first groups to stay in the newly renovated Carlton Hotel.
Even though the trip itself wasn’t until Spring 2024, we launched the event to the brand directors and the attendees in January 2023, giving us a period of 14 months to sustain engagement, and inspire attendees to hit their targets.
This planning process spanned multiple different departments of the First Event team, each tasked with building a seamless attendee experience over a substantial lead-up time. In order to achieve this goal, we delivered an effective email marketing campaign, built a bespoke event app designed around attendee pain points, and flawlessly executed the travel arrangements of a group of 1,400 guests.
Deliver:
The event itself was split into two parts, the first group of 900, and then a second group of 500, consisting of the highest spenders in the group.
Each morning, guests enjoyed a day at leisure, making the most of the bespoke itineraries crafted by the individual branch directors. Some of the activities included travelling to Monaco, travelling on catamaran along the Cannes coastline, or being whisked off to the French town of Mougins to enjoy a gorgeous, quintessential French restaurant.
Following a week of exclusive luxury experiences, it was time for the main element of the week-long event: the gala dinner. The first group enjoyed their gala dinner at the iconic Carlton beach club, with the dining area positioned over the pier. The entire area was decked out with funky, beach club vibes, bringing an up tempo and fun-feel to a week of luxury and celebrations. Guests enjoyed a drinks reception, a roaming trumpet and sax, with entertainers dressed in Riviera chic outfits.
For the Golden Palm ultimate luxury experience, their gala dinner was held at the truly elegant Château de la Napoule. Guests were greeted by Marie Antoinette hostesses, and the stunning venue meticulously decorated with Bridgerton theming. With a string quartet, and trumpeters announcing each guest’s arrival, attendees were welcomed into the chateau gardens, before being dining in the picturesque courtyard.
Measure:
This client was focused on creating an experience that drove loyalty amongst their community. By crafting a unique luxury experience that exceeded previous experiences, as well as designing and executing a targeted marketing strategy to support this, we were successful in helping our client achieve this throughout their growing community.
The email campaign successfully maintained customer engagement over the entire 18-month lead-up period, as evidenced by an exceptional average open rate of 87%. These outstanding results underscore the effectiveness of the incentive event in driving significant sales growth and achieving the client’s long-term objectives.
Specifically, final sales exceeded the target by an impressive 44.6% increase over the initial goal. Moreover, when compared to the starting sales figures, the final sales surged by an astonishing 779.3% increase, clearly demonstrating the campaign’s impact and its critical role in the client’s sales strategy.
