Client Company Name and Description: RECSA, the Spanish division of Renault, the multinational car manufacturer.
Location/Date: Jun Arts Pavilion. Granada. Spain. November 21-23, 2007
Audience: Our target audience was made up of specialized automobile journalists and Renault top-executives. The event was repeated for three days straight, with 30 journalists attending each day. Out of the 90 journalists, 86 were men, with ages ranging from 35 to 55 years. 60% of them were college students and presented a mid and mid-hi social class profile. This particular audience is more than used to being invited to spectacular and epic product launches, therefore attending the reunion with a skeptical attitude.
Overall Summary: Due to popular demand, Renault had to launch a new version of their compact model Clio, featuring a more powerful 140Hp engine. The press conference had to shock 100 journalists in such a way that this minor launch would be regarded as relevant news, hence avoiding a promotional campaign. Instead of a predictable press conference, a sensorial journey was held at a most shocking location, blindfolding our guests and explaining through emotions the car's specifications. A special dinner closed the event, with a series of dishes designed by expert chefs and scriptwriters to describe Spain's different landscapes through flavors.
Strategic, Company-Wide Objective: Launched at the end of 2005, the third generation of Renault popular hatchback car, Clio, had proved to be another success for the company. However, the car's popularity and acceptance had turned out as an unpredicted enemy: users of prior versions had grown older and the once youngsters still demanded the new Clio, but with improvements according to their new social position. In other words, they wanted the new Clio, but with a more powerful engine. The most powerful standard version went up to 110 Hp, while the Sport Edition Clio boosted to 200Hp. An intermediate version was needed to fill that gap and satisfy so many potential buyers. A new 140 Hp was designed and was about to be launched by the end of 2006. However, the marketing department couldn't afford a new promotional campaign after so many efforts had been made with the car's official launch and first year run. Somehow, it had to be the specialized press the one to communicate that the new model had arrived and that it was a really interesting offer. Our client wanted the news to be featured in Spain's most important automobile magazines. The media had to become our promotional tools. Easier said than done: a relevant press conference had to be organized... a press conference in which there wasn't much to say. It was quite clear we had to make a really big and external impact on the audience to make the 140 Hp model worthy of a review.
Measurable Marketing Objectives: The in-the-spot congratulations received by such a skeptical audience demonstrated we had achieved something outstanding. However, true success was perceived a few weeks later. Not only did all journalists publish positive information about the new 140 Hp model (that alone would have been a complete success), but the top four automobile magazines in Spain did give the car a complete review, as if a brand new model had been launched. Even more, it was written in a poetic almost abstract fashion (our true goal, since we hadn't much to tell about a car that had been launched only a year earlier). Talk about suggestion:
Solution: Renault's New Clio model saw immediate commercial and critical success when it was launched in 2005. However, after a few months consumers started noticing an important gap in the vehicle different motorizations. You could find engines ranging from 70 Hp to 110 Hp and a superior sportline model, Clio Sport, aimed at very specific target consumer, boosted the car's engine power up to 200 Hp. Renault's answer to that gap was immediate: a new 140 Hp model. There was, however, an important problem to face.
Throughout 2005 and 2006, Renault had spent a lot of money publicizing New Clio and they didn't want to develop a new campaign just for the 140 Hp model. Nevertheless, the consumers' high demand needed some way of communicating this new launch in an effective way. Renault wished to hold a press conference but... was a new engine important enough to get a full-review in the Spanish press? There wasn't much to tell, really. It was the actual spreading of the news that mattered, and focusing the new model on the "sheer joy of driving" was more important than the car's specifications.
When Global Events received Renault's briefing, we decided to go down to basics. What was the situation? We had to organize a relevant press conference in which there wasn't much to say. If that was the case... why should we say anything? Let's do without words. Let's go even further... let's do without the car! One of Renault's most important objectives is to have its consumers feel "the joy of driving", so instead of telling it with words or by trying the car, we would describe it by exciting our five senses. Thus, the event was conceived as a "sensorial journey" in which, deprived from the rest of our perceptions and guided by a personal assistant, we would stimulate each sense to describe through sensations what you experience when driving the new 140 Hp Clio. In this original way, we would shock an audience more than used to flashy and epic stagings. It was clear from the start that Renault held the press conference and gala dinner with an obvious promotional intention since our guests were actually the channel through which to reach the target audience.
Attendants were taken to the Arts Pavillion of the nearby city of Jun, a huge, outstanding and avant-garde workshop-museum of an eccentric and terrific Andalusian sculptor. As soon as our guests entered the main hall, an elegant personal assistant (professional models) greeted their assigned journalist and introduced themselves. After this formality, all guests were blindfolded with a velvet bandage and guided to the first stage of our journey, the hearing room. The description of what happened them goes as follows:
Hearing: Once seated, after a few seconds for relaxing and getting used to darkness, softly, Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring started playing. Over that minimalist score, one of Spain's best dubbing actresses welcomed everyone with a deep contralto voice. They about to embark on an unforgettable journey, they were about to experience Renault Clio 140 Hp... then, surprisingly, the sound of thunder filled the room, moving from one side to the other of the room in the surround sound system. After that, the sound effect of the car's door opening introduced them to the vehicle. The engine started and the car began to move. Our narrator asked them if they could listen to such raw engine power, while the mechanical sound effect softly linked onto the sea hitting a cliff wall. The car window raised. It was time to relax and feel the comfort inside the car. A deep breath played, while an almost imperceptible heartbeat and the sound of cottage chimney gave as a sleepy mood. In this fashion, our narrator showed us the artistry behind the car thanks to Mozart's 40th symphony, as well as the true pleasure of driving free with the sound of the wind howling inside a forest. The last point to explain was security, our and that of our most beloved people. Renault's greatest value is life, and nothing can express it better than a child's laughter. A last stop to present our automobile... Strauss's So Spoke Zarathustra.
Smell: Guided by each personal assistant, our guests went onto the following room. Each hostess spoke very close to their appointed guest's ear, in a very soft and sensual way, although being extremely polite. When guests took a seat, the experience was explained. Being the most abstract sense, smell had to be identified with feeling and memories, more than being obviously related to the car. Thus, we presented "landscapes", places you could visit with the new car and "intense emotions and memories", which explained how the car was something more than a vehicle. Having their guest seated and relaxed, each host brought flasks containing several aromas and objescts related to the car values close to their noses (without disturbing them!). Lavanda flowers meant elegance, baby cologne freshness and innocence, pinewood leaves nature and freedom, leather luxury and security, a fresh rose beauty...
Touch: As soon as the smell experience was over, each host guided her appointed guest to the following room, touch. Touch is the sense of recognition, of technical thoughts, of knowledge. This way, by metaphors, we explained Renault Clio's attributes. Perfect metallic geometrical shapes were the representation of engineering and trustworthiness, ice on one hand and a hot water bag on the other talked about the car's versatility, beach sand represented fluency and comfortable driving, silk and cotton became a symbol for comfort... while a fresh orchid falling on a velvet cushion was the perfect metaphor for Clio's security!
Sight: As soon as the touch experience was over, guests were taken onto a huge room, left in the dark. There, still blindfolded, they waited until everyone was seated. Then our hostesses removed the blindfolds. A movie clip started playing in a semi-circular elevated projection screen, covering most of the room's perimeter. No explanations were given, no words, no subtitles, only nature effects mixed with dynamic images of the car with breathtaking rhythm, while the sound of nature played besides epic instrumental music, ending the clip with a great climax.
As soon as the clip that represented sigh concluded, lights turned on and a Renault executive came onto the stage below the screen.
"Ladies and gentlemen, that was Renault Clio 140 Hp. Any questions?"
The smiles and amazement seen in the attendants' faces showed anticipated the event's success.
"Oh, by the way. We've forgotten a taste, haven't we? Bon appetite!"
In that moment, all the lights of the room turned on and a previously hidden space revealed itself: a complete setting for our gala dinner. Was the event over? As soon as all guests were seated, the personal assistants blindfolded them again and an expert gourmet and gastronome guided them in a new fantasy through Spanish landscapes, with exquisite flavors being the key to our journey. This dishes were designed as a collaboration between the Global Events creative team and the Paradis Group cooks. The best way to describe this experience is to read a small section of our gastronome's script:
"let's first excite our sense of smell with a special earthly wine... fine wine from La Janda, a stabbing aroma of Andalusian camps, bringing the taste of almonds, light and dry for our palate [... ] discover now the sand, trees and mountains of Huelva with this mixture of sweet Rota tomato and jabugo ham... it's the land in a bite: wheat, oil, salt, sugar and crispy "earth" [... ] we keep on travelling to reach the coast, where the ocean wildly kisses the beach... it's time to taste the strength of the sea and the bitterness of nutmegs, an appetizer of Cadiz anchovies... taste it, feel the sea breeze and imagine the white Cadiz houses as you feel it inside your mouth... [... ] time to move on to another landscape... we keep on driving and moisture and invades our car interior, imagine a green and dense wood. Pick your fork and taste the mountain, the Iberian fallen leaves, the pinewood... these are Alpujarras mushrooms... "
Budget: $423,000
Event Producer/Agency and Photographer: Global Events' integral organization philosophy makes it rely on its own staff for all its projects having its own stage design, scriptwriting, logistics or video departments. On this occasion, however, due to the event's nature, we needed to rely in our usual partners (who work under a special exclusivity collaboration contract). Team Tools was in charge of carpentry, ECL of electrical supply and Grupo Paradis developed the dishes that fit our script, also cooking and serving them on-the-spot. The photographer is part of the Global Events staff.
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