Breakfast in Wonderland
Mad Hatters Tea Party
Vbase and Crowne Plaza Christchurch, in conjunction with Air New
Zealand, worked together in creating a unique offer in the
marketplace to attract additional conference business to
Christchurch through 2014, when a conference is booked any time
during 2010. Not only is the offer beneficial and attractive to
conference decision makers, but also to conference organisers -
making it an easy and affordable reason to choose Christchurch for
their next conference.
The promotion was launched in a highly creative, and
meticulously planned promotional campaign which culminated in a
"Breakfast in Wonderland" themed event at both the Intercontinental
in Wellington and the Crowne Plaza in Auckland during mid-March. By
using the topical movie "Alice in Wonderland" theme, Vbase and
Crowne Plaza Christchurch made their joint venture launch even more
memorable to invited PCO's, corporates and media providing a
real WOW factor!!
SPECIAL TOUCHES: In November, we emailed
invitees to the events in Wellington and Christchurch a "Save the
Date" - just a colourful March calendar with a magnifying glass
over the enlarged event date itself - nothing else. In January, we
posted a hard copy teaser to invitees - a large 'Queen of Hearts'
card with a message on the back which decreased considerably in
text size. A magnifying glass was also provided in the teaser
envelope. February saw hard copy invitations sent in the shape of
multi-coloured tea cups with the invitation words on the back
rhyming, and of course in theme. Just prior to each event date, an
electronic reminder was sent to all people who RSVP'd with Rabbit
holding a giant pocket watch saying "Don't be Late". At the events
themselves, theming company 'Event Impressions' created a Mad
Hatter's Tea Party that was unforgettable. Upon entering each venue
you were greeted by the characters of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle
Dumber (the Christchurch based "Outwits") and then disappeared down
a black hole (corridor) where you found Alice's blue dress and
potion bottle on the floor before looking up and seeing a
spectacular tea party display with brightly coloured chair covers,
eclectic table settings using flowers, old floral china,
chandeliers, candelabras and a huge backdrop of giant mushrooms and
plants making you feel like a miniature standing in the room. Post
events, Cheshire Cat 'thank you' cards with rhyming words of
sentiment were also sent out to both attendees and a few
no-shows.
CHALLENGES: Only two. We spent days trying to
find the right visual for the joint offer promotional pieces and
coincidentally ended up using an image of a Christchurch girl who
looks a bit like a modern day Alice in Wonderland! The second was
choosing the right 'volunteers' for the Mad Hatter and Rabbit (the
hilarious 'Outwits' again) Christchurch powerpoint presentation,
which didn't use conventional electronic slides, but rather people
who portrayed and acted out each slide.
OVERCOMING CHALLENGES: With limited budget for
putting together both the Offer campaign and events, we were able
to prove to ourselves and our valued clients that Vbase and Crowne
Plaza Christchurch, in conjunction with Air New Zealand, can indeed
'build a stage, and set the scene for a unique conference
experience', encouraging clients to take a closer look at
Christchurch.
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