Make the experience mean something.

The starting question

What if a B2B event made people feel something? That was the question behind the Dubai helicopter experience. The idea began months before the event and depended on a team bringing the details together.

The experience

CIOs, customers, prospects and journalists came together in Dubai for business conversations. The helicopter experience over the skyline followed, giving people a shared experience beyond the meeting itself. For many, it was their first helicopter ride.

What stayed with me was the point at which an event became a memory. The creative idea was one part of it; the handoffs, coordination and work of the team made it happen.

The recognition

The campaign received the B2B Momentum Award from the Digital Uncovered community. Being recognised by other B2B marketers made that particularly meaningful.

What I take from it

The experience should belong to the relationship you are trying to build. The useful planning question is what the people in the room will remember together, and how that relates to why you brought them there.

This is the helicopter campaign. The hot-air balloon activation in Dubai was a separate experience.

The idea

For the IDC CIO Summit in Madrid, the campaign used filter coffee and a Chennai-themed dabra set. It brought a familiar part of our own culture into an enterprise gifting context.

The execution context

I ran the campaign remotely from India. Madrid was the destination for the campaign; I did not attend the summit in person.

Why this example matters to me

A gift gives you a chance to communicate something specific about where you come from. Filter coffee and the dabra set carry a story you can explain and share. That specificity is the part of this campaign I would carry into another brief.

A question for the next brief

What could we bring from our own culture that would give someone a reason to ask a question, hear a story or remember a conversation?