What was the event? A festival-themed showcase to celebrate the new partnership between the Brewery and audio-visual company MCL. More than 700 key clients, agencies and production companies from within the event industry were invited along to the venue to see for themselves how the two businesses can work together.
How was the brief met? Since the showcase was to be held on the eve of Glastonbury Festival, organisers came up with the novel concept of Glaston-Brewery - an event that paid homage to one of the world's best-known festivals.
Guests were sent brightly coloured, branded wristbands in advance, which granted them access to the party and helped generate a buzz before the event.
On the night itself, a green carpet led from the courtyard through the Sugar Rooms - where footage from past Glastonbury Festivals was shown - up to the Porter Tun, which had been transformed into a festival scene. At one end of the room a 12-metre stage had been erected, while at the other end the balcony had become a 'silent disco' tent with neon drapes and a multi-coloured cocktail bar.
The entire main floor was covered with artificial grass, as was the central bar that served complimentary beers, wines and soft drinks in branded cups. Several food stations, styled to look like traditional market stalls, were dotted around the perimeter of the room serving festival favourites such as hot dogs and pie and mash. An AV display from MCL, known as the 'Stealth Wall', showed psychedelic images.
Quirky seating areas, surrounded by trees and foliage lit with fairy lights, provided space for guests to relax and enjoy the line-up. This included Major Major, the first band to be signed for this year's Glastonbury, and a DJ set from El Hornet of drum and bass band Pendulum.
Later in the evening, Bring the House Down gave guests the opportunity to sing rock karaoke on the main stage with a full backing band.
What was good? The transformation of the Porter Tun was astonishing; even Maria Duddin, general manager of the Brewery, didn't recognise it as the same space. The line-up secured for the night was equally impressive, especially taking into account the timing of the event.
What was bad? The cocktail bar in the silent disco ran out of alcohol towards the end of the evening, which is probably no surprise considering how many people attended the event. However, to be fair to the venue, there was plenty left to be had at the central bar.
ON THE SPOT - SIMON LOCKWOOD, EVENT DESIGN AND MARKETING MANAGER, THE BREWERY
What was the biggest challenge? Creating a concept that allowed us to seamlessly showcase the Brewery and MCL's products to their full potential without it feeling contrived. By producing the festival-themed Glaston-Brewery it meant that every element of design and production was essential to complete the event.
What do you think you would do differently next time? We would give ourselves a bit longer to build the event; the set-up ran very close to the wire. We also slightly underestimated the demand for the silent disco and would have had a few more headphones.
What did the event achieve? It created an amazing buzz in the industry and got our partnership with MCL off to a flying start. Many people came not knowing what to expect and were completely blown away. In the age of Twitter and online marketing it shows that having a face-to-face relationship with clients is more important than ever.
SUPPLIER FILE
As Good As Grass
www.asgoodasgrass.co.uk
0845 2211 345
The Brewery
www.thebrewery.co.uk
0800 068 1288
Bright Green Productions
http://brightgreenproductions.co.uk
(01794) 341952
Contraband
www.contrabandevents.com
0845 600 3986
Creative Draping
www.creativedraping.com
(01525) 261117
MCL
www.mclav.com
(020) 8839 7010