About The Client
As a consumer packaged goods leader, our client is a global manufacturer of household supplies and products, with over 12,000 employees in 72 countries.
The Challenge
Our client’s objective was to take their corporate strategy to all global offices by way of in-person meetings. The organization had a significant number of new employees and an even higher percentage of employees who had changed jobs within the company. They needed to ensure the continuity of communicating their corporate strategy to their global offices in the Netherlands, Argentina and China. A key objective was to create a consistent experience for everyone. They had both a short turnaround – 90 days to execute all meetings – and challenging dates that fell within the Carnivale period in Buenos Aires and during the Chinese New Year in Shanghai.
The Solution
A team of sourcing strategists was assigned to the project to expedite the procurement process due to limited availability in the meeting cities. Our sourcing team has an average of 16 years of industry experience, which is a great benefit when it comes to negotiation acumen and destination knowledge, both of which were needed for these quick-turn meetings. We sourced and selected non-traditional venues in order to create an experience that would be conducive to learning and would also be unique and memorable to the attendees. With participant counts fluctuating, we needed to be flexible and nimble. We secured larger venues to accommodate the potential increase in people, which turned out to be necessary.
Each meeting contained the same content that addressed the organization’s corporate strategy, profitable growth plan and professional development. In each city, we secured unique, custom furniture that would create collaborative learning environments and encourage engagement. Activity modules, and corresponding posters, banners, pop-ups and printed collateral were repurposed for each of the cities for messaging continuity and cost savings.
The Outcome
Our client was extremely pleased with the success of these meetings, from sourcing to on-site execution. The leadership team felt we had effectively created similar experiences for their global attendees. They were thrilled with the chosen venues and felt that the collaborative environments facilitated learning and helped cement their core messaging. And, with the client’s senior leadership fully committed to this initiative, success was all but guaranteed. As a result of our client achieving the outlined goals, they have increased their international business meetings with us. And to that we say…happy participants, happy clients, happy day!
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Bringing International Meetings to Life
