Company Grundfos Pumps
Event APREG Marketing Segment Meeting
Venue Centara Grand Beach Resort, Phuket
Delegates 60
Date September 15-20

The brief
Delegates were meeting up to understand regional Segment marketing and branding campaigns and to discuss the appropriate marketing mix for each country, as well as share best practices and work closer together to create a united approach across the region. Grundfos Pumps wanted a tropical resort venue in an accessible destination as speakers from Europe and delegates from 11 Asian and Oceania countries were to attend.

The resort needed to be within one hour of the airport, have a wow factor, poolside hospitality area, good-sized modern ballroom with breakout rooms, and be close to major tourist areas for leisure time.

Challenges
The organising team visited six resorts before final selection. Tiffany Bermingham, regional marketing manager APREG, Grundfos, says: “Looking at the style and theme of your event is the best place to start. What will make delegates come? What are the major requirements? Ensure the resort is flexible and has well-maintained facilities, there are no hidden costs, that room nights are held for the required dates and that the meeting programme allows participants time to enjoy the resort facilities.

“The main challenge is to ensure the resort is flexible with our requests – often numbers and/or names were not finalised too close to the event,” she says. “Due to the cross-cultural nature of the group, we needed to ensure food could cater for all. The chef worked closely with us to achieve this.”

Execution
The welcome dinner and reception was held on the lawn in front of the resort’s main restaurants (pictured top). Centara provided a harpist to welcome delegates and the evening was one of the highlights of the programme. Two full days of meetings followed, then, after lunch on Saturday the group relaxed on bean bags and attended a video conference with the director of corporate branding from head office in Denmark.

Late afternoon was free to enjoy the resort facilities and was followed by a gala dinner ‘with a twist’. “For the Tropical Beach Party on the resort beachside, we were greeted with a flower lay and cocktails, followed by a banquet dinner and fire show as well as Polynesian dancers,” says Bermingham.

On Sunday, an optional half-day trip to Phi Phi Island included sightseeing, swimming and snorkelling at Loh Samah Bay, Maya Bay and Viking Cave. The second option was a traditional Thai massage. On Monday night, dinner was held at Baan Kalim seafood restaurant on Patong Beach.

Comment
“The resort was extremely understanding and catered well for corporate requests,” says Bermingham. “There was no mix-up in any communication and all staff across the resort knew exactly what was happening and when. The hillside setting was beautiful and I wanted a wow factor as marketing is about attention to detail and attracting the right target audience.”

Timeline
April Event kick-off meeting
Early June Destination selection
Late June Venue selection