Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

This work was a group project from a collection of live producers who wanted to host an event in a COVID-Responsible environment. The passion project served to activate customers of group companies plus event partners due to a lack of live events in 2020. Hosted at the Hong Kong Observation wheel and AIA Vitality Park it allowed consumers to visit the park, engage with the venue and be introduced to a new event property from companies they had experienced in the past.

Background

The team behind The Grounds comprises the member companies of the Great Entertainment Group (GEG) responsible for organising The AIA Carnival and Hong Kong Observation Wheel. Understanding an event of The Carnival’s format, scale and capacity would not be feasible given the impact of COVID-19 on Hong Kong, the team devised an event that sought to achieve the following objectives: - To create a safe environment for guests to enjoy live entertainment. - To build a best-in-class covid-responsible infrastructure and platform for HK event organisers and promoters to engage their audience within - To use mobile technology to safeguard all consumers, redefining a “normal” event experience utilising mobile technology as a catalyst The Grounds at AIA Vitality Park is Hong Kong’s first purpose-built COVID-Responsible entertainment venue. Incorporating a giant LED screen, full stage set-up, private pod-seating, varied event calendar, mobile-ordering table-service and best-in-class COVID-Responsible procedures at the idyllic Victoria Harbourfront.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

The creative ideas of the event centred around utilising mobile technology wherever possible whilst maintaining a commitment to create the most COVID-responsible event possible across all forms of delivery. The mission and tagline for the event was “Hong Kong’s ultimate socially distanced entertainment experience”. Every aspect of the event had to be considered for the new environment and to ensure consumer confidence in attending an event venue. We went heavy on digital (web, social and online PR), maintained flexibility in the schedule, drip-fed events with weekly releases in case of external factors forcing changes, engaged existing partner audiences in live sports (rugby fanzone), wellness (yoga sessions), live music, game shows and outdoor cinema as well as offering a number of firsts, or COVID-Responsible versions of entertainment/events, IRIS the world's-first COVID-Yoga Festival and HK Livings Socially-Distanced award ceremony honouring the local F&B Industry.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

This project aimed to reach a broad consumer demographic including families, young professionals and corporate clients. This was achieved through the creation of a diverse event calendar that included events & shows such as outdoor cinema, live sport, wellness classes, live music, & quizzes. Health & Safety protocols dictated a lot of the offering and obtaining a licence to operate meant stringent controls predominately through the use of mobile technology including Pre-Registration & Advance Purchase, Digital Health Declaration, Temperature Checks, Mandatory Face Masks, Paperless Ticket Entry, Self-Scan Admission via Smartphone, Contactless F&B Ordering (in POD), Socially-Distant Spaces and Extensive Cleaning. We designed a layout to maximise the visual experience for customers, taking advantage of the impact that the stunning 360 degrees backdrop provided by the Hong Kong skyline, the IFC, and the Hong Kong Observation Wheel itself.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

There was a short build-up, ramp-up and the tools selected to advertise, communicate and update consumers had to be instantaneous. A selection of Website, Ticketing Partner, Social Media, Digital Media Partners we selected over traditional publication and outdoor media. Instagram stories became the main communication medium for announcements over EDM and blogs. Audience engagement was instantaneous, creating a loyal following of consumers who engaged with the brand and event almost overnight and created worldwide news coverage. Most events were sold-out or subscribed in hours with full advanced registration. New COVID-Protocols were adhered to and understood including self-scan paperless entry, in-POD QR code ordering and table service as well as an end-to-end technology-led mobile experience. We eliminated any staff to consumer contact, paper and cash. Trusted and relied on consumers to aid and participate in their experience and follow these measures to help maintain a safe environment for all.

List the results (30% of vote)

This project was very warmly received by the Hong Kong public, brand partners and local audience. We screened 22 outdoor movies, sold over 12,000 tickets in 27 days, reached close to 1 million pages views via our ticketing website, gained close to $5M HKD in media value and generated 1.98 billion media impressions. The stories and PR were picked up by worldwide media from the New York Times to Forbes and we organically grew social media pages from 0 to 8.5K in less than 1 month. The venue worked with a wide range of partners in multiple sectors including: May have to remove brand names and just do sectors Wellness (Lululemon & IRIS Festival) Sports (HKRU) F&B (Basehall, Peroni, Chase, Penfolds, Aperol) H&S (Kaze Masks, Raze Spray) Technology (Zicket & Eats365) Media (HK Living, Sassy, Timeout & #Legend)