
Event: Alfa MiTo launch
Group Size: 200
Date: 16 October 2008
Overview: Alfa Romeo hosted a conference for dealer principals at the newly built five-star Sofitel Heathrow to launch its Alfa MiTo model. Agency tmb Events was briefed to find a dinner venue that fitted the car's young and sporty brand values while also complementing the choice of conference centre. Twickenham was selected, allowing delegates to be among the first to experience the new facilities at Rugby House.
"For maximum impact at the event, we created the dinner around a bespoke stage that comprised a large screen, flanked by the new Alfa MiTo and the Alfa Romeo 8C vehicles. The room, which was decorated in black, white and red, echoed the theme of Alfa Romeo's advertising campaign," says tmb Events senior account manager Belinda Mines. "When we carried out initial site visits in July, the south stand at Twickenham was still a building site, which made it difficult to envisage how the finished venue would look, and how we could create the theming required. Tribute must be paid to our lighting and sound supplier AV Network, who assisted with this element."
Before the dinner, guests were taken on a stadium tour with England rugby players. During the event, attendees participated in a version of Question of Sport, hosted by former tennis player and Wimbledon commentator Annabel Croft, and listened to a motivational speech by Lord Coe.
Verdict: Damien Dally, Alfa Romeo UK marketing operations manager, says: "The Alfa MiTo is positioned as the 'sportiest car in the world', so a major sporting venue was key to introducing the car to our dealer network. The target audience of the model is much younger than previous audiences, so it was important that we represented this by injecting fun into the evening. The event was a great success and communicated the important messages that we were looking to convey."
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