Jack Morton Worldwide has only six weeks to deliver a full-day event for more than 2,000 guests of ING Hong Kong and Macau, but poise and optimism bring success, writes Karen Yue
It was just days shy of Christmas in 2012 when Jack Morton Worldwide, a global brand experience agency, received its project brief from ING Hong Kong and Macau. The project comprised a massive all-day internal event for more than 2,000 people and a consumer activation campaign for the company’s Easy Defender product.
The all-day A Brand New Day aimed to recognise the achievements of ING members, celebrate the acquisition of ING Hong Kong and Macau by Pacific Century Group and kick off the consumer activation campaign.
Casting aside the holiday mood, Jack Morton Worldwide presented a proposal a few days after and began preparing for the event which would take place just six weeks after.
“The time frame was a huge pressure,” said Jane Saunders, creative strategist of Jack Morton Worldwide. “However, with the amazing support of the client who understood the pressure we were under and helped hasten internal turnaround, we were able to move fast and efficiently.”
A Brand New Day was not Jack Morton Worldwide’s first project with ING though. Saunders said the agency had done other projects “within different parts of the business”.
“We met the CEO of ING Hong Kong and Macau through another project (which) involved senior level (personnel) from the insurance community. He showed great interest in Jack Morton Worldwide and our capabilities,” she said.
The event was held at AsiaWorld-Expo on February 18 this year. It was attended by ING agents, employees, business partners and VIPs.
Excitement soared as the event headed into the evening. Guests participated in an array of interactive games and activities to win prizes, and indulged in a delicious spread of food.
The evening’s entertainment factor peaked with the surprise performance of Grasshopper, one of Hong Kong’s legendary bands which has maintained its popularity through the years.
Saunders said it was Jack Morton Worldwide’s idea to feature Grasshopper, “as we were aware that NOW TV was invited by the client to be part of the evening’s proceedings and to support a number of technical elements for the show”.
NOW TV, one of the world’s largest commercial deployments of Internet Protocol TV and Hong Kong’s largest pay-TV provider, was responsible for pre-event video footage, live video coverage and the editing of a final collage video with event guests singing the theme song. The latter was then projected on the main screen during the event.
“We wanted to leverage the relationships NOW TV has with popular local performers and wow the audience,” she added.
Despite the tight production schedule, Saunders said the event was smooth sailing. “We were in continuous communication with AsiaWorld-Expo and its team was incredibly efficient,” she said, adding that clear lines of communications with multiple parties and keeping a positive, open mind in the face of challenges had helped the team sail through the project.
