As director of client development for Segal Communications, Baron Manett helps plan consumer and business-to-business events for such companies as Sony PlayStation, the Bay, Unilever, Ontario Tourism, DreamWorks Studios for Canada (he helped with the launch of Shrek), Virgin Mobile, and BMG Music. Manett gives us a look at the strategy behind planning events at Segal.
Tell us about the most recent event Segal has undertaken.
In September 2004, we did a flagship fall fashion launch for the Bay. The Bay wanted to highlight the fall fashion season and reinforce itself as a fashion destination. The event, at the Bay's Queen Street store, was called Runway. We turned the store into an airport, playing on the double entendre of "runway" and incorporating the romance of travel and flying away. The main floor was designed as the departure-and-arrival area, and every floor became a different fashion capital: the second floor we turned into Paris, the third floor was London, and the fourth floor was New York. The decor, music, and food on each level helped identify the city. We had an audience of just fewer than 5,000 people for that event —it was a fund-raiser for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The highlights were a V.I.P. fashion show and a private concert with Jann Arden in the Arcadian Court.
What was involved in bringing Late Night with Conan O'Brien to film in Toronto?
The Ontario government approached us in January 2004 for Conan's visit at the end of February. We had six weeks to create a campaign that used TV, radio, PR, and print in Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. The goal was to entice Americans to visit Toronto around the time of SARS outbreak in 2003. Segal was asked to help promote the visit to the U.S. border population, and to make sure everyone was aware Conan was coming to Toronto. We created a number of promotional sweepstakes programs to allow people to come in and have a shot at seeing Conan. We wanted people to enter to win tickets to see Conan and other packages to come for the weekend and be a part of the Conan experience overall. We partnered with VIA Rail and took over a train to transport the winners to Toronto and create an Ontario experience. We handled the hotels and even the welcome letter contest winners received in their rooms. We worked with the city of Toronto special events group to produce the Conan O'Brien "Welcome to Toronto" party at the C Lounge. Our role there was to attract consumer audiences for Conan, as well as reaching out to the U.S. travel press to cover the show and write about Toronto. One of our goals was to make sure the party showed up on CNN, and we did it. We wanted to get Toronto seen with a global perspective in a good light.
What has been your greatest professional challenge?
The sheer fact of working in the event industry is a great challenge. The greatest one is to stick to the basics of meeting deadlines, following schedules, and achieving clients' objectives regardless of budget. My personal challenge is to never do what we did last week.
How do you ensure client satisfaction?
Some clients know what they're getting into with events, but some are learning as they go, so it's important to allow the client to see the progress of an event and the checks and balances. We make sure we have a production timeline and regular status updates, and we deal with issues as they arise.
What is the most valuable lesson you have learned?
Do things right, and do the right thing.
What event has been the most memorable?
The Conan project was great. It was fun to do social marketing, and being able to market the city where we live was incredibly gratifying. Getting to work with Ontario tourism to help promote our province was a tremendous honour.
What would be your dream event to plan or market?
I would love to produce the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games.
What is your greatest event fear?
That no one will show up!
—Robyn Small
Posted 02.11.05
Tell us about the most recent event Segal has undertaken.
In September 2004, we did a flagship fall fashion launch for the Bay. The Bay wanted to highlight the fall fashion season and reinforce itself as a fashion destination. The event, at the Bay's Queen Street store, was called Runway. We turned the store into an airport, playing on the double entendre of "runway" and incorporating the romance of travel and flying away. The main floor was designed as the departure-and-arrival area, and every floor became a different fashion capital: the second floor we turned into Paris, the third floor was London, and the fourth floor was New York. The decor, music, and food on each level helped identify the city. We had an audience of just fewer than 5,000 people for that event —it was a fund-raiser for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The highlights were a V.I.P. fashion show and a private concert with Jann Arden in the Arcadian Court.
What was involved in bringing Late Night with Conan O'Brien to film in Toronto?
The Ontario government approached us in January 2004 for Conan's visit at the end of February. We had six weeks to create a campaign that used TV, radio, PR, and print in Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. The goal was to entice Americans to visit Toronto around the time of SARS outbreak in 2003. Segal was asked to help promote the visit to the U.S. border population, and to make sure everyone was aware Conan was coming to Toronto. We created a number of promotional sweepstakes programs to allow people to come in and have a shot at seeing Conan. We wanted people to enter to win tickets to see Conan and other packages to come for the weekend and be a part of the Conan experience overall. We partnered with VIA Rail and took over a train to transport the winners to Toronto and create an Ontario experience. We handled the hotels and even the welcome letter contest winners received in their rooms. We worked with the city of Toronto special events group to produce the Conan O'Brien "Welcome to Toronto" party at the C Lounge. Our role there was to attract consumer audiences for Conan, as well as reaching out to the U.S. travel press to cover the show and write about Toronto. One of our goals was to make sure the party showed up on CNN, and we did it. We wanted to get Toronto seen with a global perspective in a good light.
What has been your greatest professional challenge?
The sheer fact of working in the event industry is a great challenge. The greatest one is to stick to the basics of meeting deadlines, following schedules, and achieving clients' objectives regardless of budget. My personal challenge is to never do what we did last week.
How do you ensure client satisfaction?
Some clients know what they're getting into with events, but some are learning as they go, so it's important to allow the client to see the progress of an event and the checks and balances. We make sure we have a production timeline and regular status updates, and we deal with issues as they arise.
What is the most valuable lesson you have learned?
Do things right, and do the right thing.
What event has been the most memorable?
The Conan project was great. It was fun to do social marketing, and being able to market the city where we live was incredibly gratifying. Getting to work with Ontario tourism to help promote our province was a tremendous honour.
What would be your dream event to plan or market?
I would love to produce the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games.
What is your greatest event fear?
That no one will show up!
—Robyn Small
Posted 02.11.05
