Contiki Eschews Sales Pitch, Promotes Euro Vacations at Nightclub Party

To celebrate the launch of the new "Have You Done It?" campaign promoting its European vacation packages, travel company Contiki sought to put on an event that felt more experiential than the typically heavy-handed travel sales show.

"There are so many travel industry events out there that are so similar—you grab a cocktail and a canapé and then someone talks to you for a few hours," said Contiki president Brad Ford. "There was no hard sell, just an experiential evening to show what Contiki is all about." 

Contiki's event, held February 17 at Maison Mercer, entertained both the company's sales partners as well as consumers who had been on trips before, in an attempt to get both groups excited about upcoming trips. However, Ford and his team avoided a sales portion of the evening completely, instead focusing on entertainment that played up Contiki's desired fun-loving image. "To reach our 18-to-35 demographic, we really wanted to give them more of an experience," he said.

Contiki worked with Event Planit to dress the club in themes that depicted the group's travel destinations, as in a V.I.P. area sponsored by the Spanish Board of Tourism and outfitted with artwork from Spain. But the more noticeable artwork was on display by way of six models body-painted to resemble Michelangelo's "David" and other classic European works of art. The sensuous nature of the statues provided an opportunity to further push the good-times theme, but also presented risks if not handled correctly.

"We've seen the living-statue thing done a lot, but this was a little different because they were really interacting with the crowd," said Alvaro Castellanos of Event Planit. "It took a lot of work to get them ready and choose the right talent—obviously, things get a little tricky when you’re talking about semi-nude models. We had to make sure each of them could pull it off in a way that made guests comfortable."

The Food Dudes designed a menu to match each country, with tapas at the Spanish station, lamb shank stew for Ireland, and fusion options like smoked Gouda pierogi for the Netherlands and Poland. A live performance from Keshia Chante added to the evening's Euro-nightclub atmosphere.