Due to the growth in the demand for corporate events more companies are including corporate hospitality in their event portfolio below are some of the major event companies who include corporate hospitality as one of their specialities that will be organising events for the companies you are in competition with.
Skybridge is a marketing communications agency which specialises in business improvement and events. It is one of the largest companies in the corporate hospitality market.The company was formed through a merger of four other companies Motivforce, Purchasepoint, Hollander Communications and the merchandising company DIA in January 2000. They provide corporate hospitality events for a UK and international market. (Skybridge, 2003) o In April 2001 they put together an event for Vodafone. It was a celebratory ball held at Earls Court in London.
The event was attended by 6300 guests. One of the major achievements of the night was the fact that it had achieved Guinness Book of World Records status for the world's largest single-service dinner event and probably the world largest table plan.Along with this the event attracted extensive industry specific press coverage for the company all of which was positive. The clients hailed it as the best ever Vodafone event. This event reflected positively on both Vodafone and Skybridge. (Bowdin et al 2001).
The success of the event meant that clients left with a generally positive feeling about the night and the company. In the future when they think about it they will think about the company in that positive light as well. This shows that corporate hospitality can have huge benefits for the company in question.Skybridge also have carried out work for companies such as Budweiser, Kodak and Jaguar. Sodexho Prestige Ltd is the largest corporate hospitality company in the UK. It is part of the Sodexho Services Group Ltd, a market leader in both the UK and Ireland for the provision of catering and support services.
It has over 3,725 contracts and has a turnover of more than 1Bn. (Sodexho, 2003) The largest contract which they have at present is organising corporate hospitality at Ascot Racecourse.In 2001 they launched picnic hospitality at Kenwood Lakeside, Marble Hill Riverside and Audley End, all of which are English Heritage properties, giving them a new aspect of hospitality to offer clients. (Keynote, 2000) Keith Prowse Corporate Hospitality is an events company which specialises in offering complete hospitality packages to major sporting and cultural events throughout the UK.
The company was acquired by the Wembley Group in 1992 and now it has more official appointments from sports governing bodies to provide official hospitality.Executives from the major companies which Doodle Inc deals with and who have a specific interest in the product they supply will be invited. 5 Invitations will also be sent out to executives of companies which Doodle Inc would like to do business with in the future. Everyone will be notified by post with CD compilation of the artists playing the concert attached to the invitation.
All those who wish to attend must RSVP by phone by a certain date. The event will be a corporate hospitality event where the guests will stay in a Luxury hotel, dine in a quality location followed by attending a top class concert.The following day they will be treated to breakfast followed by a morning activity before being flown back to England. The whole trip will be paid for by Doodle Inc.
It is estimate to cost around i?? 7000 which includes all flights, transfers, accommodation and access to the event itself. The event will take place in one of Belfast's areas of beauty, the gardens surrounding Stormont Castle one of N. Irelands most significant buildings. Dinner will be provided inside Stormont Castle itself with the concert taking place in the gardens. The guests will be flown from London Heathrow Airport on a chartered plane to Belfast City Airport.They will then be picked up by a coach which will transport them to the Europa Hotel in the Centre of Belfast where they will be staying for the night.
They will be collected from the hotel and transported to Stormont Castle where they will experience a quality dining experience. After the dinner they will be escorted to a special VIP section outside to watch the spectacular charity concert. As Stormont castle already has provisions for corporate events there will no need to provide our own staff a member of Doodle Inc staff will be there through out making sure the event runs smoothly.From the points which have been made earlier the recommendation is for the company to move into the corporate hospitality sector of the events market. Corporate hospitality will have major benefits for the company giving them a way of expanding their business on a domestic or even international scale.
It will help them to improve and maintain the relationships that they have built with their existing clients which may led to increased business in the future. Furthermore it may lead to new business because if clients have a positive attitude towards the company they may recommend it to other companies with which they deal.It is a good idea for the company to organise corporate hospitality in house as it will reduce the amount the will have to spend. The increase in companies wanting to use corporate hospitality is allowing event companies to push the price up. By doing the events themselves Doodle Inc will be keeping up with their competitors as well as keeping the costs down. The event can be realistically achieved in the time allowed as long as all those who wish to attend contact the appropriate person within the organisation within the designated time.
The corporate hospitality event proposed is a simple one for the company to test the water.It will enable them to see the benefits that can come from corporate events and success in the field may also lead to a larger budget allocation for corporate hospitality allowing them to make these events more frequent and perhaps more extravagant depending on the market trends.. There will need to be further work carried out in the future. The company needs to keep analysing the market and keep on top of what the latest trends are if they are going to be successful at corporate hospitality.
It is pointless for them to spend money on an event that people no longer want. They need to know what is going to work the best for them.
