Client: Total Kenya, Commercial Retail & Lubricants Department

Category: Corporate Event Management

Date: August 2019

Total and Bajaj two global organizations partnered across Africa, recommending Total Hi-Perf as the engine oil best-suited for Bajaj Motorcycle engines, operating on African Terrain.

Our assignment was to manage the Total and Bajaj launch. Kenya would be the first country to launch the partnership and TOTAL HI-Perf Boxer Oil. The client wanted to communicate and announce the partnership, communicate the value and benefits of the oil to those in attendance, and make it a celebratory event.

In the audience we were going to have the senior management from Kenya, Dubai and India who included the Managing Director of Total Kenya, the Senior Vice President – Bajaj Auto Ltd India and the Managing Director of Auto Industries Limited. We would also have Total Kenya management and staff, distributors and members of the media.

Our guiding idea for the launch was to “tell of the wonders of partnership and how much can be done when we come together to offer great products.” We wanted to elicit the following feelings for everyone who was part of the launch – “wow”, “confidence in being on the winning team.” We wanted the audience to understand the significance of two behemoth brands in Africa coming together and the impact it creates for boda boda and motorcycle riders and celebrate the new partnership.

To meet the client objectives and elicit the feelings we wanted to elicit meant that we would need to successfully design the space and participant journey – from the entrance, room, stage, signage, content and event production.

The Entrance. The entrance would serve as a location to register participants as they came in, allow them to have a welcoming drink and then get them to take a photo at the photobooth we set up. Beyond everyone loving photos, they are also a great way to have participants take a token home to remind them of the event. We had caption such as “I Love Total,” “I Love Bajaj,” and little animations of motorbikes and tuk tuks along with other handheld props that clearly communicated the messaging we wanted to pass on.

The Room. Because the cocktail was a standing event, the set up within the room needed to be minimal allowing people to walk around and network, but at the same time beautiful and inviting. We settled for LED cocktail tables and ambience lighting around the room.

The Stage. We had a Daylight LED Screen and podium. The Daylight screen was fabricated in a way where it would open (to each side) reveal the product.

The WOW Grand Reveal. Because we wanted to elicit a “WOW Feeling” it was essential that we capture the minds and imagination of our participants during the reveal – something memorable. We chose to run an 3D animation describing what the product was – scripting and production of the animation was done by Stawi Advisory. And then have a countdown, that once completed led to a set of pyrotechnics and lights (lighting show) going off and the screens opening. The screens opened to two models dressed in striking red rolling out a large dummy can of the product, and of course rapturing applause from the participants. Several participants thought that the reveal was done and dusted at the sight of the countdown, pyrotechnics and lighting show and were genuinely surprised to see the screens open and a life-sized product brought out, along with smaller cans of the actual product.

Event Staff. Because we were responsible for the 360-degree management of the event – the MC, event hostesses, DJ, photographers and videographers, sound engineers, LED Daylight screen technician and rigging team, animator, script writer, voice over artist, lubricant fabricator, stawi team and staff and all other event personnel were under our direction. We want to thank them for their dedication and great work. We had 10 days to execute this launch and everyone went above and beyond.

The client was pleased with the experience we created. There were clear lessons for the resellers and distributors, the ambience was welcoming and set the tone. As we usually say, our job is to prepare the correct environment and then partner with our client to pass on an impactful and life changing message – in this case we were successful.