Incentive travel is a real challenge for companies. VO has developed an event incentive experience to deliver the wishes of your teams. Two clients recently took off for Marrakesh....
When it comes to event-based incentives, VO’s ambition is to aim for the moon. This is because every corporate trip must be a well-planned event that tells a story. So it was during two recent stays in Marrakesh, where the challenge was to deliver Morocco on a platter to two companies that really wanted to let their staff unwind in a mixture of desert, big city and palm grove.
One, active in management consulting, took its fifty or so employees away to celebrate the company's 10th anniversary; the other, an IT specialist, offered this incentive to more than 200 of its employees for having reached their target. For these two experiences, VO relied on its ability to combine events and travel and bring together the magic of the destination and the wow effect of the event.
The magic of the destination
These days, the location is an important, if not the main, factor in the event. “Where?” is therefore a simple but extremely crucial question when organising an incentive.
The trick is to find an exclusive venue, not or (still) little known, or organised in such a way that it will (again) become unforgettable. VO, in creative headhunter mode, managed to score a double whammy in Marrakesh for its two very different incentives.
For the group of 215 people, a top-of-the-range private hotel located in the Palmeraie was chosen - a natural, protected area near Marrakesh. The city acted as the venue for creative games based on the company's values for one day, but it was in the Palmeraie that participants had the exceptional experience of exploring a temporary dual-purpose village for an exceptional evening. They had a chance to enjoy 3 different atmospheres - traditional, with Berber tents; a show with fire-eaters; and one 100% white with a DJ.
Head for the dunes!
Another incentive, another atmosphere, another place - but just as magical! Fifty or so people made their way to a camp in the middle of the Agafay desert, which was completed just two weeks before their arrival. A real bonus for the customer was enjoying the only camp in the area with a swimming pool overlooking the desert!
On the programme: two nights worthy of the tales of the Thousand and One Nights and trips through the dunes in buggies or on camels.
See everything, follow everything, supervise everything
Achieving this result and ensuring the quality of the locations, the suppliers and the activities on offer required a lot of upstream work. It is impossible to rely on improvisation. Any event organised abroad requires adaptation to the country's laws and operating methods. Taking this into account is essential for ensuring that everything is organised in perfect harmony.
Knowledge of the venues picked by the various members of VO and a good local network also ensured the success of these two incentives. The added value of using an agency such as VO is therefore that it transforms itself into a proactive “gentle genie” - vigilant, constantly on the ball and monitoring everything, to offer a unique experience to clients and spare them the slightest practical concern, and any snags or unpleasant surprises (organisational, timing or other).
After Morocco, Oman and Tanzania
The Moroccan chapter is now closed for a while, and the VO incentive team is now checking out Madrid, Oman and, for 2020, Tanzania and Ethiopia, no less. The challenges there will be just as exciting.
