The Role of Corporate Festivals in Aligning Teams and Amplifying Brand Values

Unfortunately, such events have shrunk in numbers. After some excessive parties during a global crisis and recession, company-wide events have gained a bit of a bad rep. Such a shame, if you ask us.

Corporate Festivals offer a light-hearted opportunity to bring all employees onto the same page, show what makes their organisation unique and share motivational plans. One occasion to get everyone aligned, strengthen social connections and stimulate company loyalty. Full of untouched marketing, PR and HR value. If done right, the yearly staff party can even become one of the most important strategic touch points of the year.

Corporate Festivals: a must have for a successful enterprise?

Collective vision

The most obvious aspect of a Corporate Festival is the social aspect. Everyone from every department is all together, and in one space even. Some colleagues that you would never imagine working together might even be interacting. Of their own free will! Would you look at that.

However, a memorable bonding experience is more valuable than “just fun”. While it’s great to create bonds during the event, a collective vision is even more important when everyone strolls back into the (digital) office. Loyalty and understanding are stronger when forged in real life interactions. “The Business” cannot remain an abstract and distant concept. Instead, it becomes a living, breathing entity. An organisation of people that care about each other.

A memorable bonding experience is more valuable than “just fun”

Celebrate strategy

Corporate Festivals are often used to include your personnel in last year’s results and introduce the following strategy. Such information is usually presented in presentations and breakout sessions that are very separate from the lighthearted entertainment that follows. If we’re honest, those late night moments are the one most talked about throughout the year. Those are the memories that get shared over and over. Wouldn’t it make sense then to integrate strategy especially in the later celebratory moments?

When we are developing shows for a corporate festival, we always start with the strategic message. A speech of course isn’t the only place where strategy can enjoy the spotlight. It lives in our music propositions, stage design, multimedia, and all other creative aspects. Following the principle ‘Strategy feeds creative’, we take into account the DNA, future plans and goals of an organisation when creating the core rationale. Each concept should be unique to your organisation, encompassing the unique character of the event.

PR and HR Value

Similar to company strategy, company values exist in more shapes than only words. Values are shared between people, shown in interactions and conversations. Nowadays, what do people do if they have interesting interactions and conversations? Share it on social media. By facilitating such moments through a lens befitting the event, you’re already on your way to free PR.

Event photography and aftermovies offer possibilities to capture such moments at a higher level. Its sharing value is immediately high and tends to generate lots of views, allowing for marketing and PR usage. It can also make the intangible company DNA visible. It fills the content calendar and is ready to be presented at corporate fairs and congresses.

Let’s not forget how HR benefits from all of this. HR is well aware of the challenges of finding the right personnel. Visual content portraying the organisation’s DNA is invaluable as a recruitment tool. It gives the current team a sense of togetherness, while enabling the organisation to attract potential staff with similar values. A bullet point sum up on the vacancy is no longer enough. Potential applicants want to see the environment they could be a part of.  So, let’s create an environment where your company values shine, and use this opportunity to show the world outside of your organisation what really matters within.

Show the world outside of your organisation what really matters within.

Corporate Festivals are fun, but they are much more than that. They bring the whole organisation together and allow for a memorable bonding experience. It benefits loyalty, instils strategy and serves to attract future employees. Collective vision starts at a successful event, and continues its reach afterwards.

Let’s use Corporate Festivals to their full potential and integrate strategy throughout the event experience, especially in the final celebrations, making your core message the most memorable. Let’s get together and make your Corporate Festival a strategic touchpoint that is beloved by the entire organisation.