1 4 AV july/august 2001

A P P L I C A T I O N S

IT IS, says A n d rew Cosslett, the biggest ever such event forCadbury Schweppes and it is about ‘w h e re we want to takeour new business and how to get there’ .

The gro u p’s Cadbury and Trebor Bassett UK confec-tionery businesses have recently merged, Cosslett ismanaging director and his words formed part of theopening session of a major event at Bi r m i n g h a m’s NEC,held a week before the integration of the two companieswas completed.

The event, carrying the deceptively matter-of-fact title of

the Cadbury Trebor Bassett Business Conference 2001, wasattended by around 1,600 of the 6,000-strong work f o rce —taking in a re p re s e n t a t i ve mix of management, sales andoperational staff — from across the UK.

Its purpose, says Rob Bishop who is media and eve n tp roduction manager for the confectionery leader — alle vents are produced in-house from the Design Studio inBournville — was ‘to celebrate the launch of the newcombined Cadbury Trebor Bassett business and tocommunicate the new goals and strategy’ .

w w w. a v i n t e r a c t i ve . c o. u k

C a d b u ry and Trebor Bassett have combined forces. A week before the CadburySchweppes businesses became fully integrated, 1,600 staff from across the UK

attended an inspirational event at the NEC to learn the new goals and strategy

The in-house production team for Cadbury Trebor Bassett is based at Bournville andforms part of the Design Studio which carries out work for Cadbury Schweppes on aglobal basis.

The conference team has a staff of six. and apart from confere n c e s / e vents is invo l ve din the production of CD-ROMs, ‘any kind of pre s e n t a t i o n’, and web sites.

The Cadbury Trebor Bassett event which occupied Hall Four at the NEC invo l ve dsome three months planning by the conference team.

Other services provided at Bournville include video production, editing facilitiesbased on five Media 100-based non-linear suites, a photographic studio, and a printingd e p a r t m e n t .

The studio also takes on work from outside companies including such householdnames as Coca Cola and Camelot.

S w e e tS w e e tTop: Revolution breaksout in ‘Customisation’.Above: Boulevards leadto the piazza and zones.Below: A pit-stop teamdemonstrates ‘Efficiency’

P RODUCTION FAC I L I T I E S

cadbury.layout 20/7/01 10:54 am Page 2

w w w. a v i n t e r a c t i ve . c o. u k

This was effected on a grand scale and with a clear andunambiguous message that was to be imaginatively re i t e r-ated and amplified.

The opening presentation brought all 1,600 personneltogether (but in five separate groupings identified by colourcodings issued on arrival at the NEC) in a theatre area withraked seating and a stage with 24x18ft speaker supports c reens, served by 10,000 lumen Christie Roadie pro j e c t o r s ,to each side of the main presentation are a .

L a rge prompting screens we re sited right at the back ofthe auditorium, a trademark company practice which, saysBi s h o p, ‘f rees presenters from the lectern. It’s so much morenatural when you see people walking about the stage. Ifyou get people away from behind the lectern they are farm o re open and you catch their mannerisms and expre s-s i o n s .’

After a tieless Cosslett (casual dress is also companypractice) proved the point, he was joined by CadburyS c h weppes group chief exe c u t i ve off i c e r, John Sunderland ina lead-up to the core message of the day — the newcompany is to be based on the five cornerstones of‘e ff i c i e n c y’, ‘c o re brands’, ‘a va i l a b i l i t y’, ‘innova t i o n’ a n d‘c u s t o m i s a t i o n’ .

PLEASURE DOME

Then came the big surprise. The curtains between thes c reens drew back and the audience was invited, colourg roup by colour gro u p, to pass through into a va s t‘p l e a s u re dome’ a rea with shrub-lined bouleva rds, a central‘p i a z z a’ surmounted by four 3m diameter circular scre e n s ,and five zones, each dedicated to one of the ‘c o r n e r s t o n e s’ .The concept, explains Bi s h o p, combined cre a t i ve input fro mthe studio with the results of consultancy that had identi-fied the five cornerstones and emphasised ‘that as a

business we had to create more moments of pleasure’ ( t h elast four words provided the tag line for the eve n t ) .

Each zone consisted of a theatre large enough to takeone colour group at a time. ‘T h e re was virtually an identicala-v structure for each zo n e , ’ says Bi s h o p, with a triples c reen made up of two external 7.5x8m screens and acentral 7.5x5.5m screen (groups entered the theatres underthe centre screens). Projection was by a mix of high-endmachines including Ba rco ELM R12’s, Digital Pro j e c t i o n1 0 g v’s and Digital Projection 15sx’s .

The screens themselves we re Ha rkness Hall Tr a n s l i t e

july/august 2001 AV 1 5

Technical support in the main auditorium area was provided by Paul Cleave rProductions (PCP) and projection was by Christie Roadies. PCP was also re s p o n s i b l efor the piazza area, where Christie projectors served the four 3m diameter screens, andfor a separate a-v control area where images from an OB system and four graphicsmachines could be sent to the main auditorium, the screens on the piazza, and to thezo n e s .

PSL, in yet another major contract completed since its MBO earlier in the ye a r,p rovided the technical input for the individual zo n e s .

P S Lp roject manager for the event, Ian Worrall, says in understated fashion, ‘it wasa fairly big stock of projectors there’ — which means Ba rco ELM R12’s, and Di g i t a lProjection 10gv and 15sx machines. One challenge, he says, was when eve r yone wasoutside the zones and could see the video projection on all 15 screens. ‘It was not justa question of contending with colour balance on the screens of individual zones butof tackling the job as a whole.’

Individual zones utilised two Betacam players, a computer for Powe r Point andEl e c t rosonic Vector control (‘it’s a flexible system’ ) .• PSL also provided AV Magazine with the photographs of the zones whichappear on these pages and the photographer was David Copeman.

i n s p i r a t i o ni n s p i r a t i o n

»

Zones featured triple screens and high-end DLP projection systems An interactive response session using ILM vote pads introduces ‘Innovations’

T E C H N I C A L S TAG I N G

cadbury.layout 20/7/01 10:54 am Page 3

1 6 AV july/august 2001

Super II’s which allowed images projected from inside to bevisible outside. When the audience was outside thet h e a t res, a video that had been re versed in the company’sMedia 100 suites was scre e n e d .

Each ‘c o r n e r s t o n e’ t h e a t re featured a 15-minute ‘s h ow’that amplified the message of the opening pre s e n t a t i o n .

‘ Eff i c i e n c y’, presented by Formula One pundit To n yJa rdine featured a pit crew changing the wheels of a Fe r r a r i .Members of the audience we re then called on to form twoteams to try it themselves. The message was that thet e a m w o rk, efficiency and the need for constant improve-ment that are critical in Formula One racing are equallyimportant in the wider business world.

‘ C o re Br a n d s’ used an analogy with the music industryand featured Nicky Chapman and Nigel Lythgoe of P o p s t a r sfame. The presentation demonstrated just how importantthe big name bands are in generating profit and howm a rketing is dedicated to these.

‘Ava i l a b i l i t y’ hinged on a widescreen videodemonstrating that in a person’s average day there aref ewer opportunities to buy the company’s products thanwould be expected. The message was about the necessityto explore new avenues and new availability points for thep roduct lines.

‘ In n ova t i o n’ f e a t u red How a rd St a b l e f o rd of T o m o r r o w ’ sW o r l d fame. It demonstrated how the soft drinks, icec ream, chewing gum and beer sectors have benefited fro mi n n ovation and how the confectionery must do likew i s e .

‘ Cu s t o m i s a t i o n’ was based on a Big Brother theme.‘Thought Po l i c e’ bullied the audience into order ready for aspeech from a droning, authoritarian figure on the thre e

oval ‘t e l e s c re e n s’ c overing an inflexible, dogmatic andb u reaucratic approach to customer service. Su d d e n l y, ag roup of re volutionaries takes over the theatre and scre e n sfootage arguing that customers should get a servicet a i l o red to meet their individual needs.

Each colour-coded group pro g ressed through the zo n e sin a diff e rent sequence so that all completed the tour atthe same time before returning to the main auditorium fora final presentation by Cosslett which again spelt out thef i ve cornerstones and, importantly, gave examples of whereaction was already being taken.

Bishop has already re c e i ved much positive feedbackf rom attendees and this should escalate when returns fro man e-mail questionnaire confirm the eff e c t i veness of thecombined power of an imaginative mix of industrial theatre ,l a rge-scale a-v and, above all, a clear communicationsmessage. ■

w w w. a v i n t e r a c t i ve . c o. u k

A P P L I C A T I O N S

C O N T A C T SCadbury Schwe p p e sDesign St u d i o• 0121 458 2000

P S L• 020 8208 7100w w w. p re s s e r v g ro u p. c o m

Paul Cleaver Pro d u c t i o n s• 01386 438900w w w. p c p. d i rc o n . c o. u k

Opposite: The ‘Core Brands’zone used an analogy withthe music business tounderline the criticalimportance of establishedlines

cadbury.layout 20/7/01 10:54 am Page 4