The ask

Impress our members. That was the perennial brief from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Every year it hosts a retail dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, and every year it becomes harder to surpass previous efforts. We were charged with creating maximum ‘wow-factor’ with one underlying condition – that any theme had to be relevant and topical.

The task

Nothing loomed over British retailing more than the inexorable rise of China, a now ingrained element of the entire industry. We chose an intriguing theme that captured China’s growing positive influence – ‘Eastern promise’. At the core was a motif based upon the Chinese symbol ‘fu’, meaning good fortune, which ran across all materials in gold foil. To promote the event, we sent oriental fans as invites and created tickets in the form of Chinese lucky coins – traditionally given in red envelopes and said to bring luck, prosperity and happiness. The night itself featured a dragon dance, midnight fortune cookies and hundreds of lanterns adorning the ceiling.

The proof

Our client reported that members found both the theme and the night itself highly memorable. They had an ‘absolute blast’, and our client was full of praise for our part in the success, stating that “the design you produced for me this year, from the fans to the programme, was absolutely spot on!”.