Ashfield Meetings & Events wins ‘Most Effective Agency Collaboration’ for second year running at International Corporate Event (ICE) Awards

It’s a win for the second year in a row for full service events management agency Ashfield Meetings & Events, as the healthcare industry meetings specialist celebrates being presented with the award for ‘Most Effective Agency Collaboration’ for ‘SanofiFEST’ – the company day for leading pharmaceutical company, Sanofi UK.

Part of UDG Healthcare, the Ashfield team, led by Account Director Heather Sharp, together with Sanofi’s Meetings & Events Executive, Lorraine Lawrence, were presented with the award at last week’s exciting ceremony at the Design Museum in London. Both commented on how thrilled they were to walk away with such an esteemed accolade for this unique and effective event.

“We collaborated with Ashfield Meetings & Events to deliver our Company Day, and they provided full service project management, including creative, content, production and logistics support,” explains Lorraine Lawrence. “Very early in the planning stages we highlighted that we were looking for a much more innovative event – a departure from the familiar. We wanted to create an environment that would inspire our employees to step outside their comfort zone and feel and act differently.”

Collaborating closely on how this might be done, following a series of working events a Sanofi Festival was conceptualised – ‘SanofiFEST.’

On the day, over 700 delegates arrived at the Beaumont Estate in Windsor to be greeted by an entrance lined with teardrop flags, colourful directional signage, bunting and obligatory festoon lights leading up to food trucks, retro camper vans and 4 large-scale impressive tent structures. Stilt walkers, acrobats and jugglers brought smiles to delegate faces and ensured there would be no mistaking the sort of day that lay ahead!

“This was a company day like no other,” adds Ashfield Account Director, Heather Sharp. “Delegates were able to hear and understand the direction of the business from senior leaders in the morning, and through activities that included circus skills, tent-building and a game to collect items for care packs for homeless people, they got to experience the values of the business – teamwork, courage, respect and integrity.”

Commended for the superiority of their award entry and ‘showing the impact of the content with some amazing ROI statistics’, the ICE judges decided unanimously that Ashfield and Sanofi should be the worthy winners.

“They quoted both the passion that drove them forward, but also made clear reference to the requirement for a ‘legacy.’ This was obviously not just a single event but there was a need for a lasting impression, reaching long after the conference,” said Adrian Evans, Director of Conference and Live Events for The NEC who both judged and sponsored the category.

Thrilled to achieve such recognition from ICE, Lorraine Lawrence summed up the success for both Ashfield and Sanofi.

“This was a true partnership and the result was a unique event that will resonate with our staff for the foreseeable future.”

For more information on how Ashfield delivers meetings and live events with certainty and impact, log on to www.ashfieldmeetings.com