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ITALY – Best of Belron 2016, the Best of Next
The Next Event and The Next World, two of Next Group’s four divisions, in charge of the organisation and communication for the international event of Belron, one of the leading companies in the automotive industry.
A competition among 27 countries. The Olympics of the automotive industry. A 48-hour streaming marathon. A conference of 1,200 attendees. A 7,500 sqm. theme park. An opportunity for partners, analysts and employees to meet and network. This was Best of Belron, the biannual event held by the world-leading company in car glass repair and replacement, which took place in Lisbon on May 18th and 19th.
For the 2016 edition Next Group transformed the international appointment of the renowned multinational company, known in Italy as Carglass, into an integrated event with highly strategic content aimed at all stakeholders. The Lisbon event was attended by employees, speaking as many as 17 languages; partners and clients, insurance and international fleet representatives; and specialist press, comprising 60 journalists who followed the event in its action.
In September 2015 Belron’s glass repairers began taking part in national competitions to nominate the best fitter in each country on the basis of strict criteria. The winners were then brought to the Meo Arena in Lisbon for the world championship, opened by an Olympic-style ceremony with a parade of flags of all competing countries. The final result was the nomination of the best fitter worldwide, the “Best of Belron 2016”.
During the event the national teams competed in front of a selected audience – including management representatives from various countries – in live screening. The oval arena, a 5,500 sqm area, one of Europe’s largest, was architecturally laid out to represent an urban space where parks and streets provided access to different content. The space held 30 cars around which the various teams gathered, as well as an array of themed areas dedicated to specific aspects of the automotive industry. These included a technical and digital area displaying Belron’s existing digital services along with the forthcoming technical developments with regard to mobility; a partnership area devoted to the added value provided by the relationship with insurers, and an area serving as a platform for Belron’s commitment to green issues and its environmental protection projects.
The two days also offered the “Profiting from Technology. Industry developments you can benefit from” conference cycle, hosted in the 2000 mq. plenary located next to the Arena: an intense cultural programme with speakers from the automotive world and other industries – digital experts, insurance specialists and futurologists, who provided an overview of possible developments in a rapidly changing market.
“The main communication tool we had was the space – an immense area of 7,500 sqm. including the arena, the conference plenary and a number of smaller breakout rooms. We have reshaped and laid out the spaces with creativity, filling them with coherent, value-rich content. We therefore managed to transform a complex event into an important opportunity to forge relationships”, said Cristina Monzio Compagnoni and Piero Durat, The Next Event’s Client Director and Creative Director respectively.
The Next Event – who developed the creative-spatial concept for the event, managing both contents and production – was not the only Next Group division involved in the creation of the “Best of Belron”. The Next World was appointed to take charge of the event’s complex logistics, from organising secretariat, accommodation, transfers and catering as well as managing the evenings’ entertainment programme and multiple activities during the guests’ leisure time.
“A complex event, both from the organizational and management point of view: many events comprised in the main event, several guest clusters as well as the 1200 attendees, managed as individual guests. And a great attention to detail, as if it were a niche event, in line with the client’s high expectations”, said Francesca Urpis, Account Director of The Next World.