Normally, Thermo King would take over Madrid for the launch of Advancer. Everything was prepared: the exhibition halls, venues, and hotels were booked months in advance. Our show was ready to entertain more than 600 (!) visitors. And our engineers worked years on the Advancer project, so the new landmark in trailer refrigeration deserved a spectacular launch event.
But then, Covid-19 took the world by storm. And we asked ourselves what to do next. “I’ve always been a huge fan of late-night shows. And we thought it could make a great format for our virtual reveal show”, continues Erika Smets.
"We had two months to put together an incredible show amidst the lockdowns, home offices, travel bans, and day-long skype meetings”, knows Erika Smets, Marketing Communication Leader at Thermo King EMEA. “And so we did, we delivered a spectacular event - even though none of the people involved met face-to-face. Ever!”
Green key screen adventures
The problem was; how can we put together our speakers – when they cannot fly and meet into the same location? “We had to put them in front of a green key screen. In a small, empty studio. In 4 different countries.
You see; our speakers usually talk in front of large audiences. Now, they couldn’t hear the reaction of the crowd which they found difficult at first.”
Scalability of live events
We soon realized that launching Advancer via livestream had its merits.”
- Scalability: “In Madrid, we would have hosted around 600 guests. Well, we nearly six folded our viewership on our online launch event with almost 3,600 (!) registrations and even more active watchers.
- Journalist interaction: “Normally, our Q&A sessions are not easily visited by journalists. But now, journalists could ask questions from the ease of their own home. Resulting in an interactive press conference – and exciting articles.”
And there’s more. Francesco Incalza, president of Thermo King Europe, Middle East and Africa, indicated in his opening speech that Thermo King has a long tradition of delivering industry-firsts. Well, this live show is another industry-first. We used 8D surround sound to give our presentation – and we were the first in B2B to do so on this scale”, Erika Smets adds.
Industry-wide enthusiasm
The live show was a tremendous success. “Did you know that during minute 17 of the live show, the first price request came in? It simply was everything we had hoped for.”
“Afterwards, our mailboxes were blowing up with clients and colleagues getting excited for Advancer”, says Erika Smets. “All the hard work was worth it!”
