Hotelympia/Hostec
ExCel, London, 28thFeb to 4th March 2010 for Fresh RM
In the run-up to the show, FreshRM announced the launch of the Hotelympia Innovation Awards, inviting companies operating in the hospitality industry to create a video that demonstrated their innovation. Entries were to be judged by an industry panel, creating a shortlist of four category winners, to be voted on by show visitors to give an overall winner.
Knowing that
The first step was to understand the objectives. There would be 16 videos, and each video needed to be collated then converted into a common format to be viewed by the judging panel. Then an interactive and easy-to-use voting system that would allow exhibition visitors to vote for the best video was required.
Once agreed, candidates uploaded their videos (16 in all) to our FTP site. Videos were tested, reformatted and resized into an appropriate Flash format.
We started work on the application although at this stage we didn’t know which videos would be short-listed. We followed a similar design to the Hotelympia web site, and Fresh approved the “look and feel”. After that the coding began in earnest. Once we had built the application to an acceptable standard we created a hidden page on our website where Fresh could use and test the application on-line. After making all the client changes, we rigorously tested the voting application on our CyberPods. Click here to try the application for yourself.
On Friday afternoon before the show (which opened on Sunday), the judging panel agreed on the shortlist. Having converted all the videos into Flash, we converted them into a single showreel to be displayed on plasmas across the exhibition. We also produced interactive branded content for Kraft that was incorporated into the showreel as an advert.
This last phase was particularly challenging. Some of the videos were not received until Friday, and we still had to do the final conversions, render the videos, create the showreel and then install on computers that were being rigged on Saturday for the show opening on Sunday. Rendering alone can take hours! Furthermore we had to embed the shortlisted videos into the voting application and load this onto the CyberPods. These too had to be installed on Saturday. As a result our design studio worked through the night and most of the following day to make this happen.
At the show, visitors were able to view the videos and supporting information by touching the video on the screen. They cast their vote by touching the video’s thumbnail and entering their badge number (to prevent multiple votes). We collected and collated data, and provided the organisers with a complete set of results.
With over 1500 votes the Pods were a big hit. The client was thrilled with the response and it is fair to say we made a significant contribution to the success of the show. Kraft appreciated our execution so much so that they placed an order directly with us for some video production work. We are also in discussion with Fresh about official supplier status.
Hotelympia’s Marketing Manager Jon Squire commented:"The pods added one of several new and exciting elements to Hotelympia this year. Visitors were drawn to the CyberPods and found them extremely easy to use. The system worked well, generating lots of votes and
Despite budget issues, we demonstrated a wide range of creative and technical skills in providing fully integrated solutions. In itself, it added a great deal of value to the event, but the timetable for the implementation meant we had to go well beyond the extra mile to ensure it happened, as only an event services company would understand.