Bonsai

The team at Bonsai are timber experts with locally based workshops and showrooms offering a wide range of beautiful flooring, doors, hardware and ironmongery, bespoke joinery, timber decking, furniture, lighting and accessories.

The Challenge

Bonsai and Black Vanilla took on the shared role of event manager for the re-launch of Bonsai’s new home showroom located at Southside on The Bridge. With so many parties involved in the event, a great deal of meticulous management, technical and creative organisation was required, along with important elements of PR to give the event maximum exposure in an efficient and cost-effective way.

The Black Vanilla approach

Catering for almost 500 guests, the event involved a number of local food and drink suppliers, production and lighting specialists. Marquee hire, a band, a local harpist and portable toilets were also organised along with the collaboration of a select few local businesses which showcased some of their products to guests on the night.

Black Vanilla’s Event Manager, Hayley Piriou, managed every element of the party’s research, bookings and general set up. She also offered a supporting role on the day of the event during the set up. This included all of the finishing touches so that everything was ready for guests to enjoy a night of food and entertainment while exploring the stunning new showroom. To assist with the administration and organisation of such a large and intricate event, the following members of the Black Vanilla team were called upon to offer their expertise:

  • Media Production Consultant Jon Pettitt handled all of the audio, visual and lighting requirements.
  • In-house social media guru Stephie Gordon assisted with pre-event communications, managed live event updates and post event talk-ups.
  • Nichole Culverwell managed post-event communications including a press release, magazine copy and a photocall for the cheque presentation with Bridge2 as a raffle took place during the evening to raise funds for the charity.

As with all of Black Vanilla’s events, our personal touch and regular updates meant that the client was well informed and happy with all developments during the run up to the event.

The Results

The event was a huge success which came down to the great working relationship that Black Vanilla has with Bonsai and local suppliers. The event raffle also raised an impressive total of £1,450.00 for Bridge2, a locally-based charity dedicated to offering overseas aid.

The Collaborators

Gallery

Black Vanilla is essential to my business, I consider them a long-term partner in my work. I initially approached PR with a degree of cynicism but was quickly impressed by the difference that the team’s expertise has made to my business.

In addition to devising and implementing a social media strategy that has proved extremely beneficial in raising Leaders’ profile, their
proactivity has opened opportunities to reach new clients and develop our core leadership offering.

Phil Eyre, CEO, Leaders, Leaders

Black Vanilla was instrumental in bringing our vision for the event to life. They transformed the venue and produced an evening which truly showcased some of Guernsey’s best qualities. The team were amazing to work with and truly encapsulated our needs.

Claire Heaume, Manager, Marketing and Communications, , Butterfield Bank (Guernsey) Limited

We have worked with the team at Black Vanilla for a number of years, across our events and publishing platforms. They understand the markets and the readership we are dealing with, not to mention our exacting requirements which differentiate us from other businesses in our space. I can’t fault their attention to detail and responsiveness to our business needs.

Carl Methven, Publisher, BL Global

I was very impressed with your whole PR operation – you put a lot of effort into supporting the event and it was handled very professionally.

UK based producer