Butterfield Bank
For over 150 years, Butterfield Bank has helped individuals, families and businesses protect, grow and optimise their financial wellbeing. From its Bermuda roots, the bank has extended its reach across key local markets and international centres, including Guernsey, Jersey and Singapore, to build a versatile platform of services to serve clients’ unique needs.
The Challenge
When Butterfield’s Guernsey office was chosen to host the bank’s first-ever group board meeting in May 2018, the marketing team called on Black Vanilla’s expertise to plan an event for over 200 colleagues and customers at St James.
The attendance of several senior executives from across Butterfields various jurisdictions, and numerous high-profile clients, meant that the event needed to be seamless, surpassing all expectations and offering a truly unique and memorable experience.
The Black Vanilla approach
A kick-starter meeting with Butterfield’s marketing team allowed Black Vanilla to gain a crucial understanding of the bank’s brand identity. This provided direction for the event and the all-important creative elements.
With colleagues travelling from various parts of the globe, it was decided that a ‘Quintessentially Guernsey’ theme would perfectly match the brief. In addition to showcasing the Bailiwick’s outstanding gastronomy, the venue’s decor and entertainment elements also needed to be locally sourced to truly encapsulate Guernsey’s proud island spirit.
The Black Vanilla team, alongside local suppliers, undertook extensive research to produce a comprehensive proposal detailing key food, beverage, decor and entertainment concepts.
Delta was briefed to manage the event’s technical and set requirements. In addition to handling the venue’s audio and lighting provision, working with Black Vanilla’s direction, Delta provided interior and exterior decor that reflected Butterfield’s position as a Guernsey business with global reach.
Taking the theme a step further, a unique twist on the goody bag element was agreed; bringing in local suppliers to provide Guernsey delicacies for local and overseas guests to sample and take away with them in bespoke, branded bags.
Black Vanilla worked closely with every supplier on a unique basis to ensure that the ‘Quintessentially Guernsey’ theme ran seamlessly throughout the event.
In addition to providing event management, Black Vanilla supplied a team of promotional staff to support suppliers over the course of the event, ensuring that exceptional service levels were delivered to guests throughout the evening.
From cocktail and canapé selection to ‘hedge veg’ decor and jazz band management, the Black Vanilla team ensured that, both in the run-up to the event and throughout the evening, Butterfield’s guests were treated to the very best that Guernsey has to offer.
The event management covered:
- Venue liaison
- Catering and beverage supply
- Guernsey ice cream cart and bespoke Butterfield beer
- Bespoke branding across various event concepts
- Audio, technical and lighting provision
- Venue decoration and styling
- Guernsey flower and foliage provision
- Hedge veg provision and arrangement
- Jazz band sourcing and booking
- Signage drafting and printing
- Goody bag sourcing and packaging
- Local produce supplier representatives
- On-site event management
- Promotional team provision
- Event photography
The Black Vanilla team met with the client on a regular basis, to ensure that all requirements were being met to the highest possible standard.
Regular supplier liaison offered the opportunity to explore various local, seasonal options for food and beverage in addition to entertainment on the night. Close contact with events partner Delta meant that last-minute changes to the set and technical provision could be seamlessly accommodated.
The Results
The evening was a huge success and received copious amounts of praise. As the majority of suppliers involved in the event were local, there was a true passion for Guernsey that shone throughout the event, earning high praise from guests and staff alike.
The Collaborators
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.
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.
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.
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.