In 1998, Citibank asked us to arrange a VIP entertainment programme for the World Cup Final. The idea soon proved so popular, that what began as an exclusive event for just 12 guests, quickly grew into a five star hospitality programme covering the entire tournament, involving 720 guests from 30 countries, attending 60 matches in 8 French cities, over a 4 week period. A highly complex logistical task.
With only six months to prepare, we arranged accommodation, transport, entertainment, tickets, match hospitality and on the ground management. Feeling it important to maintain an atmosphere of exclusivity, we recommended limiting groups to just 12 guests, selected boutique hotels and tailored the entertainment to reflect guests’ individual interests.
The sheer scale of the project required a suitable level of management infrastructure - guests were invited guests from every time zone - so we ran a 24 hour operations team from our office in Kensington, which allowed us to liaise with each guest personally regarding their individual travel arrangements and needs. Then, in France, we managed things on the ground with 16 multi-lingual event managers
This level of attention to detail demonstrated to Citibank's clients how much they valued them and more than ten years on, the event is still talked about.
