CHALLENGES
This is the third year that Virgin East Coast Trains have appointed Make Events to produce and deliver their Red Hot Awards. The aim of the night is to reward outstanding performance within the delivery team. It was important that the venue was situated on the east coast main line. The Boiler Shop in Newcastle was chosen as a unique venue with industry links and a great position close to a train station.
SOLUTIONS
Make Events were asked to come up with a theme for the awards. We researched a previous activation Virgin had done to launch the new Virgin Azuma train; where they sent four historical trains down the train tracks. Taking inspiration from this, Make Events suggested a projection mapping piece onto the mezzanine windows within the boiler shop. The structure mimicked train windows and provided the perfect backdrop.
We designed a content piece showing the history of the trains from the Flying Scotsman right through to the new Virgin Azuma. It was an extremely immersive experience that many of the guests hadnโt seen before. As the projection piece ended, bringing Virgin Trains East Coast up to the modern day, the wall was also used to display the awards content. This gave a huge space to project all the winners names.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Make Events elevated the evening from an awards ceremony with entertainment to an event that got truly under the skin of what Virgin East Coast are about. Set in a historical venue, we managed to tell the brands story.
