A company day with a festival twist

To challenge employees to get out of their comfort zone and embrace their company values.

Walking across hot coals and making a human pyramid may not sound like part of your typical company day, but our client Sanofi wanted a day with a difference which highlighted their company values of courage, teamwork, respect, and integrity. 

Read on to find out how we created a festival with a difference for 700 people. 

The challenge.

Global life sciences company Sanofi needed to deliver a Company Day that would underline their drive to deliver the best support to their customers and push themselves to provide services that truly benefit and positively impact people’s lives. 

The event – for 700 delegates – had to be different and more innovative than in previous years, embed the values of Teamwork, Courage, Respect, and Integrity, and tell a consistent and compelling story about who they are as a business – i.e., one, integrated company with brilliantly diverse capabilities, medicines, and offerings. 

The solution.

We understood how important it was to create an environment that would inspire employees to step outside their comfort zone and feel and act differently. We collaborated closely with Sanofi on how this might be achieved, holding a series of working events, and from this process conceptualized an event theme – a Sanofi Festival – SanofiFEST.  

We coordinated the build of four festival tents, varying in size and scale, over a seven-day build period in the grounds of the Beaumont Estate in Old Windsor – a venue sourced within a short lead time (due to a necessary change in date) by our in-house team.  

The content and program design focused on business updates in the morning, with the afternoon dedicated to the immersive activities centered around the company’s core values. The opening session took place in a large tepee, with all 700 delegates seated around a central stage to create a feeling of togetherness and encourage participation – like sitting around a big campfire. 

The afternoon’s immersive activities required the delegates to: 

Activity 1.

Walk barefoot across hot coals – showing strength of mind and the incredible feats that can be achieved by being brave enough to take the first step with full support of your colleagues – courage 

Activity 2.

Try their hand at circus skills – working closely with colleagues to perfect human pyramids, tightrope walking and, knife throwing – teamwork 

Activity 3.

Hunt around the grounds to find and erect camping tents and bedding – the accommodation for the night for any delegates who chose to – teamwork 

Activity 4.

Collate the travel-sized toiletries they’d been asked to bring into bags, creating 350 care packs for homeless people, which were donated alongside camping materials – respect and integrity 

Sanofi’s Managing Director wrapped up a successful day back in the main tent and reiterated key messages, focusing on the importance of working toward the same values, before the festival-style lighting created a glow as the crowds were entertained by circus acts and live music. The bar and vast array of quality street food trucks were then declared open! 

The results.

This was a company day like no other. Delegates got to experience the values of the business, not just talk about them, enabling them to garner feelings and memories that would last as they wiped away the final smudge of the glitter face-paint.