Case Study: Wickes celebrates anniversary at Butlin’s

In the Spring, Wickes celebrated its 50-year anniversary at Butlin’s Bognor Regis. The event brought together 500 Wickes team members from around the UK for a full-scale celebration—including an exhibition, plenary conference, daytime entertainment and gala dinner—taking advantage of the diverse venues Butlin’s offers. With exclusive hire, Wickes attendees were able to enjoy the whole resort, with accommodation, the fairground and show venues including Studio 36 all to themselves.

Butlin’s was selected because the resorts bring everything together in one place, from the venues with top end AV to catering and accommodation.

With 603 bedrooms across three hotels, delegates enjoyed single occupancy for the duration of the event. This helped create a sense of togetherness and helped maximise the time on resort for attendees as they could walk between all activities with no need for lengthy transfers.

The event also utilised the diverse dining opportunities on resort, including retail restaurants for fish and chips, as well as residential catering with an all you can eat buffet. Butlin’s also created a bespoke menu for the formal gala dinner.

The client was also impressed by the close communication from the Butlin’s events team and how the resort provided branding and technical solutions to showcase the Wickes brand throughout the event.

Dan Elliott, National Sales Manager for Butlin’s Conferences & Events said:

“For the clients, it all depends how far they want to push it. From our side, one of the key selling points with a resort take over is the digital signage we have on resort. We can put branding in hotels, agendas and what’s going on for conferences around the resort. The ball’s in their court.

We ensured the clients goals were met by making sure everything they asked for has come to fruition. There have been a lot of conversations and I think using Studio 36’s space in the correct way with the flexibility of the venue was important. Also, making sure they utilised the time they were on resort with us before the event during the planning stages helps achieve that goal. Having multiple venues on resort allows the client to relax when turning around from the day session into the evening plans because everything is happening in different spaces. The client must make sure the suppliers are happy and that they’ve had that one-to-one time with the delegates here.”

Website: www.butlins.com/conferences-events

Contact: events@butlins.com

What’s the secret of Butlin’s events and conference success? Nick Tipper discusses..