The Day

The energy was built in layers: focus in the afternoon, a pause and conversation at the walking dinner, a party in the evening and a more intimate afterparty.

The guest journey

One day, from invitation to gallery

This is how the day looked for one of Publicis’ clients.

June
The invitation comes from Publicis’ own sender. It is personal, with a link that is yours alone. You accept, list your allergies and consent to being photographed.
July and August
The speakers are announced one at a time, first Mark Ritson, then Jana Werner and finally Andrew Tindall. Each time, the programme is already in your link.
The day before
An email with everything you need: times, dress code, your personal pass and which room you will eat in.
14.00
You show your pass at the entrance, the guard scans the QR code and you are in within seconds. Coats are checked, and then you are standing in front of the photo wall. Coffee and cake, and the hum of hundreds of guests in the Winter Garden.
14.45
The hall goes dark and Publicis Groupe’s global anniversary film is shown. Then Emma Thorp, followed by three international speakers, interviewed by Publicis’ own leaders.
Just after five
Edith Piaf fills the room, and a notification is waiting on your phone: your room is Royals. You go upstairs to the walking dinner.
18.30
The room you sat in an hour ago is a club. The chairs are gone and the stage is new. Your drink tickets are in your phone: you order in the app and show your pass at the bar.
19.42
A notification: Publicis is buying you another drink.
20.30
The winner of the TUI quiz is announced on stage, and at 21.06 the winner of Mark Ritson’s Mini MBA. At 22.00 the laser takes over the room.
23.45
The bar closes. On the way out you receive the goodie bag. And because you are one of the chosen few: an invitation with a line from a poem from 1926 and a bracelet that gets you into Soho House.
The day after
A thank-you email with your own photo gallery, ready to download and share.

One link from start to finish. Guests never noticed how many systems were missing, because everything was in one.

The day, in order

One room, two worlds

From seminar hall to club in just over an hour. The times come from the guest platform’s data.

Swipe to see the whole model →

The entrance with a gold wall and black florals

13.30 Arrival

Black and gold from the first step

Guests checked in with their personal pass. The logo met them on the carpet at the entrance, and after the cloakroom a photographer captured key people at the photo wall in a red-carpet moment. At peak, 166 guests were scanned in within fifteen minutes.

363check-ins in the first hour

Emma Thorp welcomes guests from the stage

14.00 The seminar

Three international perspectives

The hall went dark and the seminar opened with Publicis Groupe’s global anniversary film, 100 Years of Publicis Groupe, about the journey from a small agency in Montmartre in 1926 to today’s group. Emma Thorp welcomed the guests, followed by Andrew Tindall, Dr. Jana Werner and Mark Ritson, each followed by a moderated conversation. The seminar closed with Edith Piaf, linking the day to Publicis’ global campaign “A Lion Never Gives Up”. The show ran on a minute-by-minute running order.

17.09 The changeover

The guests ate. The room was rebuilt.

When the seminar ended, room assignments went out in the platform. Guests were split between Royals and Bolinderska for the walking dinner, while the Winter Garden was reset for the evening.

278Royals

247Bolinderska

18.30 NEXT CENTURY

Club night in the Winter Garden

Bars, lounge and dance floor. Four DJs from Stockholm and Paris. VJ and projection mapping made the room’s architecture part of the club. The bar closed at 23.45 and the event at 00.00.

305bar orders between 19.00 and 20.00

6bars, one of them opened during the evening

Activations

Things to do, not just to see

The activations created natural reasons to move around the room and talk to each other. Both competitions ran in the guest platform Kehitys built for the day. The Mini MBA opened at 16.27 and the TUI quiz at 16.57.

TUI

The TUI quiz

238 participants. The winner was revealed at 20.27.

Mark Ritson

Mini MBA

Mark Ritson donated a place on his Mini MBA course to one guest. 108 participants. The winner was revealed at 21.06. 88 guests took part in both competitions.

SeenThis

Photo booth and photo area

Guests took their own photos and had them printed.

Bonnier News

A signature drink

On the drinks list and menu during the evening.

ZYN

A stand by the dance floor

Its own stand during the evening.

Amazon Ads

Keynote on stage

Presented Dr. Jana Werner, one of the seminar’s three keynotes.

The afterparty

L'Amoureuse

Publicis was founded in Paris in 1926. That same year the poet Paul Éluard published Capitale de la douleur, which includes the poem L’Amoureuse, one of France’s best-known love poems. The afterparty was built around it. A hundred years after a founder and a poet in the same city, the night was about the love between Publicis and its relationships, and about that love being what carries it into the next century.

The invitation was printed on heavy paper. On one side was a line from the poem: “And she will not let me sleep…”, Paul Éluard, 1926. On the other: Publicis × Kehitys, L’Amoureuse, the official afterparty. This is a personal invitation. Your bracelet is your key.

No invitation went out in advance

The afterparty was never announced. Information was shared strategically to get people talking. During the evening, selected guests received their personal invitation and a bracelet reading Publicis ❤ Kehitys. The bracelet gave entry and an open bar, through a private entrance with its own guards.

When the bar at Grand closed at 23.45, Soho House filled up quickly. The entire ground floor, with Cecconi’s and Lilla Baren, had been rigged with sound, lighting and branding since 22.30. 189 guests spent the final hours in a smaller room with the relationships that matter most.

189guests at the afterparty

1926the year Publicis and L’Amoureuse were born in Paris

Next chapter