Bea World Festival 2018: and the winner is…

Dabei geht der prestigeträchtige Bea World Grand Prix 2018 an ein Bildungs- / Trainings-Event aus Indien. Ebenfalls wurde dieses Jahr erstmalig der Best Location Award verliehen. Dieser ging an das Valencia Convention Bureau und der Finlandia Hall. Die Preisverleihung war der perfekte Abschluss für eine rekordbrechende Ausgabe eines dreitägigen Festivals, an dem eine einflussreiche Vielzahl an Eventfachleuten aus aller Welt teilnahm.

The ‘Oscars’ of the events have finally been unveiled. Last Friday night Bea World Festival celebrated its 13th edition awarding the best events of the year worldwide. A parade of excellences shined on the stage of the Grand Auditorium at Convento São Francisco in Coimbra, where over 700 delegates attended the ceremony.

The global contest reserved for events and live communication professionals was once again an exceptional opportunity to receive qualified visibility at an international level. After a full day of live presentations and voting, and very intense debate, the Jury Panel led by Gerd De Bruycker, Marketing Director at Cisco Systems was able to proclaim the winners of 2018, a year with three records established: in terms of entries (303 total submissions, +2.4% compared to last year), competing agencies (122, +10.9% compared to 2017) and countries represented (28).

The Bea World Grand Prix 2018 went to Google Home Training an event by Laqshya Live Experiences (India) for Google. When Google Home was launched in India, the first aim was to launch the product to the sales-staff that needed to know the product first-hand. The event replicated the ‘Escape Room’ format: without prior notice, mobile phones and devices were taken away from the attendees before they entered the venue, and all exits sealed. The only way out of the event was by navigating the training with the help of Google Home. No one could enter, no one leave – till the mission was accomplished 100% with a combination of quick-thinking and problem-solving. A suite at the hotel was done up to look like a Google Home. From the minute the 25 people (per event) walked in, everything from lighting, technical, to the training modules had to be controlled using the Google Home device till they figured out for themselves how the product works and how they could leave the room.

“The Jury decided to award this project with the Grand Prix because of its excellency in all its components” motivated Jury President Gerd De Bruycker. “After identifying the target audience by using data analytics and insights about the market, Laqshya Live Experiences came up with a very creative and fun idea and a flawless execution, paying great attention to business results”.
Mercedes #24RIDE produced by JAD Productions (Czech Republic) for Mercedes-Benz Cars Ceská Republika got the second place, while the bronze went to Equal Streets, again by Laqshya Live Experiences for Times of India. Laqshya Live Experiences also won the title of Best Bea World Event Agency while the title of Best Bea World Corporate Client went to Google and Mercedes-Benz Cars Ceská Republika (ex aequo).

The Best B2C Event <€500,000 Marco Category Award went to VM I DØDS - World Championship in "Death Dive" - Belly Flop jumping by 6.Sans (Norway). The Best B2C Event >€500,000 Marco Category Award was assigned to “Light up the FIFA World Cup” experiential activation, produced by Wink (The Netherlands) for Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch InBev, while the Best B2B Event >€500,000 Macro Category Award went to Cisco Live 2018, produced by George P. Johnson (United Kingdom).
The Time is Now by The Story Group-Born to Tell Your Story (Italy) for BTicino won a Special Mention for Best Creativity while the Press Award was assigned to Event Horizon 2018 by HiveWise & Media Apparat (Austria) for GridSingularity-Gsy.
The People’s Choice Award, assigned through a popular vote carried out via the mobile app, went to the 29th Summer Universiade Taipei 2017 - Opening Ceremony (Taiwan) by Interplan Group (Lead Agency) & Elements Entertainment (Consultant for Creation & Production) for the client Taipei City Government.

Winners were also proclaimed in 15 event categories and 4 feature categories. It is possible to check all entries and winners on Bea World website. www.beaworldfestival.com

All Jury members, chosen among corporate event and marketing managers from a representative range of sectors and countries, plus senior representatives of event agencies’ associations from different countries in the world, committed to abide by a Code of Ethics. The result was a transparent, live and face-to face competition that avoided conflicts between Jury members and candidates, by preventing jurors from corporations to vote for a project from their own company and jurors from associations to vote for projects from their own country.

2018 saw also the launch of the first ever Best Location Awards. “Our commitment is to increase the culture of events and live communication worldwide, enhancing all aspects of the value chain”, explained Salvatore Sagone, President and Ceo of ADC Group and Founder of Bea World Festival. “For this reason, launched this year the Best Location Awards, aware as we are that the venue and destination play a fundamental role in the success of any event”. A selected Jury comprising senior representatives of national associations of events agencies from around the world thus assigned the title of Best Destination Convention Bureau to Valencia Convention Bureau (Spain) while Finlandia Hall (Finland) won the Best Congress/Conference/Convention Venue Award.

The ceremony, inspired by the theme ‘Creative Thinking – The Art of Breaking Routines’, was hosted by world-famous Portuguese illusionist Luis de Matos – winner of several important prizes such as the ‘Magician of the year’ (Hollywood Academy of Magical Arts) – who also entertained the audience with his magic.

“We are living a great time full of opportunities for the event industry. Live communication is indeed becoming more and more relevant in the media mix in terms of investments”, said Salvatore Sagone. “This is happening because a new kind of relationship between brands and consumers requires an emotional relationship. Event professionals have therefore to be proud of their job that has a great future, as I am of Bea World Festival that this year has registered another record-breaking edition. And I am strongly convinced that it will grow even bigger in the next future”.

Bea World Festival is an initiative by ADC Group and it is made possible thanks to the collaboration of APECATE, the association that gathers and represents the Portuguese companies of Congresses, Events and Tourism Animation, along with the institutional support of Tourism of Portugal, Tourism of Central Portugal and Coimbra City Council.
For more details, please visit www.beaworldfestival.com

About ADC Group:
ADC Group is a media holding company, co-founded in 2002 by Salvatore Sagone. The group includes the communication news agencies ADVexpress and e20express and Nuova Comunicazione magazine. ADC Group also issues the I Quaderni della Comunicazione reading series and since 2006 it has organised the Best Event Awards, as well as other Awards and initiatives dedicated to the Italian communication and event market (BEA – Italian Best Event Awards, Best Location Awards, NC Awards, NC Digital Awards).

About APECATE:
APECATE is the association that gathers and represents the Portuguese companies of Congresses, Events and Tourist Animation. APECATE focuses on the representation of sectors of relevance in the Creative Industry and Tourism, which include companies that design, organize and produce innovative products and services of great strategic interest for the Portuguese Economy: small and large congresses, national or international, conferences, meetings, corporate, marketing and cultural events, team-building activities, outdoor incentives and activities of tourist animation (outdoor tourism and cultural tourism activities). In 2010, for the good services provided to Tourism, APECATE was awarded the Silver Medal of Tourist Merit, awarded by the State Department of Tourism and Tourism of Portugal, IP.