Sense of adventure

For Bangkok's B.U.G. Studio, there was only ever going to be one theme when it began organising the product launch party for AXE's new range of skincare products: sex appeal. "The products are designed to make you feel like a sex symbol. Our event was pretty much geared toward that market," B.U.G. Studio project specialist Mr Apisek Wongvasum says, adding the target age group for the products is 16 to 25. The "Fifth Sense" event was held earlier this year at At Home, a venue on the corner of Sukhumvit 31, one of Bangkok's main thoroughfares. Some 1,000 people were invited. The venue's large glass frontage was blacked out two days prior to the product launch and served as a billboard advising motorists and pedestrians that the event was about to happen. Three holes were punched in the screen for dancers. "The idea for holding the event at this location was to give the impression that AXE could move to any other venue," Mr Apisek says. "It didn't have to be on the corner of Sukhumvit 31 - it could be anywhere." Directions to the event were also used as part of the allure. "We just gave the street address - not the name of venue. That's why we couldn't hold it at a hotel. We were telling people that something would be going on on this day." Mr Apisek said the concept was chosen with Lowe, the advertising agency for Unilever, the multinational maker of AXE. "They (Lowe) wanted the venue to be some kind of surprise, so that if, for example you went to the venue beforehand you would not see anything," he says. "But in Thailand it's not easy to find new, previously unknown venues, so we came up with this idea instead." The concept came from the same briefing. Unilever wanted the emphasis on the five senses, particularly the fifth sense, "touch". The event took about one-and-a-half months to organise and was B.U.G. Studio's first major assignment of the year. Half a dozen B.U.G. staff were involved on the management side, with a crew of about 100. When guests arrived at the venue they were ushered into a mirror-covered entrance room with a single dancer but no music (sight). Guests were then led into the main area where a DJ performed (hearing). Five models then walked into the crowd carrying small tanks with a hose and mouthpiece connection, which emitted the fragrances of the new products (smell). An aqua bar filled with water and featuring a female dancer was then activated, with oysters and other food served (taste). An MC introduced the new products to guests on a main stage, after which models walked into the crowd and applied the new AXE body lotion to guests (touch). A foam party was held before guests were escorted to the car park, where a DJ entertained partygoers until 2am. Mr Apisek said the biggest challenge prior to the event was the lack of time. "Getting everything to production on time was a bit of problem. We had to do the presentation to the agency and then the presentation to the client. There was also a lot of going back and forth from the venue," he says. "That all took about a month, which gave us only about two weeks to get everything finalised - which was pretty tough." On the night itself, Mr Apisek said the biggest hurdle was controlling the guests so they entered the second stage together. "We wrote down the sequence and the timeframe for each sequence, but on the night itself it didn't go according to plan, which we had anticipated," he says. "The guests starting pouring in and it was hard to control. We ended up just playing it by ear. Once we determined we had enough people in the entrance area, we just went ahead with the second sequence." Despite the difficulties, he said everything fell into place in the end. "It worked out really well, we got a lot of positive feedback."