1. Safety first
When Jägermeister planned their pool party, they wanted to spice things up with some smoke on the dance floor. With the help of liquid nitrogen they put their plan into action, but it didn’t turn out quite as they had intended. When liquid nitrogen comes into contact with chlorine it becomes nitrogen gas – which resulted in all the attendees being stuck in a thick cloud of liquid nitrogen. The result was that nine people had to be taken to hospital, one of whom went into a coma.
The lesson? Don’t skimp on the time given to safety work in event planning and make sure you have good liability insurance.
2. Choose the date with care
When Puma was going to launch its new Italy shirt before the 2014 FIFA World Cup, things did not quite turn out as they had planned. They promoted the news in large, shrine-like displays in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago, using the hashtag #StartBelieving. The only problem was that Puma had chosen Ash Wednesday as the date for the release of the shirt, which drove a segment of religious football fans mad. Puma was accused of hijacking an important religious day for commercial purposes and got a big negative response.
The lesson? Make sure that you do not choose a date where a special occasion may overlap your event. Also consider the risks of your event causing irritation, disappointment or anger in other ways.
3. Keep an eye on the weather!
In 2005, Snapple wanted do something that would attract attention and create brand awareness by breaking a world record. They wanted to build an almost 8 metre high ice lolly in the middle of Times Square in New York. And it certainly gave Snapple both attention and brand awareness, but perhaps not in the way they had planned.
When it was decided to erect the giant ice sculpture on a hot summer day in June, the temperature was 26C. Nobody was particularly surprised that this big ice lolly immediately began to melt, which ended in the fire brigade being called in to close off streets In Manhattan that were being flooded by a river of kiwi and strawberry flavoured Snapple.
The lesson? If you want to organise an outdoor event, make sure to keep an eye on the weather.
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