Fusion Productions - Integrating Meetings, Learning & Technology

Organization

The 2004 Breakaway Conference took place in February at Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts, Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Breakaway is the annual sales kick-off meeting (3-day event) for Eastman Kodak's Document Imaging (DI) and Service Divisions under the company’s Commercial Imaging umbrella. Eastman Kodak’s US, Canada and Latin America regional sales force attended along with key channel partners (resellers, distributors, service bureaus, etc.). Kodak products under the Document Imaging include: scanners, microfilm, document preservation systems, and service.

Background

Prior to the Breakaway Conference, Eastman Kodak spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their participation at the AIIM trade show and was not getting much return on this large investment. Fusion’s meeting consultants created a business plan for Eastman Kodak’s Document Imaging team that ultimately convinced management to brand there own customer and channel show. The plan focused on reducing cost and increasing message control.

Fusion created the “Breakaway” theme/brand in 1998. In doing so, Eastman Kodak was not required to create a brand through an outside advertising agency and spend thousands of dollars. Success of the Breakaway Conference has allowed Kodak Document Imaging to spend fewer dollars at AIIM and thus, receive a better ROI and leverage the division’s messages/themes/programs/videos, etc.

Case in point, Kodak budget costs for the 2002 AIIM trade show were 30% lower than budgeted costs in 2001 due to the success of  Breakaway. In addition, Kodak budget costs for the 2003 AIIM trade show came down another 15% than in 2002 (a 45% drop in budgeted costs in just two years).

Challenge

Building Customer Loyalty, Controlling Your Message, Increasing Your ROI

Over the past six years, Fusion worked with Eastman Kodak to save tens of thousands of dollars in both cost savings and cost avoidance. Still, in the past 9-11 world we all live in, Fusion faced the challenge of meeting a company-wide mandate to cut budget or risk termination of the annual conference. In addition to the budget mandate from procurement, the Kodak management team needed a plan that would help them deliver key messages to their channel partner without looking like the world-class event budget was slashed significantly…which it was. Conference design and execution would play a big part in achieving a positive ROI in this event.

Fusion had to face the following issues:

• How do we achieve our goal without hurting the strong brand that we have created over the past five years?
• Can we produce a world-class event on a limited budget?

Solution

Fusion diligently worked with not only the Kodak meeting planner and Document Imaging/Service management team, but also Eastman Kodak’s Worldwide Purchasing. In addition, we leveraged our existing relationships with various suppliers across the country to receive above average discounts on equipment and services. Other cost savings/avoidance included:

• Fusion was able to cut the spending in AV equipment/staging/labor by nearly 55% without sacrificing production value. This occurred because of Fusion’s excellent relationship with the 2004 equipment/staging supplier.
• Fusion was able to negotiate a room décor package for the conference’s final night party. The savings approached 40% of the décor package’s market value.
• One of the key cost avoidance/savings tools that Fusion delivered to Eastman Kodak was the development of the Breakaway conference website which Kodak management and the meeting planner utilized in many ways, including:
  • Marketing
  • Delivering conference content to attendees
  • Online registration (both conference and hotel)
  • Various electronic reports and an admin side of the site that allowed meeting planners to work more efficiently and save countless hours. 
• For the past five years, Fusion developed and devised the framework for web-based surveys (both pre- and post-conference) for Breakaway attendees at no charge. When you factor in the design of the questions, e-mail blast notification, and the architecture of the survey online (hosting, tabulating, electronic reports, etc.) Fusion saved Kodak anywhere between $20-40,000 in cost avoidance. The surveys not only measure the success of the conference but also give the Kodak management team the ability to collaborate with attendees on the content and needs of its channel partners.
• Lastly, Fusion decreased their management fees by nearly 20%. Additionally, Fusion slashed the cost of designing and hosting the conference web site by over 40%.

Results

All of the above actions led to a positive outcome and more specifically proved the value of the meeting planner, Fusion Productions, and the Breakaway Conference in general to Eastman Kodak’s Worldwide Purchasing. Post-conference evaluations yielded the following:

• 99% of attendees surveyed noted that Breakaway 2004 was valuable to them.
• 90% of the attendees surveyed noted that the Kodak management team backed-up their conference theme of “Experience the Magic of Kodak” and that the portfolio of products and services is truly magical.
• 100% of attendees surveyed noted that they would attend Breakaway 2005.

Conclusion

The keys to (1) building customer loyalty, (2) controlling your message, and (3) increasing your ROI is working with purchasing, your internal stakeholders, and the meeting sponsors to achieve their multiple objectives.

Success lies in the importance of never losing site of the bigger picture — which is to achieve the organizations strategic objectives while reducing and controlling spending.

Fusion’s integrated approach (meeting design, website, show direction, supplier chain management, branding, etc.) not only showcased our ability to work with senior stakeholders but also proved our ability to work with procurement managers.

In the end, Fusion helped slash a conference budget from prior the year and yet receive an extremely favorable return on investment from (1) the meeting planner’s, (2) senior stakeholders, (3) procurement’s, and (4) the attendee’s perspective. The overall cost savings in 2004 reached 40% from the prior year. That mark was very encouraging to Eastman Kodak’s Worldwide Purchasing. At the same time, Kodak’s Document Imaging and Worldwide Service managers were thrilled that the design and execution of the event was not sacrificed despite the large budget reduction.