Virtual Picnic Party: All of the Fun Without the Ants or the Sunburns!
United by a vision to continue connecting audiences while delivering engaging—and delicious!—events, Kennedy Events has teamed up with Foxtail Catering and Events to create a customized culinary and virtual party experience. KE Senior Producer and Creative Director Marianne Jackson recently sat down with Foxtail’s Business Development Manager Patrick Hamilton to chat about the Picnic Party Packages. It’s all the summer party fun without the ants and the sunburns!
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Marianne Jackson: Hi, Patrick. I’m so excited to see you today.
Patrick Hamilton: Hey, Marianne. Great to see you as always.
Marianne: So you are one of my very favorite people to work with. I definitely have a big crush on Foxtail catering. And we have such a great rapport I think that we’ve heard clients even say that, so that’s always fun feedback to get.
Patrick: Love hearing that and I am equally a fanboy of Kennedy. And anytime we can, we make efforts to work together and continue to do some awesome collaborative projects.
Marianne: We're here today to talk about our summer virtual picnic concept, it's a really exciting new collaboration that we're doing together. And it stems from the importance of companies, pretty much celebrating their teams, right? And we see that typically through holiday parties, which we did a lot of virtual holiday parties and we're going to move that into summer picnics because why not? Right?
Patrick: Yeah. I mean, I think holiday parties have always been a huge staple of events here in the Bay Area, but picnics have been too because we have that great Indian summer that comes in September and just it's incredible around here. Creating a shared, tangible experience through food and beverage has a really amazing ROI for the workplace and morale and for all of those colleagues when you pull it out of the office and it's not a happy hour there. So with this picnic experience, it's our goal to not only engage those teams who could meet together or who used to meet together, but for that dispersed workforce, that's like the really important part of that.
Marianne: Definitely. I think it's even more important than ever to have that moment of reconnection and unity amongst colleagues.
Patrick: Absolutely.
Marianne: I'm going to start by talking about this web page that we have built. It is a customized web landing page and you essentially think about that as your venue, right? Each of these little flip cards, each one indicates an activity. And it has an embedded Zoom link so that's where all the guests are clicking and that's where they go to hang out and engage with the performer or within a game or a craft. We also conclude prerecorded content, we produce all of that. We provide an AV support team. We source, manage, handle all of the vendors. And so it really is your event venue, right? And what's really awesome is the customization options. And that's kind of where you come in with the customized mailers that are incredible that you guys include.
Patrick: A huge part of our offering and about any virtual event that's happening right now is aesthetics and branding because people eat with their eyes first and foremost. So from the logo on the outside to the crinkle paper fill, to the custom note on the inside, all these elements help bring that event to life for your remote-engaged employees. As far as our end goes for the food, we've come up with some really killer barbecue menus with the goal being to create something that's exciting and approachable, something that we can create a fully vegan and gluten-free, and inherently vegetarian barbecue kit for.
And then also still keeping it open to customization, whether there's a theme that people want to go for, whether there are some specific items that are company-centric or that everybody should have because we've done it in years past, all the way over to make sure that everybody's experience is top-notch. I think our program and the package that we have together are really stellar. And another big thing is just our clients being able to utilize our combined experience in the shipping and shipping management world in the last year is massive because we've learned what it takes to make that work. And we've really focused on that as a huge part of our service. It's one thing to make a beautiful box, but the other side is to make sure it gets to everybody in time.
Marianne: Right.
Patrick: Marianne, you mentioned those prerecorded videos and I have always loved doing those whether having one of our small vendors come on and talk about the processes behind the product that we've co-packed or included in their kit or somebody from our culinary team, helping create an experience with your clients so that we are really offering an enhancement of that mailer and kind of what's going on with that mailer.
Marianne: I mean, the other great thing is it's not just food and beverage that you're shipping out, you send gifts, you include branded swag. You also include any of the activity elements. So, for instance, I know we did one project together, we did a terrarium. We had somebody from a greenhouse showing how to build a terrarium and engaging with guests. And you included these little glass globes and air plants and the pebbles so all of that kind of stuff can be added into that mailer. And I got to tell you, unpacking, opening one of those mailers, it's branded and you're opening going through the crinkle paper and all of the boxes, it's a feel-good experience, it really is.
Patrick: I totally agree. And I think doing things that are meaningful rather than getting stuff is something that Kennedy [Events] and Foxtail have kind of always pushed for. Our box is a vessel for the event, so making sure that we have one cohesive aesthetic experience and mailer that is inclusive of the entire event in its scope.
Marianne: Exactly. And I know we just talked about the kind of event venue of that webpage, this mailer, which is essentially your catering and activity engagement, right? The logistics are kind of mind-blowing of everything that goes into this. But I personally know that my team and your team have the chops to make this sort of thing happen just alone with the collaborations that we've done in the past with our huge live events, right?
Patrick: Yeah, all that live event experience like the gala for bridge housing, that was just a huge one. Some of my biggest events that I've ever done have been with Kennedy Events. So knowing that you guys know how to do that and being one of our partners that is beyond reproach, I feel this partnership has really moved easily into this whole fulfillment and box program. But, man, that was an event.
Marianne: That one. And then what about the big one at Peer 27, which was honestly our last live event, that multi-day conference where I came to you. And I was like, "Okay, I need ice slush that is in the company logo, but it needs to be up-lit with green and it needs to have customized shots going through it." And you're like, "Yeah, yeah, no problem." As we transition back into live events, which I'm really eager to go there, I think the first step is going to be hybrid, right? And that means we're going to have a live element with smaller groups, possibly more local team members. And then it's great to still have that virtual component for people that aren't quite comfortable or ready yet to be meeting in person, it still allows them to be participating.
Patrick: Yeah. And that's comfort, it's the ease of travel and it's the reality that the majority of our clients now have dispersed workforces. There was an exodus from the Bay Area, there's a crazy housing market. This is a great way to engage your entire team whether that's in California or domestically, or then figuring it out internationally, multinational companies being able to utilize this program as a way to bring teams together and just avoid all that travel.
Marianne: I personally love that you and I are always looking for schemes and ways to collaborate together as kind of, like I said, our teams are harmonious.
Patrick: That's what makes it so easy for our clients, that's what makes it so simple for people to work with us. All of these deliverables, all of these elements that we've been talking about like address collection, shipping, custom design, we're there to do that footwork for our clients and then present these opportunities and present the confirmations and the ideas for them to confirm. So just really minimizing that lift, I think is a huge part of our offering too.
Marianne: I'm a fan of you. I'm a fan of Foxtail Catering. Thank you so much for talking with me today.
Patrick: Marianne, always a pleasure. I always look forward to any of our calls or events or the giant RFPs you send us. And I am sure we will talk tomorrow?
Marianne: Probably.
Patrick: Cool.
Marianne: Bye.
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