03rd Feb 2017 by Shannon Peerless

A Sneak Peak Into Our Exclusive Press Event With Lee Kum Kee - 10 Yetis Insight Blog

Last week on Wednesday 25th January, a long and busy planning period gave way to the main event we'd long been organising; an exclusive media event for our client Lee Kum Kee to launch their brand new "Hot Off The Wok" video campaign.

There are 15 videos in total in the series which celebrate authentic Chinese cuisine, all featuring celebrity chef Ching He Huang. Ten of the short clips show Ching behind the scenes with chefs in esteemed restaurants and neighbourhood eateries in Hong Kong, discovering how they use Lee Kum Kee's sauces to create their signature dishes.

Three of the videos focus on some of Ching's favourite recipes and the remaining two uncover the origins and versatility of Soy Sauce and Oyster Sauce, the latter of which was actually invented by Lee Kum Kee in the late 1800s.

So, what did it take to get the event organised and make it a success?

Venue

First of all, we had to select a venue that would be suitable for the event. We decided on The Hospital Club in London's Covent Garden area, a members-only establishment with a super exclusive feel. We hired the club's Screening Room and nearby Bellini Bar to host the event, which worked out perfectly. The Screening Room acted as our private cinema for the screening of the videos and the Bellini Bar was an intimate enough space to keep the exclusive feel.

Our Video Guy Rob Captured Images & Footage On The Night!

Invites

Journalists get inundated with invites to events, so we knew we wanted ours to stand out. Given that the event was all about the launch of a video series, we opted for video brochure invites, which enabled us to show recipients a teaser trailer for the series within the booklet, which housed a small screen. They looked pretty awesome and the media loved them!

We had a shortlist of the media outlets and journalists we ideally hoped could come along to the event and wanted to keep the number at no more than 20 to ensure the exclusive feel of the screening. Initially, we informed them about the event by email and phone in the weeks leading up to the night and then the video brochures were posted out to those who confirmed they'd be attending, or those who were hoping to make it.

Decorations

To kit out the rooms we'd hired at The Hospital Club, we ordered some huge standees (a.k.a cardboard cut-outs) of Lee Kum Kee's bottles and jars of sauces, as well as a 'Hot Off the Wok' roller banner backdrop for the guests to have photos in front of.

Food

Given that the video series is all about Chinese cuisine, we wanted to offer guests at the event the chance to try some of Lee Kum Kee's tasty sauces as they should be; at the heart of some mouth-watering dishes. The canapés we settled on were cooked by the Head Chef at the Hospital Club using Lee Kum Kee's sauces, and we also had some traditional Chinese pastries at the event for the media to try. There were also plenty of complimentary drinks on offer for guests.

Goodie Bags

With any media event, it's best not to send journalists or bloggers away empty handed, so Lee Kum Kee prepared some goodie bags to hand out to the attendees. The bags included some bottles of Lee Kum Kee sauces for them to try out in their own home-cooked dishes, as well as a recipe book and a USB stick which looked like a miniature bottle of Oyster Sauce, which had the press release for the campaign launch on it.

On The Night...

We arrived at The Hospital Club earlier in the day to set everything up ahead of the 6:30pm start. With the drinks on ice and the rooms looking great, all we had to do was wait for the media and bloggers to arrive. As with any press event, there's always the worry that some people might have to drop out, but thankfully everyone who told us they'd be coming did, including titles such as BuzzFeed, Daily Mirror, Reveal, Cover Media and Time Out. The event started in the Bellini Bar, with welcome drinks and a chance to mingle and meet Ching, who was there on the night. At 7pm, everyone headed into the Screening Room to watch three of the videos from the Hot Off The Wok series, as well as hearing more from Lee Kum Kee representatives about the history of the brand. There was a Q&A session after the videos had played, before everyone headed back to the Bellini Bar for canapés and more drinks.

What Next?

We're now working with all of the journalists and bloggers who attended the launch event to ensure they have everything they need to cover the Hot Off the Wok campaign in a way that works for them. The Daily Mirror have already posted a video on that they filmed whilst at the event, which you can view here.

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