Client: Walraven Groep

Brief: When a small, sober, very Dutch family business that has grown during 70 years into a large international systems supplier, and now faces a management change: that is special. So founder Jan decided the transfer of authority to his son Pelle should not go unnoticed.

Concept: A two-part event was envisaged, focussing on respectively business associates, and the company’s own staff. For business associates, after an original invitation on print and in video, tailor-made round-the-clock excursions around the factory involved encounters with the new management and confrontations with innovative products. Trend watcher Rob Creemers gave an insider’s peek into the future, and some top-notch culinary delights were served. Two weeks later, 400 employees gathered in Fort Voordorp in Groenekan for a retrospective into the company’s roots, some words of encouragement from prominent outside speakers and an impressive display of photographical history. The serious part soon made way for a spectacular party, at the end of which Jan and his wife were passionately waved into retirement, in true family fashion.

How happy was Walraven Groep? “This was unique, marvellous, unforgettable.”