Published by Neil ThompsonMeet & Potato brought their creativity, technical production, and audio-visual expertise to Butlin’s, Bognor Regis for Poundland’s annual internal event for 1200+ colleagues that is designed to bring to life the brand strategy ahead of the peak trading season. Butlin’s provided the perfect venue, all accommodation, catering and a dedicated event team.
Poundland is a long-term client of Meet & Potato, and the brand is always looking to improve on the colleague event experience. In 2023, The Greatest Show in Town, inspired by The Greatest Showman movie, was a huge success, complete with a Big Top and a popup Poundland concept store for break-out sessions. Meet & Potato produced supporting video presentations for Poundland’s leadership team, including a Channel 4 ‘Gogglebox’ style review of stores and customer feedback featuring the senior management team on the sofa in their pyjamas. Butlin’s provided the perfect backdrop with onsite catering, numerous venues, a fun fair, and accommodation, enabling the whole team to stay onsite and fully immerse themselves in the event experience.
The plenary was hosted in Studio 36–a highly versatile conference venue with state-of-the-art AV facilities–which was transformed with drapes depicting bespoke Circus Characters. Studio 36 also hosted the Gala Dinner–with the Butlin’s dedicated events team facilitating the quick turnaround from theatre to gala set up in under 1 hour and 40 minutes. This was the first time Studio 36 was used for a gala dinner, and the first time a gala dinner of more than 1,000 was hosted outside the Skyline Pavilion. One top priority event element was a space to build a Poundland store on site. The resort's Reds venue was where the store was built. This was part of the breakout sessions where the delegates could walk around the new concept store for Poundland. Early access to the venue was arranged pre-event so the team could start building and ensuring everything was in working order ready for the delegates to see the new store in all its glory.
Poundland, MD, Austin Cooke, said: “Thank you! Another stellar event and nothing but positive feedback for Meet & Potato and Butlin’s. At Poundland one of our core business values is focusing on our people. We believe their experience at work is as important as our customers’ experience instore. The Greatest Show on Earth enabled all our 1260 delegates to fully immerse themselves in our brand and focus on success for the next year. Meet & Potato and Butlins is a great partnership for corporate events.”
“Working on Poundland’s Greatest Show In Town event was a blast, Butlins Bognor Regis was our obvious venue choice as the big tops were already there! However, as the event built up, we realised Butlins makes the perfect venue for internal corporate events at any of their three resorts as they have all the facilities a business needs to accommodate a large group of people and cater for their needs. The site also means employees don’t need to leave for accommodation or food, so they get a better-quality conference experience. Meet & Potato will support Butlins to diversify into corporate events by working alongside the Butlins’ Conference Team to support and produce high-quality presentations and immersive brand experiences”.
Meet & Potato, CEO / Founder, Jon Kelly
National Sales Manager at Butlin’s Conference and Events, Dan Elliot said: “The Greatest Show in Town with Poundland blew my mind. Butlin’s Bognor Regis was such a good fit for this event for many reasons. Poundland and Meet & Potato did an incredible job using the whole resort to bring their event to life for 1200+ delegates on-site. By having exclusive hire of the venue, they were able to transform the space into what they needed for the event, even turning our Reds Venue into a Poundland shop for delegates to experience. We look forward to working with the Meet & Potato team on many more corporate events.”
