Mission:

Academic Work is a recruitment and staffing company focusing on students and academics building their careers. Every five years, they gather all their employees from Europe with the aim of strengthening the bonds between offices and building, reinforcing, and spreading the company's corporate culture. With young, driven, and successful employees, a unique corporate culture is fundamental for creating loyalty and long-term relationships both internally and with clients. The vision was to create a 25th Anniversary celebration for 700 people from different European countries, with experiences that bring Academic Work's values to life in an authentic and unexpected way, while also creating Instagram moments.

Solution:

We created an anniversary trip to a completely unique location on Earth – Heartbeat Resort. The concept of Heartbeat is a fusion of the values Show Heart, Beat Yesterday, and Share Energy – representing what is most important about Academic Work, that it comes from the heart and that there is a pulse running through the relationships. The relationships internally, externally, and with their suppliers. The concept was divided into more than 10 sub-brands such as Heartbeat Radio, Heartbeat Resort, Heartbeat Water, and a self-produced song "Heartbeat Anthem" released on Spotify during the event (Fire into Gold). It became a journey with many wow factors! The campaign itself started 6 months earlier with personal greetings, podcasts, apps, and the launch of the radio station Heartbeat Radio where the Heartbeat concept was established by gradually increasing the pulse before departure.

Result:

With the Heartbeat concept, a 25th anniversary was created entirely based on the target audience, clearly manifesting the company's culture and values, which continue to resonate with the employees. To achieve that goal, we needed to emotionally engage the target audience. With a young, driven, well-traveled, and often hard-to-impress audience, we needed to not only provide them with grand moments but also build a flow of these moments throughout the program to constantly surprise and exceed their previous experiences. Through strong experiences in beautiful surroundings with branded settings, we created Instagram moments and visual memories that linger in the mind and on social media. The Heartbeat concept was present from the very beginning down to the smallest detail and all the way to the finish line. The event received a rating of 9.6 on average on a 10-point scale. The best ever in their history.