A convention, exhibition, trade fair, gala dinner and party: five events all rolled into one at Barcelona’s CCIB.
This year, the German supermarket chain Lidl is celebrating its 20th anniversary in Spain. To this end, the brand commissioned Eventisimo to handle the design and full production of a major event reflecting the company’s most important milestones over the last two decades, in addition to its main strategies for the future. The event was held at the Barcelona’s International Convention Centre on 9 April.
The 1,500 attendees included all the staff from the company’s headquarters, regional delegations and warehouses, as well as the managers of the 531 supermarkets that Lidl has in Spain. As was to be expected, they were the real protagonists of this 15-hour long event, presented by Berta Collado and with the participation of the monologist Leo Harlem and the pop group Efecto Pasillo.
The event was singular because of its size. Barcelona’s Forum Auditorium hosted the opening sessions in the morning and the afternoon convention. A giant 13m screen, the biggest of its kind in Spain, was installed behind the stage. This was used for premiering CAMINA, a documentary taking a look back on Lidl’s 20 years in Spain. The screen was also used as a spectacular backdrop for the presentations delivered by the company’s national executives, including its CEO, Michael Aranda, featuring a wide range of audiovisual effects and 3D computer animation. Eventisimo’s audiovisual design and animation department handled the design and production of all the presentations.
The screening of the documentary CAMINA
Lidl was very keen to emphasize two messages to the attendees: the national and natural origin of its new lines of fresh produce. To this end, an 8,000sqm market was installed at CCIB. Surrounded by extras playing the roles of the characters normally to be found in a traditional market, the attendees were treated to a finger-food lunch prepared with the produce exhibited in seven theme halls. In each of the halls, a number well-known chefs and sommeliers, captained by Sergi Arola, gave master classes and show cooking demonstrations. The seven theme halls – fruit and vegetables, wine merchant, butcher, fish monger, delicatessen, baker and cosmetics – featured giant photographic murals and the staging revolved around the produce on show. Eventisimo’s construction and assembly department handled the construction of the market and the halls.
The market
Furthermore, the agency’s museum department designed a 1,500sqm exhibition on Lidl’s history in Spain featuring the changes that have been introduced into the chain’s supermarkets over the years. The exhibits included large-format photos and architectural elements, and even cabinets, trolleys, cash registers and employees’ uniforms.
The day ended with a gala dinner including an awards ceremony for long-standing employees, a Custo Barcelona fashion show and the performance of the monologist Leo Harlem. After dinner, the market’s central square was converted into a dance floor where the attendees let their hair down to the rhythm of Efecto Pasillo.
