For the launch of the New MINI Countryman, MINI hosted a press event at the Melissourgou tower. ZZ Dot was responsible for the design and implementation of the event.
At the time I hosted this event, I had been at ZZ Dot — the first agency I worked for — for about six months. I had familiarized myself with the BMW and MINI brands but hadn’t yet hosted an event of this scale.
The brief included finding a suitable date and location, developing a two-day event plan, designing invitations, arranging catering, and ensuring the vehicles were consistently cleaned for the test drive sessions.
Finding the venue was easy; getting people there was the real challenge. The Melisorgos Estate is located about an hour outside the centre of Athens, which meant meticulous coordination with suppliers was essential — there was no room for anything to be forgotten.
The planning involved selecting a suitable area within the estate for the press conference, mapping out the test-drive routes, negotiating the placement of the vehicles, and, of course, arranging the catering menu.
One thing I took away from hosting this project is that journalists are a very particular kind of fruit — something everyone at work knew except me. I quickly learned a few important lessons about working with them:
They move slow: At least the Greek ones do. You make them drive an hour out to the countryside, you’re going to wait for them to drink their coffee. Plan accordingly.
Feed them well: The catering was finished, twice. I was in disbelief when I found out its common for journalists to bring tupperware to these types of events. If there’s 20 of them, get food for at least 25.
Take good photos: Sure they’re going to take their own ones, but so should you. Make sure you send them the photos before they write the articles.
I couldn’t have imagined my first Press event having gone better. Cars were clean, journalists were fed, articles were written, and the client was happy. I later learnt that the ROI was exceptional.
