Franchise Fest Online: A roaring success!
The Coconut Creatives’ team had to put their thinking caps on this year, and get those creative juices flowing, for their annual event Franchise Fest, due to Covid-19. On Thursday 23rd July, they took it online, and what a day it was!
Franchise Fest is one of the HOTTEST events in the franchising industry’s calendar. Usually a two-day event, packed full of incredible speakers, workshops, networking and breakout sessions tailored specifically to franchisors, followed by an evening of entertainment, dancing and fun. However, this year, they had to be innovative in the way they put on the event, due to the Coronavirus outbreak. The Coconut Creatives team took the event online and absolutely rocked it!
Kicking off the festival were the students of Razzamataz Medway, belting a Dear Evan Hansen/The Greatest Showman “mashup” and not leaving a dry eye in the house. The day was packed with wonderful speakers. There was so much content to choose from, with talks from Coconut Creatives’ Adam Lovelock, CEO of the bfa Pip Wilkins and international guests such as Chair of the IFA and FASTSIGNS CEO Catherine Monson, founder of the Franchise Relationships Institute Greg Nathan and President of the International Franchise Professionals Group Red Boswell. There were also fantastic “breakout sessions”, which gave you the opportunity to dip in and out of what you fancied (a bit like the mystery tents at your standard festival!) Taking to the stage for these were Suzie McCafferty, Henry Ziff and Matt O’Neil, amongst so many others. A fantastic line-up of talented, inspirational guests presenting to an audience of 100+ (close to an audience at Glastonbury, right?!)
After the craziness of the day (meticulously run by Adam Lovelock, Sean Goldsmith and Mark Harman) it was time to sit back, relax, grab a drink and watch some live music! Starting the evening with a bang was Coconut Creatives’ very own Laura Budd, followed by Jazz Mino, Echotape and Keith Gerson… phew!
“Wow, what a day,” said Coconut Creatives Head of Digital Marketing and festival aficionado Adam Lovelock, “the team really pulled this one out of the bag. It’s been amazing to hear from speakers all over the world and to be able to interact with everyone on such a personal level, without physically being together. Franchise Fest is always one of the most popular events of the year, and this was no exception… we can’t wait to see you all, in person, next year for an even bigger and better event!”
It’s safe to say Franchise Fest 2020 Online was a roaring success, and had there been a physical audience, would have been met with rapturous applause and a standing ovation! If you’re reading this with a serious case of #FOMO, have no fear… they’ll be back next year! Franchise Fest 2020? Completed it.