From competition to collaboration: How our client’s party became the event of the congress

MCI leveraged aligned intentions to remove competition and create a must-attend party, boosting attendance and securing long-term partnerships.

The situation forced us to look at sponsorship opportunities as the way of implementing the needed change to the social programme – the competing parties had become popular, and the client needed to cement the control - this is their conference after all. 

We applied the following strategic thinking - face each hurdle as an opportunity to grow, change and elevate the experience for the guests; disrupt their norm to generate new opportunities. 

We realised that if the organisers of the various parties were all clamouring for the same outcome – a rocking party with great food, drinks, music, and unique experiences with colleagues while attending the national conference – we could leverage this and achieve a clear benefit financially by onboarding the competition. 

Our approach centred around utilizing the renowned venue to enhance the exclusivity of partnerships and create additional value for sponsors. We carefully examined the unique opportunities provided by the venue and devised collaborative sponsorship packages to highlight these ideas. First step: leverage the charm that comes with hosting a live concert in the century old Commodore Ballroom, which for a century has hosted legends of the music industry, from Katy Perry and Lady Gaga to the Pixies, Snoop Dogg, and Franz Ferdinand. 

This alone brought a lot of hype, which we were able to use as a building block to rebrand the 2022 MPC Rocks Party as THE party to be at.  

We then booked one of Canada's favourite rock bands, 54-40, and positioned the event as a take on a Classic Rock party where the delegates were the rock stars, and the venue was their playground. On the night, on-demand customised concert t-shirts and a temporary tattoo bar ensured attendees would go home with the best pictures of their time together. 

We worked closely with industry partners who had hosted spin off parties previously, and offered them first right of refusal on private VIP spaces, meet and greet with the band and various other deliverables that made the pitch too good to refuse, as MPC would take on the contractual risk and the sponsors would ride on the shirt tales of hosting an epic party. 

Record-breaking attendance, high retention and full turn out to the event were achieved, as were corporate partnerships that will be leveraged year on year, drawing on the success of 2022. 

The event was a case study of success that we rolled into 2023 with an elevated level of partnership with two key companies in a bespoke sense to earn their trust. Fast forward to 2024 MPC Cirque Party; these two key sponsors are now sharing more then half of the financial burden to host an even larger, more extravagant event during a revised day and time slot in the programming! They now use this party as their networking event which drives more people to the party and to the conference overall; which is a win-win for the Association and the sponsor partnerships. 

"The team at MCI are professional, always willing to provide valuable recommendations, and always ready to assist with various aspects of the event, which shows their commitment to ensuring its success. Their organisation and readiness leading up to the National Conference contributed to a smooth and successful event and their ... strong and reliable on-site presence, as well as their proactive advocacy for the association and meticulous attention to detail, made a significant impact on the event’s success.” 

– Carla Dorland, Director, Events and Partnerships, Mortage Professionals Canada 

Let's work together! To find out how MCI can elevate your events, please contact your nearest office.