Hilton Woldwide

A Case Study with Hilton Worldwide

Hilton Worldwide's Senior Sales and Revenue EMEA Team gather twice annually to foster and develop relationships. As part of the conference, the team came together for a special team challenge. After Universal Studios in Miami and flying planes in Dubai, Hilton were looking for a memorable, enjoyable and creative team experience in London.

The event organisers sought out a team-building activity that was interactive, challenging and would create relationships. The activity also needed to provide a platform for emotional and intellectual engagement that delegates would remember well after the conference.

Hilton Worldwide liked the idea of a making a short film as a team (The City Academy Film in a Day experience). City Academy worked together with Hilton Worldwide's VP for Sales and Revenue to design an experience that suited that was tailored to specific objectives.

The 70 executives were director-level and above and worked across many departments, including sales, marketing, digital and customer service. Individuals flew into London from the US and over 20 countries in Europe and Africa.

Prior to the event, Hilton divided the group into 10 teams of 7 people in each. The evening of their arrival the executives held a cocktail party at the London Hilton on Park Lane. At this event, City Academy arranged for a special guest speaker (A Cannes Festival Film Director nominee) to set the scene and introduce the group to the following day’s challenge.

On the day each team was allocated:

• 1 Professional film-maker
• 2 Actors
• 10 Production packs (including all the necessary equipment)
• Filming locations
• A genre (eg. Action, Comedy, Thriller): Teams were given a brief to create a film trailer in a specific genre from concept to completion.

Guided by expert film-makers, the groups were required to collaborate within the context of particular roles (e.g. Director, Lighting and Sound Recordist). The groups had creative freedom to direct the actors and the action as they saw fit.

In the evening the groups came together to write credits, reviews and notes to the editing team. Short ‘rushes’ or film-clips were screened and teams were able to share their experiences with one another.

After the event City Academy’s film department edited each film to meet the team’s given brief. As for the release of their films, each month Hilton Worldwide releases a new trailer to remind the team of their shared creative team building experience and relive their time together in London.

“I just wanted to drop you both a note, on behalf of the team, to thank you for an incredible day yesterday The day worked brilliantly – actually exceeded expectations and the team got a real thrill from being ‘on film’ around town together – great event and brilliantly executed.”

Patricia Page-Champion; Senior Vice President; Sales & Revenue Management; Europe, Middle East & Africa; Hilton WorldWide