Media agency Initiative last week challenged the idea of a national conference with CultureFest, hosting 203 staff from its Sydney, Perth and Melbourne offices for three days at the Lost Paradise festival location Glenworth Valley on the NSW Central Coast.
Unlike a typical agency conference, with business updates and financial chats, Initiative staff enjoyed health and wellness activities, inspirational talks, team building activities and life memories, with a bush doof to round out the final night.
Overview of the accommodation, all staff slept in glamping tents.
Chris Colter, chief strategy and product officer at Initiative, told AdNews that the agency has built such a good model of keeping staff informed about the business that CultureFest was purely focused on the people.
"Coming together, inspiring each other, meeting new people from different markets and fostering that culture of high performance," Colter said.
"We wanted to do an anti-corporate conference and make something our people would talk to their friends and family about - we definitely delivered."
Sam Geer, managing director at Initiative, told AdNews that the agency wanted to give people the opportunity to reset and encourage staff to take time away from emails and presentations.
"We could have booked a conference centre or somewhere in the Blue Mountains, instead we had big ambitions and made our conference feel like a festival - we even created a bill poster like the ones for Coachella announcing acts."
Billposter for CultureFest.
"It was very exemplary of us as an agency - we ask our people to be the best and do things that are hard. But to have that high performance culture it's not easy, so this was our opportunity to demonstrate exactly what we're talking about," Geer said.
"We did things that were hard - like bump in 120 glamping tents, set up a bunch of showers and toilets, we installed a floor inside of a huge marquee and we essentially had a bush doof one night with proper stages, DJs, lights, food trucks and even a drone show."
CultureFest map.
Glamping tents.
Food trucks.
There was a festival vibe even before arriving to Glenworth Valley - staff were driven up in branded buses, Sydney staff met the staff flying in from Melbourne and Perth at the airport with huge welcome posters and branded large-format billboards along the highway advertised where the staff was going.
"We also communicated really clearly to partners and clients that these three days were for us to regenerate and reset the agency," Geer said.
Airport welcome for agency staff flying in.
Billboard on the highway.
On day one, the agency held a mini Olympics to get people's dopamine and endorphins up. Later on, the first night had trivia hosted by a local radio station.
Staff during the mini Olympics.
The second day saw majority of the content which was hosted in Glenworth Valley's conference centre. Among the inspiring talks, leadership shared the agency’s new global positioning called fame and flow.
"We had Jack Riewoldt, one of the greatest AFL players to lead a fireside chat with Michelle Kerrin an indigenous elder from the Northern Territory named Michelle Kerrin about what the referendum means to them," Geer said.
Kerrin then created a piece of indigenous artwork to immortalise the agency’s experience, it was then copied and given to every single employee.
Staff during a group session.
"We balanced the content with wellness activities, including yoga, meditation, breathing work, we had a Wim Hof breathing expert, whoever was up for it could take an ice bath, we did long bush walks hosted by Dr. Norman Swan," Geer said.
Staff during the breathe work activity.
Staff doing yoga.
The final night was the bush doof which had everyone get into costume adhering to the theme of famous af in line with the agency’s new positioning of fame and flow. Initiative also surprised staff with a drone show and the world's biggest bonfire to dance the night away.
Agency staff in theme.
Drone show.
Drone show.
One week after CultureFest, the leadership team is still receiving dozens of thank you emails from staff pouring their hearts out because many people in this industry have never experienced something like this.
"It reminds us how important it is to do this stuff, how much it means to the people and how it hasn't been done enough in recent years," Geer said.
"The only issue we're having right now is people whose ears are still ringing because the sound of the party was so good."
Chris Colter and Sam Geer.
But how much did CultureFest cost?
"It costs a lot," Geer said.
"Obviously that's why we only do it once every four years, we have also been saving for a long time as the event has been postponed a few times due to Covid lockdowns.
"We get help with partners as well, with relevant people sponsoring different elements of the day. We're also really good at doing things internally - for example 85% of the content and sessions were actually being run by us so we didn't have to get external people in.
Colter said they needed to be unashamed about the fact that the agency explicitly spent a lot of money on the event because the leadership team wanted to make a statement that they are fostering the culture they want to create.
"CultureFest is an investment in our people, our people are high performers and they deserve high reward," Colter said.
"There's so many agencies releasing policy after policy that doesn't actually cost the agency or business anything - for us we see through that bullshit," Geer said.
"A true commitment to a people purpose is through sacrifice. We invest in our people in dollars, not just nice fluffy policy."
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