Winner Details:

Award: Best Destination-Based Experiential Incentive Travel Program

Winner: ODS Turkey

Program Name: 2019 Annual Sales Meeting

Destination: Istanbul, Turkey

Client: Anonymous

About the 2019 Annual Sales Meeting:

The 2019 Annual Sales Meeting for the Vietnam chapter of a world-famous French pharmaceutical group took place in Istanbul, Turkey. Over 230 participants qualified from the company’s sales team, mainly consisting of 20 to 35 year olds. Senior management, including the General Manager and the CEO, attended too.

The theme for the 2019 sales meeting was ‘Think Big’ and Istanbul and the Ottoman Empire matched the overall concept as the ideal destination. The specific Ottoman theme was intertwined from the get-go with programme activities geared around the identity of the destination, including history, culture and opulence.

ODS utilised historic and grand venues for all of the social aspects of the programme, with the Adile Sultan Palace being home to the Gala Event, the pinnacle aspect of the programme. Transfers to the Gala dinner were via a stunning Bosporus cruise, with all guests wearing white and red ottoman accessories. They were welcomed by Ottoman Soldiers at the entrance to the Palace and from here they walked along a corridor under the watch of the elite soldiers of the Sultan – the Janissaries – until they reached the large terrace, where the Ottoman Sultan, his harem girls and the Ottoman Military Music Band greeted them. Other local & traditional performances took place & surprised guests during the evening, such as the street vendors in their traditional costumes & stands. The theme of the programme truly came alive through the destination.

Programme Successes:

While there were some initial challenges in relation to visas, through cooperation between tourism authorities, ODS Turkey, the preferred airline (Turkish Airlines), and governmental organisations in both Vietnam and Turkey, all visa applications were granted and it took mere minutes for all 230 guests to pass through passport control.

In the end, the client felt the objectives of the incentive programme were not only achieved, but exceeded. Qualifiers had shown commitment and excellent team spirit throughout the year and this Istanbul program was an incredible reward and recognition for all of their efforts.

Quotation:

“We are meticulous about every project we have the chance to operate on and we love to put our invisible corporate fingerprint on each. Tasteful and detail-oriented months’ of work were done between the client and our ODS Turkey team. Accurate information supplied by the agent about the end client, combined with our rich know-how of the business and destination, produced pure success. We are happy to be informed that our agent strengthened its long standing relationship with the end client as a result of our cooperation. As Buddha said ‘faithfulness is the best relationship”.

Hasan Dinc, Managing Director, ODS Turkey

For further details, please contact: Yasemin Erdem at yerdem@ods.com.tr

About the SITE Crystal Awards Recognition Program:

Since 1980, the annual SITE Crystal Awards Recognition Program has provided industry acclaim for world-class organizations that excel in the design of unique, memorable group travel experiences that deliver measurable benefits for their clients. Today, the awards serve as a benchmark for incentive travel programs and are regarded as the highest honor in the motivational events and incentive travel industry. The Crystal Awards Program is sponsored by IMEX Group, the worldwide exhibitions for incentive travel, meetings and events.

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