Incentive and culture: an exceptional marriage

With almost 14,000 listed buildings and sites, around 26,000 listed on the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments, 4,000 museums and some 2,000 festivals, France boasts an exceptional cultural heritage! This is a major factor in attracting tourists from both France and abroad. And that's just as well, because according to the 2008 study carried out by Coach Omnium in collaboration with Bedouk Meeting & Events Media, "76 % of French and foreign companies established in France combine their seminars - sometimes, if not always - with activities external to their work. 64 % opt for sporting leisure activities, 58 % for fun activities and 47 % for cultural moments of discovery or relaxation: guided tours of monuments, gastronomy, activities linked to the history of a company such as, for example, for a pharmaceutical laboratory, the discovery of a medieval garden with its medicinal plants... And then there are also cultural events involving speakers who are experts in a particular field, meetings organised with an artist...". The cookery classes, in particular, are a great success!

Top 5 regions

Who organises events in France? The latest Anaé-Bedouk survey of the market for event communications agencies in France shows that 82 % of operations are commissioned by French clients. In the regional hit parade, the Ile-de-France region comes out on top with a 51 % market share, followed by Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur with 17 %, Aquitaine and the Rhône-Alpes region, each with a 7 % share. Also worth noting is the emergence of Eastern France, thanks to the arrival of the TGV, as confirmed by Laurence Bonnat, director of the Champagne Connection agency: "We're seeing an upsurge in requests, and with good reason: just 45 minutes from Paris, it's completely exotic! What's more, champagne has a very positive image. It's luxury and a pleasure enjoyed by all. What's more, given the current economic climate, companies are refocusing their events on France, and the East of France offers a number of advantages: from Paris, they can organise a one-day event, with budgets that are more than reasonable, especially when compared with those in the French capital. What's more, our region offers a wealth of cultural diversity.

In Reims, walking rallies to discover the city are a great success. The stops, just a few minutes from each other, are generally led by guides dressed in period costume, who retrace the history of the sites in an entertaining way. "This is the case, for example, at the Palais du Tau, the former palace of the Archbishop of Reims. At Fossier's, a small pink shop, participants discover the famous pink biscuits, emblems of Reims, and learn many details, such as that biscuit means 'cooked twice'. The rally is both cultural and fun. The idea is so popular with companies that they don't hesitate to come back to Reims several times," says Laurence Bonnat, adding that "cultural incentives are very much in demand, both in Reims and throughout the region. For example, we organised a rally in the Champagne region for an IT company whose advertising campaign had 'modern nomadism' as its theme. The stages included abseiling down a Champagne cellar, discovering an old-fashioned wine press with a winegrower, and pen-and-ink dictation in a local school with a décor unchanged since 1900, complete with inkwell, dunce's cap and wooden benches... In fact, this activity was the most successful of all!

Louis-Bertrand Jeannerod, Corporate Sales Director at Smartbox, also notes an upsurge in demand for cultural activities in France. "Hence the launch at the end of 2008 of three new themed gift sets: History and Heritage, Cultural Workshops and Art and Culture. At the same time, the booklets that accompany our boxes will gradually include two extra pages devoted to the history and culture of the place where the chosen activity takes place."

Nature, culture and the art of living

In the South-West of France, incentives can be found in the heritage cities of Saint-Émilion and Bordeaux, which have been classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Agencies are offering rallies that include both architectural and wine-related aspects," points out Hélène Fourquet, Director of Bordeaux Gironde Convention Bureau. And since Bordeaux was classified by UNESCO, requests for tours of the city have risen steadily, opening up new historic sites to groups that were previously closed to this principle. Madeleine Marchand, director of the SE-Travel agency, agrees. "A large number of requests relate to wine and gastronomy, as well as the architectural heritage of Bordeaux and Saint-Émilion. For this reason, this autumn we created a programme retracing the history of the region, which is intimately linked to that of the vine. We'll be taking a look at the history of the great estates, discovering the winemaking process, recounting the saga of the great Bordeaux merchants, passing through the Entre-Deux-Rives region and ending up in Saint Émilion. All of this will be punctuated by a variety of activities: an introduction to vineyard and cellar work, tastings, visits to major estates and family-run businesses, anecdotes about the secret of wine... Not forgetting the gala evenings at renowned châteaux!"

In the Centre region, also renowned for its grape varieties and its history, incentives combine culture and nature, as Yann Poulmarc'h, Director of the Blois and Pays de Chambord Convention Bureau, explains. "The region has enormous potential: we live in the cradle of the kings of France, we have some of the most game-filled forests in France and a landscape of vineyards criss-crossed by cycle paths grouped around tours entitled 'les châteaux en vélo'. It's a great combination of history and outdoor activities, just a two-hour drive from Paris.

For Maryam Ingar, Director of Spark Services, an agency focused on the art of living and luxury, "there are so many requests for all forms of French culture, including gastronomy and oenology! For us, events have to get a message across and tell a story of passion or expertise. That's why we combine bringing together small, targeted groups with the transmission of traditional know-how, staged with refinement and originality. For example, cookery classes with Michelin-starred chefs and oenology courses with well-known specialists. Or even meetings with artists in their private studios, or with leading perfumers... In this market, the trend is towards exclusivity and exchanges with a personality from French culture: a singer, a chef, a painter, a jeweller... As a bonus: a willingness to participate, particularly through workshops". Spark Services recently launched the Parcours gourmands, tailor-made epicurean itineraries in France for groups of up to fifty people. "They enable you to discover French gastronomic specialities via villages with a culinary originality, such as Cognac. Depending on the theme chosen by the company, we design the tour, the activities and organise meetings with experts: craftsmen, designers, producers, etc."

At Art en Thèmes, where a large proportion of our customers are executives and board members, "80 % of our sales are generated in Paris," says Carine Barrière Boisselet, the company's director. But we also organise events in the provinces for Parisians! Apart from Paris, Lille is increasingly in demand. As are Bordeaux, Lyon, Toulouse and Brittany. We recently organised an incentive trip to Calvi, in Corsica, which included the privatisation of a top-of-the-range hotel, a polyphonic voice concert in a church, a tour of the town and a boat trip... Whatever the destination, we open up confidential venues and private residences... Our aim is cultural originality and the participation of experts. For example, there may be previews of exhibitions at the Louvre, a discovery tour of La Rochelle on the theme of shipowners, with an overnight stay in an authentic malounière, an exceptional evening at Les Invalides, with a solemn mass by Berlioz in the Church of the Soldiers and a gala dinner in the Soldiers' refectory lit by electric glassware, an intimate lunch at the Delacroix museum in the presence of the curator... Generally speaking, the participants say they are flattered to be received under such conditions and, as a result, the spin-offs for the client are enormous."

Behind the scenes of prestige

It's this sense of privilege that Le Paris also promotes. "We offer incentive groups original themed Parisian itineraries: 'Ancient and Medieval Paris', with a visit to the excavations under the square in front of Notre-Dame, or 'Learned Paris', a tour based on medicine and research... We always have an original thread running through a cultural theme. It could be the royal squares, health through painting or, at the Louvre Museum, a tour of the royal flats... The tours have to be instructive, yet friendly", explains Véronique Reynaud, head of the agency. In terms of Parisian originality, the Art Process agency offers creative concepts based on culture and contemporary creation. For example, the Arts Limousines programme: tailor-made tours in white, black or pink American limousines, led by the agency's art angels, who take participants on a discovery tour of cultural venues: museums, galleries, alternative sites, etc. Purple Beam also offers behind-the-scenes tours of the capital's major cultural institutions, taking groups behind the scenes of sites that are usually inaccessible to the public. As for Minuit Moins 10, this agency specialises in cultural discovery, particularly of prestigious monuments, through adventure games: strategy games, rallies, treasure hunts, murder parties, etc. But be careful, says Catherine Domange Ravinetti, president of the agency Business Travel Communication, "you have to be careful to keep things historically coherent! For example, avoid a cocktail party at the Eiffel Tower coupled with an evening at the Château de Versailles. In Paris, for example, if we're organising something at the Musée d'Orsay, we'll keep to the theme of the Impressionists, with a transfer in an old RATP bus, an evening at the Eiffel Tower and possibly a watercolour painting course. In Bordeaux, it could be a mountain bike ride through the vineyards, with meetings with the owners of famous châteaux and an activity to make your own blend." Above all, it's a question of keeping to the theme with incentives, especially short-term ones, which tend to be themed.