NESTLÉ CONFECTIONERY CONFERENCE

Written By Cat

BRINGING ‘CREATING LITTLE SMILES’ TO LIFE THROUGH EXPERIENCE.

Client: Nestlé

Audience:  300 x Internal confectionery teams & stakeholders

Location: York Racecourse

Services: Creative Direction · Experience Design · Conference Delivery

THE CHALLENGE

Nestlé needed to create a distinctive identity and experience for their 2024 Confectionery Conference without creating a new brand.

The conference had to remain true to Nestlé’s recently launched “Creating Little Smiles” platform, while still feeling fresh, energising, and meaningful for internal teams. 

The challenge was to translate a well-established brand idea into a live experience that genuinely sparked connection, joy, and participation elevating both the main plenary and the wider conference environment.

THE EXPERIENCE

Our Approach

We approached the conference as a playful but considered journey inspired by the joy of traditional sweet shops, brought to life through modern design and interactive experiences.

Rather than introducing a new identity, we built a flexible visual language and set of activations that extended the “Creating Little Smiles” story across the entire delegate journey.

Designing with Intent

Working within tight budget parameters, our focus was on high-impact, low-intervention design. Rather than relying on heavy scenic builds, we used low-adhesive graphic clings and modular assets to define spaces, guide movement, and bring the brand to life throughout the venue. This light-touch approach allowed us to transform large, neutral areas quickly and cost-effectively creating clear moments of identity, energy, and navigation without unnecessary spend or waste.

Arrival & First Impressions

From the moment guests arrived, branded entrance features, registration moments, and wayfinding established a warm, welcoming tone signalling that this was a conference built around people, not just content.

A Space Designed for Connection

Throughout the venue, we designed a series of experiential zones that encouraged interaction, reflection, and collaboration:

  • Connection Bingo & Community Walls to spark conversations across teams

  • Little Smiles Challenges, capturing small actions that contribute to a positive culture

  • Smiles of Appreciation, allowing colleagues to recognise and thank one another

  • ‘Misses That Made Us’, reframing failure as learning through shared stories

  • Playful confectionery-inspired games and prompts, using familiar brands in unexpected ways

Each activation was designed to be intuitive, inclusive, and genuinely enjoyable & never forced.

Plenary & Content Environment

The main conference space was dressed with bold but on-brand scenic elements, drawing on the visual language of sweet shops and confectionery cues while remaining clean, professional, and scalable for screen content.

The result was an environment that supported focus when needed and joy where it mattered.

THE IMPACT

  • A cohesive, end-to-end conference experience for 300 attendees

  • Strong engagement across both plenary and activation spaces

  • Renewed excitement around a long-standing internal event

  • Clear alignment to Nestlé’s “Creating Little Smiles” platform

CLIENT FEEBACK

“We teamed up with Planit to bring our flagship Nestlé Confectionery Conference to life, welcoming up to 300 colleagues for a truly memorable experience. Planit designed a cohesive event experience, weaving together a consistent thread across pop-up activations and the main plenary.

The feedback was outstanding, with some attendees saying it was the best Nestlé event they’d attended in over 20 years! Special mention to their ‘spreadsheet-ness’ — the attention to detail was next level. We’d definitely recommend working with Planit.”

Cat
Previous

ZEBOX UK LAUNCH