Following the Dubai Rugby 7s, MMI — on of the main event sponsors — has said it received excellent feedback on new F&B elements introduced this year, despite the fact that attendance was down from 2008.
The firm’s events manager Nadia Rasheed commented: “Numbers were slightly down on last year, but the atmosphere this year was fantastic!
“We were delighted with the turnout and the success of the event.”
This year the company — which is responsible for the F&B catering in the public areas, including management of the International Rugby Village — introduced various new F&B element sot keep attendees happy.
“Heineken loves to bring unique experiences to the Rugby Village,” noted Rasheed.
“This year it was Dubai’s first taste of the Heineken Green Space; a luxurious Heineken brand experience where rugby fans could chill out, socialise, dance and enjoy music along with their favourite beer.
“We also introduced the MMI ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ stand in the Rugby Village,” she continued.
“The main objective for this was to build MMI brand recognition and association with event, and communicate key retail messages, such as locations of the 11 MMI stores across Dubai, and introduce our new store at Festival City.”
According to Rasheed, the biggest challenge the firm’s events team faced was logistical.
“As the Eid and National Day holidays were in quick succession just before the event, it meant that we had to make sure that all of our supplier deliveries were delivered well beforehand,” she explained.
“In terms of the logistics of our stock deliveries, we decided to play it safe and deliver half of it before the Eid Holiday.
“This meant sending in eight forty-foot containers to the site one week before the actual event, which we’ve never done before!”
The events team had to work closely with suppliers to ensure they could deliver the goods over this period, said Rasheed.
Over the course of the actual event weekend, the core MMI events team — comprising Rasheed along with marketing and events administrator Samrat Latkar, events executive Tastil Gonzalez, and bar development and training managers Rebecca Sturt and Junaid Malik — was constantly onsite to manage the entire event.
Rasheed noted that she was exceptionally proud of “the way in which every year we find new and innovative ways to make beverage delivery more efficient; whether that’s through drink token design, bar location, bartender training or logistics operation”.
“A lot of these aspects don’t get noticed by the attendee because it’s all back-of-house stuff. But in the end it delivers a queue free environment for people to enjoy the event,” she said.
“We’ve worked extensively on developing systems that will minimise queuing for people who attend this event.
“MMI is also very driven in ensuring that we are actively promoting responsible drinking at all of our events.
“Overall, it was a huge success for MMI and we’re very proud to have been involved in one of the biggest sporting events to be held in Dubai,” she added. “Long may it continue!”
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TOP TIP:
You can exchange any leftover drink tokens from the Rugby 7s after the event for tax-free wines, beers and spirits at the Al Hamra Cellar in Ras Al Khaimah.
Offer valid until December 31, 2009 — check www.mmidubai.com for further details.