(L-R) Charlotte Boutelier and Margaux Vetzel, Managing Directors; Credit: Farvest

Chronicle.lu recently had the opportunity to speak with Charlotte Boutelier and Margaux Vetzel, Co-Managing Directors of Farvest, about their business strategy and how the marketing and events agency reinvented itself in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Charlotte Boutelier and Margaux Vetzel took the reins of Farvest in February 2021, succeeding Kamel Amroune who co-founded the company’s flagship event, ICT Spring, in 2009 and who had served as CEO of Farvest since 2018.

Ms Boutelier and Ms Vetzel had previously served as Head of Marketing and Head of Events, respectively, at Farvest – roles which they continue to serve today in addition to leading the company.

Looking back

Reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic, Charlotte Boutelier said: "It was a strange period and at the same time you had to keep the pace, you had to continue the activity". She continued: "I think we managed quite well with our teams", adding that they switched to a digital chat tool that "enabled [them] to interact as if [they] were face-to-face" – a tool they still use today.

Concerning state financial aid, Margaux Vetzel noted: "As an events agency, we were one of the most affected sectors so we got partial unemployment aid, aid for costs not covered, all the aid schemes possible from which we could benefit. We used partial unemployment as little as possible". During this period, some team members remained on site depending on their tasks. "But we were lucky to be able to benefit [from this aid]. The government helped event agencies a lot". Charlotte Boutelier added: "It was a very hard time for event agencies and marketing agencies generally speaking. We tried to benefit from as many subsidies as we could at that moment. It was really appreciated".

Looking forward

Discussing their vision for Farvest, Charlotte Boutelier noted that their initial objectives had been to help companies maintain visibility and be present on the market despite the constraints of the pandemic. She added that they had been looking for ways to highlight their clients’ projects and initiatives. "It's what we do. We are a business enabler in Luxembourg and we highlight the best practices and projects that the country benefits from throughout many different sectors", she said.

Reflecting on their relatively new leadership roles, Ms Boutelier noted: "One day, we were Head of Marketing and Head of Events and the day after, we had to deal with human resources, accounting, strategies and so on. It was a huge challenge for both of us and we are still navigating through everything".

Margaux Vetzel described the fact that they both retain their previous roles within the company as "a real strength", adding that this "permits us to better understand the teams, to work even more cohesively, to always be in the ‘real’ management [of the company]".

"It was a challenge to take over an events company during COVID", she continued. "[But] it is as exciting as it is challenging because we can put in place ideas that we had for a certain time and change things and now is the time".

Developing solutions

The Co-Managing Directors were proud of the fact that their events could go ahead during the pandemic. "We had to reinvent ourselves every day", explained Charlotte Boutelier. She noted that the team had decided to focus on a few high-quality events during the pandemic, adding that they "had to adapt the tool we wanted to use according to the target of our events".

Even now, the challenge remains as to whether to keep a hybrid format, hold 100% digital events or resume 100% in-person events. It all comes back down to marketing basics, according to Ms Boutelier and Ms Vetzel: the key message of the event, the target of the event and the best way of getting this message to the target. Depending on these questions, the team decides on the format of individual events.

"After the hurricane we went through, the strategy for this year and the years after is really to capitalise on what was successful for Farvest in the last years, develop our international reach and concentrate our efforts on several key events", elaborated Charlotte Boutelier. She added that the company aimed to "integrate" what happened and what they had learned during the past two years and to "optimise resources".

Consequently, Farvest plans to launch a new media platform that brings together its four existing media portals, with additional categories such as healthcare and space. The new website will go live at the end of May 2022 and will include information about all Farvest’s activities.

One of the company's main events is its annual international tech conference ICT Spring, which the team has decided to hold 100% in person in 2022. After two years of the pandemic, Farvest wanted to make a strong comeback "to create the opportunity for professionals to meet again together and particularly to create synergies". The team also opted for a large exhibition area, which requires in-person attendance. "We cannot do a hybrid event if we want to have a successful exhibition area and for exhibitors it's better to meet their client directly", noted Ms Boutelier, adding that this year's ICT Spring was an opportunity to address various hot topics such as the metaverse, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), sovereignty in cloud computing in data for Europe, as well as digitalisation and sustainability.

One big change this year is the venue: Luxexpo The Box in Luxembourg-Kirchberg, which will allow for a bigger edition.  Farvest has also strengthened its links with the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, with Steve Breier (Director of Finance & IT at the Chamber of Commerce) becoming President of the ICT Spring Advisory Board. The Chamber of Commerce is currently helping the company attract an increasing number of delegations from abroad to ICT Spring in Luxembourg. "We have [this] signature event because we really want to promote Luxembourg as a country that is at the forefront of most of the main topics and challenges about which the world is speaking right now", such as data management and sustainability, explained Charlotte Boutelier.

Various delegations are expected to attend ICT Spring 2022, including one from South Korea. For Chinese participants, who are still unable to travel due to COVID-19 restrictions, for example, Farvest has set up an application, with the support of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, through which they can connect with people and watch replays of the conferences. "For ICT Spring, the networking part is very important", noted Ms Boutelier.

Within Farvest, Margaux Vetzel is in charge of event production (tech and logistics), whilst Charlotte Boutelier is responsible for marketing and business strategies. Ms Vetzel noted that her team worked together to create "a real user experience, an experience that people live when they come to the events". The challenge for them during the pandemic was digitalisation: "We realised very quickly that digital has its limits". Looking beyond existing digital tools such as Zoom, they found they needed to create something new. Consequently, they developed a TV show set-up that allowed "real interaction and to optimise the experience for viewers and better get the message across to them".

"We had to change completely the set-up of the event and do it like a TV show, to have several cameras, to have a dynamic visual and make sure that people will stay behind their computer", Ms Boutelier elaborated. "People cannot imagine the enormous work that there is behind the construction of such an event. We were not able to do a physical event but we tried to have a qualitative [event]".

Referring to the solutions developed by Farvest, such as the TV show set-up, she added: "The flexibility that we had at that moment that enabled us to face all the challenges". This was also made possible thanks to the service providers with whom Farvest was working in Luxembourg. "There was a great spirit of solidarity from the speakers, from the government, from the clients we were working with", explained Ms Boutelier, who concluded that the pandemic has shown that: "We are nothing without others and we need to unlock the power of the community".

The next edition of ICT Spring is taking place at Luxexpo The Box on 30 June and 1 July 2022. Other upcoming events organised by Farvest include the Game of Code 36-hour hackathon (28-30 June 2022) and the Healthcare Gala Dinner (1 July 2022), which is back after a two-year hiatus and which serves to reward healthcare and health tech professionals within the framework of ICT Spring. Later in the year, there will be the IT One Gala (8 November 2022), which is taking place during Cybersecurity Week, and the Marketers Gala (also in November).