A three-day pre-wedding party for an Indian couple turned St. Moritz on its head at the end of February. 850 guests from India and numerous other countries came to celebrate for three days and get to know St. Moritz and winter sports. The extraordinary event received worldwide media attention: a coordinated communication campaign was running in the background.
Although the three-day celebration was big, it had a private character. For this reason, no media work was originally planned by the organizers. What's more: All participants had committed themselves to secrecy and did not provide the local media with any information about the event and its guests. At first, the festival was therefore only held in the media in India. Gradually, however, more and more local, Swiss and foreign media came to the topic and generated considerable media pressure. In addition, residents of one of the festival areas were sometimes critical, as they had been poorly informed in advance.
“The mood threatened to change for a while,” states community president Christian Jott Jenny looking back. “Something had to happen.”
Jenny responded immediately: He solicited understanding and support in one-on-one meetings. “There were probably a few dozen phone calls and not all were easy,” explains Jenny. “But if you want to pick people up, you just have to approach them personally, show understanding and explain yourself.”
The organizers also responded promptly and brought in St. Moritz media specialist Christian Gartmann as spokesperson for the event. Gartmann now coordinated all media inquiries for the organizers, the community and tourism in the town as well as information work for affected residents. A media conference with hoteliers, tourism professionals and the community provided editorial offices with facts and background information and made the organization tangible.
Global media footprint
The joint effort was successful: residents and guests of St. Moritz backed the initially controversial event. “Issue management is teamwork,” summarizes Christian Gartmann. “Organizers, the community, tourism and hotels defined the important messages together and then worked hand in hand. That's how it worked.”
With the excitement just before the party, the atmosphere in the valley also rose: When the 850 guests arrived, St. Moritz turned on its head. “St. Moritz has always stood for extravagant occasions,” says Gerhard Walter, CEO of Engadin St. Moritz Tourism. “This pre-wedding party has earned an entry in the list of the most extraordinary occasions. It delighted international guests and had a global footprint on editorial and social media. The one and a half years of preparation paid off!”
After the festivities have ended, the municipality will conduct a detailed debriefing with all parties involved. “This festival was certainly not an everyday occasion. The community, local service providers and organizers were heavily challenged. It is now time to learn from this for upcoming events,” summarizes Mayor Jenny.
Jenny is satisfied with the joint issue management: “It is a stroke of luck that we have a media specialist with a lot of crisis experience in the village. In addition, everyone pulled together and the locals are generally positive about events.” However, Jenny limits: “It would be better if we had never had an issue at all. The dialogue before the event should have been significantly better.”
With the departure of the Indian guests, peace returned to St. Moritz; the valley focuses on the Engadin ski marathon as the highlight of late winter. “The guests at the two events couldn't be more different,” smiles Christian Gartmann, who is also the press officer for the Engadin Ski Marathon. “But that's just the way Engadin is. We are the valley of contrasts.”
Three days of joie de vivre for 850 guests
In great weather, the party enjoyed St. Moritz to the fullest for three days. The “Winter Wonderland”, a fantasy world with Ferris wheel, carousel and ice rink under a glass dome, was set up on the lakeside. On the frozen Lake St. Moritz, guests could see and try out winter sports for themselves, and many of them could also be seen on the slopes, trails and trails around St. Moritz.
“The guests spent a unique day on the lake,” Lupo Wolf from the St. Moritz “All Activities Agency” told the “Engadiner Post.” He had brought over 40 horses and sled dogs to the lake and demonstrated winter sports to the guests together with numerous locals. Quite a few were probably in the snow for the first time. They were delighted.
“St. Moritz was more beautiful than a dream!”
On three evenings, guests were entertained at lavish parties. A drone ballet in the black Engadin night sky and a huge fireworks display over the lake delighted not only the bridal couple's guests, but also the locals and other guests of the village. The hosts made the locals particularly happy by opening the “Winter Wonderland” for one evening. 250 guests, many of them children, enjoyed themselves at the attractions and enjoyed offered food, sweets and drinks.
Chris Martin, frontman of the band “Coldplay”, and the duo “The Chainsmokers” then appeared at the “Eisball” last evening.
Chris Martin also clearly liked it in St. Moritz: he was inspired by the celebrations and immediately performed a song written especially for the evening to the bridal couple and their guests about the big party in St. Moritz on the piano. The members of the family are loyal regular guests of St. Moritz and wanted to introduce their friends to the most beautiful high valley in the Alps in a three-day festival. Your guests were visibly delighted: hundreds of posts on social networks transported pictures and films from St. Moritz to India and around the world.
“St. Moritz was more beautiful than a dream!” , the groom Akash Ambani called out to his 850 guests on the last evening of the pre-wedding party.
Keyword: Issue Management
“Issues” are topics and demands that come to the management of an organization from within or without and which can develop into a problem and potentially into a crisis. Issue management is about identifying such issues early on and responding accordingly. In this way, problems can be resolved quickly and crises prevented.