An Immersive Luxury Experience in Kyoto
A luxury brand welcomed valued guests from Japan and abroad to Kyoto for an exclusive series of business meetings and dinner experiences. Set against the rich cultural backdrop of the city, the program brought together the brand’s dedication to craftsmanship, elegance, and personalized storytelling with the beauty of Japanese tradition.
At a gala dinner introducing a watch collection, a live sketch artist created portraits of each guest on-site, offering them as bespoke gifts. The experience allowed VIP guests to speak directly with the illustrator as their portraits came to life, creating an intimate and highly personalized moment that reflected the brand’s world of precision and artistry.
For the welcome dinner, the venue was transformed into an experiential space inspired by Japanese festival culture. In response to shifting weather conditions, traditional Japanese umbrellas were incorporated into the venue design and illuminated to create a photogenic setting filled with cultural atmosphere. Guests enjoyed iconic Japanese foods including yakitori, takoyaki, and matcha-based sweets, served from festival-style food stations. Live cooking elements added energy and interaction, allowing guests to enjoy the process of each dish being prepared while connecting with one another in a lively, festive environment.
The highlight of the program was a gala dinner held in a historic wooden venue in Kyoto. A cocktail area was designed to make the most of the surrounding scenery, where guests enjoyed welcome champagne as the landscape was bathed in the colors of sunset.
The venue design expressed refined Japanese beauty through flooring inspired by tatami and wood, warm lantern lighting, and elegant floral arrangements with a Japanese sensibility. A photo call inspired by the brand’s world and traditional Japanese architectural elements offered guests the opportunity to capture memorable moments with a professional photographer. Special menus decorated with mizuhiki, a traditionalJapanese craft, added a further layer of sophistication to the table setting.
During the dinner, the chef presented a live kitchen performance, explaining the dishes and ingredients on stage to deepen guests’ appreciation of the culinary experience. The evening also featured a live sumi-e ink painting performance by an artist. As the dinner progressed, the artwork gradually came to completion, creating an immersive sense of anticipation throughout the venue. Featuring motifs inspired by Japan’s symbolic natural beauty, the final piece expressed the strength and delicacy of traditional Japanese art.
By weaving together Kyoto’s historical setting, Japanese cultural traditions, live artistry, and fine dining, the experience created a memorable expression of the luxury brand’s world and delivered a one-of-a-kind moment for every guest.
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
