Virtual Event Deliveries

Mark: Hi, it's Mark from Top Local. We're here with Mark Huggan, Phantom Couriers in Vancouver. One of the 100 fastest growing companies in British Columbia and frankly right across entire nation of Canada growing like crazy, having fun, doing all kinds of cool things. How are you doing Mark? 

Mark H: We're doing great. Hello. 

Mark: So today we're gonna talk about something mass distribution. 

Mark H:

What's that? Okay. So first in the film industry, whenever they have a release date or they, you know, finish a project, they usually send out a gift to all the staff, all the artists, everybody that's in it.

And usually they will we'd have an event like an event space. But with COVID, and the fact that we can't get together now, and can't stay past 10 o'clock, they're doing these virtual things where they're sending out to everybody, all the artists, all the contributors to their residences where they're living and/or working. And they all open them up at the same time on this massive production. 

So they may rent a big space to show it all off and get everybody in together, sort of a like an award or something, but everybody's opening these things up at home. So we've got like gift bags, like the Oscars gift bags. Nobody's going to be in the audience. They're going to be at home now opening the gift bags and they're worth, you know, thousands sometimes. They're great gifts for great artists. And so we do massive distribution. We're doing one right now for 350 artists. And they all want to open it up at the same time.

So, and of course, like the runtime on it is like, I need it by Thursday. It's like, okay, so you gotta be tight. You gotta know what you're doing. And you basically are working from an old mailing list. It has wrong addresses and you have to do a lot of quick corrections and it keeps you on your feet. So they're massive. We're doing one for that. 

We're doing one for a Summit that's coming up. And the same thing. It's going out. Like before COVID, they were going to rent out the, in Abbotsford, the Event Centre there, it was really big. All the people in the Valley were really excited. In fact, one of the keynote speakers was going to be Oprah and it got cashed out and I was like, Oprah in Abbotsford, that's sweet. But anyways, now we're sending all this stuff to the participants and to everybody that bought a ticket to their place. I'm getting them rocked up pretty hard. 

And BC Cancer is sending out a big gift basket thing for their donors. And so, you know, usually they would have galas. So all the galas are going virtual and we're there to help them and get the projects finished. The last mile for the gift baskets. Because it's a big part of the event is getting your swag. And it's excellent advertising for the sponsors. So the banks, all the contributors, all the platinum sponsors, they want to make sure that they're front and center. So they're not going to get wrecked. They have to be presented nicely. You have to do a good job. It's a white glove service for these people because they're spending a lot of money for a good reason. So it's fun. 

Mark: So this is just because of the pandemic right now and the changed world we're in right now, but some of this will continue on, I suspect, after things go back to whatever the new normal is. What do you think? 

Mark H: I mean, pre COVID, we do all the Vancouver Canucks seasons ticket parking passes. Right. Cause you know, people want to get their parking passes. They're everywhere. I mean like Cranbrook sometimes. There's some diehard fans. They're out there. So yeah, before COVID the thing, now it's sort of ramping up to a different thing and probably after, you're right, it's going to stay a semi normal because now they can reach a wider audience.

Not everybody can make it to the event. There's a lot of people with reasons why they won't be able to travel and now they can participate. So I think we're going to see a hybrid in the events world because the events world is a tough, tough business. They're not going to die just because we can't get together.

They're going to reinvent themselves in this very unique way. I'm glad to be part of it. 

Mark: So there you are. If you've got an upcoming event that you're suddenly going virtual and you need stuff delivered anywhere in BC or Alberta, or even Ontario, the guys to call...

Or the world man.

The world even. Phantom Couriers, you can reach them in Vancouver, (604) 899-5447 or across Canada, +1 844-899-5447. They'll get it there. They'll get it done. They'll make sure your clients are all happy. Thanks, Mark.

 Right on. Thank you.