You’re the Piano Man

By Eric Rozenberg, CMM, CMP

It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday. The regular crowd shuffles in, there are 70,000 thousands people singing next to me… What I experienced in March 2002 at New York’s Madison Square Garden is happening again tonight, July 29, here in Croke Park Dublin (Ireland). Billy Joel and his musicians have suddenly stopped their performance, and the entire crowd continues to sing Piano Man a cappella. Those who have already been to a Billy Joel concert know what I’m talking about. It’s a remarkable experience, a unique feeling that will remain in my memory forever.

I guess psychologists could scientifically explain the process, but the reality is that music induces feelings in most human beings and helps solidify experiences in our brains. That’s why it’s an essential part of success in the implementation of a sales meeting or incentive travel.

In 1998, we were running an incentive campaign for a corporate client. Zimbabwe was the selected destination. Throughout the teasing campaign, we used a traditional song from Zimbabwe, Sho Sho Lo Sah. During the program we played it several times, and during the gala dinner we invited a children’s choir to perform the song live. We used the song again in after-sales communications and it became so well ingrained in our minds that to this day, when we hear the song, we relate it immediately to that incentive campaign.

A few months ago we were planning a sales meeting for another corporate client. In this particular case, the program only consisted of plenary and breakout sessions with the exception of one themed evening. We used a song that was receiving heavy radio play at the time. From the opening video through the speaker’s jingle we used the song repeatedly. Musicians played the song at the end of the dinner, and the DJs started the party with it, even mixing in some extracts of the CEO’s speech on the dance floor. Guess what happened the following weeks when sales people heard that song on the radio?

P.S. Anyone wishing to organize a corporate meeting with Billy Joel as guest singer, please contact me immediately.

Eric Rozenberg, CMM, CMP, is president of Ince & Tive, a Brussels, Belgium-based company consulting corporate clients. Former president of the MPI European Council, Rozenberg currently serves on MPI’s Board of Directors. He may be reached at eric@inceandtive.com.