Partner Marketing
Google Accelerate Helicopter Tour
How a Grand Canyon helicopter tour for 40 Google Cloud sales reps generated buzz, personalized follow-up moments, and two closed deals — all before the conference even started.
Year :
2020
Company
DoiT
The Background
Google Accelerate is the annual gathering of Google Cloud's sales teams and partners—10,000 participants, dozens of competing events, and no shortage of partners fighting for the same attention.
Ten thousand people means ten thousand chances to get lost in the noise. Standing out on the conference floor was never going to be enough. In my first weeks at DoiT, the question I asked wasn’t how to compete for attention during the event—it was how to capture it before the chaos even started.
In brainstorming with the sales team, we identified a critical window: the 48 hours before the conference begins when attendees arrive early to settle in. Before the sessions, the noise, and the competing dinners, people are at their most relaxed and accessible.
The Strategy
The plan was to create an unforgettable, exclusive experience that achieved three distinct goals:
Relationship Building: Fast-track deep alignment with the Google Cloud UK/I team before the conference floor opened.
Social Amplification: Generate immediate, organic word-of-mouth buzz across social media.
High-Value Follow-Up: Create a hyper-personalized asset for every single attendee to serve as a natural entryway for post-event sales conversations.
The Execution
My team organized a VIP helicopter tour from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon for 40 key members of the Google Cloud UK and Ireland Corporate Sales Team.
We managed every detail end-to-end: coordinating limo transfers, branding custom DoiT swag, and hosting a champagne toast at the Canyon Rim. To secure our follow-up strategy, I hired a professional photographer to join the tour and capture high-end, individual lifestyle shots of every single participant against the Grand Canyon backdrop. These photos were gold, as they were an asset that the sales reps were eager to get and thus would open up their emails from us and be much more open to communication.
The Results
Instant Engagement: Same-day personalized follow-ups with the professional photos landed in 40 inboxes while the experience was still fresh. Reps immediately replied, shared the photos on social media, and carried the momentum onto the conference floor.
Conference-Wide Buzz: DoiT became the talk of Google Accelerate before a single official session started. For the rest of the week, almost every partner conversation began with: "How do I get on the next helicopter tour?"
Revenue & Alignment: The Google Cloud UK/I team became one of DoiT's closest, most active regional partnerships, consistently prioritizing DoiT for deals. The tour directly initiated relationships that resulted in two closed-won deals.
