In nine weeks, Mini Vohra accomplished what would normally be done in one to two years to carry out, an opening ceremony event on the same scale as the one for the London 2012 Olympics. Let’s backtrack a little.
Mini Vohra is the Managing Director of Cornucopia Events, a full-service agency organizing approximately 600 events and meetings, incentive exhibitions, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE) annually. Founded in 2002, the agency has hosted events from music festivals like Tomorrowland to global events like the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics. In September 2018, Mini was approached with a request to organize the opening ceremony for Iconsiam, a 1.5 billion United States dollars (USD) megamall in Bangkok, Thailand and one of the biggest shopping malls in Asia, in 65 days on November 9th.
The client called Mini, telling him everyone they spoke to said he was the only person in the world that could organize an event of this call in such a short time frame. Whereas the budget for the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics (a public state event) was 42 million GBP, the client informed Mini they could offer 1 billion baht (approximately 30 million USD). To this day, the budget remains the largest private booking event ever conceptualized. 8.3 percent of the budget or 2.5 million USD, was set aside set up the headline act, a diva, for the opening ceremony. Mini was given a list of headlining divas to approach and very little time to book. The list comprised of:
Beyonce
Lady Gaga
Ariana Grande
Jennifer Lopez
Britney Spears
Adele
Alicia Keys
Music industry legend Beyonce, was available but her 7 million USD fee was higher than the event had to offer. Mini knew Stefani (Lady Gaga) really well and so flew to meet her and her manager for dinner in Vegas where she was conducting her Live shows.
Cornucopia needed Lady Gaga for Friday 9 November 2018, but she was performing on stage in Vegas on Thursday 8 and Saturday 10th. Flying by private jet, it’s a 22 hour flight from Vegas to Thailand allowing one hour to stop and refuel. With a 48 hour turnaround, and a 22 hour flight each way it allowed only four hours on the ground. The problem also was Lady Gaga needed to be back in time for soundcheck on Saturday evening. Performing in Vegas, Lady Gaga didn’t own her show, Live Nation did. Mini needed to call Michael, the head of Live Nation and ask permission for Lady Gaga to be excused from soundcheck on Saturday. Permission was granted, but Lady Gaga‘s management were still nervous, in case anything happens preventing her from getting back on stage, they knew that Press would be incredibly unkind and say things like Lady Gaga stood up fans on a prime Saturday night of her show not giving the full and truthful story.
Opening Ceremony for Iconsiam, Bangkok, Thailand. 10,000 VIP Guests Worldwide.
Collaboratively, they all agreed to Plan B Lady Gaga and keep looking at other artists on the list to see if there was a better option. Jennifer Lopez, and Ariana Grande, couldn’t make it due to time conflicts. The list went onward to Britney Spears, who was considered but ultimately passed for not being considered “timely” for an event of this scale. The next step was Adele, but for multiple reasons it didn’t end up working out.
For one, Adele’s manager emailed Mini, stating “There are no live plans currently.” Confused by that line, Mini set up a discussion with the “Hello” singer and discovered that, at the time, Adele was at that time, no longer interested in performing live because she felt uncomfortable with people’s clapping and applause. Emboldened by this news, Mini jumped to explain that since the event was not selling “hard” tickets, but instead soft tickets or invitations, all invited guests could be made to sign a waiver agreeing not to applause. While Mini was sure that Cornucopia Events could manage this mighty task, Adele’s manager pointed out it would only take one person clapping to set the whole thing off. With one person clapping leading to thousands, Adele, as her manager put it, would have no choice but to sue the events team.
At this point, Mini had 30 days and few artists left to book. The next choice was to go to Alicia Keys, whose public image had been quiet for some time at this point, in part due to taking time for marriage and motherhood. Mini adored her music and knew that Alicia’s talent would capture the crowd’s attention. After 9 days of exhaustive negotiation, a deal was settled for $2.1 million USD. The event was a hit and helped launch Alicia’s image back into public awareness and highlighted Alicia’s iconic fifth studio album Girl on Fire, which launched on November 27, 2012.
Alicia Keys, Opening Ceremony for Iconsiam, Bangkok, Thailand
To say that Mini took the expression “When there’s a will, there’s a way” lightly would be a mega understatement.
Cornucopia Events is part of The Cornucopia Group is one of the World’s leading event services companies and is also the world’s largest provider of exclusive access to invitation-only events.
A £100M global business operating in over 150 countries around the world, the Group comprises three brands that provide event management, wedding planning, concierge, lifestyle, MICE, luxury leisure and event services to billionaires, CEOs, sovereignties, multi-millionaires and A-list celebrities. After winning countless awards in their industry, in 2018, in 2020 and again in 2021 Her Majesty The Queen approved the Prime Minister’s recommendation that Cornucopia Events be shortlisted for a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade, earning them the highest business accolade possible in the UK.”
-GG
