Visit the Eureka Ranch on the outskirts of Cincinnati and you may happen upon 15 Fortune 100 execs barraging each other with water cannons or poker chips.
Head west to Beaver Creek, Colo., and you'll find account supervisors from Hill and Knowlton engaged in a Socratic dialogue - only to be followed by lessons in dog-sled racing.
Off-site team-building exercises are gaining popularity in corporate and agency circles. But today's outings are a far cry from the sappy "I'm okay, you're okay" events of bygone decades, where trust falls were a prerequisite and ROI was a dirty word.
Today's retreat-goers mean serious business. And while they may kick back and enjoy the occasional Nerf mutiny, they also expect meaty content, meaningful learning experiences and measurable take-home results.
ROI: Bankable Creativity
The Eureka Ranch is the latest brainchild of Doug Hall, a veteran Procter & Gamble brandmeister who founded the consulting firm Richard Saunders International (named after Ben Franklin's pen name) a little over a decade ago. Hall's main mission is to help corporate "suits" shed their inhibitions and brainstorm new product inventions - or communication strategies, in the case of PR types. The ranch opened in 1997, and has since hosted teams from Disney, Nike, American Express, Johnson & Johnson and countless other corporate heavyweights, not to mention a handful of major PR firms.
Although confidentiality agreements preclude Hall from divulging the names of his PR clients (agencies prefer to take all the credit for good ideas, he says) most of the leading conglomerates have landed on his doorstep, schlepping with them an array of baggage.
"We've crashed projects [mid-crisis] and started over," Hall says. "We've helped clients deal with impending regulatory changes and figure out how to spin the fact that consumers are about to see [price increases]. We've helped people reintroduce themselves to the media. The sad thing is that many PR people have forgotten how to tell their stories. We help them find the news in their stories. As P. T. Barnum once said, 'Selling isn't telling. It's inciting a sense of awe.'"
Hall's Willy Wonka-esque methods are unorthodox (one brainstorming exercise encourages participants to flush their minds of biases, so as to alleviate what Hall calls "mental constipation"). But then again, that's his gimmick.
It helps that he has a cache of career successes to back his claims. He once convinced P&G execs to purchase "three-quarters of the world's supply of cubic zirconia" for a Spic and Span "diamond inside" promotion. When shoppers began dumping out cans in grocery stores, Hall saw a glittering opportunity for publicity and called in camera crews. Sales of the product grew to $5 million.
Hall also has another piece of ammo up his sleeve: data. He and his staff of "trained brains" have developed quality control measures to track and improve the effectiveness of their creative workshops (studies are posted on their Web site at http://www.eurekaranch.com).
They also maintain libraries of stats and case studies that clients can consult while brainstorming on location. They even go so far as to profile participants' learning styles ahead of time - using a measure known as the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument - so that program content can be customized.
"Agencies love me because I wear Hawaiian shirts and go barefoot," Hall says. "Clients love me because I'm a chemical engineer and I talk strategy." Today's campers typically walk away from the Eureka Ranch with about 24 solid product concepts or five to 10 campaign ideas, he says.
But this kind of creativity doesn't come cheap. Hall won't discuss fees, but the ranch cost $2 million to build, and some clients have reportedly paid upwards of $150,000 (around $10,000 per employee) in search of million-dollar ideas. Many are repeat customers.
ROI: Employees Who Stay
Hill and Knowlton's "College" - a biannual mountain retreat for select employees - also racks up costs in a range that Tom Hoog, president of U.S. operations, quantifies as "astronomical." But the objectives driving this program are slightly different. What H&K is building in the woods is human capital. "In the mid-90s, our turnover rate was bad," Hoog says. And employee retention has become even tougher in the current economy. H&K's college reflects a cultural shift toward what Hoog refers to as "loyalty-based management," the idea being that stronger career paths lead to reduced turnover, which in turn leads to better, more seamless client service.
While all H&K staffers are required to complete 30 credit hours of in-house training to qualify for career advancement (the agency maintains a two-year "up-or-out" rule) only the cream of the crop are selected to go off-site to college.
"These are students who have definitely demonstrated that they are the future of the company," Hoog says. Each retreat pulls 40 mid-level staff members from around the globe for five days of intense academics, team-building exercises, crisis simulations, guest speakers and brainstorming sessions.
"Our goal is to keep the best people and encourage them to bond..." even if they work in different parts of the world, Hoog says. "This way our customers have access to the best and brightest, regardless of geography. If you can't make one plus one plus one equal five, then what's the point of having multiple offices [around the world]?"
Hoog says his agency now boasts one of the lowest turnover rates in the business - a cool 20 percent, compared to an industry average of 42 percent. Attrition is even lower among H&K "college graduates," although Hoog concedes that this is partly a reflection of their age group and standing on the career totem pole.
"The highest turnover tends to occur between the account executive and senior account executive level," when people are reconsidering their career choices and where they want to live.
Sources confirm that the Eureka Ranch really has farmed some great product ideas, and that H&K's College is a place where good people really do grow on trees. Is it really so surprising? Who wouldn't relish the chance to relive their college glory days and throw a water balloon at their boss? (Hill and Knowlton, 212/885-0500; Eureka Ranch 800/INVENTS.)
College is Contagious
Hill and Knowlton isn't the only agency pursuing the "college" model with gusto. Virtually all of the global heavyweights have coined their own versions of the concept.
Burson-Marsteller now lures top-notch staffers to enroll in "Burson-Marsteller University." Ketchum runs "Ketchum College" along with "Camp Ketchum" - a global training program. And word has it that Edelman is on the bandwagon, too.
The fervor is even spreading to the client side of the business. Tom Hoog, president and CEO of H&KUSA, says one client who visited H&K College as a guest speaker later asked if the agency planned to offer training as a new service - a possibility that H&K execs are now considering.
Meanwhile, Ketchum has already added training to its capabilities roster - and in select situations, has opened up its collegial outings to its clients.
We're just wondering if there's free beer in the deal.
(Edelman, 212/768-0550; Hill and Knowlton, 212/885-0500; Ketchum, 212/448-4200.)