Specialising in seminar and team building work, the Astus agency has also signed an exclusivity agreement with events organisation Klub de l’Evénement et du Séminaire Solidaire to use Lyon’s Digi-Guide. Based in Genay, the agency has not long been established but has developed expertise in organising cultural events as part of a seminar programme. This marketing stance makes it a very different proposition to other options in the sector which are often based on more traditional sporting activities.
Originally from a café-théâtre background, Caroline Croon decided in 2009 to set up Astus in order to market her skills to professional organisers in the seminar and team-building sectors. Based in Genay, the agency offers a range of entertainments and activities which are perfect for either opening or closing a company’s event. The activities are completely different to the usual sporting activites that are on offer from other business tourism professionals.
“We tend to offer activities that are a little bit different, that have a significance to the event and that are not too expensive,” explains Caroline Croon. “One of the first differences between us and other competitors is that we have exclusive use in Lyon of the Digi-code which enables us to organise treasure hunts and unusual city rallies. I’ve taken over the Digi-code, which is a little pocket computer fitted with a GPS and multimedia guide, from the Klub de l’Evénement et du Séminaire. It’s great for organising pre-planned tours, especially through the streets of Vieux Lyon, with participants having to solve a number of clues along the way”.
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Astus works on this sort of project for Yachts de Lyon and the Musée des Miniatures, with the package costing 28 € (ex VAT) per person for between 2 and 2 ½ hours including guides and a gastronomic meal. It is ideal for groups of about 60-70 people. It is obviously popular with clients, as there are about four or five companies calling on Astus every month to arrange a Digi-guide rally.
Caroline Croon also plays the cultural card in order to make herself stand out from the competition. “One of the things we can do is to recreate a masterpiece in under an hour. Participants are split into eight groups, each of them having to complete part of the painting under the guidance of painter, Monique Chabert. She will have drawn the main outline on the canvas beforehand. This option costs 35 € per person for groups of no more than 60. Along the same lines, we also offer music workshops that can really bring people together. This sort of activity can involve up to 400 “musicians” and also costs 35 € per participant for 1 ½ hours”. Of course the agency uses café-théâtre for some of its activities, with specially-written plays that are based on the daily life of each company and performed by actors. “It’s quite quirky. The scripts are approved by company bosses and seem to be very popular”, smiles Caroline. The cost of this sort of performance starts at 2000 € for three actors.
Any of these activities can be set up in Lyon as well as at other venues outside of the city. In particular Astus works with the Hermitage de Moly in Saint-Genis-Laval and La Cabane de Lyon in Sainte-Foy-les-Lyon.
Caroline Croon never seems to be short of ideas and she is already thinking up new products such as a police enquiry based on a famous American TV serial, where participants have to solve a crime mystery (85 € ex VAT per person), or this parody of a camping holiday…
Each event is carefully managed to fit the chosen venue and Astus is attracting increasing numbers of enquiries from companies with groups of between 60 and 80 people on average.
Astus, in Genay (RhĂ´ne)
Tel.: 00 33 (0)6 63 76 84 78
