A Speakeasy for Two: An Immersive & Exclusive Experience

Last May, we launched our very first Instagram contest. Two lucky winners could win a personalized immersive experience in a private apartment in Paris. Exciting, isn’t it? Unsurprisingly, our followers bit the bait! No one really knew what to expect, but the game was worth the candle.

In June, we announced the lucky winners, Gail Boisclair and her friend Lily Heise. Gail is the founder of Perfectly Paris, a luxury rental service offering furnished apartments for short, medium, and long stays in Paris. Lily is an author, traveler, and podcaster on all things Paris, as well as the creator of the successful blog “Je T'Aime, Me Neither”. With these two fabulous women as special guests, we knew the evening would be unforgettable!

After the winners were announced, it was time to get to work! The first thing to do: choose the universe to immerse them in. We wanted to ensure that the immersion would be total, and so that the story would have its place in the setting of a Parisian apartment.

That’s when luck smiled on us again! As a real estate manager in Paris, our winner, Gail, has access to beautiful apartments – the kind of apartments that make us dream when we see them in magazines – and to our great delight, she kindly agreed to host our experience in one of them. The perfect backdrop for a magical evening! After visiting the apartment and noting its Art Deco touches, we had our answer: the experience would take place in the universe of our speakeasy.

Once the universe was chosen, we had to find the right performers. Since we’re lucky to be in contact with a large network of artists and performers, many of whom work with us on our other projects, this was not difficult. In the role of the flamboyant gangster, Legs Diamond, we cast one of our permanent members, Matthieu Vinel. And our inimitable Elena Odessa Ray took on the role of the dancer Mae Dix. Both are very experienced in improvisation and immersive performance, so we were sure they would blow everyone away!

With the universe, the location and the performers ready, the next step was to design the experience itself. Using the “5 E’s” as one of our basic design tools, we crafted the story of the evening. Very quickly, we assembled our narrative framework, costumes, and accessories. We carefully designed the invitations and thank you letters; bought souvenirs in the theme; and concocted culinary delights from the Prohibition era, notably creating our own gin “moonshine” infused with cinnamon.

Everything was ready!

On the night of the experience, our two winners arrived dressed in their finest attires. Equipped with their personalized invitation containing the secret code to access the apartment (it’s a clandestine bar, after all!), they stepped into our universe, ready to party!

The room was immersed in dim lights, the classic music of the era filling the air. Mae played a little jazz tune while Legs showed our guests how to make their own bootleg gin. Between gangster tales, Mae dazzled the winners with a spicy burlesque number before teaching them some of her moves. Gail and Lily quickly proved they had all it takes to become stars! Legs even managed to get them involved in his schemes by offering to help him open his own speakeasy.

It was an unforgettable evening! And even though the cops eventually showed up and Mae and Legs had to scram, the gang promised to keep in touch and meet again for future adventures!