How Marco helped amika translate "game time" into a 160-person companywide conference — saving $112K+ in hotel costs while delivering a first-of-its-kind brand experience.
“The team was incredible — extremely personable, professional, and organized. I appreciate their passion and areas of genius around creating a fully realized experience for our organization.”
amika means friend.
The fearless, Brooklyn-born haircare brand is loved by stylists, powered by results, and built on the belief that haircare should be joyful.
Founded in 2007, amika set out to challenge a category rooted in conformity and create a world that celebrates individuality, creativity, and self-expression. Today, the brand is one of America's leading prestige haircare brands, sold at Sephora, Ulta Beauty, and thousands of professional salons worldwide.
Now a certified B Corp, amika is driven by clinically proven performance, responsible ingredients, and a mission to give its community the tools they need to feel confident in their hair — and themselves.
For its inaugural companywide conference, amika:connect, amika partnered with Marco Experiences to bring the full team together for the first time — creating an experience designed to align on strategy, celebrate wins, deepen connection, and reflect the values and energy that set the brand apart.
The goal was bigger than bringing 160 employees together under one roof. The experience needed to feel joyful, intentional, inclusive, high-energy, and deeply connected to amika's values.
Chelsea Riggs, amika's CEO, had a clear vision for the moment: "game time." With the Super Bowl taking place around the same time, Chelsea wanted to channel the hype, momentum, and teamwork of football's biggest stage into a companywide experience that would rally employees around the year ahead.
With Chelsea's vision as the anchor, Nic Valley, Executive Assistant to the CEO, partnered with cross-functional leads and Marco Experiences to translate "game time" into a conference that aligned employees on strategy, celebrated wins, strengthened connection, and brought the company's culture to life in a way that felt authentic from start to finish.
After past experiences with vendors who struggled to fully interpret the brand, the team was looking for more than logistical support; they needed a strategic events partner who could think beyond the template — one who could ideate alongside them, understand the vision, and shape the energy, details, and moments that would make the experience feel fully ownable to amika.
Nic and the amika team began with a clear vision: a three-night conference designed to celebrate the brand, align employees around the year ahead, and create moments people would remember.
After reviewing properties across Texas, Arizona, and Florida, the team selected the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort & Spa in San Antonio. The property offered the right balance of scale, warmth, and flexibility — a setting that could move with the program from ELT-led strategy sessions and team activities to high-energy evening celebrations and a meaningful community giveback moment.
From there, Marco Experiences and amika translated "game time" into a cohesive, energizing experience with operational rigor behind the scenes.
One creative throughline: "game time" became the connective tissue across messaging, programming, and design.
A momentum-building journey: sessions and moments were sequenced to build energy and deepen connection across days.
Operational excellence: a clear run-of-show, communication system, and vendor coordination ensured the experience felt effortless for employees.
Marco Experiences worked closely with Nic and the team to translate amika's brand world into a live experience; the result was a conference that felt colorful, intentional, high-touch, and true to the company's joyful, friend-first spirit.
Rather than treating the agenda as a series of standalone sessions, the team designed the conference as a journey. Strategy, celebration, team-building, and social moments were sequenced to build energy, deepen connection, and keep employees engaged from arrival through departure.
Chelsea's "game time" vision came to life most vividly during the amika Accolades. Timed around Super Bowl season, the awards celebration channeled the hype, teamwork, and anticipation of football's biggest stage while staying true to amika's playful spirit.
A giant football installation set the tone; trophies doubled as centerpieces; the ceremony took inspiration from the NFL Draft, turning employee recognition into a high-energy celebration of the people driving the brand forward. Award recipients received custom varsity jackets, creating a memorable keepsake that made the recognition feel personal, elevated, and special.
The "game time" concept extended beyond the stage and into the employee experience. Each employee received a custom jersey featuring their amika start year; tenure became a point of pride and a signature "game time" moment for the conference. At the patch bar, employees customized their jerseys and varsity-inspired hats with custom-designed patches, creating a hands-on brand moment that felt playful, personal, and deeply connected to the theme.
The customized jerseys and hats came to life during Field Day, bringing the team together through friendly competition, movement, and shared spirit.
One of the most meaningful moments of the conference came from amika's friend-first values. In partnership with the San Antonio Independent School District, local high school seniors joined the experience for a professional hair demonstration rooted in education, confidence, and self-expression. The amika team also packed 300 bags filled with product for students to take home — a purpose-driven moment that reflected what the brand stands for: creating joy, building confidence, and making beauty feel accessible to all.
The energy of amika:connect extended well beyond San Antonio. Employees left with stronger connections, shared moments to point back to, and a deeper sense of what amika stands for — a brand built on friendship, performance, and joyful self-expression.
Best-in-Class Planners. Nic described the Marco Experiences team as "best in class" — personable, professional, organized, and deeply invested in bringing amika's vision to life.
A Strategic Brand Partner. Marco helped move the conference beyond standard event execution — shaping experience strategy, building the production run-of-show, orchestrating vendors and on-site logistics, and translating the "game time" vision into a cohesive, brand-true experience.
Smart Budget Optimization. Through thoughtful planning, venue negotiation, and strategic decision-making, Marco delivered more than $112K in hotel savings — allowing amika to prioritize the moments that would have the greatest employee impact.
A New Standard for Company Gatherings. amika:connect created a blueprint for future companywide events: one rooted in strategy, recognition, connection, purpose, and brand storytelling. The result was a first-of-its-kind conference that felt joyful, intentional, and unmistakably amika.
Super Bowl-Themed Awards Ceremony. A giant football installation, NFL Draft-inspired recognition, and custom varsity jackets turned employee accolades into one of the most memorable nights of the year — fully ownable to amika's playful brand spirit.
Purpose Built In. The SAISD partnership brought 300 product-filled bags and a professional hair demonstration to local high school seniors — embedding amika's friend-first values into the conference itself, not as an afterthought.
Marco handled the full negotiation with the hotel. We compared 9 properties side-by-side, picked the Moxy, and had a signed contract in 10 days. I knew exactly what we were paying from day one, no sur…
Working with Lucy was a game changer. She kept us on track, had great fresh ideas, and handled all of the really detailed work, even coordinating with vendors in Spanish over WhatsApp to make sure eve…
