Shell Social Club
Written by Ian Ng, Founder
A Grand Company, A Quiet Connection: When Laughter Became the Common Language
Event Blueprint
- Client: Shell Social Club, Singapore
- Guest Count: 35+ Social Club Members (Per Session)
- Purpose: Cross-Departmental Team Bonding & Culture Strengthening
- Date: February 2024, October 2025
- Location: Our Various Cozy Partnered Venues In CBD
- The Wine: Macedonian Tasting (2024), Australian Exploration (2025)
The Opening Scene
The world of Shell is vast. It is a complex map of departments, expertise, and hierarchy. The challenge isn’t just to gather people; it’s to dissolve the corporate distance and allow genuine human connection to surface. We understood that a simple event wouldn’t do, we needed to create a space that felt less like a meeting and more like a gracious invitation to a close friend’s home.
The Core Challenge
Escaping the Predictable: Ensuring a Global Team Feels Connected, Not Just Employed.
The Unspoken Need
For the Shell Social Club, the goal was essential: strengthen company culture by increasing the RSVP rate for voluntary social activities. Too often, internal events become run-of-the-mill, corporate, or forgettable. Luigi, the organiser, sought an experience that was novel, fresh, educational, and truly engaging—a signal that the company valued the shared moment as much as the individual success. The risk was clear: every low-turnout event would be a missed opportunity for a company to become a community.
Our Curated Response
From the very first conversation, we knew this needed a personal, intentional touch. Over 5 months, we embraced Luigi’s hands-on approach, diving deep into the desired atmosphere and intended guest experience. Our solution was not just a wine tasting, but a curated experience built around discovery and warmth, held conveniently in a comfortable CBD restaurant setting. By weaving in a fascinating journey through Macedonian and later, Australian wines, we provided an intellectual curiosity that served as the perfect, unpretentious icebreaker.
The Evening Unfolds
The evening truly came alive with a simple moment of collective delight: an impromptu sparkling wine workshop. The room, once a collection of unfamiliar faces, transformed into a unified audience, erupting in applause and laughter with every popping cork. This wasn’t about polished presentations; it was about shared surprise, a collective gasp, a genuine sense of fun. Two years later, during the second event, we saw the full circle moment: familiar faces were back, louder and more engaged during the Q&A, trusting us enough to simply “surprise them” with the new tasting journey. It was the warm, confident atmosphere of people who no longer saw colleagues, but peers just having fun and enjoying each other’s company.
The Lasting Impression
In a world where RSVP rates are the litmus test for engagement, the Shell events consistently drew high turnouts (30+ guests), even with a co-pay. This proved that when the experience is deeply human and truly valuable, cost becomes secondary. The highest measure of success? The effortless planning of the second event, built on unwavering trust. We weren’t vendors; we were a trusted, recurring partner in their culture-building journey.
A Philosophy Shared
This story, which feels like coming home for us, perfectly illustrates what we truly sell: not wine, but a reason to smile. We are laughter in a bottle. When the pretense is stripped away and genuine conversation flows, we find those moments we’ll remember long after the bottles we forget.
Your Next Chapter (A Note For The Social Club Planner)
To the Social Club Lead or HR Professional navigating the complex currents of a large organisation, we understand the pressure to deliver something novel, intentional, and high-impact. If you are ready to move beyond the predictable and create a tradition of warmth, connection, and trust that employees actively look forward to, let’s begin the conversation.
See Our Other Blog Posts
See how teams like yours turned everyday gatherings into something unforgettable. These aren’t just events — they’re moments people still talk about.