CASE STUDY
Helping Puig build a joined-up connection journey for high-potential leaders on a global talent programme
SECTOR: Beauty / Consumer Goods
AUDIENCE: High-potential talent on Puig’s global Neos leadership programme
GEOGRAPHY: Global cohort, with online experiences and an in-person event in Barcelona
GROUP SIZE: Around 70 participants
FORMAT: Opening keynote presentation, online interactive sessions, structured peer networking, and an in-person closing experience
PROGRAMME LENGTH: Multi-touch journey across the programme
CORE CHALLENGE
Helping high-potential leaders build meaningful relationships, understand colleagues across functions, and strengthen the human skills that matter in a fast-changing, AI-influenced world
The Challenge
Puig wanted its flagship Neos global talent programme to do more than develop its people’s knowledge and experience. The wider programme was packed with fantastic content and experiences, both inside and outside the business – including on the future of work and AI. The next challenge was more human: helping high-potential talent understand how to stay relevant and add value in a world where the relative value of what you know is going down, while the relative value of who you know is going up.
There were also two practical issues to solve. Participants on previous cohorts had fed back that they did not have a strong enough understanding of what colleagues in other roles and departments actually did. And many were not properly meeting one another until an in-person event months into the programme, which meant missing the chance to build relationships.
We partnered with Puig to create a joined-up experience that would help participants build relationships before, during and beyond the live moments of the programme - and to do so in a way that felt fully aligned with the wider Neos journey.
What Hoopla designed and delivered
Hoopla designed a connection journey for the programme under the theme Grow Through Connection, with the goal of helping participants strengthen relationships alongside their professional development. At the heart of the work was a clear idea: as AI becomes more prevalent, uniquely human asserts - such as trust, relationships, and connection - become more valuable, not less.
The design was deliberately multi-touch. Rather than relying on one live session to do all the work, Hoopla created a series of connected experiences that built momentum and skills across the programme. This included an opening keynote on the art and science of connection, introducing participants to the importance of networks - especially the value of our so-called ‘weak ties’ - and the strategies to build them more intentionally.
Hoopla then designed a unique live online interactive experience that created structured, playful opportunities for participants to meet and bond early in the programme. Using Zoom breakouts and a carefully designed progression of prompts, the session helped people connect beyond job titles. To deepen cross-functional understanding, Hoopla also created a structured peer-led meeting format for roll-out across the cohort, so people could continue to connect.
Finally, we delivered a highly interactive and fun skill building session in Barcelona. This was focussed on the practicalities of building connections with colleagues, clients and beyond. And ended with an appreciation exercise, reinforcing the idea that ultimately it is how people made us feel that we remember most.
Throughout, the work was shaped collaboratively with the Puig team. The programme was developed through shared thinking, feedback and iteration so that it felt embedded in the wider Neos experience rather than bolted on from the outside.
The Outcomes
The result was not a one-off networking intervention, but a joined-up connection journey designed to strengthen relationships across multiple touchpoints in the programme.
Outcomes included:
a clearer and more intentional relationship-building arc across the wider Neos programme, rather than relying on connection to happen by chance.
multiple designed touchpoints - including keynote input, live online interaction, peer frameworks and an in-person closing experience - that supported connection before, during and beyond the main event.
better support for participants in understanding colleagues’ roles, departments and challenges across the business.
strong stakeholder feedback on both the energy of the sessions and the seriousness of the message behind them
Most importantly, Hoopla helped Puig make connection a meaningful part of leadership development rather than an afterthought. In a programme focused on future relevance, the work reinforced a powerful message: when knowledge becomes more easily available, the ability to build trust, rapport and strong relationships becomes an even more important differentiator.
“So interactive and entertaining but also with a serious message behind it. The feedback from the participants was very positive.”
— Alastair Rennison
Puig
Planning something similar?
If you want to build a more connected leadership experience across a programme - not just in one session, but across the full journey - get in touch.