Case study

A rebranding launch event in Mumbai for NEL Engineering's oil and gas clients

ICE India told eight years of NPCC Engineering's history in live sand animation, unveiled its new name, NEL Engineering, then gave its clients the evening to network over dinner, magic and music.

By ICE India · Updated October 2026

Client: NEL Engineering Pvt. Ltd.
Event: Rebranding launch and customer networking evening
When: One evening, around four hours
Where: Mumbai

8years of company history told on stage
15 minlive sand animation performance
60%of the evening kept for networking

The brief

After eight years in India's oil and gas sector, NPCC Engineering was changing its name to NEL Engineering, and the company needed to show the new name and identity to its main customers: senior executives at major energy-sector companies, including ONGC and British Gas, many of whom had been with it from the start. The new brand could not look like a break from that history.

There were two problems. Company history is difficult to make engaging, and presentations and corporate films are easily forgotten. And a customer evening is different from an employee one, because busy executives decide whether it is worth the time. The evening needed different entertainment for each stage, background ambience for arrival, focus for the story, something refined at dinner and conversation starters afterwards, without any of it being too loud for talk or too formal to enjoy.

What ICE India delivered

Sand animation
A national award-winning sand animation artist, Manas Sahoo, told the company's story live on a backlit screen.
Close-up and stage magic
Illusionist Rakesh Shyam worked the tables before dinner and performed on stage afterwards.
Retro band
A live band playing 1970s and 1980s hits at a volume that let tables talk.
Evening flow
A four-phase running order covering reception, story, dinner, and entertainment with open networking.
Venue and production
A central Mumbai venue, stage design in the new brand colours, lighting and AV for the sand projection.
Registration
Guest-by-name welcome at the door, with staff briefed on every invitee.

Eight years in sand

Sand animation draws images with sand on a backlit glass table while cameras project the artist's hands onto large screens. One picture dissolves into the next, which suited a story about a company building on its past. The artist structured it as a narrative: the founding, the first major contracts, the technical problems overcome, the key client partnerships, and finally the new logo forming out of the sand.

The piece lasted 15 minutes. Leadership gave a short welcome beforehand and unveiled the new identity directly after it.

Illusion as an icebreaker

Rakesh Shyam performed close-up magic during the reception and between courses, moving around tables with card and coin work for small groups. Clients who had not met one another had something to talk about straight away. After dinner he performed larger illusions on stage that every table could see, giving the room energy at the point in an evening when networking usually fades.

A band chosen for its audience

Most guests were senior executives in their forties to sixties, so the music was 1970s and 1980s classics, played at a level that kept table conversation going. The lead singer talked between songs about the era, and clients traded memories of songs. Some guests used the dance floor and others stayed seated, and the music suited both.

The running order

The venue was chosen for access from across Mumbai and for a standard that matched the client. The stage used the new brand colours, lighting was kept warm so that rooms did not become dark, and the AV was set so that the sand projection could be seen from every table.

Evening plan
Phase	Length	What happened
Cocktail reception	60 minutes	Soft music, registration, drinks and appetisers in conversation zones, close-up magic
Welcome and brand story	45 minutes	Leadership welcome, the sand animation and the new identity
Dinner	75 minutes	Multi-course meal with the band at table-talk volume
Entertainment and networking	60 minutes	Stage illusions, then open networking with music

What made it work

Networking first: Making relationships the main activity told clients their time was respected. The brand story was shorter than most.
Art instead of slides: A live artist holds attention in a way a deck cannot, and the sand image that dissolved into the next one carried the idea of change.
Refined, not lavish: Industrial customers distrust excess, so the entertainment signalled success without suggesting waste.
Every act with a job: The sand told the story, the magic opened conversations and the band set the mood.

ICE India plans product launch events, and the licences guide covers music and permissions for an evening like this.

Questions this event answers

How do you introduce a new brand to existing customers without it feeling like a sales pitch?

Keep the presentation short and the evening mostly social. Here about 40% of the programme was brand content, built around a story clients could recognise from their own dealings with the company.

Why use live sand animation for a company story?

It shows change as it happens. Each picture turns into the next as the artist works, which makes it a natural way to show a company evolving into a new identity.

How loud should a band be at a networking dinner?

Loud enough to give the room energy, quiet enough that people at a table can still talk. Here the band was set at a level that served both dancers and diners.

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