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1. Chicago Chefs Prepare Apple-Cider Bubbles, Whipped Salt Cod for Food & Wine Entertaining Showcase

2. Christian Louboutin Shoes Inspire Design Firm's Holiday Party

3. 8 New Venues for Chicago Holiday Parties

4. New Moon Premiere Beckons 10,000 People and 2 Live Wolves

5. Jacky's on Prairie: New Evanston Bistro

6. MoMA Gets Suitably Whimsical and Macabre for Tim Burton Tribute

7. 8 Handy Gifts for Meeting Attendees

8. Obama's First State Dinner Calls on Marcus Samuelsson, Jennifer Hudson

9. Masked Raconteurs Tell Tales at Moth Ball, and I Have a Blast

10. Art Basel Preview: New Convention Center Layout, Giant Beach Structure for Audi

FROM NEW YORK

Morgan Loft Penthouse: Temporary Venue for Holiday Season

Sustainable Label Opens SoHo Pop-Up With Community Center Sensibility

Clinique and Teen Vogue Bring Young Women to Beauty Tour, Send Them Online

Masked Raconteurs Tell Tales at Moth Ball, and I Have a Blast

Gap, Banana Republic, American Eagle Open Stores With Musical Performances

MoMA Gets Suitably Whimsical and Macabre for Tim Burton Tribute

3 New Hotel Restaurants for Business Entertaining, Private Groups

Nintendo Launches New Mario Game With Look Back at Franchise History

Scripted Models Play Up Key Notes at Victoria's Secret Fragrance Preview

Ad Age Looks to Boost Conference Interaction With Beer Tasting, Lounge Seating

FROM LOS ANGELES

American Music Awards Begin With Redesigned Arrivals, End With Downsized After-Party

Bouchon: Thomas Keller in Beverly Hills, With Indoor/Outdoor Dining, Private Room

Us Weekly Takes to Voyeur With Scantily Clad Models, Burlesque Feel

6 New Venues for Los Angeles Holiday Parties

New Moon Premiere Beckons 10,000 People and 2 Live Wolves

$4 Million MOCA Gala Breaks Fund-Raising Records

Chrysalis Benefit Cuts Ticket Prices in Half, Draws Same Crowd

MOCA Gala Spawning Arty Online Auction—Including Gehry's Hat for Gaga—Through November 30

Wende Museum Closes Wilshire for Cold War Anniversary Celebration

3 Ideas for Stylish, Eco-Friendly Events

News Archive for 2008 Beijing Olympics

FRESH FACE 09.10.09 10:00 AM

David Danielson Draws on High-End Restaurant Experience for New Catering Firm

Chef David Danielson
Photo: Rick Aguilar Studios

Before launching catering firm Behind the Scenes in Chicago, executive chef David Danielson worked in the kitchens of upscale restaurants across the globe. Fresh out of culinary school, Danielson interned at the Ritz-Carlton in Paris; subsequent jobs took him to Charlie Trotter's in Chicago and Bouley in New York. In 2002, Danielson took on the role of executive chef at Chicago's Calihan Catering; three years later, he received a call from John Crisafulli.

As president of the original Behind the Scenes in San Diego, Crisafulli has worked on everything from rock concerts to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. When he initially contacted Danielson, he was seeking a new executive chef, and though Danielson wasn't able to move to San Diego at the time, he agreed to work as a freelance consultant. "David is a perfect fit for Behind the Scenes," says Crisafulli. "He's passionate about his menus, dedicated to his clients, and focused on bringing creative culinary experiences to his guests." MORE >>

2008 Beijing Olympics, DLA Piper

BEST OF 2008 11.24.08 8:00 AM

Slow Fizz

Kevin Tressler

To think of the estimated $70 to $75 million Coca-Cola paid to sponsor the 2008 Olympics in Beijing as a modest sum, one only needs to imagine how much the company spent on advertising and promotions. The games marked Coke’s largest Olympic effort in its 80-year history and demanded almost a decade of planning. Leading those preparations was Coca-Cola’s director of worldwide sports and entertainment marketing, Kevin Tressler, who worked on projects like the Olympic torch relay, emblazoning soda cans across the world with a Mandarin logo, and building a 40,000-square-foot pavilion on the Olympic Green.

Coca-Cola started focusing on the Chinese market just hours after Beijing was chosen as the host city in 2000. How did the company approach such a long-term campaign?
When we look at a host country of a global event, whether it’s the FIFA World Cup or the Olympics, there are different phases that the country goes through. There’s the celebration, because there’s so much national pride involved with your country being chosen to host. Then that country goes through changes. New stadiums are built, and the people rally around how they’re going to welcome the world. This whole phase we could loosely call “anticipation.” Once the torch relay begins, from the host country’s perspective, the games begin. It’s a journey full of emotion and pride. Each of these phases or “moments,” as we call them, have speciﬁc consumer insights, feelings, and emotions that we leverage to amplify our brand message. MORE >>

Coca-Cola, 2008 Beijing Olympics

BEST OF 2008 11.24.08 8:00 AM

Bird's-Eye View

Cell phone stations at Samsung's pavilion in Beijing.
Photo: Eric Powell for BizBash

For the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, many of the games' sponsors camped out around the Bird's Nest Stadium on the Olympic Green in elaborately constructed pavilions. Brands such as Adidas and Samsung let product messaging take a backseat to exhibitions on their environmental efforts and history with the games. MORE >>

2008 Beijing Olympics, Adidas, Samsung, Omega, Johnson & Johnson, Volkswagen, China Mobile

NEWS 08.25.08 4:41 PM

Beijing Photo Journal: Johnson & Johnson's Focus on "Caring"

The Johnson & Johnson pavilion
Photo: Eric Powell for BizBash

BizBash contributing photographer Eric Powell’s tour of the Beijing Olympics may have come to an end with last night’s closing ceremony, but he sent one more dispatch from the Olympic Green: Johnson & Johnson chose to go in the opposite direction of many Olympic partnering brands we’ve already showcased with a pavilion that focused on building consumer confidence with examples of the company’s commitment to bettering life around the globe. “The Caring World” featured photos from the aftermath of this year’s catastrophic Sichuan earthquake, video testimonials from people around the world recounting their experiences helping and being helped, and five authentic soldiers from China's Qin Shi Huang Terracotta Army Museum—an institution Johnson & Johnson has long partnered with. MORE >>

2008 Beijing Olympics, Beijing Photo Journal, Johnson & Johnson

NEWS 08.25.08 2:32 PM

How to Book Olympic Champion Michael Phelps

Photo: Sports Illustrated

Fresh from his record-breaking eight Olympic gold medals, Michael Phelps is available to talk about his experiences in Beijing, as well as expound upon corporate topics like leadership and motivation. Octagon Speakers Group reps him exclusively, and suggests a program called "A Conversation With Michael Phelps,” wherin the 23-year-old athlete answers questions from John Naber, a former U.S. gold medalist in swimming (in the 1976 Olympic games in Montreal) and veteran motivational speaker himself. —Lisa Cericola

2008 Beijing Olympics

NEWS 08.20.08 8:00 AM

Beijing Photo Journal: China Mobile's 3-D Signage and More Pavilions

China Mobile Pavilion's Yao Ming
Photo: Eric Powell for BizBash

BizBash contributing photographer Eric Powell is in Beijing for the Olympics, checking out every pavilion under the sun. Today he brings us photos from Volkswagen, China Mobile, and Omega. Educating consumers on environmental efforts once again seems to take priority for the brands in question, but it’s the gargantuan scale of some of these installations that appears to be bringing in the guests. MORE >>

2008 Beijing Olympics, Beijing Photo Journal, China Mobile, Omega, Volkswagen

NEWS 08.18.08 3:50 PM

Beijing Photo Journal: Adidas's Massive LED Screen at Olympic Pavilion

Adidas's spiraling LED wall
Photo: Eric Powell for BizBash

BizBash contributing photographer Eric Powell is in Beijing for the Olympics this month, keeping his eyes and lens peeled for dynamic branding efforts in and around the Olympic Green. Since we last checked in, he explored the Adidas Pavilion and it’s spiraling LED screen designed by Creative Technology Group. (CTG also worked on the 43,000-square-foot screen used during the opening ceremony.) Besides the giant reel wrapped around the pavilion’s largest room, the biggest draws for spectators have been the exclusive Adidas designs for 2008 Olympians, including the Chinese women’s volleyball team and American runner Jeremy Wariner. MORE >>

2008 Beijing Olympics, Adidas, Beijing Photo Journal

NEWS 08.13.08 2:40 PM

Beijing Photo Journal: Samsung's High-Tech, Eco-Focused Pavilion

The Samsung Pavilion at the Olympic Green
Photo: Eric Powell for BizBash

BizBash contributing photographer Eric Powell is in Beijing for the Olympics this month, keeping us posted on the different parties and marketing iniatives in and around China's capital. Yesterday he stopped by Samsung's OR@S Pavilion in the Olympic Green. Built in the shape of a seedling, the pavilion incorporates green elements like artificial grass made from recycled car tires and sun pipes providing solar power to cell phone charging stations. The pavilion is open daily to athletes, their families, and spectators looking to check out Samsung products or just relax. MORE >>

2008 Beijing Olympics, Samsung, Beijing Photo Journal

NEWS 08.12.08 4:34 PM

Little Girl Lip-Synched Performance at Opening Ceremony

Beijing’s lauded Olympic Opening Ceremony was marred by more lies after this weekend’s news of faked fireworks, with today’s revelation that one of the event’s younger singers lip-synched her routine.

Cheerful Lin Miaoke’s performance of “Ode to the Motherland” during Friday’s show won her headlines in China like “Tiny singer wins heart of nation” and “Little girl sings, impresses the world”—too bad the vocals were provided by another little girl, Yang Peiyi, whose crooked teeth deemed her unfit to appear in person. MORE >>

2008 Beijing Olympics

NEWS 08.11.08 6:00 PM

Olympics Opening Ceremony Draws Record Viewers, Launches Fake Fireworks

The opening ceremony at the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing
Photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Unlike opening ceremonies of years past, Beijing's stab at the Olympics kickoff on Friday was—as media outlets around the world are agreeing—simply awesome. The three-hour show was a technicolor ballet of eery coordination, described by NBC commentator Bob Costas as having "massive scope, and minute precision." Or, as New York magazine's Vulture blog put it in a post titled "Did the Beijing Opening Ceremony Just Make Opening Ceremonies Cool Again?": "It just goes to show you that when you give one of the century's great cinematic geniuses, Zhang Yimou, millions and millions of dollars, and put him in charge of 15,000 performers raised in a totalitarian society, you can really make something magical.

"While some backlash has arisen—yes, those 29 footprint-shaped fireworks were indeed fake—the ceremony was largely a success, attracting nearly a billion viewers worldwide, including 34.2 million in the U.S. (According to The New York Times, this marks the most viewers garnered for an overseas opening ceremony, while ESPN.com said it was the biggest televised event since the Super Bowl—yes, bigger than both the American Idol finale and the Acadamy Awards). MORE >>

2008 Beijing Olympics

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