Event Coverage

Fiji's table for 30 Photo: Courtesy of Fiji

Even though this week's weather pattern would seem to dictate otherwise, summer days are gone and so are beach house pop-ups—replaced by retail pop-ups like Little Black Dress. Fiji Water partnered with H. Stern to host an intimate dinner for 30 on Tuesday at the shopping pop-up in West Hollywood to underscore the brand's relationships with different industries and play up an image of quality. “It was the unique nature of the space that made me hold it here and not a restaurant or hotel,” said Fiji Water event manager Greg Sato.

The theme of the event was “A Renaissance of Simplicity,” meant to evoke the salon-style gatherings of bygone eras, during which guests discussed important issues. Attendees included a group of influential people across various industries, including designer Diana Resnick, Nanette Lepore C.E.O. Heather Pech, Interscope Records marketing head Chris Clancy, and Modern Luxury president Alan Klein, who assumed hosting duties.

Models at the Calvin Klein launch Photo: Courtesy of Overcat Communications

When Coty Canada began planning Tuesday's media launch for the new Calvin Klein fragrance Secret Obsession, the company wanted to create a sense of mystery and suspense for guests. “Since the name of the product is Secret Obsession, we wanted to invite all of the media members and really not reveal where they were going," said Aliki Mahshy, director of public relations and education for Coty Canada. So the company arranged for private cars to pick up guests and drive them to a location that remained "undisclosed," Mahshy said.

Guests were dropped at the shipping entrance to a downtown building and taken through a subterranean tunnel of sorts to enter the event space, the the bank vault in the basement of the Suites at 1 King West. (The building, now a hotel, once housed the head office of the Dominion Bank of Canada.) “This location was so indicative of Secret Obsession. When we found this it was extremely intriguing to us. There’s a lot of caged elements and the idea or concept of unlocking something. It was really very fitting for this particular brand," Mahshy said.

Thermador's cooking contest-style press event Photo: Jessica Torossian for BizBash

With the ongoing popularity of Food Network cooking shows and reality TV series Top Chef, more and more chefs are coming out of the kitchen and into the spotlight—especially at events. Yesterday, Thermador played up this trend by presenting three New York culinary personalities in a cooking show-style format as a vehicle to promote its latest cooktops. Dubbed the Thermador Chefs Challenge, the event at the Altman Building involved two sessions—one in the afternoon and another in the evening—for more than 300 journalists and interior designers.

Hosted by chef and restaurateur Tom Colicchio, the challenge pitted chefs Michael Psilakis (of Anthos) and Alex Guarnaschelli (of Butter) against each other in a 15-minute cook-off involving chocolate. Although no winner was declared and the focus was more on the new technology than the chefs's performances, guests were able to sample the dishes and see the appliances in action. The event was overseen by Thermador PR manager Marni Hale and marketing agency the Rogers Group.

An acrylic fountain on Elle's stage Photo: Donato Sardella

A scant 200 guests made the invitee list for Elle’s Women in Hollywood event Monday night at the Four Seasons. Chelsea Handler assumed hosting duties for the event, which honored Hollywood icons including Halle Berry, Jane Fonda, Catherine Hardwicke, Anne Hathaway, Salma Hayek, Nicole Kidman, Sigourney Weaver, and Isla Fisher.

Elle’s Eric Johnson oversaw the event for the magazine and worked with Larry Abel/De-signs for production. “The aesthetic we are going with this year is very clean, crisp, fresh—something that we feel is in line with Elle,” said Caitlin Weiskopf, the magazine's special events and merchandising manager, who also worked on the event.

The Hammer's courtyard Photo: Line 8 Photography

A sold-out crowd of 528 dinner guests took to the Hammer Museum's picturesque courtyard last night for the annual Gala in the Garden. This year, the fete brought in a record $1.2 million for the UCLA museum—an increase over last year's $1 million, and considerably more than the first event six years ago, which brought in $125,000. The museum's development director, Jennifer Wells Green, and manager of development events, David Morehouse, oversaw the program. Jennifer and Tobey Maguire and Lauren and Benedikt Taschen co-chaired.

Gucci was the sponsor and an influence on the design. "The color palette was very rich—oranges and ambers. It had that very rich, tactile, Gucci thing going on," said the museum's acting director of communications, Sarah Stifler.

Eyegore Award winners on stage Photo: Joel Lugavere

The state of the economy isn't exactly putting the average American into a celebratory mood—but the upcoming Halloween holiday might be an appropriately scary distraction. To get guests into the spirit, Universal Studios hosted its annual Eyegore awards on Friday at the Globe Theater and kicked off the park’s annual Halloween Horror Nights event series. 

“The awards are given by Universal Studios Hollywood to actors, writers, directors, and other artists who have made a significant contribution to the evolution of the horror genre,” said Sandra Lady, vice president of Universal Studios and Citywalk special events. This year’s recipients included Julie Benz of Saw V, Bill Moseley of The Devil’s Rejects, director Roger Corman, director of the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Tobe Hooper, and the original Leatherface, Gunnar Hansen.

The inside of Coty's Harajuku Lovers Fragrance Lounge Photo: Courtesy of Coty Prestige

The four Harajuku girls Gwen Stefani employed for her 2004 solo tour weren't around to promote the new Harajuku Lovers fragrances in Canada—but they were emulated by models dressed in short skirts and pigtails as part of manufacturer Coty Prestige's traveling Harajuku Lovers Fragrance Lounge, which visited several locations in Toronto and Montreal from Thursday to Saturday. They also inspired Stefani's new fragrances, with each of the four girls, plus Gwen, representing one of the five scents.

"The fragrances are really fun, and we wanted to get the girls involved in the event," said Kim Husted, director of marketing at Coty Canada. The lounge—held in the Jam Van, a 24-foot vehicle designed for experiential marketing events—promoted the new scents in high schools, malls, movie theatres, and nightclubs in Toronto and Montreal over the three-day period. The mini tour started October 2 with a media preview.

The orchestra's ruby anniversary gala Photo: Lee Salem Photography

If there was one inspiration guiding the planning of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra's Ruby Jubilee gala, it was tradition. The 40th anniversary celebration began with a concert conducted by the group's founder, Sir Neville Marinner, at its original venue, the Ambassador Auditorium. The British conductor, who steered the orchestra until 1978, led the full orchestra in a program of Schumann, Stravinsky, Kodály, and Beethoven.

The orchestra now performs at UCLA's Royce Hall and the Alex Theatre, so the return to the Pasadena venue reflected “a very special choice by our music director [Jeffrey Kahane] and orchestra members, because they'd spent almost 20 years playing at the Ambassador,” said gala chair Joyce Fienberg. “They wanted to go back there for the nostalgia.”

The interior of the 3M Command Campus tour truck Photo: Courtesy of GCI Group

To promote eight new storage products in its Command Strips line, 3M embarked on a 16-city tour in a big orange truck, visiting 21 colleges and universities in five Canadian provinces during September. The company, which manufactures products like Post-it notes and Scotch tape, created a dorm room inside the truck to show off items like its new adhesive key holder and storage containers. In line with the company’s Save the Walls Web site, the tour touted Command Strips' ability to adhere to walls without damaging them.

"The tour is about getting students to recognize the 3M brand and helping them stay organized. The products don't damage walls, so they can help students get their residence security deposits back at the end of the year," said Kevin Beaudoin, Canadian brand manager for 3M Command Strips. Beaudoin worked with the GCI Group and the London, Ontario-based Branton Advertising to put the tour together. Unit 11 outfitted the 272-square-foot space inside the truck with a bed, closet, and desk, along with a true-to-scale photo of a messy dorm room on the opposing wall to help illustrate the importance of organization.

The pie mobile parked in Times Square Photo: BizBash

With the sophomore season of Pushing Daisies premiering nine months after its first outing was shortened by the writers strike, ABC’s marketing team needed a way to reacquaint the public with the network’s quirky comedy. The result was a 10 city, cross-country pie giveaway that reached the end of its road trip in New York this week.

Winding its way through Anaheim, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York, ABC's “Touch of Wonder Tour” spent the past month evangelizing Pushing Daisies. Operating out of an Airstream trailer designed to look like the Pie Hole—the fictional pie shop that serves as the backdrop for much of the series—staffers treated visitors to complimentary slices of apple and blueberry pie and peach cobbler.