| FROM THE EDITORS 06.16.09 11:01 AM |
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The 2009 BizBash L.A. Event Style Award Winners
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 | Ellen DeGeneres's 50th Birthday Party
Photo: Courtesy of Warner Brothers Special Events |
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FROM LOS ANGELES
On Friday, we posted a list of winners of BizBash's 2009 Event Style Awards, which were announced on Thursday at a ceremony following our annual expo at the L.A. Mart. Here's more on the winning work.
Best Corporate Event Concept (Over $50,000)
Ellen DeGeneres's 50th Birthday Party
Submitted by Warner Brothers Special Events
To celebrate the TV host’s birthday and her move from NBC to Warner Brothers Studios, Telepictures Productions hosted a celebration that doubled as a segment for the comedian’s show. Organizers designed a vintage carnival and incorporated her favorite things, including dancing and games, as well as some celebrity guests.
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RELATED TOPICS
Warner Brothers, Emirates Airlines, The Simpsons, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Stanford Cancer Center, Marriott International, Essilor, Autry Museum, Recording Academy, Grammys, Target, Converse, MTV Movie Awards, Chevy, Netflix, Film Independent, Spirit Awards, Event Style Awards |
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| EVENT REPORT 07.21.08 10:32 AM |
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Microsoft's East Coast Xbox Showcase Goes for Comfy Setting
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 | Microsoft Xbox's Holiday Showcase
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash |
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Last Monday's annual E3 Business and Media Summit in Los Angeles brought out all the big names in computer and video games. And while there was no official New York counterpart to the entertainment software trade show, Microsoft Corporation brought its new Xbox products to Manhattan for a two-day showcase at Splashlight Studios. On Tuesday and Wednesday, invited members of the media played with new games and spoke with Xbox reps during scheduled appointments. Microsoft Xbox's event team—John Ellard, April McKee, and Jen Puzio—hired Zed Ink to produce the event (as well as another incarnation in Los Angeles) with an eye to creating an intimate setting for orientation and interviews and comfortable lounges for game testing.
To ease traffic and give editors enough time with the right game genre, the two-floor studio was divided into three distinct environments. A room on the first floor held three partitioned sections for orientation and interviews. Specifically, this was for attendees to have one-on-one time with company representatives as well as familiarize those not well versed with the video game console. Adjacent to this was a studio just for the hard-core games—including Gears of War 2 and Halo Wars. Upstairs held the more family-oriented titles as well as sports and interactive games.
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RELATED TOPICS
Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Netflix |
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| Q & A 12.17.07 2:18 PM |
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Netflix's Ken Ross Woos Nascar Dads With Concerts and Screenings
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 | Netflix's Ken Ross
Photo: Courtesy of Ken Ross |
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All this month we're bringing you Q&As with our 2007 Event Strategists of the Year. Here's the third.
Events have proven to be an effective weapon in Netflix’s fight against the entertainment giant Blockbuster. They add a real-life component to an online-only service, giving members and non-members alike an opportunity to experience the brand. This year, Ken Ross, 54, Netflix vice president of corporate communications, and his five-person team launched an offensive with its summer concert series entitled “Netflix Live! On Location,” which paired movie classics with musical performances by the films’ featured stars—in the cities where the movies were filmed. (Think Dennis Quaid performing in New Orleans, followed by a screening of The Big Easy.) The event achieved two of Ross’s strategic objectives: bringing Los Gatos, California-based Netflix to a mass audience, and generating national buzz.
What was the evolution of Live! On Location?
In 2006, we launched Netflix Rolling Roadshow, a series of outdoor screenings in locations made famous by the movies that we were screening. For example, we screened Jaws on the beach in Martha’s Vineyard and Field of Dreams on the baseball field in Iowa where the movie was filmed. We were lucky enough to persuade Kevin Costner to bring his band to Dyersville and do a concert before the screening. We had 6,000 people there, and the Iowa Highway Patrol had to close the roads. It was the first time in the 18 years since Kevin made the movie that he was back there. It was the perfect blend of brand, star, and consumer experience.
In the process of working with Kevin, we discovered that there are a number of celebrities who are pursuing a musical avocation as well. So this year we decided to build a program around that. And we decided on fewer events. As wonderful as Rolling Roadshow was, it wasn’t lost on us that the Field of Dreams event swamped all of the other events combined from a news standpoint, and that’s an essential component of our strategy. So we had three events this year, versus 10 last year.
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RELATED TOPICS
Event Strategists of the Year, Netflix |
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