| EVENT REPORT 04.20.09 3:33 PM |
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Marketers Consider Coachella Too Important to Skip in Lean Times
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 | T-Mobile's late-night hangar party
Photo: Polk Imaging/FilmMagic |
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FROM LOS ANGELES
Ask any marketer with a presence at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and he’ll tell you that the opportunity to promote in the desert during the festival weekend is unmissable and nonnegotiable—even in a downturn. Chalk it up to the sheer concentration of well-connected and enthusiastic music industry folks, fans, and friends captive in the middle of the desert, or to the extreme temperatures and terrain, or to the totally immersive quality of the whole thing—but the attendant brands felt they couldn't afford to be left out, even if this year's economic climate made sponsorship participation and overall budget dollars tougher to wrangle. The festival kicked off on Friday and wrapped Sunday night in Indio.
“This year was really difficult. Sponsors are putting each event under a microscope, and they want to make sure it’s the right type of event for the right R.O.I.,” said Andreas Herr, publisher of Anthem magazine, whose desert party has developed a reputation as the most authentically hedonistic and bacchanalian of the weekend. “But the reason it’s so important for us is that it’s all about contributing to the lifestyle that we cover inside of the magazine. So many people look forward to this event throughout the year. At a time like this, it’s really important to give our fans and our readers something to really look forward to. That one weekend when you can really escape reality and go out there and have fun. It’s our biggest event that we do throughout the year, and we have a lot of fun doing it.”
This year, Anthem’s signature event included a Saturday pool party at a sprawling five-acre ranch property with a three-acre lake. (Herr characterized it this way: “The rough theme is '70s porno ranch meets disco. Does that even make sense? It makes sense to me.”)
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RELATED TOPICS
Coachella, T-Mobile, Anthem Magazine, Levi's, Ray-Ban, Urb Magazine, Filter, Vitaminwater, Goodlife.com, Going Green |
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| EVENT REPORT 04.08.09 11:42 AM |
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VitaminWater Helps Consumers Burn 10 Calories With Fitness-Minded Pop-Up
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 | VitaminWater10's "Des10nation"
Photo: Jessica Torossian for BizBash |
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Beverage maker Glacéau, known on the streets of New York for its considerable distribution of free VitaminWater throughout the summer, wanted a more tangible vehicle for its latest product launch. So to introduce the lower-calorie VitaminWater10, the company constructed a 10-day pop-up on lower Broadway to show consumers how they can burn off the drink's titular 10 calories.
"We wanted to do something different than our sampling trucks," said Glacéau regional marketing manager Hallie Lorber, who worked with producers and designers at MKG Productions to conceptualize and execute the space, dubbed the "Des10ation." "We needed a way to physically take these people aside and let them know how little 10 calories really is."
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Glacéau, Vitaminwater |
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| NEWS 07.29.08 8:00 AM |
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With Plenty of Sponsors, Lollapalooza Set to Take Over Chicago This Weekend
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FROM CHICAGO
The current incarnation of Lollapalooza, the brainchild of Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, along with Austin, Texas-based promoters C3 Presents and the William Morris Agency, will once again set up shop in Chicago's Grant Park this Friday through Sunday. The fourth-annual Chicago-only festival encompasses 120 acts (including Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and Kanye West) performing on eight sponsored stages, as well as various environments, lounges, and activities scattered throughout the park.
Lollapalooza 2008 incorporates several new elements this year, including Perry's, named for Farrell, an open-air electronica stage featuring live DJ sets each day at 2 p.m., and Lederhosen's Biergarten, a beer hall situated near Buckingham Fountain. Both Green Street (a destination space educating festival-goers about Lolla's eco-friendly initiatives) and Kidzapalooza (featuring a stage, "School of Rock" Jam Tent, a recording studio, and special performances) are returning this year.
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RELATED TOPICS
AT&T, Bud Light, PlayStation, MySpace, Citi, BMI, Blackstone Winery, F.Y.E., Vitaminwater, NowWhat.com, Small Paul, Sweet Leaf Tea, Whole Foods, Lifeway Kefir, Southern Comfort, Metromix.com, Belvedere Vodka, Hard Rock Hotel, Motorola, Bacardi, 42 Below, Cazadores Tequila |
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| EVENT REPORT 06.27.08 12:47 PM |
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Sports Fans Flood Chinatown Park for Celebrity Soccer Match
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 | Crowds of sports fans at Sara D. Roosevelt Park
Photo: BizBash |
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Sports fans descended on Chinatown’s Sara D. Roosevelt park for a free charity soccer game featuring big-name athletes from the N.B.A. and the soccer world on Wednesday night. About 800 people scrambled for the chance to get within shouting distance of sports stars who normally play packed stadiums, not tiny soccer fields.
Organized by the Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash and the New York Red Bulls’ Claudio Reyna, and sponsored by Italian denim company Replay, the friendly match (dubbed “Showdown in Chinatown”) and after-party raised money for each athlete’s personal foundation. Players, clad in Replay shorts and T-shirts, included Barcelona’s Thierry Henry (a World Cup winner), former Liverpool star Robbie Fowler, and N.B.A. players Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets and Nash’s fellow Suns Leandro Barbosa and Raja Bell.
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Steve Nash Foundation, Claudio Reyna Foundation, Replay, Vitaminwater |
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| EVENT REPORT 05.28.08 4:38 PM |
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Beset With Rain, Crowds, and Sponsors, Sex and the City Premiere Still Sparkles
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Presenting his movie to a rowdy audience of 2,800 guests inside Radio City Music Hall last night, Sex and the City writer and director Michael Patrick King said, “Sex is back where it belongs—in New York City.” (Cue the screaming and applause.) And one didn’t have to search long for evidence that New York was ready for the HBO show's characters to return. Outside, on the hall’s rain-drenched cross streets, thousands of mostly female fans waited, barging into barricades, cursing cops, and screeching for the droves of celebrity attendees.
The pre-event hype seemed to have a mushroom effect (The Post reported that one woman lost $22,000 in a ticket scam), with thousands coming out for the premiere, including many a crasher donning ode-to-Carrie ensembles. Expecting a huge turnout, studio New Line booked a backup theater in advance for overflow guests (The Daily News said others jilted got vouchers for weekend showings).
Clearly the return of Sex and the City was going to be a spectacle in its hometown. But even the premiere's planners and staffers seemed in awe of the crazed (some might say fanatical), bursting-at-the-seams atmosphere.
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Sex and the City, New Line Cinema, Mercedes-Benz, Vitaminwater, Swarovski |
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| Q & A 05.22.08 10:10 AM |
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Sex and the City Premiere Producer: Party Will Be "Saturated in Crystal"
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 | | Maria Ruiz |
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Sex and the City promises to be one of the biggest films of 2008, if only just for New York. As the continuation of a television series that came to define the way much of the world thinks of the city, the film demands a proper welcome. To see that happen, distributor New Line Cinema teamed up with Maria Ruiz, the founder and principle of MAR Events, to create a screening at Radio City Music Hall and a party at the Museum of Modern Art with a string of New York-centric touches for the May 27 premiere.
This is not Maria’s first time helming a New Line event. She’s worked with the studio as an event producer for the past nine years, planning premieres for films like Austin Powers, Hairspray, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Maria also produced New Line Cinema’s 40th anniversary, where Nicole Kidman was the M.C. Because executing a premiere of this scope requires a lot of work, Maria moved into the New Line offices, as she does for all of their projects, to work hand-in-hand with the studio's staff in all aspects of the screening and party. We caught up with her last week to see what she was up to with such little time left before the big day.
The premiere is less than a week away. What are you working on right now?
I’m finalizing the specialty drink and putting the finishing touches on the menu selection. New York is the food capital of the world, as far as I see it, and we’re trying to have all our bases covered, whether it's New York street food or a combination of that and cutting-edge, high-end lounge food. There will be lots of passed plates and some stationary buffets. Most of the menu is done; we’re just trying to tweak a couple of things. The same goes for the recipe for the specialty cocktail. We’re in pretty good shape for most of the event details. We’re conceptualizing these trays for the food elements with some of the Swarovski pieces being flown in from Europe, so we’re coordinating the receipt of those.
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Sex and the City, New Line Cinema, Mercedes-Benz, Vitaminwater, Glacéau, Swarovski, Skyy Vodka |
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| EVENT REPORT 05.20.08 4:43 PM |
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Beauty Expo Expands, Eyes Other Cities
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 | The Makeup Show's busy floor
Photo: Nadav Vee |
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The makeup counters were hubs of activity, with eager customers clamoring to buy everything from brushes to body paint. But this wasn’t the cosmetics department of a department store, it was the Makeup Show NYC, a small trade expo for the professional makeup artist community. And it wasn’t just about learning about (and buying) the latest products; it was also about education: hands-on workshops, seminars, and keynote speeches. Over two days, 3,000 attendees were expected to brush up on their makeup at the Metropolitan Pavilion.
Call the Makeup Show, created and produced by the Powder Group and Metropolitan Events and Production, the little trade show that could. Now in its third year, the show has grown in both size and scope. Originally launched in Manhattan, it is now produced in Miami as well. (The first Miami show was held in February; it will return next year). More locations—possibly Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and London—are in the works.
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RELATED TOPICS
Lancôme, Procter & Gamble, Cover Girl, Max Factor, Smartwater, Vitaminwater |
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