| THE SCOUT 08.09.06 12:00 AM |
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| Problems Solved: Smart Fixes for Common Challenges |
| Putting on successful events requires overcoming a constant flurry of setbacks. Here are some creative strategies for all-too-common event planning conundrums. |
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Captivating an Audience
When guests arrived at the opening of Parasuco's SoHo store, they were taken aback by the sight of a woman perched high above the crowd in a 14-foot-tall skirt made from white parachute material. But the night's big surprise came when the lights dimmed, the skirt lit up, and shadows of hands and heads started writhing from within. Conceived by Grayson Handy of Prudence Designs and choreographed by Richard Move, the seductive dance that followed featured six performers from the touring modern dance production The Show (Achilles Heel), who eventually made their way outside the skirt.
Inspired by the brand's ad campaign, Handy (who worked with Parasuco's public relations director, Adrienne McGrath) focused the event's design on the fashion. "I wanted it to romance the space and complement the collection," he said, "keeping it alluring and sexy without being intimidating or obnoxious." The rest of the party tricks in the 10,000-square-foot bilevel space were simple—short vases of red roses, Sicilian-style hors d'oeuvres from Go Catering, and projections of photographs from the ad campaign and Parasuco's logo from Big Wave Event Productions. —Anna Sekula |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | | At the opening of Parasuco's flagship store, six dancers emerged from within a 14-foot-tall skirt, surprising guests with a live performance. |
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 | | Tiered seating gave all guests a good view at Rodman & Renshaw's November event at Cipriani Wall Street. |
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 | | To match the all-white look of the Krisam Group's promotional dinner, Empire Force Events covered the patterned carpet in Pier Sixty's Olympic room with several feet of Flutter Fetti. |
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 | | The Lightship Group's new A-170 Video Lightsign Airship is a high-tech blimp that shows video on a giant LCD screen. |
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 | | Moss Inc.'s Rendezvous structure can be used as a stylish way to hide a storage or prep area. |
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 | | ASME drowned out talkative attendees at its National Magazine awards with a seven-piece jazz band. |
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 | | Napster strayed from the norm at the Digital Life Expo with its garage-themed booth. |
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 | | Card tricks and theme drinks helped customers experience Absolut's new flavor. |
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 | | Guests tried Suave products at the brand's pop-up salon in New York. |
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 | | The McLaughlins' mini cards made for easy inviting. |
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Making Sure Everyone Sees the Show
Entertainment was a key facet of a dinner held by investment bank Rodman & Renshaw at Cipriani Wall Street last November, and Thomas Noel of Event Design Inc. wanted to make sure the audience of 900 C.E.O.s and investment bankers had perfect sight lines to view the slate of acts performing throughout the evening in the long, large room. To do so, Noel and his staff created seven levels of seating—an elegant version of stadium seating, if you will—with rows of individual lounges that sat eight to ten people on each level. "I'm always so frustrated with the classic round because there are always four people who have a bad seat, who are turning back and forth throughout the night," says Noel, who had the event's 1920's dinner theater decor custom-built. "You know you've got a great design when it's a challenge to find the bad seat." —Courtney Thompson
Covering Up the Carpet
When the Krisam Group hosted a promotional dinner for 275 event and meeting planning professionals last year at Pier 60, the venue's patterned, multicolored carpet—a necessary choice in most high-traffic ballrooms and catering halls—didn't fit the modern-looking decor envisioned by the event's producers at Empire Force Events. "We learn as event producers that when you're going into a room and creating a theme, you might rent chairs and linens and lighting, but the floor is what it is and you usually ignore it," says president Jaclyn Bernstein, who worked with Krisam vice president Marcia Gerard to plan the event. "In this case we didn't want to ignore it because the floor would have taken away from everything we did on the walls and the ceiling." To perfect the all-white room they had designed, Bernstein covered the carpet with large white confetti from Flutter Fetti, which rustled at guests’ ankles and got them talking about the clever idea. —C.T.
Grabbing Attention at an Outdoor Event
A generation ahead of the static logos of the Goodyear or Fuji blimps is the new A-170 Video Lightsign Airship from Orlando-based Lightship Group. The 175-foot long blimp can display full-color commercials, advertisements, live TV, and other animated media on its 30- by 70-foot, 33,000-pixel LED screen. The A-170 debuted at the National Association of Broadcasters' conference in Las Vegas in late April; it displayed NBA, NFL, and PGA Tour programming as well as logos from multiple event sponsors. —Suzanne Ito
Covering Up (or Creating) a Scene
Tuck storage or food prep areas out of sight, but with style. The curvy Rendezvous structure from Moss Inc. is a tasteful, eye-pleasing tensile fabric shelter that can go up in the middle of a room to create some privacy. Use it to hide productsor a prep area, or break away from the crowd for small, private meetings inside the structure. The overall piece is 12 feet wide by eight feet high and the interior area can hold a 30-inch diameter table and four chairs. —Mark Mavrigian
Jazzing Up the RSVP Process—for Free
When we called the Susan Magrino Agency to RSVP for the May 18 opening party for Sirio Maccioni's new home for Le Cirque, here's the recording we heard, in a distinct accent: "Hello, this is Sirio; you have reached the RSVP line," the famous restaurateur began, adding later, "I look forward to seeing you at our new location at One Beacon Court." A nice, surprising, personal touch, no? That got us thinking that almost any kind of event could ape this concept: a film's star could leave the message for the premiere, or a C.E.O. could tell employees how important their presence will be at an incentive event. The best part: it's free. So why have an intern do it? —Chad Kaydo
Quieting Down a Chattering Crowd
When the American Society of Magazine Editors moved this year's National Magazine awards from a lunch at the Waldorf to a black-tie evening ceremony at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the understood intention was to sex up what had become fairly rote proceedings. But at least one thing didn't change from years past: when it came time to move from the cocktail hour to the ceremony, most people moved slowly and showed little interest in stopping their conversations to take their seats for the show. "I'm deciding if I'm going to sit or hang out until later," a woman explained to us, unbidden, a few minutes before the ceremony's intended 7:30 PM start time, when less than half the crowd was seated. Then, her decision: "I'm going to hang out." But at 7:35 PM, a seven-piece jazz band appeared in the aisles, blasting "When the Saints Go Marching In" and effectively drowning out the conversations. Unable to talk over the trombone, everyone gave up on their chit-chat and sat down, and the ceremony began. Now that's cool jazz. —C.K.
Standing Out at a Trade Show
To attract an audience for Napster among the tech companies exhibiting their latest products at the Digital Life Expo, Grand Central Marketing opted to stray from the high-gloss booth deign typical at trade shows. Instead, the firm designed the Napster Garage, adorned with music posters, guitars, amps, and even a ping-pong table, to create an authentic, garage-band feel that related to the online music brand. "Our solution was based largely on time and money constraints," said Matthew Glass, president of Grand Central Marketing, who worked with Dana Harris from Napster. "We used the problem to our advantage and said we can't do a typical trade show booth, but Napster is not a typical brand." Apart from the laptops provided for consumers to surf Napster's music library, the garage did little to flaunt Napster's technology, and instead provided guests with a place to kick back and take a break from the bustle of the trade show floor. The Napster Garage also took home the award for Best Booth at the show. —Christine Maddalena
Making Product Promotion Entertaining
Absolut Spirits Inc. added some magic to its marketing last year by sending 50 magicians to perform card tricks (with Absolut-logoed cards) in bars and lounges in 18 cities. In addition to sampling pokertheme cocktails, bar patrons also received decks of playing cards that incorporated the familiar shape of an Absolut bottle. The vodka brand "wanted to play off the current poker trend," said Ryan Oakes, partner of the marketing firm Pandora Group that Absolut aligned with on the promotion, along with Strategic Group. The interactive approach paid off, as Absolut sales increased four percent nationally. —Stacy Barron
Getting Consumers to Try a Product
To persuade beauty mavens that Suave products are just as good as their pricier competitors, Eventage Event Production Inc. produced the "Can You Tell?" Studio, a touring pop-up salon that invited more than 1,000 consumers and media professionals to get shampoos, haircuts, blowouts, and manicures. "We wanted to bring to life Suave's campaign at the time, which was 'Can You Tell?,' so we created a living, breathing salon," says Kim O'Brien, vice president of Weber Shandwick, who worked with then-Suave brand manager Cynthia Safford to create the event concept. Instead of just receiving samples they might not actually use later, guests at the Suave Studio got to try the products firsthand. With half their heads shampooed with Suave, the other with a competing brand's shampoo, or one hand treated with Suave lotion, the other with a competitor, guests could make direct comparisons. Held in New York, Chicago, and Minneapolis last year, the event lasted from two to five days in each location, and was featured on Good Morning America and in magazines such as Redbook, Shape and O, the Oprah Magazine, garnering 164 million media impressions. —C.T.
Handing Out Last-Minute Invites
It happens all the time: a party is set in stone, but the guest list isn't, and you want the freedom to hand out last-minute invites—but discreetly. Or you're expecting to see lots of potential guests—at a trade show or other large gathering, say—and you want to slip them invites they won't lose. At the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., on April 29, McLaughlin Group staffers passed out mini invitations to a brunch hosted by Cristina and John McLaughin at the Hay Adams Roof Terrace the following morning. Printed on stock the size of business cards, the invites could easily fit into purses and pockets. —C.T.
Posted 08.09.06
Photos: Jimi Celeste/Patrick McMullan (Parasuco), EDI (Rodman & Renshaw), © Empire Force Events (confetti floor), Steve Friedman (ASME), Courtesy of Grand Central Marketing (Napster)
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