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1. OCAD Gala Kicks Off Mystery Art Sale

2. Developer Hosts Green Cocktail Party, Mini Trade Show to Unveil Eco-Friendly Homes

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

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

5. 8 Handy Gifts for Meeting Attendees

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

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

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

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

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 Coca-Cola

EVENT REPORT 10.05.09 5:09 PM

Coca-Cola Hosts Olympics Blowout in Chicago—on Day City Loses Bid

Coca-Cola's "Celebrate the Spirit" event
Photo: Courtesy of Coca-Cola

FROM CHICAGO "Here's to finding parking in Chicago in 2016," said one toasting guest at Friday night's "Celebrate the Spirit" event. Hosted by Coca-Cola, the cocktail party drew approximately 1,000 guests to the tented rooftop of the Harris Theater, which was decked with brand activations for the soft drink—as well as a few Olympics-ring props and other reminders of the games that Chicago won't be hosting in 2016, as locals had learned earlier that day.

Clare Brunnert, commercial channel manager for Coca-Cola's central region, said the company didn't view hosting an event on the big announcement day as particularly risky, since the party was intended as a celebration of the Games in general, and not just of Chicago's bid. "Coca-Cola has been associated with the Olympic Games since 1928, longer than any other corporate sponsor," she said. "We support the Olympic Games no matter which city or nation hosts the event, and the goal for [Friday's gathering] was really to celebrate the Olympic movement, our strong support of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and Coca-Cola's six pack of athletes." MORE >>

Coca-Cola

EVENT REPORT 07.21.09 4:38 PM

Olympics-Theme Gala Fetes 25th Anniversary of 1984 L.A. Games

The 1984 Olympics' 25th anniversary gala
Photo: Dan Eldridge Photography

FROM LOS ANGELES It was a grand 1980s theme party—but not the kind with sky-high bangs, legwarmers, and jelly bracelets. On Saturday night, the Coliseum was the backdrop for a gala commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1984 Olympic Games, which were held in Los Angeles for 16 days that summer, when the U.S.A. led all nations with 174 medals, including 83 golds.

The Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games and the Los Angeles Sports Council, spearheaded by David Simon, president of both groups, cosponsored the event. David Wolper, the producer of the 1984 Games' opening and closing ceremonies, created the show, and Mark Flaisher produced it. Sportscasters Keith Jackson and Jim Lampley served as M.C.s for the event, and Warren Tach was the technical director. "[Wolper] asked me to produce the show on his behalf, which was a huge honor," said Flaisher, who only had a few weeks to put the project together. MORE >>

Olympic Games, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games, Los Angeles Sports Council, U.S.C.

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

EVENT REPORT 08.11.08 5:54 PM

Coca-Cola Opens Giant Olympic Exhibits for Beijing Guests

The "Shuang Experience Center"
Photo: Eric Powell for BizBash

With an estimated bid of $70 to $75 million to be a four-year Olympic partner (plus an undisclosed marketing budget), Coca-Cola is all over Beijing’s 2008 Summer Games. Hoping to make the most of the big push, Coke opened its Olympic headquarters, “The Shuang Experience,” to the public Saturday morning.

The experience marks the culmination of the company’s two-year effort in the Chinese market using the Mandarin term “Shuang.” Said to mean “complete physical, emotional and spiritual refreshment,” the expression has worked its way into Chinese vernacular to describe something both literally and figuratively cool. MORE >>

2008 Beijing Olympics, Coca-Cola

EVENT REPORT 06.09.08 1:17 PM

Big Night Out Adds V.I.P. Reception, Live Auction

The silent-auction room
Photo: BizBash

Organizers adopted a superhero theme and added two new elements—a sponsor reception and live auction—to the 38th annual Big Night Out gala in support of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Toronto, held Thursday at the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex. "We wanted to do something different, and we wanted the opportunity to celebrate our corporate partners," BBBST president Cathy Denyer said of why they added the V.I.P. reception for sponsors.

The organization invited Jim Leech, president and C.E.O. of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, to address representatives from sponsors like Metropolitan Hotels, BMO Financial, KPMG, Great West Life, London Life, Canada Life, National Bank, Blackmont Capital, Peller Estates, Molson, Coca-Cola, Global, ET Canada, and The Toronto Sun.

MORE >>

Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Toronto, Metropolitan Hotels, BMO Financial Group, KPMG, Great West Life, London Life, Canada Life, National Bank, Blackmont Capital, Peller Estates, Molson, Coca-Cola, ET Canada, Toronto Sun

EVENT REPORT 04.25.08 4:44 PM

McDonald's Creates Art Exhibit for Burger Launch

The McDonald's Angus burger
Photo: BizBash

Old posters, framed burger wrappers, and artwork filled the Sky Room at the Carlu yesterday afternoon for a McDonald's exhibit entitled "The Burger as Art: a Retrospective." As a lead-up to the launch of its new Angus burger, the fast-food chain brought in memorabilia from the company's Hamburger University in Oak Brook, Illinois. McDonald's Canada communications director Ron Christianson worked with the company's marketing and communications team to put on the event and turned to Coca-Cola to provide the afternoon's beverages.

Items on display included T-shirts, toys, and old McDonald's TV commercials, including one featuring actor Jason Alexander. "We picked items of an iconic nature," Christianson said. "We wanted people to see the new product and connect to what they've seen in the past." Guests at the event included media, suppliers, and McDonald's employees. MORE >>

McDonald's, Coca-Cola

NEWS 01.24.08 5:32 PM

Coca-Cola Aims for China Domination With Towering Digital Bottle

Coca-Cola's bottle in Beijing
Photo: Courtesy of Coca-Cola China Beverages Ltd.

In a campaign to become the most popular beverage in China, Coca-Cola China debuted a high-tech five-story version of its iconic contoured bottle in Beijing on New Year's Eve, in a setting similar to New York's ball drop. Advertising Age is reporting today that "the world's largest graphic bottle" is the soft-drink company's latest tactic "in a series of spectacular promotional events" tied to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. (Coca-Cola China is the Olympics' worldwide partner.)

Unveiled during the televised Coca-Cola New Year Celebration Countdown Party, the 50-foot bottle weighs 20 tons and features more than 330,000 LED screens, all of which digitally depict "uplifting messages of happiness, love, optimism, and hope," according to a press release. The event and the bottle were meant to build anticipation for the Olympics while reinforcing Coca-Cola's relationship to one of China's most eagerly anticipated events. MORE >>

Coca-Cola

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