| EVENT REPORT 11.02.09 4:22 PM |
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Venetian Ball Recreates Piazza San Marco With 30-foot Bell Tower, Starry Night Lighting
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 | The dining room
Photo: George Pimentel |
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For the 16th annual Venetian Ball, held Friday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to benefit the Villa Charities Foundation, members of this year's volunteer organizing committee drew a record crowd, used elaborate decor to recreate the Piazza San Marco, and hosted a surprise performance by Frankie Valli.
Although event committee members knew they had some financial challenges due to the economy, Laura Dal Bo, the foundation's executive director, said, "they just made a commitment to really ensure the Venetian Ball didn't suffer this year." Dal Bo worked with event co-chairs James Di Luca and Steven Muzzo to create the theme for this year's gala, which drew a crowd of more than 1,500 guests—up from 800 in 2008.
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RELATED TOPICS
Villa Charities Foundation, I.B.E.W. Local 353, Falconcrest Homes, TD Commercial Banking, Toro Aluminum, Aird & Berlis L.L.P., CIBC Wood Gundy, Condrain Group, Siemens, Tridel, TLN, Mercedes-Benz |
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| EVENT REPORT 02.23.09 2:10 PM |
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Oscar Night Parties: Mercedes-Benz Grows, A.P.L.A. Shrinks, and Leeza Gibbons Joins the Fray
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 | The Night to Make a Difference fund-raiser at Mr. Chow
Photo: Dale Wilcox for BizBash |
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FROM LOS ANGELES
On Oscar night—after the academy doled out its awards at the Kodak and many guests scattered to the Governors Ball and Vanity Fair's and Elton John's bashes—a host of other parties was taking over town. Included in that group last night was at least one substantial newcomer, one annual party that grew, and one that shrank: Leeza Gibbons’ new fund-raiser with Olivia Newton-John and David Foster, Mercedes-Benz’s bash, and AIDS Project Los Angeles’s viewing party respectively.
Leeza Gibbons
The first Night to Make a Difference benefiting the Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation and Olivia Newton-John’s Cancer and Wellness Centre took to Mr. Chow, where about 250 guests dined on a 10-course meal during the broadcast that showed on 16 plasma screens in the space. Ken Paves hosted a red carpet arrivals program, volunteer correspondents interviewed celebrities about nonprofit causes, and musical guests including R&B and pop singer Thelma Houston and DJ Steve Aoki performed at the event, which streamed live online for six hours on Sunday, beginning at 4 p.m. The new event—for which tickets sold out the week before show time—has a three-year contract with Mr. Chow for future Oscar night galas.
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RELATED TOPICS
Oscars, Award Season, Mercedes-Benz, AIDS Project Los Angeles, Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation, Olivia Newton-John’s Cancer and Wellness Centre, Metrosource |
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| NEWS 02.18.09 11:17 AM |
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Oscar Week: Vanity Fair's Back, Mercedes Moves to Montage, Governors Ball Tones Down, Suites Abound
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 | The 2008 Governors Ball
Photo: Nadine Froger Photography |
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FROM LOS ANGELES
The catastrophic state of the economy hardly bears repeating here—except to say that it hasn't done much to diminish the sheer number of Academy Awards-related event offerings on this week's calendar, even if it has affected those events' budgets. From an array of suites to Vanity Fair's apparently triumphant return, many guests' dance cards—even in this recession—are completely full.
The plethora of gift and hospitality suites around town include GBK’s “Circus of the Senses” at the SLS Hotel on Friday and Saturday. The event will give 20 percent of its proceeds to four charitable organizations. Melanie Segal’s “Be the Change” Oscar lounge, presented by Sensé Beautiful Science, will take to the Pali House on Thursday and Friday. Silver Spoon’s suite today and tomorrow benefiting the Chrysalis organization offers spa treatments, caviar tasting, and gifts. Stuart Weitzman's Oscar styling suite kicked off yesterday at the London West Hollywood hotel, and runs through Saturday with beauty treatments and a chance to peek at the shoe designer's 2009 red-carpet collection.
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Oscars, Award Season, Vanity Fair, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Gift Suites, Chrysalis, 95.3 the Beat, Brandaid, Sense Beautiful Science, Tag the World, Essence Magazine, Stuart Weitzman, Governors Ball, W.W.E., Global Green, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, U.S.-Ireland Alliance, Montblanc, Unicef, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Children Uniting Nations, Dior, BMW, Chopard, VH1, AIDS Project Los Angeles |
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| NEWS 02.09.09 2:39 PM |
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McDonald's to Hit Fashion Week, National Blitz Planned for May
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On Friday, editors, retailers, and other attendees might be surprised by an unlikely sponsor inside the New York Fashion Week tents. Joining companies such as Mercedes-Benz and M.A.C. Cosmetics will be fast food chain McDonald's, which plans to preview its new selection of specialty coffees with a café-inspired lounge in the lobby of the Bryant Park structure. Moreover, McDonald's is also sponsoring the Duckie Brown show, which is scheduled for this Friday at 1 p.m.
But that's not the end for McDonald's upcoming marketing efforts. In May, the corporation will kick off a national ad campaign for McCafé, the fancy new array of coffee drinks. According to Crain's, the bold blitz represents a $1 billion investment and the chain's most significant menu expansion in 30 years. Although business analysts are apprehensive about launching pricey products in this economic climate, the promotion could lead to an additional $1 billion in sales revenue. —Jenny Berg & Anna Sekula
RELATED TOPICS
McDonald's, Fashion Week, Mercedes-Benz, Duckie Brown |
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| EVENT REPORT 11.17.08 3:41 PM |
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All That Glitters Gala Adopts a Jet-Set Theme With California Palms, Eiffel Tower Centerpieces
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 | Models dressed as flight attendants
Photo: BizBash |
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Although ticket sales for this year’s All That Glitters Gala—held Thursday at the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex—slowed when the stock market hit a low in October, Marc Ralsky, director of volunteer and regional affairs for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada, expected the organization to reach its $500,000 fund-raising goal. More than 900 guests attended the benefit, which adopted a “Jet Set” theme and offered attendees the choice of dining in Los Angeles, London, or Paris. “It was first come, first serve,” Ralsky said of the ticketing for the themed rooms, noting that organizers sold different levels of sponsorship as royal-, first-, and executive-class tickets.
“Tickets were selling really, really fast, and then once the stock market crashed, we had no more sales. It just stopped,” Ralsky said. “Corporate tickets we had no problem with. We were on target with our corporate numbers. It was the individual tickets we had problems with.” The fact that the benefit fell on the same night as events being held at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum may also have impacted individual decisions, he said, noting that ticket sales picked up again just prior to the event. Ralsky reported that people who attend the foundation’s benefit typically have some connection with Crohn's and colitis. “We don’t attract the general public to events just because it’s the place to be," he said. "We’re trying to change that, so we upped the ante this year by bringing Solutions With Impact on.”
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Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada, The Globe and Mail, Air Canada Vacations, CTV, Mercedes-Benz, Danier, M.A.C. Cosmetics, 104.5 Chum FM |
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| NEWS 07.25.08 1:58 PM |
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Rogers Cup Secures Record Sponsorships
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 | The Yoplait booth at the Rogers Cup
Photo: BizBash |
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Creating new partnerships and retaining sponsors like Rogers Communications—which just announced a three-year extension of its title sponsorship—is important for a sporting event like the Rogers Cup, according to Greg Wood, Tennis Canada's vice president of corporate sponsorships. “The key to our success this year is, number one, keeping our sponsors," Wood said this week. “We have been growing our sponsorship revenue for a long time. Since 2003 we’ve taken off. We’ve had 150 per cent growth in the last five years." According to Wood, the Toronto and Montreal tournaments will generate in excess of $17 million in sponsorship revenue this year. This year's Rogers cup wraps up at the Rexall Centre this weekend.
"Our biggest new pick up this year was the Dairy Farmers of Canada. They are a platinum partner at both [men's and women's] events," Wood said. The organization is also working with Tennis Canada on a grassroots program and national public service campaign called Everyday Champions. "It’s a marketing partnership where we’re promoting the healthy lifestyle of tennis and the health benefits of [dairy products]…there is a print campaign celebrating everyday tennis champions around the country and all of it culminates at the Rogers Cup with the Dairy Farmers of Canada Activity Centre at the event," he said. The centre includes smash tennis, mini tennis, sampling, and branding.
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Rogers Cup, Tennis Canada, Rogers Communications, Dairy Farmers of Canada, Mercedes-Benz, Emirates Airlines, State Farm Insurance, Desjardins, Aeroplan, Adidas, Rexall, UPS, Miele, 407 ETR, California Wines, Corona, Iris, PricewaterhouseCoopers, The Merchant of Tennis, American Express, Haagen-Dazs, Yoplait, Fiji Water, L'Oréal Paris Men Expert, Sunoco |
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| EVENT REPORT 05.29.08 3:34 PM |
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Canadian Sex and the City Premiere Party Re-Creates New York Street Scene
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 | The Sex and the City after-party
Photo: BizBash |
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New York City—often referred to as the fifth leading lady in Sex and the City—played a starring role in the after-party for the film’s Canadian premiere at the Toronto School of Circus Arts last night. The Big Apple featured prominently in the party for 650 guests with images of the Manhattan skyline projected onto the bare concrete walls, a yellow cab parked in the middle of the venue, and an ice sculpture of the Empire State Building in the centre of the main martini bar.
“The whole premise of the event is black and pink, and the whole underlying theme is obviously New York,” said Suzanne Turnbull of McNabb Roick Events, who, along with Jeffry Roick, collaborated with Carrie Wolfe of Alliance Films (the movie's Canadian distributor) to create what Turnbull called a "glamourous party in a New York street.”
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Sex and the City, New Line Cinema, HBO, Swarovski, Mercedes-Benz, NYC & Company, Shoppers Drug Mart, Stella Artois, Skyy Vodka |
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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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FROM NEW YORK
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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