| NEWS 07.31.09 10:00 AM |
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Potential Sponsors Looking for Customization, Integration, and R.O.I.
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As corporations looking more closely at their spending, planners working to secure event sponsorships say they need to find innovative ways to create meaningful experiences for the attendees and the companies involved. “The days of simply putting a company's logo on a dinner package have gone by the wayside. Sponsorships today need to be related to a return on investment,” said Joel Hock, president and founder of Solutions With Impact, a Toronto-based event management company that has planned events like the Bell Celebrity Gala and the Rally for Kids With Cancer Scavenger Cup.
“If you're looking for $250,000, then you better have a compelling story why that organization should be participating," he said. "It needs to align with their market strategy and their demographic and their positioning. You have to make sure when you make that presentation that you're trying to hit as many of their touch points as possible."
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Sponsorships, Selling Sponsorships, Telus, 944 Magazine, Self Magazine |
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| NEWS 05.18.09 12:13 PM |
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Luminato Plans Opening Night Gala at Ballet School, Maintains Programming Despite Economic Downturn
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 | Luminato lit up the ROM in 2008
Photo: Gary Beechey for BizBash |
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The Luminato Festival of Arts + Creativity—which returns to Toronto for its third incarnation next month—kicks off with a black-carpet gala for 1,200 guests June 5 and wraps up with a weekend of activities on the waterfront on June 13 and 14. “To activate the entire downtown core with art and culture for 10 days is huge,” said festival C.E.O. Janice Price. “Last year we decided we had to balance the strong opening weekend. We also discovered we needed a central hub that was easily communicated, so we decided on Yonge-Dundas Square.”
The square will host a number of free events again this year, including an opening night concert featuring Randy Bachman. The festival's opening night will also include an invite-only gala, sponsored in part by Giorgio Armani, at Canada’s National Ballet School. For the closing weekend, planners have invited Cirque du Soleil to perform at HtO Park and in the Toronto Music Garden at Harbourfront. “The two weekends need to be the hallmarks of one of our hallmarks, which is that 80 per cent of our programming is free,” Price said.
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Luminato Toronto Festival of Arts + Creativity, L'Oréal, Giorgio Armani, Telus |
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| EVENT REPORT 05.05.09 9:01 AM |
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Femme Fatale-Themed Innovators' Ball Draws Inspiration From Spy Exhibit
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 | The Ontario Science Centre's Great Hall
Photo: Gary Beechey for BizBash |
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For the third annual Innovators' Ball—sponsored by LG Electronics Canada for the first time and dubbed “Femme Fatale: An Evening of Intrigue”—the Ontario Science Centre drew inspiration from a new exhibit about the art of espionage to create a dinner and party that attracted a crowd of more than 1,200 people Thursday. “There’s an exhibit that opened April 9 called 'The Science of Spying.' Every year the Innovators’ Ball takes its theme from an exhibition,” said Matt Wiesenfeld, director of annual giving and a member of the event planning team.
“For the cocktail reception, we’re trying to take people back to the early days of spying,” Wiesenfeld said. “We’re creating a 20's- and 30's-era piano lounge with a singer and champagne.” Event management company Solutions With Impact created an all-white lounge with touches of green and purple—a nod to sponsor Telus—where models dressed as cigarette girls took photos of guests with LG Dare phones. “We’re working with some new sponsors this year so we’re letting them have fun with the event,” Wiesenfeld said.
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Ontario Science Centre, LG Electronics Canada, Telus, Tiffany & Company, Audi Canada, CTV, Air Canada, Camitz Sparkling Vodka, Cointreau, Cosabella, Glenmorangie, Hello, Hennessy, Moët & Chandon, Pepsi Bottling Group, Shops at Don Mills, StarChefs.com, Steam Whistle, The Bay, The Kirkwood Group, Yellow Tail, Yves Saint Laurent |
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| EVENT REPORT 02.23.09 5:09 PM |
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Fund-Raiser Treats Guests Like Stars With Oscar Broadcast, Swag Lounge
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 | Comedian Carla Collins hosted the event.
Photo: Gary Beechey for BizBash |
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For its inaugural To Oscar with Love fund-raising event, Leave Out Violence (or LOVE) teamed up with Debra Goldblatt to create a swag lounge—presented by Tastemakers for the first time at a charity function—designed to make guests feel like celebrities. “I’ve always wanted to come up with a different way to raise money and not have it be a silent auction, and swag is what the stars do, and so I wanted that here. It’s more modern,” said Kacey Siskind, an event planner and volunteer member of the organizing committee.
For a $75 ticket, guests gained access to the lounge—furnished by Andrew Richard Designs and managed by Goldblatt, founder of Tastemakers and president of Rock-it Promotions. “It’s a neat idea to do this in lieu of a silent auction,” said Goldblatt, who noted that gift lounges are unfamiliar to a lot of people. “People don’t really understand the whole swag concept … we can’t offer it to everybody during events like the Toronto International Film Festival.”
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Oscars, Leave Out Violence, Tastemakers, Carla Collins, Telus, Porter Airlines |
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| EVENT REPORT 02.09.09 3:23 PM |
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Rethink Breast Cancer Hosts Kid-Friendly Benefit With Dance Party, Fashion Show
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 | The silent auction display
Photo: BizBash |
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More than 400 guests—including 200 children under the age of seven—attended the Little Sweetheart Ball Sunday, a kid-friendly benefit in support of Rethink Breast Cancer. "There was a baby boom in the Rethink office and amongst our supporters," event manager Lindsay Grange said of the concept for the fund-raiser, now in its third year. "We're known for our cocktail parties, so we thought why not do something for our supporters who have kids?"
The event—held from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Capitol Event Theatre—raised funds for Support Saturdays, a program for new moms and dads dealing with breast cancer. Attendees watched a fashion show presented by Joe Fresh and had the chance to take part in numerous interactive displays, including a fajita station sponsored by the Lone Star Texas Grill. "Our event is not face painting and Barney, it's quite the opposite," Grange said.
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Rethink Breast Cancer, Telus, Schick Quattro, Joe Fresh, The Little Paper, Lone Star Texas Grill, Little Art Box, Balmshell, Becoming Maternity, Love Music, Sweetpea Organic Baby Food, The Chef Upstairs, Half Baked Ideas, Yellow Tail, Steam Whistle, Naked Juice |
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| EVENT REPORT 12.09.08 3:25 PM |
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Telus Launches Blackberry Storm With Live Band, Graffiti Artist
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 | A graffiti artist at the Blackberry Storm launch
Photo: Gary Beechey for BizBash |
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For Monday's launch of the Blackberry Storm smartphone, the event team at Telus adopted an edgier look than usual for the brand in an effort to play up the innovative features included in the device. “Telus-branded events are typically always done in purples and greens, so we have a palette to work with. With this one, because of the product and the demographic, we went outside the box a little bit," said Beth Appleton, director of communications and experiential marketing at Telus.
Appleton and her team called on Peter Carruthers of 43degrees Design Collective to create the overall look of the launch, held Monday in the event space next to Oasi. Bright pink tulips served as accents throughout the venue, which 43degrees dressed in black and white. Zebra print carpets and black and white patterned Mademoiselle Missoni chairs, courtesy of Contemporary Furniture Rentals, filled the room. “It’s a bit edgy, but you still know it’s Telus,” Appleton said.
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Telus, BlackBerry, Research in Motion |
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| EVENT REPORT 09.30.08 1:19 PM |
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Boobyball Adopts Espionage Theme With Bond Girls, Gadgets
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 | The spy-themed Boobyball
Photo: BizBash |
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For the playfully named benefit known as the Boobyball, organizers called on sponsors such as Telus and Schick Quattro to create a spy-themed interactive evening on Friday for 900 guests at the Liberty Market Building. "It’s not your typical cocktail party," said Lindsay Grange, manager of special events at Rethink Breast Cancer, the fund-raiser's charity. "You’re going to have such an experience. It’s amazing for our sponsors, too, because they are really able to engage their target audience and get the product in their hands in an interesting and different way. It’s not just them handing out a postcard or sticking a postcard in a gift bag, it's them actually interacting with their customers."
The interactive components of this year's event—titled "Boobyball 7: Undercover"—started as guests checked in at a bank of computers that generated their identities for the evening and issued passports. Attendees then had to participate in five activities throughout the night to earn stamps on their passport, which they presented to pick up their gift bags at the end of the night. Inside the party, guests had the chance to participate in target practice, inspired by Rethink's exclusive line of "Fashion Targets Breast Cancer" T-shirts. Attendees could also obtain an access code from one of Schick Quattro's eight undercover agents for a chance to open one of the men's briefcases to win the prize inside, and could try to unlock a vault in the Secret Agent Lounge sponsored by Telus.
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Rethink Breast Cancer, Calvin Klein Underwear, Schick Quattro, Timex, Telus, Naked Juice, Tanqueray, Cuervo, Stella Artois, Red Rain, Yellow Tail, Aquafina Plus, Toronto.com, Fashion Magazine, Women's Post |
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| EVENT REPORT 09.09.08 2:18 PM |
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Umbrellas and Rainwear Fill the CFC's Annual TIFF Barbecue
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Sunday's afternoon rain didn't have a big impact on the attendance at the Canadian Film Centre's (CFC) annual barbecue, with more than 1,000 guests turning up for the 20th anniversary event on the centre's grounds. “We always try to tent quite a few areas, but we always just kind of pray for the best, and people always know to bring umbrellas if they absolutely need to," said CFC event coordinator Mark Fellion. "Most of the people who attend this event are annual attendees and they know the deal. Last year it didn’t hurt our attendance. We still had about 1,500 people attend."
Hosted each year by Canadian director and producer Norman Jewison during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the CFC barbecue is held in honour of Canadian and international filmmakers. "We invite a lot of delegates that are in town for TIFF," Fellion said. "So we never know exactly who’s going to show up ... it’s a lot of our sponsors, our alumni. It’s a good opportunity for them to network with all of these industry professionals."
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Toronto International Film Festival, Canadian Film Centre, BBC, BBC Worldwide, Telus, Canwest, Corus Entertainment, Shaftesbury, Just for Laughs, Deloitte, Epitome Pictures Inc., The Spoke Club, Links of London, Belvedere Vodka, Stella Artois, Jackson-Triggs Vintners, Fiji Water, Krups, Time magazine, The National Post, Playback, Turtle Island Recycling |
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| EVENT REPORT 08.28.08 11:41 AM |
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LG Creates Game Show Atmosphere for Canadian Texting Championships
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 | LG's texting championships
Photo: Courtesy of High Road Communications |
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Despite a few technical glitches in the final round of play Tuesday, LG Electronics Canada awarded $25,000 in cash and prizes to a contestant deemed the fastest text messager in the country during the finale of the LG Canadian Texting Championships at Diesel Playhouse. Nine contestants from across Canada competed for the title during the free public event, which drew a crowd of 200 media representatives, industry insiders, and curious passersby.
“The location is great because there’s a lot of foot traffic," said LG manager of public affairs Frank Lee. "It’s great for us to be able to draw some consumers to the event.” Those who did wander into the noon-hour finals had the chance to try their hand at texting in an arcade set up in the lobby. Prizes included an LG DVD player and tickets to a performance of Evil Dead: The Musical.
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LG Electronics Canada, Bell, Rogers, Telus, Breakaway Tours |
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