11.06.08 3:55 PM
PepsiCo Canada prefers PNH Enterprises
Theresa Martel
As the senior account manager at SDI Marketing, PepsiCo Canada’s sports marketing agency, Theresa Martel is the exclusive planner of all sports-related promotions for PepsiCo products. Martel executes about five events per year, including “Bring Home the Stanley Cup,” a contest in which contestants can win the ultimate NHL Playoff house party, complete with a visit from ex-NHL player Mark Messier and the cup itself.Signage : " PNH Enterprises Inc. is a one-stop shop for us. Producing branded backdrops, tents, flags, table banners, and so many other types of signage, they have always been great at providing innovative concepts for us. It’s sometimes easy to get stuck in a rut with these types of items, so it’s great to have them on the forefront of new ideas."
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PepsiCo Canada
10.02.08 1:15 PM
Giffin Koerth Chooses Constant Contact
Michael Butler
As director of communications, sales, and marketing at Giffin Koerth Inc., Michael Butler produces four to six events a year. Describing his company as "the CSI of insurance claims," he is currently working on "Accidents Deconstructed," an annual event taking place in early 2009 to coincide with the Canadian Insurance Adjusters Association Conference. Butler has been with Giffin Koerth since 2003.Invitations : "Constant Contact creates printable electronic invites that don’t show up as junk mail in inboxes, and people can bring the printed invites to the door. Members of the insurance industry often have many e-mail blockers, so it’s easy for exciting invites to get rejected and sent into junk mail. Constant Contact enables our invites to reach the right people and not get lost."
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Giffin Koerth
09.04.08 11:51 AM
National Ballet of Canada Trusts Terrain Flowers
Jennifer Zimmerman
Jennifer Zimmerman, manager of special events for the National Ballet of Canada, plans 110 events per year, from private dinners for six to large galas for 2,000. Zimmerman has been with the National Ballet for almost four years, starting as the officer of special events. She was previously an event coordinator for the Carnegie Foundation in New York and Pittsburgh. Zimmerman is currently preparing for the ballet's season opening in November, at which donors are treated to a welcome-back party, private dinners, and the opportunity to watch show rehearsals.Audiovisual Production: “Westbury National Show Systems does our staging, lighting, and sound. We had Mikhail Baryshnikov come for a private dinner at a private home, and Westbury set up the lighting, the sound, and the microphones for the M.C. Westbury is consistent, always on time, and doesn’t require a lot of instruction.”
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National Ballet of Canada
07.31.08 11:58 AM
Willow Breast Cancer Support Canada Counts on 3 Dogz Creative
Linsay Michael
Linsay Michael is the manager of development and events at Willow Breast Cancer Support Canada, a position she has filled for the past 18 months. Among her many duties, Michael oversees special events, fund-raising, and additional third-party events. Michael is currently gearing up for the organization's annual signature event, Eat to the Beat, when 60 female chefs make their signature dishes for 900 guests. Willow Breast Cancer Support Canada is a nonprofit that encourages, educates, and empowers all Canadians affected by breast cancer.Venue: “This year is the 13th annual Eat to the Beat, and it will be our 11th year using Roy Thomson Hall since we outgrew our first venue. We keep going back because the staff are fantastic, they know our event inside and out, and they’re supportive. We need to be able to fit 900 people in an easy-to-access space in downtown Toronto, and this is a venue that doesn’t need a lot of decor. We’re working with an extraordinarily tight budget and are proud of the fact that we return 90 percent of event proceeds back to Willow to be applied to our programs and services.”
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Willow Breast Cancer Support Canada
07.03.08 11:46 AM
Mill Street Brewery Relies on Unit 11
Steve Abrams
Steve Abrams, co-founder and marketing and events manager of Mill Street Brewery , is always looking for innovative ways to “drive liquid to lips.” Abrams executed about 240 events in the last year, double the amount of the previous year. He is currently preparing for the Toronto Festival of Beer at Fort York, and just wrapped Luminato, Toronto’s Festival of Arts & Creativity, where Mill Street Brewery ran an outdoor beer garden. Abrams has been with Mill Street Brewery since December 2002, when he founded the company with Michael Duggan and Jeffrey Cooper.Rentals/Props/Decor: "Unit 11 created an amazing gallery for us [during Luminato]; they created an outdoor gallery space, and built our bars and displays for us. They created a 10 by 10 area with walls that were lit. We had a T-shirt design contest for Luminato so we displayed the shirts and the winning T-shirt. There was also a 50-foot bar that they set up and dismantled for the event. They’re really clever guys who work quickly and come up with great work."
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Mill Street Brewery
06.12.08 5:17 PM
Design Exchange Picks Eventscape, Archetype
Gillian Hoff
Gillian Hoff has been the senior director of special events for four years at Design Exchange, Canada's national design centre. In the old Toronto Stock Exchange building, Design Exchange is a museum as well as a venue, with all revenue supporting the museum. Hoff produces some 400 events annually, including fund-raisers, fashion shows, exhibit openings, and red-carpet galas. She has worked in the industry for 20 years.Props: "Eventscape is one of my favorite prop suppliers. They supply enormous stretch fabric panels and structures. At our Steel Blue Gala, we created an amazing cityscape from 30-foot and 20-foot columns. I was re-creating Fritz Lang's Metropolis —the columns and arches are amazing to work with, and you can create some fantastic lighting effects by uplighting the fabric.”
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Design Exchange
05.29.08 1:58 PM
BMW Toronto Valets With Gatsby
Ben Greco
Ben Greco has been marketing and communications manager of BMW Canada’s corporate retail division for three years. Greco is in charge of all marketing, advertising, and events, including product launches, charity fund-raisers, and customer retention events. Design/Decor: “Designing Trendz really captures the essence of the theme we say we want to build. Our clientele are premium buyers, so they expect a premium experience. They catered our charity event, and aside from what we planned with them, they brought in additional elements. Having no experience in design myself, Craig Gruzd can really piece together what we want to achieve, and the finished design is beyond expectations.”
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BMW Canada
05.08.08 2:24 PM
Hugo Boss Canada Relies on McNabb Roick Events
Dawn Bellini
As the director of marketing and public relations for Hugo Boss Canada, Dawn Bellini handles all advertisement components, editorial loan-outs to editors, and the planning of all of the company's events. Bellini has been with Hugo Boss since 1994 and plans roughly seven large events a year, such as the annual Boss Benefit, held in a private home for 400. Production: "I cannot live without McNabb Roick Events . Jeff Roick is like my right hand when it comes to events. We work with him on everything—coordinating the rentals, staffing, decor, the DJ, and catering. Every event we work on he has a hand in, and he’s on the Boss Benefit committee. He even hosted my baby shower last year, he’s that close."Sound, Lighting, Staging: "Through Jeff, we came to work with Westbury National Show Systems . When we do our fashion show for Boss Benefits, they set up the runway. They also do big concerts, so they already have the tech riders, which is what the artist requires to perform, like a certain type of piano, soundboard, and microphone. They are able to anticipate what the performer will need."
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Hugo Boss Canada , Hugo Boss
04.24.08 9:48 AM
Canadian Opera Prefers Floral Studio, Catering by Davids'
Sarah Jarvis Photo: Courtesy of Eyecontact Photography
Special events manager Sarah Jarvis is responsible for organizing and executing all fund-raising events for the Canadian Opera Company, the largest producer of opera in Canada and one of the largest in North America. The three major annual events she plans are the C.O.C. Fine Wine Auction, the Opera Golf Classic, and Operanation, a fund-raiser for young professionals. Next year, a gala is being added to the lineup. Jarvis has been with the C.O.C. since 2004.Photography: "Mark Ridout from Eyecontact Photography really understands events and is completely personable and noninvasive with people attending. He has a fantastic memory for faces—he knows the Toronto social scene and knows who to cover."Catering: "Catering by Davids’ is completely reliable, very inventive, and will do anything to ensure the success of an event. The food is always fantastic regardless of your budget. We used them for Operanation last year, and I really enjoyed their amaretto cheesecake lollipops."
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04.11.08 10:56 AM
AIDS Committee of Toronto Turns to Tall Poppy
Jasmine Taulla
AIDS Committee of Toronto special events manager Jasmine Taulla is responsible for executing three major annual events, including Snap, a photographic fund-raiser featuring a live auction of curated art, a silent auction, and a photo competition; AIDS Walk for Life, a walk through the city that circles back to a community block party with a beer garden; and Fashion Cares, a gala event that includes a dinner, live entertainment, and a fashion show. Taulla has been with the AIDS Committee for just over a year, and moved to Toronto 15 months ago from Melbourne, Australia. She has worked as an event planner for six years.Graphic Design: “Tall Poppy does Web design, advertising, and graphic design. They did our Web site for Snap . Laura, Adrienne, and the team are great: highly motivated, innovative, easy to work with, and the results are beyond expectations. Their creative work is eye-catching, and we get a lot of press as a result of their work. We’ll have a picture that we want to use—this year we had a photo of Pamela Anderson wrapped in a Canadian flag—and they took that and came up with three designs, and we chose which one we liked.”
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AIDS Committee of Toronto
