Forbidden Fruit

Organizers of the launch of the new LG Touch Phone series—held Thursday at the Sultan's Tent—didn't have far to look to find their inspiration for the event's hands-on theme. Andrew Barrett, the company's vice president of marketing, and Hugh Scholey's team at High Road Communications played up the new products when developing the theme of touching and experiencing the forbidden. "As we like to say, Canadians have been forbidden for months and months and months from experiencing the pleasures of touch with their cell phone," Barrett said. "Everyone's been wondering when a touch phone was going to come to Canada, so today we're taking the opportunity to tell people that they're no longer forbidden."

The Moroccan-inspired decor at the Sultan's Tent made the venue an obvious choice for the noon-hour launch party, Barrett said. “The reason we had the event here was to play on this whole theme that we have. We’re borrowing a page out of the story of Adam and Eve, who took a bite out of an apple and finally had an opportunity to experience the forbidden pleasures of touch. And that’s really what we’re doing here today with our phones, so this was the perfect environment to launch it in—it’s very sensual, it’s very stylish, and it’s meant to be sort of decadent and experiential, so it was a perfect fit for us."Scholey and his team created a number of interactive elements to encourage guests to experience the hands-on theme. "To bring the whole forbidden world and the pleasures of touch to life, we’ve got a lot of things happening," Barrett said in an interview at the event. "We’re going to have some dancers who are going to put on a very sensual kind of African dance. We’ve got live snakes here so those who want can touch a snake. We’ve got massage therapists here so those people who’ve never experienced the pleasure of massage get an opportunity to do that. We’ve got all the touch phones here so people can actually get a chance to try and use all three of the phones today. There are manicures that can be done while you’re here today. And we’ve even got an Aston Martin out front—today you can touch a real Aston Martin."

Organizers arranged for the luxury car to be parked outside the Front Street restaurant in an effort to link the launch with the company's new marketing campaign and a survey conducted by LG and Ipsos Reid Canada, which revealed that 27 percent of respondents said they wouldn't be able to resist touching the gleaming finish on an Aston Martin. Inside, belly dancers performed alongside snake handlers Adam and Eve prior to the unveiling of the three new touch phones, which will be available through Telus, Bell, and Rogers this spring. Guests—including members of the media, representatives from the three phone companies, and LG employees—sipped on Touch Royale signature drinks and nibbled on hors d'oeuvres like lamb kebabs and phyllo pastry wraps.

“I think we want to drive home for LG the amazing thing that is the touch phones and really pull that out and emphasize what is special about the phones," Scholey said. "You always want your event to point back to what’s most important about the product you’re promoting, in this case it is the first touch phone. It’s a big moment for the carriers to have this phone come out, so you want to create a big moment that’s equal to it."