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Planners of the Year: Launching With Conviction

Caroline Van Der Poel makes lasting impressions for beverage distributor.

Caroline Van Der Poel is the public relations specialist at the Premier Beverage Company in Tampa.
Caroline Van Der Poel is the public relations specialist at the Premier Beverage Company in Tampa.
Caroline Van Der Poel
Premier Beverage

As the public relations specialist for a major liquor distributor that carries top brands such as Grey Goose, Jack Daniels, and Bacardi, Caroline Van Der Poel plans her events to have the maximum impact. She knows that her clients want to make a lasting impression, and this year, her events for Bacardi Big Apple Rum, Malibu Rum's Mango and Pineapple labels, and Jack Daniels are still being talked about.

"I believe in trying to find some type of theme that ties the environment to the product," she says. "You want to create a high impact event so that when the people leave they say, 'Oh my God, that was something.'"

For her Bacardi Big Apple launch this past summer at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, the theme was original sin. Taking her cue from the book of Genesis, Van Der Poel developed a party that she titled "Temptation," which she mounted at the hotel's nightclub, Floyd's.

She transformed the club into the Garden of Eden, covering all of the surfaces with real vines and roses. Green apples hung from air-conditioning ducts and centerpieces were made of glass containers with more apples inside. Van Der Poel placed hundreds of tea lights throughout the room. Working with conceptBAIT, she suspended huge faux apple peels made of spandex from the ceiling.

The night included performances by the New Century Dance Company, which performed an Adam-and-Eve-inspired dance, as well as a sexually charged S&M number.

"I wanted to do something late-night," she says of the nearly $50,000 event. "Something powerful and risqué, but not cheap."
Her year is spent planning as many as 40 events throughout the state, including product launches and trade shows. Each one, she says, is unique and she prides herself on creating settings with customized props, set pieces, and costumes. She created a blustery winter scene for the Grey Goose Vodka label. She threw a Jack Daniels gala at a Harley-Davidson dealership that included Venus's-flytrap floral arrangements. When Finlandia Vodka introduced a wild berry brand, Van Der Poel created one-of-a-kind transparent PVC gift bags emblazoned with berries.

"I always come up with something different," she says. "I work hard on personalizing every.phpect. I get down to every detail and when [the event] happens, that shows."