As the World Series approached, the Dodgers organization had big plans for some splashy post-season hospitality events. The problem: the team needed to keep winning games in order for the events to happen, so planning was a leap of faith for all involved.
The Dodgers's administrative assistant in the executive offices, Michelle Rubin, and executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Lon Rosen, commissioned Stoelt Productions to design and produce the hospitality events, and ultimately, the group had just two days to pull together the program that materialized.
After the Los Angeles team won to get into the National League Championship Series and the St. Louis Cardinals prevailed against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the events were a go for October 14 (though Stoelt and crew were ready on October 11 in case the Dodgers got home-field advantage). The crew set up a 100- by 140-foot tented structure at Dodger Stadium and filled it with accents in the baseball team's signature blue and a look befitting a city known for its celebrities and A-list event attendees. "With it being Los Angeles, it was a big event with amazing food, florals, and DJ," Stoelt said; comparable events in other cities are often much more casual with significantly less fanfare.
White bucket chairs had wooden legs that mimicked the look of baseball bats. What Stoelt called an "elevated Hollywood look" included a ton of moving lights and a circular center bar with a 30-foot truss above it that carried a banner bearing the years of all previous Dodgers World Series wins, plus the official Major League Baseball post-season logo and team logo. "We also used chrome and glass to really accentuate all of the lighting and reinforce the brand," Stoelt said. "We could have had not one piece of signage hung in that tent and the organic branding would have been overwhelming."
Food included more elegant takes on ballpark favorites with an Los Angeles-specific twist, like plated chicken and waffles plus Dodger dogs.
There were three events in the space. (Had the team advanced to the World Series, Stoelt would have also produced the World Series Gala on the top deck at the stadium and the team would have held three more pre- and post-events in the tent in addition to the gala.) A number of people came out for the two-day festivities, including owners, managers, V.I.P.s, and a significant contingent of Major League Baseball guests—as the league controlled half of the tickets.
