Hard-surfaced fruit makes for a healthy snack—and an unexpected place for a brand logo. Fun to Eat Fruit creates the logos using safe-to-eat, custom images without bruising or puncturing the skin.
At an event called Hotel Thrillist, Thrillist took over an entire San Diego hotel for a weekend in September. The rebranding included elevator wrapping with the event's logo.
The nighttime party Best of the Munchies: People's Choice Food Awards at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival had a carnival theme with a ring toss, tic-tac-toe, and other games. Planners put the event logo on ping-pong balls.
The Mythical Frames stage—one of seven at the electronic dance music festival held in Atlanta in September—featured a colossal collage of tilted LED screens that each projected imagery throughout the performances. Brought in from Belgium, where the event’s sister festival has taken place since 2005, the stages each had their own unique theme, including a fairy-tale scene, an Arabian palace, and a magical forest. The United States version of the five-day festival was produced in partnership with SFX Entertainment.
Produced by Insomniac Events, the Electric Daisy Carnival is known for elaborate scenery, carnival rides, and world-renowned DJs. In 2013, Mountain Productions engineered the main stage for the tour’s Sin City stop, which was held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in June. Able to withstand 90-miles-per-hour winds and constructed of 50 miles of scaffolding, it was the largest structure ever built by the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania-based staging company. The animatronic owl, provided by the Attraction Services Company of Santa Clarita, California, included a “nest” where the DJs performed.
The Sundance Film Festival returned to Park City, Utah, on January 22. Running through February 1, the snow-filled festival lures brands to the city's Main Street. BuzzFeed hosted its first activation on festival grounds this year. The "BuzzFeed Basecamp" was open to the public and hosted private events at night. Activities included posing in a GIF booth with vintage ski gear. The booth's backdrop was a snowy mountain scene.
On Saturday, haircare brand Keratin hosted a pop-up salon at the MTV Music Lodge, a space where reporters conducted interviews with celebrities. Keratin also provided branded props for celebrities to use in photos. Modeled on an Instagram post, a prop frame was printed with the activation's hashtag for easy sharing on social media.
This year the look of the official after-party for the 21st SAG awards was driven by Hollywood's original golden age, with grand decor elements and metallic accents. Flowers popped against geometric golden tabletops, which sat amid seating groups in jade and emerald greens as well as grey tones. Held Sunday at the Shrine Exposition Center, the bash was produced by Event Eleven's Tony Schubert and Time Inc. special projects director Lisa Simpson.
To celebrate this year's National College Football Championship game in Dallas, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Joule Dallas owner Tim Headington, and advertising executive Ray Clark hosted a bash dubbed “the Night Before." Held at the Joule's new lounge Midnight Rambler on January 11, the evening offered trays filled with treats including lollipops with the logos of the game's two competing teams: Ohio State University and the University of Oregon. Lara Beth Seager, vice president of global hospitality for the Marketing Arm, planned the event.
To promote the season premiere of Showtime's Shameless, Okamoto Studio carved and assembled more than 18,000 pounds of ice in the shape of the show's hashtag, which was on display in the Flatiron district's pedestrian plaza in New York in January.
MasterCard partnered with American Airlines to surprise passengers with a showing of Annie before the film hit theaters. The screening was followed by an in-air meet and greet and Q&A session with guests from the film, including star Quvenzhané Wallis (pictured).
In honor of the upcoming movie Fifty Shades of Grey, which opens in theaters next month, here are some shades-of-gray decor inspiration: A muted palette and soft furnishings contrasted the clear Lucite dining setup at a private event, held at Brazos Hall in Austin, Texas, in November 2014, which was designed by Caplan Miller Events.
In Los Angeles, Deutsch LA hosted its holiday party in December at Hangar 8 at the Santa Monica Airport. The company chose a "Studio 54" theme based on the address of its office: 5454 Beethoven Street. To bring the theme to life, Schaffer's Genuine Foods added miniature disco balls to a food station.
Here's another disco-inspired idea: The game show's wrap party had a '70s theme in 2011, and guests danced on a colorful, light-up dance floor. The Los Angeles bash was produced and designed by Poko Event Productions.
Desserts emporium Popbar offers a do-it-yourself drink dubbed hot chocolate on a stick. Available in dark, milk, or vanilla chocolate, the sticks are intended to be stirred into a mug of steamed milk. The New York-based business caters events, but also offers the treats in gift boxes.
The recently renovated Marriott Stanton South Beach in Miami Beach has debuted “Selfie Spots,” five areas within the beachfront hotel designated as the perfect place to snap selfies. The areas are marked by a circular sticker and have the hashtag #StantonSelfie and the hotel’s social handles.
The contemporary dining room at Atlas, the new restaurant at the St. Regis Atlanta hotel in Buckhead, displays art from the Lewis Collection, including pieces from Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Francis Bacon, and other famed artists. The restaurant, part of the Tavistock Restaurant Collection, serves a menu of local and seasonal American cuisine with European influences. It seats 106 and has a private dining room that seats 12. It opened in January.
Housed in a 1920s-era warehouse that previously served as director Tyler Perry's studio space, Krog Street Market opened in November and is home to restaurants, retailers, and market stalls selling fresh produce and prepared foods. Restaurant spaces include Craft Izakaya, a Japanese-fusion-theme-space that seats 96; the Cockentrice, a charcuterie-centric restaurant that seats about 130; and the Luminary from Top Chef contestant Eli Kirshtein, which seats about 140 and has a 50-person patio and a private dining room that seats 36. Superica, set to open in late February, will seat 130 people inside and 40 in an outdoor space.
A renovation at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta completed in August updated the hotel's 30,000 square feet of meeting space. The new 3,650-square-foot Highland Ballroom holds 260 guests banquet-style or holds 300 for receptions. A face-lift to the existing Grand Ballroom added modern decor, new lighting, Wi-Fi technology, audiovisual equipment, and touch-screen systems. The overall 9,700 square feet of meeting space seats 750 guests or holds 1,250 for receptions.
The Omni Hotel at CNN Center is now the only hotel directly connected to the Georgia World Congress Center after the addition of a $6.8 million, 116-foot-long connector. Constructed of glass and steel, it was completed at the end of 2014 and allows business travelers a walkable passageway when commuting between the hotel and the 3.9 million square feet of meeting and exhibit space at the center.
The recently revamped Midtown restaurant Two Urban Licks reopened in October with an updated menu from new executive chef Michael Bertozzi. The eye-catching design features gold leaf paint, dramatic oversize light fixtures, and a "wine on tap" wall with 72 barrels of wine. The 280-seat restaurant has several spaces for private events. The new private dining room, called the Ballroom, seats 40 guests and overlooks the main dining room, a courtyard with a retractable roof, and a "living wall" of floor-to-ceiling greenery. The space seats 60 or holds 90 for receptions. A patio and herb garden offers boccie ball courts and holds about 25 guests.
Community Smith, the meat-centric concept from chef Micah Willex, opened in late January in the Renaissance Atlanta Midtown hotel. It seats 147 throughout the bar, restaurant, and sidewalk patio. Three private dining areas hold groups of 16, 18, and 32. Located in the former Briza space, the restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner and features a second-floor rooftop patio dubbed the Garden at Community Smith that holds 300 people.
Located inside the Forum Athletic Club in Buckhead, the indoor cycling studio Cyc Buckhead opened at the end of January and features 50 bikes in a 2,000-square-foot space. Buyouts are available for corporate teambuilding events.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based American Food and Beverage opened an Atlanta location in mid-January. Located in Buckhead, the upscale tavern features stool seating, a wraparound bar, and menu items such as duck potpie and chorizo Scotch eggs. The venue seats 185 guests. For private gatherings, the bar area holds 75 guests for receptions.
Chefs Eddie Russell and Matt Palmerlee, former co-hosts of Cooking Channel show Belly Up, opened Last Word Food & Cocktails in early October. The locally sourced menu varies by day and season. The layout features an L-shaped bar and clusters of seating, and design elements include white subway tiles, a concrete floor, and live oak tabletops from St. Simons Island. The 2,162-square-foot space seats about 60 including at a 12-seat redwood communal table.
The pan-Asian restaurant Bento Hut opened in the Pencil Factory Flats & Shops in October and serves sushi, fresh juice, smoothies, and Dutch-Indonesian-inspired dishes. The space, once home to Chow Bing, seats 70 or holds about 100 people for receptions.
Entertaining Company in Chicago makes a wintry hot toddy punch. The drink is made with ingredients such as fresh ginger, honey, crushed red pepper, orange pekoe tea, and whiskey.
In Austin, Texas, catering firm Royal Fig makes a summery nonalcoholic punch using fresh-pressed watermelon juice, pureed cucumber, agave, water, and mint.
A Perfect Event in Chicago works with Pure Kitchen Catering to create custom "smoking punches" for all seasons. One that's particularly suited to October bashes is the "Zombie Punch," made with ingredients that include three types of rum, grapefruit juice, cinnamon syrup, fresh lime juice, and Herbsaint liqueur.
Rebar, the bar at the ritzy Chicago hotel, serves a cold-weather punch dubbed "Winter Magic." The drink combines mulled red wine with cloves, oranges, cinnamon, and cherries marinated in cognac.
Incorporating traditional fall flavors, the nonalcoholic "Cranberry Cobbler" punch at hotel restaurant Highball & Harvest in Orlando combines muddled lemon and raspberry with cranberry juice and honey syrup; it's topped with soda. The drink was created by bartender Blake Herndon and can be made alcoholic with the addition of vodka.
The Orlando catering firm Puff 'n Stuff creates a nonalcoholic fusion of lemonade and fresh herbs that suits warm-weather gatherings.
Chicago firm Paramount Events' summery drink contains fresh strawberries and strawberry preserves, mezcal, grilled tangerine, and basil.
The firm also makes a springy punch with fennel-infused gin, rosemary syrup, and fresh rhubarb and pink grapefruit juices.
Chicago catering company Limelight makes a summery drink that puts a spin on the usually fruity sangria. The Vegetable Sangira Punch incorporates white wine, fresh herbs, heirloom tomatoes, watermelon radish, and cucumber.
Tanta, a Peruvian restaurant in Chicago, serves its Pisco punch in a cup decked with a mermaid. The drink contains Pisco Portón, zucca, lime, cinnamon, and Cusqueña beer. National Pisco Sour day is celebrated in February to help bring summery vibes to the dead of winter, but the drink is served at Tanta year-round.
New Chicago restaurant the Duck Inn has "Bath Tub Punch" on its event menu. Created by senior executive bar director Brandon Phillips, the punch is served in a tabletop bathtub with a large chunk of ice that typically holds a frozen rubber duck. The punch is suited to all seasons, but in the summer the venue hosts outdoor "backyard parties" that offer smoked ribs, sausages, and signature Duck Fat Dogs.
Wise Guys Events offers “Clockwise,” a cell phone scavenger hunt played with QR codes. Teams of as many as 10 players race against the clock to discover and decode 12 QR codes hidden within the game zone, usually a few city blocks. The codes may be located on a bike parked on a city street or on matchbooks players receive after giving a password to a bartender. When players scan the QR code, they get a password worth points at the end of the game and also instructions on how to complete an optional challenge for bonus points. Each hunt takes about four hours.
