On June 4, the SickKids Foundation hosted its 14th annual “Scrubs in the City” benefit at Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto. At the end of the night, a food trunk gave guests a taste of next year's theme: "London Is Calling." The truck had the date of next year's event written on its side.
To celebrate the Chinese New Year, the Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino's floral and horticulture department teamed up with artisans to produce a "Year of the Monkey" art installation, which will be on display through February 29. Located inside the Las Vegas resort's waterfall atrium and gardens, the installation features 78 handcrafted monkeys, a handcrafted 5-foot, 300-pound "Monkey King," eight giant hand-painted peaches covered in Swarovski crystals, 88 gold and red six-foot lanterns, and a 38-foot-tall "wishing" tree with golden foliage.
Skylands Stadiums in Augusta, New Jersey, is hosting its first ice sculpture extravaganza Frozen in Ice throughout the month of February. The event features more than 100 tons ice sculpted into displays, which include an ice cabin that comes furnished with a bed.
Beauty brand Dove invited media to the Unilever R&D headquarters in Trumbull, Connecticut, on February 2 for an event focused on the making of the brand's Beauty Bar soap. As part of the experience, Dove partnered with dessert layer jar company Jars by Dani to serve guests custom designed, layered Mason jars that evoked the brand's colors. The jars contained white chocolate "soap" bars, French vanilla cake, white chocolate chips, sprinkles, and whipped cream.
Returning Super Bowl party host ESPN held its party on February 6 at Fort Mason in San Francisco. The event was produced and designed by Event Eleven, and decor included a giant cleat placed atop the network's logo.
Oreo brought its Wonder Vault campaign to life with an activation that introduced its new, limited-edition "filled cupcake" flavor to consumers on February 2 in New York's Chelsea neighborhood. People who walked by the "vault" were invited to open the custom garage door and pull a lever, which enabled a brown paper box containing a mini sleeve of the new Oreo flavor to arrive via conveyor belt.
For a stress-relieving idea at long events and meetings, Scarborough & Tweed offers coloring books for adults as a creative alternative to traditional event swag and corporate gifts. Coloring pencils are included with the books.
Looking for ideas on how to generate buzz at an event press conference? A press conference on January 21 for the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts—which takes place in April at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts—showcased culinary installations to communicate the festival's artistry. To highlight the festival's underwater concert, the conference featured an ice sculpture with musical instruments. It was paired with sushi for a taste of the sea. Garces Events produced the culinary installations.
Brands including Bud Light took over San Francisco to host events leading up to Super Bowl 50 on February 7. The beer brand took over Union Square to create a 30,000-square-foot "fan haven" that was open to the public aged 21 and over. The activation featured a beer garden serving Bud Light in commemorative cans and bottles and proceeds from Bud Light sales benefited the United Way of the Bay Area's poverty-fighting programs. There were also interactive football-theme activities, including virtual opportunities to catch a football, block opponents, and do a touchdown dance. Mosaic produced the brand's Super Bowl activations.
DirecTV partnered with Pepsi for the first time to host a series of music, tech, and art events surrounding the Super Bowl at Pier 70 starting February 4. Projection-mapped images appeared on the venue's exterior. The DirecTV and Pepsi logos also appeared in lights on the building's façade.
In honor of Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl, which aired February 7, the network hosted the Puppy Bowl Cafe in the Ferry Building from February 4 to 7. For the first time this year, guests could use virtual reality devices to feel as though they were watching puppies "scrimmage" from the center of the field.
Each year organizers create a variety of lounges where attendees can watch a simulcast of speakers. New this year was a ball pit filled with beanbag chairs and beach balls.
To encourage attendees to mingle, organizers provided blankets and picnic baskets filled with food for six and invited them to find others to share it.
This may be the one time it’s actually okay to get marker all over the furniture. Taking inspiration from the recent trend of adult coloring books, national furniture rental company AFR has introduced a new initiative called #ColorYourEvents, which allows guests to grab a marker and color in branded decals that are adhered to tabletops. (The company's Aspen Cocktail Table is pictured, but the decals can be used on other AFR tables as well.) Clients provide the artwork and markers, and AFR handles the decal printing and pasting. Pricing depends on the item and the size.
Revolve helped launch Moet & Chandon's new rosé on July 22 at a home in Watermill. Decor included a greenery-fronted DJ booth with social media handles and hashtags spelled out in Scrabble-style tiles.
