To celebrate the opening of W Shanghai—The Bund, W Hotels hosted a pop-up event at the Oculus at Westfield World Trade Center in Manhattan. The Shanghai-inspired event, which was produced by BMF Media Group, featured a massive branded photo op that involved a cargo bike piled high with purple, pink, and blue boxes inspired by Shanghai street style.
The hotel brand partnered with chef Danny Bowien, creator of Mission Chinese, who served soup dumplings in bright, colorful Chinese takeout boxes that featured phrases such as “Bite me.”
This year’s Future of Storytelling Summit and Festival took place October 4 to 5 at Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden in New York. The entrance to the event featured flags that spelled out the festival's acronym, giving the event a university feel.
TreePeople, a Los Angeles-based environmental nonprofit that promotes sustainable urban ecosystems through education and community-based action, held its 20th annual fund-raising gala on October 7 at its Coldwater Canyon Park headquarters. A photo backdrop with greenery, on-theme props, and the organization’s logo was featured. The event raised $705,000, and was designed by TreePeople and produced by BBDR Pacific Events.
The L.A. Street Art Design Experience—a design contest in which Cort Event Furnishings asked local event designers to create vignettes inspired by Los Angeles street art—took place in August at Los Angeles Center Studios. Perfect Surroundings Inc., which designed the main event, used a street art-inspired drip technique to paint wall art, liquor bottles, and a pineapple prop.
Throughout the evening, local street artist Bandit used spray paint on a 10- by 30-foot canvas, creating a mural to promote world peace.
American Express celebrated the launch of its new payment feature Pay It Plan It on October 3 at 207 Front Street, an event space at New York’s South Street Seaport. Experiential marketing company ExtraExtra Creative designed interactive, deconstructed art installations inspired by shopping for the event. The travel store installation featured props, including snorkels, suitcases, beach hats, and a globe.
The home store-theme installation featured yellow chairs for guests to pose, as well as a bed, blue plates, a dresser, and neon lips.
A shopping-inspired photo booth included hanging gift bags as a backdrop, and props such as snorkels and a suitcase.
The Atlantic’s Washington Ideas conference took place at Sidney Harman Hall September 26 and 27. Allstate converted a large part of the venue into a "renewal garden," where guests could install plants. All of the plants were given to a local garden following the event.
Building on the woodlands theme, catering labels at certain stations resembled tree stumps. Marcia Selden Catering & Event Planning handled catering.
Your Event Solution produced an adult Willy Wonka-theme corporate event for an association’s annual meeting on April 1 at Chateau Elan Winery & Resort outside of Atlanta. Showcasing a unique take on a doughnut wall, the event offered doughnuts placed on giant letters that spelled out “sweet."
A food wall invited guests to try small mystery bites through different doors, which were labeled with cheeky names that hinted at what guests were sampling. Each bite, which was immediately replaced after a guest took one out of the door, was inspired by food associated with Hilton properties, such as a brownie that originated at the Palmer House in Chicago and a red velvet cake that originated at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. For those with food allergies, a list of ingredients for each bite was displayed to the left of the doors.
Sugarfina provided a candy bar with boozy treats such as champagne-filled gummy bears.
American Express celebrated the launch of its new marketing campaign—which targets people whose work and personal lives are intertwined—with an event that took place April 9 at Industria in New York. The event, which was open to the public April 10 to 12, featured a number of themed rooms including the “Most Viewed Foods” room. The room featured a wall from which hidden servers offered guests Instagram-worthy dishes including rainbow bagels, cookie dough, and Thai purple noodles. Momentum Worldwide produced the event.
The Los Angeles edition of the 29th annual Glaad Media Awards took place April 12 at the Beverly Hilton. The event, produced by IMG Productions, partnered with Ketel One Vodka, which placed vodka and soda at each table so guests could make their own cocktails during the show. Olympian Adam Rippon showcased the process at the beginning of the evening.
Facebook-owned virtual-reality company Oculus hosted an “omakase”-style dinner July 31 at the Public Hotel in New York. Guests were invited to wear Oculus Go headsets to view six experiences that were each paired with a different course and cocktail. The Fox Sports VR course featured Meyer lemon gelee, creme fraiche, and caviar paired with the "Ocu-lade" cocktail, which consisted of habanero-infused tequila, mezcal, dried prickly ash, and lime. The cocktail was served in a plastic pouch. The menu was curated by chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and cocktails were crafted by Los Angeles-based creative shop Happy Hour Agency.
The fourth annual Secret Summer, a farm-to-bar cocktail festival, took place August 12 at the Foundry in Long Island City in New York. Hangar 1 Vodka featured a hanging herb wall, inviting guests to garnish their lavender lemonade cocktails. The festival was produced by Tyler Hollinger of HighLife Productions, Andrew Maturana of hospitality company Rapt NY, and Alison DuVal of the Foundry.
