20 Cool Event Ideas You May Have Missed From ColourPop Cosmetics, Ebony Magazine, Amazon Music and More

To celebrate an extension of Chicago’s Immersive Van Gogh exhibit, Lighthouse Immersive created a hot air balloon modeled after the famed artist, which traveled to Goebbert’s Farm in Pingree Grove on Oct. 9. The balloon, which offered rides to consumers, was manned by Midwest Balloon Adventures. The first 100 people who posted a picture of the stunt on social media received two free tickets to the wildly popular art exhibit, which uses projection mapping to immerse guests in Van Gogh’s works. Organizers plan to bring the balloon to Minneapolis and New York next.

To celebrate the release of Coldplay’s latest album, Music of the Spheres, the band teamed up with Amazon Music for a traveling activation called “The Atmospheres,” an audiovisual experience for fans that took place in New York, London (pictured), Tokyo and Berlin from Oct. 15-16. Inside the custom-built installations, fans were transported to The Spheres—intended to be a distant solar system that plays host to the band’s latest album, where each of the twelve tracks is twinned with a different planet.

Produced by BMF, the activations allowed fans to create their own alien language messages and snap selfies in an augmented-reality photo booth. The experience was soundtracked by “People of the Pride,” a song from the new album, mixed with Dolby Atmos surround-sound technology and accompanied by 360-degree visuals. (Pictured: The New York activation at Grand Central Station's Vanderbilt Hall)

American Ballet Theatre hosted its first gala since 2019 on Oct. 26 at New York's David H. Koch Theater. The event, which featured a performance and a dinner, honored Tony Award-winning producer Jenna Segal, and included appearances from the likes of Misty Copeland, Brooke Shields, Liev Schreiber and Molly Ringwald. The seated gala featured a variety of eclectic textiles, plus tables arranged in a zig-zag format—an appropriate choice for the event's world premiere of Jessica Lang’s ZigZag.

To add more visual interest to the gala, guests were seated beneath oversized reflective globes. Buckley Hall Events handled event management, with decor from Keiko Ellis at Cloud Catering & Events. Additional vendors included caterer CxRA as well as DJ Runna.

Spectrum Reach, the advertising and sales arm of Charter Communications, has been working to uplift small businesses via its Spectrum Reach Truck Tour, currently making its way across the country. The traveling activation is designed as a neighborhood in a small American town, complete with a town hall, a food market, a post office, a theater and a local photo studio. In each of the areas, business owners can find helpful resources, one-on-one ad coaching and community-based networking.

Home and decor brand Yellowpop opened its first-ever pop-up shop in New York in October, aiming to celebrate its new collaboration inspired by the late artist Keith Haring. The eye-catching shop, which holds the full Yellowpop x Keith Haring collection, includes a Haring-style mural created by local artists Timothy Goodman. An added fun touch? An on-site customization studio, where visitors can design and order their own neon signs.

WarnerMedia Kids & Family teamed up with creative agency XD Agency on a seven-city, kid-friendly mobile tour for HBO Max and Cartoon Network. Dubbed the “Cartoonito” Mobile Tour, the free events featured an ice-cream truck decked out with custom graphics, plus a station where preschoolers could customize their own backpacks with direction from on-site art teachers. Other highlights include a coloring station, a photo op where families could take photos with giant inflatable characters and more. Five thousand backpacks were distributed throughout the tour, which wrapped up on Oct. 10, and another 5,000 were earmarked for charitable donations.

Last week, cosmetics brand ColourPop launched its new collaboration with the NBA during a Lakers vs. Suns game. In addition to sending mailers of the entire collection to NBA dancers as well as the wives, girlfriends and daughters of NBA stars, the launch event featured a fun photo moment with lockers and pink and purple basketballs. The buzzy collection, which officially debuted Oct. 16, includes makeup products inspired by the Boston Celtics, the Chicago Bulls, the Dallas Mavericks, the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic hosted its homecoming concert and gala at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on Oct. 9. The performance celebrated the long-awaited return of live concerts at the venue, with artistic director Gustavo Dudamel leading the orchestra on stage at the concert hall for the first time in 579 days, along with vocalist Cynthia Erivo and pianist Seong-Jin Cho. The stage backdrop took an appropriately celebratory tone, with bold colors, gold balloons and gold tinsel spelling out LA Phil, the commonly used nickname for the orchestra.

All-digital wireless carrier Visible has recently been bringing an attention-grabbing activation to various Austin-based events like Austin City Limits and the F1 US Grand Prix. The hot-pink mechanical bull serves as a cheeky metaphor, intended to showcase that Visible is wireless “without the bull,” and that unlike its competitors (including those with pink branding—without naming names, of course!) the company doesn’t “take customers for a wild ride.” The activation isn’t the company’s only memorable stunt: It comes on the heels of last year’s buzzy Red Rocks Unpaused concert, which used creative projection mapping at the iconic Colorado venue to draw a whopping 7.5 million virtual fans.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Save Venice—which focuses on important restorations of Venetian art and architecture—the nonprofit hosted an intimate dinner at New York’s Casa Cipriani earlier this month. The event drew 50 of Save Venice’s younger supporters from the art, fashion and film worlds and included ballet performances and a “glittering cocktail” dress code. The dinner table featured a mix of lush fall florals and tall candelabras, while guests dined on fall-inspired fare including risotto with saffron and dover sole with baby artichokes, grown on the Venetian island of Torcello where Save Venice is currently restoring the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta. (Proceeds from the evening helped fund this restoration.)

ELLE magazine honored eight women for their contributions to the entertainment industry during its 27th annual ELLE Women In Hollywood Celebration, taking place Oct. 19 at the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Gal Gadot, Jennifer Hudson, Rita Moreno and Halle Berry were honored at the event, while additional honorees Gemma Chan, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and Lauren Ridloff canceled their in-person appearances due to potential COVID exposure.) The Ralph Lauren- and Lexus-sponsored evening, hosted by Eva Longoria, took place on the museum's outdoor roof deck, where a circular stage setup mirrored the circular ceiling and highlighted views of the Hollywood Hills.

On Oct. 14, Amazon Prime Video teamed up with Operant Media and TELT to create an immersive experience for the new series I Know What You Did Last Summer. Over 200 influencers were shuttled to a secret location for the party, where they kicked off the experience by entering a black tunnel of fog, with the opening scene projected onto the fog and the sound of ocean waves crashing. As guests exited the tunnel, they encountered a photo moment of the series’ central murder scene (pictured). Guests then watched the first episode of the Amazon Prime Original Series while being served bloody popcorn, goat head cake pops and other on-theme food and drinks. Immediately following the screening, guests were invited to the “Last Summer” after-party with DJ sets by social media stars Charly Jordan and Zack Bia. The party included neon glowing drinks, an inflatable jump house, beer pong and a variety of photo moments.

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, beverage company DIAGEO and its whisky brand Johnnie Walker partnered with Street Vendor Project to give back to the community in a fun, creative way. Kicking off the initiative in New York, the brands identified Mike’s Express, a Queens-based Ecuadorian-owned food truck, to be transformed through art by Argentinean artist Magda Love. Love created a colorful and vibrant mural on the exterior of the stainless steel truck, inspired by owner Maggie Morales’s story of resilience and love for serving her community. Following the launch in New York, DIAGEO continued to work with Hispanic artists from Miami, Chicago and Houston to paint the exterior of Hispanic-owned food trucks in their cities.

For 818 Tequila’s first-ever booth at the New York City Wine and Food Festival—which took place Oct. 14-17 at Pier 76—Rose Gold Collective created a 30-by-20-foot space filled with eye-catching branding, similar to the company's New York launch party in September. Brand founder Kendall Jenner was on-site mixing cocktails for festival attendees.

Another eye-catching presence at the New York City Wine & Food Festival came from Discovery+, which worked with CHCre8tive on two spaces: a VIP lounge and a grand tasting space for Food Network. The sleek spaces featured wood tones and hanging greenery, with scenic and tech from Unmatched, furniture and decor from CHC, and catering from Great Performances and Restaurant Associates.

On Oct. 23, Ebony magazine held its annual Power 100 event at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. The gathering, hosted by Wayne Brady, drew 700 fully vaccinated guests for a red carpet, dinner, award show and post-event reception. The evening included individual tributes to rap pioneer MC Lyte and songwriting-production duo Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis; other honorees included Jada Pinkett Smith, Colin Kaepernick, Travis Scott and more. Captivate Marketing Group handled production.

HBO celebrated the final season of Issa Rae’s Insecure with Insecure Fest, held in Inglewood, Calif. on Oct. 23. The daylong event, hosted by Crissle and Fran of the Insecuritea Podcast, featured entertainment from DJ R-Tistic; a local Black-owned marketplace with food vendors; surprise musical performances from Jazmine Sullivan, Schoolboy Q, Duckwrth, Flo Milli and Kamaiyah; and an exclusive screening from the new season of Insecure. It was the fifth annual festival surrounding the show; seasons one and two saw daylong block parties taking place in Brooklyn and Inglewood, respectively, while season three expanded to include nearly 5,000 guests for a carnival-like experience at the LAFC’s soccer stadium. In 2020, the fourth season was celebrated with a virtual Q&A with the cast, a DJ set, a live watch party and a post-episode concert.

DJ Khaled brought his CBD-infused skincare to fans with GROOMED x BLESSWELL Chicago, a pop-up store that took place at the Kimpton Gray Hotel from Sept. 29 to Oct. 23. The space offered complimentary grooming services using skin and face products from the BLESSWELL collection, with top local barbers including JC The Barber and Jesse Elite providing services and sharing tips. The space, designed and produced by Rose Gold Collective, featured two grooming stations, lounge seating with gaming, merchandise and a bar.