Sony Conference Hits the Road

Sony Corporation periodically gathers its selling partners from around the world to keep them abreast of its latest gadgets and wonders. And on the last night of the Sony Global Marketing Partners’ conference, the entertainment giant likes to reward them with a big bash. Since the conference was held in Los Angeles this year, Alison Bossert, vice president of special events for Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Keiko Aoki, marketing manager for Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, gravitated toward 15/40 Productions’ proposal to stage the party at a quintessential Los Angeles location: Rodeo Drive.The party shut down two blocks of Rodeo Drive, from Dayton Way to Little Santa Monica Boulevard, as well as perpendicular blocks at the intersection of Brighton Way. It’s unusual for the City of Beverly Hills to shut down Rodeo Drive for private functions, and the traffic snarls it caused, starting at 10 AM, miffed merchants and motorists and may dissuade Beverly Hills officials from approving another private street closure on a weeknight anytime soon, according to a city source.

But the party itself was glammed up by all the native style of the legendary shopping street as well as the Sony stars who turned out for the event, including Tom Hanks, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, and Debra Messing.

Working with event designer Thomas Ford, 15/40’s Craig Waldman settled on a palette of earth and sunset tones—white, tan, chocolate, and burnt orange. Staff from L.A. Party Rents laid 80,000 square feet of brown carpet on the street and sidewalk, while 15/40 outfitted the southern block with white and brown daybeds topped with burnt orange pillows, where Sony’s 1,200 guests lounged during cocktail hour. Splashes of bright color were picked up in the 16-foot-high backdrops behind four, 48-foot-long bars, but no branding was visible inside the party beyond the press line. “Everybody knew where they were and why they were there,” Waldman says. “By Friday night, I think they’d had enough of it. Let Beverly Hills speak for itself.”

At 8:15 PM, organizers pulled back chocolate-colored drapes to reveal tables alternately covered with cloths in brown and burnt orange, some alongside black banquettes lining the sidewalk, all topped with candles and sprays of calla lilies and orchids. During the dinner, lights affixed to the stage at the edge of Brighton Way, where the evening’s entertainment would take place, were turned on the tables and surrounding storefronts, bathing them in a changing wash of lavender and pink light.

Guests feasted on Wolfgang Puck Catering’s filet mignon, miso-glazed wild salmon, and warm chocolate banana soufflé with caramel ice cream. After an address by Sony Corporation chairman and C.E.O. Howard Stringer, Chakha Khan took the stage at 9:30 PM for a concert projected on a screen behind the performer as well as on additional screens near the party perimeter. Around 10:45 PM, motorcoaches ferried guests back to their hotels.

—Irene Lacher

Posted 10.18.06

Photos: Line 8 Photogrpahy

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