With a 41-degree high temperature on Monday, the first day of spring in New York wasn't very spring-like. Fortunately, it was warm and bright inside the Y Apartment, the site of Veuve Clicquot's New York rosé launch. Christina Monaco, director of public relations and event marketing for Moët Hennessy (Veuve's parent company), planned the event with Susan Magrino Agency's event manager, Jennifer Spalango. The team also coordinated an event on the same night at Miami's Setai hotel—where it was 40 degrees warmer—for a more temperate version of New York's launch.Jeffrey Marcus of JMVisuals took inspiration from the graphics of Veuve's spring print materials to create the decor for both parties. Using the color of the Champagne's yellow label and the pink hue of the rosé, Marcus worked with a tree motif that repeated throughout the Y space in different forms. In the entry hallway, panels of tree silhouettes decorated the walls, and cutout metal trees stood amid patches of wheatgrass surrounded by Champagne crates. A 25-foot-tall sheer white curtain, hung with mirrored tree cutouts, towered over the lower level. Guests filled the venue's kitchen and dining room area on the second level, where servers from Callahan Catering dressed in pale pink polo shirts passed pink hors d'oeuvres like smoked salmon on toasts cut in the shapes of Champagne bottles, and clear sticks swirled with cotton candy. A garden area on the second level displayed additional metal trees, and orange ribbons printed with the Veuve logo filled the planters.
This cool venue, a former YMCA in Chelsea, proved an ideal spot for the event. "The venue really reflected what we were trying to do," said Monaco. "It lent itself to great decor, it was unconventional, and it had great lighting—we like to choose venues that people have never been to before."
While the New York guests mingled inside the Chelsea venue, 150 guests filled the outdoor courtyard of the Setai, where the cutout metal trees and bottles of Veuve decorated the reflecting pools. The hotel's staff passed a similar menu of pink food.
The events launched the country's two simultaneous promotional tours for two of Veuve's winemakers, Cyril Brun and François Chirumberro. Brun, who will tour the northern half of the country, attended and spoke at the New York event, and will follow up with smaller press events in Boston, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.; his tour concludes in San Francisco. Similar press events in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and Palm Beach, Florida, are on the itinerary for Chirumberro.
The event-heavy promotion has already yielded results. "In the past 24 hours we've placed the rosé with several of our key accounts, and we've gotten calls from press to get samples and place the product," said Veuve Clicquot brand manager Sapna Santos-Canet. "We always get a great response from press, consumers, and trade when we throw an event—people would stop coming if they lost interest in what we were doing, but interest has never waned. We keep coming up with new things that pique their interest, and it's always fun for them to cover and attend and taste."
—Suzanne Ito
Posted 03.22.06
Photos: Marion Curtis/The New York Post (crates), Seth Bowarnik (Setai)
Related Stories
Moët Thinks Pink in Fashion Week Lounge
House of Dom Has Baroque Bling, Bountiful Bubbly
Breeze, Bubbly, Boys: Veuve's Winning Combo
Veuve Goes 80's for Bubbly Relaunch
Dom Perignon Lights Up Mandarin Apartments
Motorola Launch Has Legs (and Headless Mannequins)
Chelsea Y Opens as Temporary Venue
This cool venue, a former YMCA in Chelsea, proved an ideal spot for the event. "The venue really reflected what we were trying to do," said Monaco. "It lent itself to great decor, it was unconventional, and it had great lighting—we like to choose venues that people have never been to before."
While the New York guests mingled inside the Chelsea venue, 150 guests filled the outdoor courtyard of the Setai, where the cutout metal trees and bottles of Veuve decorated the reflecting pools. The hotel's staff passed a similar menu of pink food.
The events launched the country's two simultaneous promotional tours for two of Veuve's winemakers, Cyril Brun and François Chirumberro. Brun, who will tour the northern half of the country, attended and spoke at the New York event, and will follow up with smaller press events in Boston, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.; his tour concludes in San Francisco. Similar press events in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and Palm Beach, Florida, are on the itinerary for Chirumberro.
The event-heavy promotion has already yielded results. "In the past 24 hours we've placed the rosé with several of our key accounts, and we've gotten calls from press to get samples and place the product," said Veuve Clicquot brand manager Sapna Santos-Canet. "We always get a great response from press, consumers, and trade when we throw an event—people would stop coming if they lost interest in what we were doing, but interest has never waned. We keep coming up with new things that pique their interest, and it's always fun for them to cover and attend and taste."
—Suzanne Ito
Posted 03.22.06
Photos: Marion Curtis/The New York Post (crates), Seth Bowarnik (Setai)
Related Stories
Moët Thinks Pink in Fashion Week Lounge
House of Dom Has Baroque Bling, Bountiful Bubbly
Breeze, Bubbly, Boys: Veuve's Winning Combo
Veuve Goes 80's for Bubbly Relaunch
Dom Perignon Lights Up Mandarin Apartments
Motorola Launch Has Legs (and Headless Mannequins)
Chelsea Y Opens as Temporary Venue
At Veuve Clicquot's rosé launch at the Y Apartment in New York, a 25-foot-tall sheer white curtain hung with mirrored tree cutouts that towered over the lower level.
A garden area on the second level displayed more metal trees, and orange ribbons printed with the Veuve logo filled the planters below.
In the entry hallway, cutout metal trees stood amid patches of wheatgrass surrounded by Champagne crates.
JMVisuals placed its pink and yellow metal cutout trees in the reflecting pools of Miami's Setai hotel.
