Make Your Business The Talk Of The Town

Ribbon-cuttings with wine and cheese platters are out. Star-quality events that engage all the senses are in. The invitations to some of these affairs are as prized as the season's top social events-which, in fact, they have become, as they have grown ever more unusual and sensational.

Gulfshore Business took a peek into this phenomenon among real estate marketers ("Selling Spectacular," October 2006) such as Cameratta Properties, which held a preview of its First Street Village in downtown Fort Myers featuring fire dancers, living human sculptures and a gourmet spread for 500 guests.

Yet the same level of spectacular is taking place at upscale, invitation-only business events all over the Gulfshore this year-including a Parisian maison de couture-for that $95,000 automobile and a few $3 million penthouses.

Business affairs featuring world-class entertainment, handcrafted catering artistry, cases of rare imported wines and caviars, and mind-boggling themes have become so expected and so sophisticated that professional event planning has spun into a lucrative business in Southwest Florida.

Angela Chinaglia and Sheryl Ferrie are two such pros headquartered in the area. Seasoned veterans with weddings, social gatherings and travel-related events, both recently have seen their upscale corporate business increase exponentially.

Chinaglia, whose background includes food and catering, opened five-star restaurants and catered to the stars throughout the United States and Europe. Ferrie grew her company, Destination Resources, in the hospitality industry. Other corporate-event planners have evolved from public relations, the fashion world and even the movie industry. Public relations firms and ad agencies have added event-planning specialists to their staffs.

"Today, smart corporate America realizes the importance of entertaining," says Chinaglia. "Statistics show a swing of corporate dollars toward grand-opening parties and the unveilings of luxury cars and yachts." The budgets are often immense, she says, but every expenditure must be justified by the bottom line. When a handful of six- or seven-figure sales are completed before the ice sculpture melts, it's not a difficult decision.

Corporate protocol and geishas

"When Germain Lexus of Naples retained us to launch the top-of-the-line LS460, they presented us with a detailed protocol book of Lexus guidelines and standards," Chinaglia says. "Our mission was to wow the prospective buyers of this $95,000 automobile within the corporate guidelines."

A pamphlet provided suggestions for staging an event to reach prospective buyers. "The protocol did specify the color palette-champagne, cream, platinum, succulent green, succulent purple and chocolate brown-and the floral recipe-white orchids, cream roses, white and green hydrangeas and other whites," she says.

Even within the restrictions, Chinaglia and her team were able to produce an on-site event that included stunningly costumed, umbrella-twirling geishas and nine-foot-tall Asian stilt-walkers, along with the more understated Petrossian caviar, smoked salmon, sushi and 3,000 handmade chocolates. During the event, a professional fine artist created an original, hand-signed painting of the Lexus LS460. And as the party date happened to coincide with the release of Dionne Warwick's latest CD, and as Chinaglia is a personal friend of Warwick, there were Dionne Warwick CDs for all.

Corporate events are such important factors in the marketing mix now that the top brass get involved, from the CEO and senior executives to the board of directors, whose offices may span the globe. To plan the long-awaited unveiling of the Hermès boutique at Waterside shops, Sheryl Ferrie's Destination Resources worked simultaneously with the ad agency, the boutique owner, and both the Paris and New York offices of the fashion house.

Movie star valets

The experts say it's not just the corporate culture that has to fit; it's the personal style of the "name" behind the company.

"Hermès was very specific," Ferrie says, "and of course, very particular. For Hermès, it was all about the look." Even the valets and servers had to look like movie stars.

Other experts agree that this is an emerging trend among top-tier corporate events. It doesn't matter, sometimes, that the valet can safely park a $300,000 Bentley or that the server can balance three trays of priceless champagne stems along each arm. If he doesn't look like Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt, he doesn't get the job.

The Hermès rules of style, however, did not prohibit-and, in fact, seemed to call out for-the stilt-walker with the painted horse's head.

"The longer we work with a client and get to know their style," Ferrie says, "the better we become as a team. For example, when LXR Resorts transformed the Registry Resort into the Naples Grande, they wanted an unveiling that would reflect the sleek, contemporary-with-warmth theme of the resort. Because we've worked with them before-with creative participation at every level, from marketing to chefs-we're totally in sync. I get them, and they get me, and after a certain point, we don't have to talk; we just do."

Breaking new ground

At the very pinnacle of real estate, savvy companies have refined the "wow factor" concept to better reflect the interests and styles of their prospective buyers.

A new high-rise named Aqua is going up at Pelican Isle Yacht Club, and Ferrie was challenged to bring the luxury yacht-culture theme to a groundbreaking event. When you're introducing condominiums at $3 million and up," she says, "a hard hat and shovel just wouldn't do."

Bare sand and dirt wouldn't do, either, so for her client EcoGroup, Ferrie shipped in 10,000 square feet of seashells to create a path from the tent (above which flew the Aria logo flag spelled out in nautical letters) to the yacht. The theme was simple: classy, nautical and, of course, aqua.

Everything, down to the crisp white sundresses of the pretty greeters to color-coordinated "aquatinis," reinforced the statement.

Mesmerizing Third Street South

Ruffino Hernandez and Jason Christianson, partners in The Garden District, didn't need to hire a professional event planner when they opened their new location in Old Naples. Before opening the garden design and accessory business three years ago, Hernandez was an event planner for high-profile corporations including Swarovski Crystal. Christianson was formerly a fashion director for top model agency Wilhelmina in Miami.

In January 2007, the pair created an eye-popping opening event on Third Street South. With his fashion show savvy and connections to top Miami models (not to mention his friend Angela Keslar of the popular TV show Project Runway), plus the combined talents of the company's floral designers and enthusiastic vendors, Christianson pulled together the talent and pizzazz to stage a live fashion show that would rival a New York Fashion Week affair. There was a full-scale, custom-built runway that extended all the way to the street. There were floodlights and spotlights and high-powered professional models wearing one-of-a-kind couture fashions. There was a beyond-lavish spread of custom-designed hors d'oeuvres and beverages. One hundred guests were expected; 320 came, and scores of onlookers strained to get a glimpse through the privacy screens.

But what does a garden store catering to designers and landscape architects have to do with fashion?

Everything, says Christianson. As their customers started bringing their own clients into the store, what started as a garden accessory resource for interior designers and landscape architects quickly grew to include home and patio décor. "We needed, and found, the perfect location on Third Street South, and we knew we had to fit in," says Christianson.

"We knew that when something opens on Third there's a certain voyeuristic expectation-and people like to look at beautiful things," he says. "We had to meet both those expectations, and we had to keep it relevant both to Third Street and to our business, so the combination of fashion and flowers made perfect sense."

A lot of creativity went into the food presentation, he adds. "It was like eating your way through a garden. We even concocted a special libation in which floated edible black orchids and pink proteas."

The pièce de résistance was the spectacular fashions, all made from the fabric of Sunbrella patio furniture.

The event was so successful that the members of the Third Street South Merchant's Association quickly huddled and approached Hernandez and Christianson to create an equally exciting association-wide event for the public. That event, Third Street Blooms, took place March 29-31.

Hernandez and Christianson have much to bring to their new neighborhood, at both creative and business levels.

"We believe it's critical to respect the community," says Christianson. "Before we opened, we researched the city ordinances; we knew what we could and couldn't do. We also got our vendors personally involved at the outset and they got caught up in the energy of the project. It challenged their personal best.

"[Naples caterer] Tony Ridgway, for example, rarely goes on-site on a project-clients come to him. But during the planning of our opening, he came out three times. He was as excited as we were, and the result was simply perfection."