Launches

St. Lucia Tourism Bureau

In the fall of 2016, RWE was contacted by the St. Lucia Tourism Board to produce a media launch event in only 8 days!

The Board was announcing its annual partnership with United Airlines for non-stop air travel to the island of St. Lucia. They wanted a “Taste of St. Lucia” event for 100+ travel writers and agents to give them a flavor of the island, both culinary and culturally. The Minister of Tourism for St. Lucia as well as dancers and drummers from the island were flown in for this special one-night event at Morgans on Fulton.

Working with Kehoe Designs and Paramount Events, we created a vibrant feel of the island. Paramount worked with a celebrity chef from St. Lucia on a island-inspired menu. The dancers and drummers provided a wonderful evening of entertainment. It was an exhausting but exciting week!

Loyola University capital Campaign Launch

In 2008, Loyola announced a fundraising campaign for $500 million dollars, its largest campaign to date. A campaign of this magnitude required a kick-off event of equally ambitious proportions. Initially planned for Millennium Park, it was determined six months before that the event should be on campus, but not in the gymnasium, as that venue was already known for Founders’ Dinner.  As luck would have it, the university had just purchased a large parking lot directly adjacent to its downtown campus. This became the site for the launch of “Partner: The Campaign for Loyola,” a cocktail reception and sit-down dinner for 500 of Loyola’s very best donors.

The parking lot was a blessing (blank slate) that also had its challenges (2’ variance in grade across the lot, an irregular shape that needed to hold 7 tents, drooping utility lines, and no water access).

For the reception tent, we created a garden that replicated Loyola’s new campus master plan, including retaining walls, plants, trees, water features and grass. Everything but the sod was re-purposed post event throughout Loyola and its surrounding neighborhoods, including plant donations to six neighboring parks. Inside the dinner tent, the set paid homage to one of Loyola’s oldest buildings. A custom song was created for the event, sung by a 148-voice choir made up of students, faculty, staff and alumni. The “Partner” theme was carried throughout the event – from food pairings at dinner, to duo stage presentations. A student hosted each table and was given background information on every table guest (all whom had something in common).