Hollywood Branded Takes You To Work
Two days before the premiere, we got the call from an event planner we often work with. Could we do it? The event planner had just gotten the job, and while he immediately thought of us, it would mean some fast shuffling to make the logistics happen. But like always, this crazy adrenaline rush of a world is the one our team lives in day in and day out.
And we were prepared. The ask? To have one (which we managed to maneuver to two - as we are always on the lookout for all of our retainer brands) of our clients provide beverages for the premiere party of Spiderman: Homecoming! In this blog, Hollywood Branded takes you behind the scenes to the Spider-Man: Homecoming premiere and how our clients got to be involved.
About The Feature Film
Before the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the most well-known superhero of the comic brand was Spider-Man who had already been seen in a variety of films and TV series. The character was first introduced by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962 as part of the Amazing Fantasy comic book series.
The Marvel teenage superhero has finally made his big entrance to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the sixth film to feature the character. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter Parker walks the halls of high school while dealing with his newfound identity as Spider-Man. Though turned away by the Avengers for not being ready, Parker remains eager to prove himself under the mentorship of Tony Stark and does his own investigating after discovering an ongoing crime. Spider-Man’s abilities are put to the test as he faces the villains – is he too inexperienced to stop them? You’ll have to catch the film to find out!
How It All Happened
A large part of what the Hollywood Branded team does day-in and day-out is build relationships. And once built, maintain them so that they can be utilized and leveraged year after year. In the case of Spider-Man: Homecoming, the event planner who was brought on board to create a masterpiece of a premiere party at the last minute had an additional need - a self serve pop-up coffee station for guests.
Now, in the past we've sometimes gone to extremes with these types of events, bringing in baristas and a full blown coffee experience with blended yummy drink options, and the event planner knew that. In fact, our own team has often served as baristas (you never know what a day at Hollywood Branded may bring.) But we've also gone low-key depending on the event needs, simply providing coffee to be brewed and branded coffee cups. Either way, it saves the event from having to make a purchase that can swiftly add up to a cost in the several thousands of dollars - or even more, depending on the event size.
In this case, the event planner needed the more simple option - an easy coffee brewing pop-up station that could be easily run by one or two people. The only catch, while we had regular coffee available as we ALWAYS keep our warehouse well stocked for these event or product placement needs, we also needed decaf... and had to have the client's help in rushing through some hoops of their own to get it shipped out to us that day from the East Coast.
We then took the opportunity to explore what ELSE we could possibly do at the premiere, because that's another part of what we do... we continuously poke around to look for even more opportunities to leverage for all of our retainer clients. Our conversation this tie was focused around a water client we have, which the event planner had also worked with before. After all - events ALWAYS need water. We found success! The pre-premiere party was in the afternoon hours and water was absolutely of interest - again, because it would help offset the costs of a product purchase the studio and premiere team would otherwise have to purchase.
The Brands
After negotiations, the end result was that Hollywood Branded was invited to bring two of our clients to the TCL Chinese Theatres on Hollywood Boulevard to participate in the film’s World Premiere. More logistics did exist - from getting the brands there, making sure they had an on-site recognizable footprint and more...those general everyday hurdles that exist with every activation. So who were these clients?
CannedWater4Kids: A non-profit canned water where $0.95 cents of every dollar collected goes directly towards helping to bring clean, safe drinking water to children everywhere. http://cannedwater4kids.com
Coffee Beanery: A family owned franchise of coffee stores with more than 100 locations around the US and 20 international locations. http://www.coffeebeanery.com
The Red Carpet Night
With things happening left and right, here’s a breakdown from our team on what we did and who we saw on the red carpet during the day of the pre-party, and in the evening of the after party.
4:30 PM
We arrived to the Chinese Theatre about 30 minutes before the event started. Hundreds of fans were already packed behind the gates blocking off the boulevard anxiously waiting for the black luxury cars to roll up and drop off the film’s cast and crew at the red carpet. Luckily, we were able to take our own steps down the red carpet to reach the fan experience section where CannedWater4Kids was set up in big coolers all throughout the venue.
Once the announcer’s voice echoed over the crowd’s chatter, the security guards blocked off the red carpet for strict entry and one by one, familiar names were introduced. Stan Lee (looking stellar at 94), Robert Downey Jr., Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jason Derulo, Michael Keaton, Jon Favreau, Marisa Tomei, and director Jon Watts all made their appearance, stopping to take selfies and sign autographs for their fans. Many guests went through the fan experience before walking on to the red carpet, grabbing a CW4K can or two… or three along the way to keep cool because it was (very)hot outside. Here are some of the moments we captured!
7:30 PM
Once the celebrities made their way through the red carpet, it was time for all the guests to make their way into the Theatre to watch the 2-hour film to find out what villainous activity Spider-Man had to try to stop this time.
Now's a great time for you to take a break too and watch our video recap of the event for CannedWater4Kids below:
Canned Water 4 Kids At The Spiderman: Homecoming Premiere
10:00 PM
Hollywood Magic at its finest. In two short hours, the event organizers were able to transform the red carpet area into a huge Spider-Man themed party with reserved lounge spaces, a big bar area, and catered food and drink for the premiere after party. Just before guests started to flood Hollywood Boulevard after the screening, we made sure Coffee Beanery was properly set up - with logo cups aplenty at the waiting.
For the rest of the night, we hung out at the party, getting some great images of guests posing with their Coffee Beanery for the client to have some 'takeaways'. Check out some of the photos we took!
Take a look at our video recap of the event for Coffee Beanery below:
Coffee Beanery At The Spiderman: Homecoming Premiere After Party
The Event Experience
Overall this was a great opportunity for two of our clients, and showcases how Hollywood events can be utilized to bring some stardust magic to the brand. Our brands and our team had a great time at the premiere! We also had brands who didn't do the premiere experience, and instead had product placement in the film. Check out our blog on 5 ways brand marketers secure product placement to increase sales.
Is your brand ready to take the leap into Hollywood event activations? Movie premieres are always an option...but so do film festivals and award shows, celebrity driven fashion or sports events. Check out Hollywood Branded's event calendar below to see some of the options available to your brand.
