Hollywood theme parties are a year round favorite, but around awards season you really have to out do yourself to stand out. With a brand new building in Wilmington, DE, ING Direct wanted to show their employees why they are one of the most successful financial firms in the world. Jeremy Williams contacted me with their idea to combine Hollywood, celebrity, and reality tv all together. We came up with some amazing ideas. Of course we had to use our 6ft golden awards at the entrance with our Hollywood Marquis, complete with flashing chase lights. Matching their corporate identity, we got blue stanchions to complement the orange carpets they had specially made. We also constructed six movie spotlights which are the newest additions to our Hollywood props. They are 2ft w x 3ft t spotlights with real lights that shine down any custom length of fabric to create that amazing look of a searchlight. It's a beautiful way of decorating a large wall without making it look to busy. These lights are subtle and effective. Then we decorated the ballroom with a film stock treatment on the columns and ceiling. There was also one custom sign we created. Now this was fun and challenging. We had to cross brand American Idol and ING Direct. So i took the main imagery of the american idol logo, the circle motif, the script writing, and especially the swoosh that comes off the "A". Jeremy and I then create the brand, "Orange Idol", and I went about making it look like the American Idol script, and voila!!! Everyone was really happy with the way the sign came out. The event overall was a huge success. It included idol performances by their employees, a Joan Rivers impersonator doing video interviews, and fantastic food and drinks. COngratulations to ING for throwing a killer party and good luck with your new building, we look forward to doing many more events there.

Eric Bernstein