It’s one of those projects that all of us ladies dream of… spending two weeks on an event in Paris working on the Chivas Regal brand collaboration with celebrated French designer, Christian Lacroix. 

Using their sponsorship of the Cannes Film Festival as a platform to launch their latest designer collaboration to the media, Chivas Regal commissioned Synergy to oversee all the guest management for the event and to arrange a specially tailored Lacroix 24 hour Experience in Paris for key media to celebrate the launch of the limited edition Chivas 12 magnum designed by Lacroix himself.  

And so I found myself in Paris for two weeks.  Staying at the stunning boutique Hotel du Petit Moulin, the original hotel in Paris designed by Christian Lacroix and spending time in the infamous Marie district of Paris which has provided the designer with much of his inspiration. 

A tailored programme was developed for each group of media who attended, including visits to the Christian Laxroix flagship store in Paris to view the designer’s latest collection, a private viewing at the Mauboussin Chocolate bar, a tour of the Bellechasse hotel and a visit to the newly opened Merci concept store. 

A unique Paris venue, created by the former owners of the luxury French children’s brand Bonpoint, Merci brings together a combination of high fashion, homeware, books, flowers and more in a 1,500m2 former industrial building.  The design of the store is updated every six weeks, when a new designer inputs their creativity within the impressive space.  In addition to being a unique commercial space and wowing the international journalists who we took to the store, the guests were even more inclined to buy a keepsake from the store having learned that Merci donates all of its profits to a children’s charity in Madagascar.

In addition to the fashion and design elements of the experience, we arranged for all the guests to experience Chivas within a selection of Paris’s top venues, including the Cristal Room Baccarat and Pershing Hall.

So, it’s been back to earth with a bit of a bang this week… no more private viewings in Christian Lacroix or luxury French cuisine for me… although arguably, for my credit card at least, that’s not a bad thing.

By Amy Mansell on June 4th, 2009

Tags: Alcohol, Film, Sponsorship, The Arts

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It’s been an interesting few months for Lewis Hamilton. Not only has he struggled to get the pace he has been hoping for in the new design McLaren, but he suddenly has serious competition from another Brit in the Paddock.

This time last year Hamilton fever was in full swing and the rising star could hardly put a foot wrong as far as the media and general public were concerned. At the same time non-F1 fans would have been forgiven for asking ‘Jenson who?’  Twelve months later and how the tables have turned. Jenson Button’s feel good story – from a driver who at one point looked unlikely to have an F1 drive this season to winner in Melbourne – has captured the hearts and minds of the public, and you can’t open a newspaper at the moment without seeing an article about Jenson.

Such interest and support for Button must surely be hard to swallow for Lewis who had previously held the position of the media’s F1 darling.  And to make matters worse, while Jenson’s column inches focus on his rise to success, his loyalty to the team through the recent difficult times and his aspirations for the future, Lewis’s recent mistake of misleading the race stewards in Melbourne is splashed all over the papers, and the reigning World Champion is having to call a press conference to publicly apologise for his actions following the Australian GP.

Watch the Lewis Hamilton press conference here.

Gripping stuff.  It seems the off-track dramas are just as interesting as the racing itself. I for one will be tuning in to the Malaysian GP this weekend to see how the next episode of the battle of the Brits unfolds….

By Amy Mansell on April 6th, 2009

Tags: Default, Formula 1, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton

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