The Vancouver company that helped introduce the City of Vancouver and the Province of Alberta to the world during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games will employ their expertise to help produce Vancouver’s largest annual public event.
Brand.LIVE Management Group, which produced Vancouver House and Alberta House during the Games, will produce the annual Celebration of Light international fireworks competition over the next three years.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to be asked,” said Catherine Runnals, senior vice-president of operations for Brand.LIVE in a BIV interview last night.
“This is one of Vancouver’s longest-standing events and with an attendance of 1.4 million, obviously we couldn’t be more tickled to work on it.”
The fireworks celebrate its 20th anniversary this year with events on July 21, July 24, July 28 and July 31. Confirmed sponsors for this year’s event include the City of Vancouver, the Keg Steakhouse and Bar, Shore 104.3 FM, Concord Pacific Developments, London Drugs, HSBC Bank Canada, the Province of B.C., BC Hydro, Tourism Vancouver and the Vancouver Airport Authority.
Runnals said the company will learn from the Vancouver Fireworks Festival Society this year and not necessarily change anything about the festival this season. They will focus on relationship development with new and existing sponsors to help the society overcome the financial challenges the festival has faced in recent years. The three-year partnership would give them the opportunity to nurture sponsorship relationships that, in the long run, will help the festival grow.
“If we can create an asset that’s valuable for other companies to participate [in], that’s good news for the fireworks society. It means we can produce something that’s a little bit bigger, even more exciting and just grow it.”
The company has a long list of successful events under its belt, managing events including the Grey Cup festivals in 2005 and 2009, the Sun Run for the past 16 years, and the Adidas pavilion during the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
BIV last caught up with Brand.LIVE during the Games in February, speaking to Mo-Ling Chui, creative director for Alberta House and Vancouver House ("Countdown to cash in on 2010 Olympic networking opportunities begins now" – issue 1063, March 9-15, 2010).