StarPulse.com Q&A: Justin Lefkovitch on Exclusive Events
Via StarPulse.com by Vanessa Mujica
Justin Lefkovitch, founder of Mirrored Media, takes a fresh approach on connecting influential brands with some of the most talked about names in music, all while creating the most exclusive celebrity-filled parties. Some of Mirrored Media's past events include the Mophie Lounge at Las Vegas' Life Is Beautiful festival, Bacardi at Lollapalooza and Crave Online/TNT's Conquer The Con bash at Comic-Con.
Ever wonder what goes into putting together some of the most exclusive A-list events? We caught up with Justin at the world's biggest pop-culture event to see how he executes what celebrities, like Nina Dobrev, can only dream of.
Starpulse: Describe the environment of the party and what you wanted to achieve for Comic Con go'ers and VIPs. What was your vision?
Justin Lefkovitch: Working as the experiential agency for Evolve Media, our goal was to create an experience around Comic-Con that gave guests the opportunity to interact with CraveOnline, as well as its event partners. Crave's title partner was TNT with their new action-packed drama series with Michael Bay, The Last Ship. Based on the shows plot, which takes place on a United States Naval destroyer in the midst of a global pandemic, the event was held on the USS Midway, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier docked in downtown San Diego. Working alongside CraveOnline’s creative team, our vision was to create an experience which fully immersed guests into the world of the The Last Ship. Lucky guests were invited to survive the outbreak aboard the USS Midway. Arriving at the ship, guests were taken through a fully branded entryway, where they were then guided through a similarly themed Science Lab, which prominently displayed footage from the show itself. In the event that "survivors" would have to defend the ship against hostiles, guests were given the opportunity to walk through a laser maze where they could practice their shooting skills and compete against their fellow survivors. On the main flight deck, guests had the opportunity to explore real jets, helicopters, take a photo at the branded photo booth and pursue the Loot Lounge for specialty cocktails. VIP’s and celebrity guests experienced their own bars, lounge, and raised platform on the main deck. Survivors celebrated the evening with a live DJ performance by Grimes, and a performance by MGMT culminating in a large display of fire works off of the bow of the ship.
SP: How long did preparations take?
JL: Preparations for the event started several months ago when we began designing the overview of the event, the use of the ship, as well as all necessary technical components and creative assets. Once on-site, it took two days to load in and set up all of the experimental components. As you can imagine, this was much more difficult and time consuming on an aircraft carrier as we were extremely limited in regard to load-in procedures, which required utilizing the bomb and plane elevators, as well as the fact that the museum was open to guests throughout the day during our load-in and build out.
SP: Why did you choose MGMT to perform?
JL: Mirrored Media worked with our partners Brick + Mortar, as well as with CraveOnline to select the right artists for the Comic-Con crowd, as well as the right artists for the vibe of the event. MGMT is a Grammy nominated rock band with music that resonates within the Comic-Con community. We were honored to have them on-board for what was an amazing performance accompanied by a stunning display of pyrotechnics.
SP: What was the attendee count?
JL: The event was a private 'invite-only' experience for Crave and its partners. Members of the public were given the opportunity to win passes via CraveOnline, a twitter based scavenger hunt and through some engagements with Crave's other brand partners. The event welcomed around 2k attendees on a 'first come, first serve' basis.
To get more information on Justin and Mirrored Media check out www.MirroredMedia.com
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