NBA · All-Star Indianapolis · Scale + Speed
1,000 sponsors. Six weeks notice. No second chances.
The NBA's global partnerships team needed a standout welcome event for 1,000+ corporate sponsors. The clock said no. We said yes.
The venue was already chosen: Skyline Club, a private members-only space at the top of the One America Tower. Elegant, but not event-ready. We had to clear the entire space and rebuild it from scratch: no creative direction in place, no entertainment lined up, six weeks on the clock.
We went end-to-end. Champagne and live jazz on arrival. Roaming feathered dancers. A surprise aerialist mid-evening. Then the move guests still talk about: midway through, they were guided down into a hidden basement theater: live swing band, professional dancers, logoed shot luge, gourmet popcorn bar, full bar still going strong.
The Outcome
Guests called it the most memorable event of the weekend.
The NBA came back: we produced All-Star events again in San Francisco 2025 and Los Angeles 2026.
Private Investor Group · New Orleans · The Brief Most Decline
A $250K takeover at peak Mardi Gras.
24 guests, four nights, the busiest weekend of the year. Privacy, exclusivity, and nonstop magic during beautiful chaos.
Full hotel floor buyout. A private suite turned daily happy-hour lounge. A Bourbon Street balcony lunch timed to the locals' window. A second line with brass band and Mardi Gras Indians. And the peak: every guest suited up and riding their own float in the Krewe of Tucks, throwing beads instead of catching them. IV drips waiting at the hotel, because recovery is part of the design.
The Outcome
Client text, next morning: "You outdid yourself. This is the best money I've ever spent."
The full thinking became our Mardi Gras guide.
Hyosung · New Orleans · Brand Launch
A rebrand unveiling that changed the relationship.
An invite-only launch for international guests during a major industry conference, competing with every other activation in the city that night.
We built the evening at The Civic Theatre around Hyosung Innovue's "Human Experience Elevated." Signature cocktails poured by mixologists in purple glitter vests. A custom feather wall with a neon sign for the photo moment. Then the presentation. And then the curtains opened to reveal an aerialist performing with a jazz trio, pulling guests into a speakeasy lounge with café au lait and beignets.
The Outcome
110% attendance: guests skipped competing invitations to stay.
President Sohn immediately commissioned Clandestine to scout future programs.
Medical Device · Congress Cities · Outcome Engineering
Same budget. Same room.
Waiting list of twenty.
The cleanest proof we have that architecture beats spend.
In year one, our client's strategic dinner had 30 percent confirmed guests, and their own sales team was filling seats. Four years later: same budget, same three-hour window. Not a single seat-filler. Every chair a C-suite executive, RSVPs inside 24 hours, and a waiting list of twenty-plus high-value prospects.
What changed was the architecture: business outcomes defined before invitations. A dossier on the twenty people who could transform the business. Personalized reasons to attend. A seating chart mapped like a chessboard. Conversation seeded, never scripted. And follow-through that turned conversations into commitments.
The Outcome
A dinner that compressed six months of relationship-building into one evening, now a coveted invitation in its category.
Two Clients · One Theater · The Orpheum, New Orleans
The venue with its own second act.
A 300-guest international corporate evening and a 200-guest industry reception, years apart, both transformed by the same hidden basement.
For a global nuclear energy company hosting 300 attendees from five continents, we produced a second line transfer from the conference hotel, layered entertainment through the theater, and an aerialist performance timed to "La Vie en Rose" honoring the company's French roots. The entire room on its feet. The CEO, who had considered canceling the event, personally asked for it to run an hour longer.
For a national title insurance company's 200-person reception, the formula evolved: a second line with a satellite hurricane bar at the start, a charity partnership woven into the program, and the basement speakeasy so popular the client opened it to all guests and extended the night a fourth hour.
The Outcome
Two different industries, two different decades of relationship, one venue we know down to the load-in door. That knowledge is what the Index is made of.
Gainbridge · Formula 1 Miami · Founding Partner
Three activations, one weekend, zero seams.
As a founding partner of the first F1 Miami Grand Prix, Gainbridge needed presence everywhere at once.
A private VIP kickoff at the CEO's Fort Lauderdale estate: champagne ice bar, custom DJ stage, tequila bar, cigar lounge, and a Formula 1 ice sculpture sushi bar. A raw Paddock Club space designed and built into a fully branded hospitality suite with video wall and interactive track map. And the North Campus fan zone, where graffiti artists transformed a full-size F1 car into evolving artwork all weekend.
The Outcome
Flawless multi-venue execution at a first-year event, and a repeat engagement: we went on to produce Gainbridge's IndyCar hospitality.