BizBash | Events * Meetings * Marketing * Style * Strategy * Ideas

These days event pros are using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter for a lot more than posting status updates about their weekend plans. More and more planners are utilizing social media sites to promote their events and reach new audiences. (Speaking of Twitter—and aren't we all lately?—BizBash's news tweet is here.) Here are two examples.

“We created a character called Buybarella, designed by our fashion illustrator Danielle Meder, to promote Buy Design this year,” said Kelly Carmichael, event manager for Windfall Clothing Service, which hosted a space-themed fund-raiser at the Fermenting Cellar in mid-April. “Twitter was something new to Windfall and Buy Design and it was really beneficial.” The character, inspired by the Jane Fonda movie Barbarella, tweeted about ticket giveaways and details about the event, including hints about the menu and ideas about where to shop for an outfit to wear to the benefit. MORE >>

Social Networking, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Interior Design Show, Windfall Clothing Service

EVENT REPORT 04.20.09 10:00 AM

YouTube Brings Videos—and 200 Performers Found Online—to Carnegie Hall

The inaugural YouTube Symphony
Photo: Obscura Digital

FROM NEW YORK A viral call to arms posted by composer Tan Dun just five months ago yielded more than 15 million hits and 3,000 auditions from YouTube musicians hoping to be a part of the Web site's first ever live symphony. The 93 winners took the stage at Carnegie Hall Wednesday night for a program that included familiar classical pieces and premiere compositions set to a backdrop of massive video that filled much of the theater.

When Google-owned YouTube set out to bring together its most talented users for a one-off concert, the performance itself would be the prize, so producers settled on Carnegie Hall as an enticing venue. More than 3,000 users submitted videos of themselves playing, and once the panel of judges had selected the 93 performers from more than 30 countries, the reality of planning the actual event became a priority. MORE >>

YouTube, YouTube Symphony, Google

EVENT REPORT 08.11.08 10:56 AM

Samsung Has Guests Interacting With Technology at Instinct Phone Launch

Glowing cubes and promotional cards at the Samsung Instinct launch.
Photo: Courtesy of Froghammer.com

Cell phones have gone through flip and slide phases, but touch is the most evident PDA trend of the moment. Following the Canadian launches of the LG Touch Phone and the Apple iPhone, Samsung introduced its new Instinct model at a party for 100 at the West Queen West bar the Social Thursday night.

Leading up to the phone's launch in stores Friday (with Bell as a service provider), Samsung's campaign started building buzz in July with a guerilla marketing stunt featuring silent street protesters wearing shirts that said "Ignore the hype. Trust your Instinct." They also created a number of profiles on sites like Twitter and Flickr, and launched a YouTube video (more on that here). "We know that social networking is top of mind for the demographic that this phone really appeals to," said Jo Allan, marketing manager in Samsung Canada's wireless terminals division. "The ability to speak to our customers through certain social networking sites was part of our integrated marketing campaign." MORE >>

Building Buzz With Online Videos, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Samsung, Bell, Sprint

THE SCOUT 04.21.08 12:33 PM

Podiums From the Presidential Debates

Barack Obama at a traditional-looking lectern from Iowa-based VR Production Services
Photo: Eric Thayer/Reuters

Candidates delivered speeches behind a wide range of lecterns throughout the presidential primary debates. Here are a few worthy of any chief executive. MORE >>

Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John McCain, CNN, YouTube, ABC, PBS

EVENT INTELLIGENCE 04.11.08 10:30 AM

Building Buzz With Videos: IMG's Fashion Week Series

A model getting primped in one of IMG's behind-the-scenes Fashion Week videos.
Photo: Courtesy of IMG Fashion

This story is part of our series on building event buzz with online videos.

Not every successful online video is made by event attendees with handheld cameras. Marketers who realize the potential of Web video for enhancing an event experience are also producing professional, high-quality videos to complement their events.

In 2007, IMG Fashion launched a YouTube channel to display videos from Fashion Week events throughout the world. Each video is a one- to four-minute clip focused on a specific runway show, collection, or after-party, featuring interviews with designers and celebrity attendees. Produced and edited by IMG and Smashbox Studios, the videos capture both the glamour of the runway shows and the frenetic energy behind the scenes. MORE >>

Building Buzz With Online Videos, YouTube, IMG, IMG Fashion, Fashion Week, Imitation of Christ, American Express

NEWS 04.09.08 1:19 PM

Of Course, Not All YouTube Exposure Is Good Exposure

The moment before the fall
Photo: Courtesy of beck64

Speaking of YouTube videos of events (as we have been this week), today Gawker posted a clip from a fashion show in Charleston, South Carolina, showing a woman falling on a runway, and then falling through the runway. According to a Web site called LiveLeak (what you'll find if you Google "Charleston Fashion Week falling"), the fallen woman is the owner of local boutique K. Morgan, who missed the runthrough of the show—when she would have learned the middle of the catwalk was sheer fabric intended to let light shine through the floor. There seem to be myriad lessons to be learned here. (Possibly among them: Go to the runthrough! Don't make a floor from fabric!) We'll let you take from this what you will. MORE >>

Building Buzz With Online Videos, YouTube, Gawker

EVENT INTELLIGENCE 04.09.08 10:50 AM

Building Buzz With Videos: How to Go Viral

This story is part of our series on building event buzz with online videos.

1. Make It Snappy
A video is not likely to get noticed if it’s more than a few minutes long. “It needs to grab you right away, because people are more likely to share it if they watch it all the way through to the end,” says author David Meerman Scott. If you have too much material, the best bet is a series. “Instead of posting a 10-minute video, post five two-minute videos,” Scott says.

2. Quality Is Not Always King
Spend five minutes browsing YouTube and you’ll see that authenticity trumps professionalism, and unpolished, uncut videos are more popular than slick, corporate-produced advertisements. “We’re at an unusual time in history in that people trust the rough-around-the edges take more than the polished, professional effort,” says Roxanne Darling of BarefeetStudios.com. “Because we’ve all been sold, you trust someone who is on site, just went to the event, and has a fresh take.”
MORE >>

Building Buzz With Online Videos, YouTube

EVENT INTELLIGENCE 04.09.08 10:30 AM

Building Buzz With Videos: The Simpsons Kwik-E-Marts

A shot of one of the Kwik-E-Marts.
Photo: Courtesy of JOSHLEWIS

This story is part of our series on building event buzz with online videos.

In a joint marketing promotion to publicize the 2007 release of The Simpsons Movie, 20th Century Fox transformed 12 North American 7-Eleven stores into Kwik-E-Marts, inspired by the parody convenience store frequented by Homer Simpson in the fictional town of Springfield.

Because of the tie-in to The Simpsons, a long-running show with a fervent fan base, the marketing event had particular resonance online. Fan forums and blogs were abuzz with news about where the makeshift Kwik-E-Marts would be. When the stores debuted in towns from Bladensburg, Maryland, to Burbank, California, excited fans at each location walked through with handheld cameras and posted their videos online. As a result, a marketing promotion that might have attracted only curious passersby instead reached a worldwide audience of tens of thousands. MORE >>

Building Buzz With Online Videos, YouTube, The Simpsons, 20th Century Fox, 7-Eleven

EVENT INTELLIGENCE 04.08.08 10:30 AM

Building Buzz With Videos: Yamaha's Trade Show Demo

Yamaha's keyboard unveiling (featuring Stevie Wonder), as recorded by a trade show attendee.
Photo: Courtesy of GLORIOUSL

This story is part of our series on building event buzz with online videos.

While industry-specific events often have a very focused target audience, there is always potential to expand that audience online, because any event that draws an in-person crowd likely has more interested parties who aren’t able to attend. For this reason, many trade shows are starting to embrace online video highlights—both professionally produced and user-generated. In this way, product buzz that would previously have been limited to word-of-mouth excitement among a relatively small group of event attendees can now spread far beyond the showroom floor. MORE >>

Building Buzz With Online Videos, YouTube, Yamaha, National Association of Music Merchants

EVENT INTELLIGENCE 04.07.08 1:50 PM

Building Buzz With Videos: Richard Branson's Daredevil Stunt

A shot from a YouTube video of Branson's jump
Photo: Courtesy of TODDEITM

This story is part of our series on building event buzz with online videos.

Virgin America, the Stateside branch of the British-owned airline, has made YouTube a central part of several marketing efforts. While the company was working to convince the U.S. Department of Transportation to approve its airline application, the brand launched a series of widely viewed Web videos showing off its new planes’ sleek design and high-tech entertainment features. When Virgin premiered an onboard safety video starring quirky cartoon characters, the company slapped it on YouTube, and the safety announcement—so often ignored by frequent travelers—has now been viewed by hundreds of thousands online. And when the airline held a “Victoria’s Secret in-flight supermodel pajama party,” there was, needless to say, significant online interest. MORE >>

Building Buzz With Online Videos, YouTube, Virgin America, Richard Branson

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