Floor Decor and Branding

January 9, 2017

1. Decorate a dance floor.

The dance floor is an obvious place to make an impact. For a private event, designer Preston Bailey created a unique dance floor that served as the evening's focal point. Hundreds of flowers were covered in Plexiglas, creating a massive floral carpet. "The result was a statement piece that allowed guests to dance on air," said Bailey.

Photo: Courtesy of PrestonBailey.com/John Labbe

A similar idea was created for a Ferragamo fragrance launch in 2010 in New York. A 22- by 24-foot dance floor was erected over the venue's existing pool. Drained of water, the recessed space held a neon Attimo sign surrounded by dried flowers.

Photo: Billy Farrell/PatrickMcMullan.com

At the National Association for Catering and Events' 2012 gala in Washington, guests danced on a floor that was embedded with LED lights. "We used this element because they looked like night stars," said the gala's co-chairwoman, Aisha Malik.

Photo: Evelyn Alas

2. Find a branding opportunity.

The floor can also be an unexpected place for logos, sponsor information, or branding. The TEDActive conference in 2013 took over some of the host venue's Spanish tiles for its own messaging. The special tiles at La Quinta resort in the Palm Springs area also guided attendees along the walkways to the various event venues on the sprawling property.

Photo: Alesandra Dubin/BizBash

Toronto-based artist Sonny Tran creates eye-catching 3-D chalk art images, graffiti installations, massive murals, and realistic paintings for major brands. For YTV, a popular teen channel in Canada, Tran customized a snowboarding graphic to promote a new TV show.

Photo: Courtesy of the Idea Hunter

For a sweet sixteen party in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the dance floor featured the birthday girl's personal logo, which was inspired by Andy Warhol and comic-book art.

Photo: Courtesy of Rodney Bailey

In 2015, the Bata Shoe Museum's 20th anniversary gala in Toronto used a maze to inspire guests to explore its galleries. Hot-pink patterns on the floor led guests to different galleries and parts of the event.

Photo: Ryan Emberley

4. Go high-tech.

Energy Floors offers human-powered, interactive dance floors for event rentals worldwide. The eight-inch-deep tiles each house small generators; the tiles compress when stepped on, activating the generators to convert the kinetic energy produced by the dancers into electricity. The power can be used to activate the colorful LED light tubes inside the tiles that respond to the movement of dancers or nearby electrical systems.

Photo: Anneke Hymmen

The American Ballet Theatre's 2009 fall gala in New York got guests moving after the performance with projections on the dance floor. The floor played images of 1950s movies during dinner, and later busy street scenes moved in time with the music for dancing. The look aimed to complement the troupe's contemporary and unconventional programming, with dark colors and silhouettes inspired by artist Kara Walker.

Photo: Kevin Tachman

The Phantom of the Opera held its 25th-anniversary show and gala in 2013. To avoid the complications that come with laying carpet over stairs—especially on a snowy night in New York—the event's producers projected a strip of red light over the library's front steps, effectively creating a virtual red carpet that led to the entrance. Hundreds of LED candles sat on either side of the illuminated pathway.

Photo: Carolyn Curtis/BizBash

Following a renovation, the Carnegie Library in Washington added a glowing dance floor showing a map of the city.

Photo: Beth Kormanik/BizBash

For a Mad Men-inspired corporate event in 2013 in Washington, a lighting projection on the floor evoked the image of a falling man from the show's opening credits.

Photo: Bryan Blaken/Freed Photography

6. Keep it simple.

Sometimes all you need is some masking tape. During Austin's 2014 South by Southwest, event production agency MKG brightened up a dark room using neon masking tape and ultraviolet lighting, creating an edgy, Pop Art-inspired look for the party for online magazine xoJane.com.

Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

While a cranberry bog isn't a floor in the traditional sense, it still made quite a statement at Ocean Spray's 85th anniversary in New York. Food editors and bloggers were invited to a Thanksgiving meal that took place inside a bog filled with 900,000 cranberries and 21,000 gallons of water.

Photo: Nilaya Sabnis for Tyger Productions