Voyeur came alive with eye-catching entertainment on November 4, when the Droid Incredible by HTC celebrated a relaunch there along with carrier Verizon. (The phone originally launched this summer with some inventory issues, and the relaunch comes with a full supply in the marketplace.) Working with a theme derived from the the device's name, guests were invited to come experience "all that is incredible"—so the signage promised—with cabaret-themed specialty acts from around the world including stiltwalkers, contortionists, belly dancers, aerialists, live musicians, ballerinas, burlesque performances, and more.
The brand's Irvine-based associate director of sponsorships, Morgan Martin, oversaw the party, working with event marketing agency of record for the West area, Forward, headed by Johnny Ward. The event drew about 300 guests, including celebrities, corporate guests of Verizon and HTC, and a group of 25- to 35-year-old tech-savvy professionals identified as influencers and invited by Forward.
The Los Angeles event was part of a three-city West Coast event tour, which also includes stops in San Francisco and Seattle. "We chose our three cities based on markets where we saw a decline in market share and needed to try a new approach to get the word out to youth and multicultural segments about our brand, products, and services," said Martin. "By doing a celebrity-attended, PR-focused event series, we were able to get that word out in an authentic way, rather than through traditional brand advertising."
Martin explained that the team also used social media to promote and support the event series. "We feel this was a great complement to our contemporary advertising media of print, radio, and television," Martin said. The campaign was strictly targeted at the West Coast for now, and an East Coast extension is not planned.
