The Metropolitan Museum of Art's May 5 gala took its cues from Charles James, a 20th-century American couturier. Dinner, served in the Charles Engelhard Court in the American Wing, featured crystal chandeliers hung at varying heights, with hand-stenciled sisal carpet below.
Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater Company hosted its annual gala on May 3, and this year's event had an Old West-inspired theme. Projections on the wall evoked prairie views, and lighting grew darker as the night went on.
McDonald’s comes to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando every two years for its Worldwide Convention. This year's event took place April 28 to May 1, and organizers created a large theater inside one hall of the convention center to host the event's four global sessions.
This year's Robin Hood Foundation Benefit was held Monday at New York's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. To help guide guests to their tables in the vast dining space, David Stark Design & Production created large numbers hung from the ceiling indicating the section for tables starting with that number.
The American Cancer Society's Discovery Ball took place at Chicago's Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel on April 26. At the entrance to the event, a lemonade stand offered lemon-vodka cocktails.
The James Beard Awards took place at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater in New York on May 5, and guests feasted on music-inspired dishes. Dante Boccuzzi of Dante in Cleveland, served beet-tinted hamachi with lemon caper remoulade on top of a drumstick-lined table.
Carasco Photography's “Brides, Bubbles, and Bliss” event took place at Chicago's Union Station earlier this spring. Debi Lilly of A Perfect Event decked her reception table with a long runner of green and white hydrangeas. The table had a gentle, flowery fragrance surrounding it.
At a press event in New York on April 29, Sprint found an eye-catching way to put audio in the spotlight. The telecommunications company wrapped the interior and exterior of the venue, Espace, with colorful images that mimicked sound wave patterns.
“May the Fourth Be With You” is an unofficial holiday that celebrates Star Wars on May 4. This year, Crocs chose the day to celebrate the launch of its Star Wars-theme kids' collection by staging a promotion that involved stormtroopers dancing outside of its New York flagship store.
UrbanDaddy and Qui Tequila teamed up to host a spring-garden-theme event at New York's Casa La Femme on May 5. The space was filled with fresh grass, flowers, and exotic birds, and models swung on flowery swings. To fit with the theme, the liquor brand served cocktails infused with floral flavors.
If you’re looking to disguise a staid-looking hallway in a hotel ballroom, check out Las Vegas–based FWR Rental Haus’s modular tunnel, which can display fully customized graphics. Mirrored surface tunnels are also an option. The rentable items are available nationwide.
Macy's Passport Presents Glamorama “Fashion in a New Light” took to the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles on September 12. And at the after-party, guests saw a DJ station in a new light. DJ Brandon Olds held court over a 42-inch, LCD touch-screen, transparent DJ console. As he spun, guests could see what he was doing with song wavelengths, effects, and mixing techniques.
Nike erected a three-day installation in New York's Gansevoort Plaza during Fashion Week to celebrate the launch of its Nike Free Hyperfeel running shoe. The black-on-black structure featured a tactile labyrinth comprising barefoot experiences that amplified nature. Three distinct physical spaces made up the labyrinth, which replicated common running surfaces like stone, sand, and grass. Equipped with neuro-headsets, visitors produced their own audiovisual installation—informed in real time by the brain's sensory reaction to the textures underfoot.
At Forever 21's "Party in the Sky" on Saturday evening in Palm Springs, two enormous cranes hoisted the brightly colored DJ booth, in a shipping container, into the air for a dramatic effect—especially in the swaying winds of the day. A truss above was marked with the event host's name in pink.
Pete Smith, Sarah Wellock, Tom O'Connor, and John O'Brien of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios demonstrated LittleBigPlanet 3, the newest title from the franchise, on PS4 during the brand's press conference on Monday.
Sony's press conference surrounded guests with screens on multiple planes and angles for an immersive experience on Monday before the show floor officially opened.
This year’s Xbox Media Briefing took to the Galen Center, with an attendance of more than 4,300 people, including broadcast, print, and online press, partners, developers, and fans. Spike TV picked up the live, commercial-free broadcast, and the event live streamed online as well. The event got an immersive set design from producer Zed Ink that flanked the arena from end to end. An 80-foot center screen changed dynamically throughout the show through massive moving semi-transparent scenic doors that opened and closed to accommodate trailers and demos of varying aspect ratios. Three additional LED screens stood angled on the floor as the backgrounds for satellite stages designed for the staging of multi-player demos and presenters throughout the show.
The show had more than a terabyte of custom animations, transitions, and show graphics. About 600 lighting instruments and 4,000 infrared remote-controlled light-up bracelets contributed to an environmental design that fully immersed the audience into the experience.
Highlights included announcing the Master Chief Collection for the Halo franchise, the return of Crackdown, and the new multi-player Assassin’s Creed, Unity. Zed Ink handled the creative and production for the event, collaborating with the Xbox Global Marcom team, led by Mark Harper, April McKee, and Beth Honebrink.
On the E3 show floor, Disney Interactive showcased its upcoming games, Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes (2.0 Edition) and Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved. For Super Heroes, Disney intended to create a look that mimicked the streets of New York, inviting guests for a hands-on experience.
To encourage social posting, fans took selfies with their favorite super heroes at a dedicated station, and received Marvel hero takeaways.
The booth also featured a playable multiplayer Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved experience featuring 30 tracks.
Turtle Beach’s booth on the show floor, produced by Ignited, showed off the brand's headsets with a giant version of the product as an attention-grabbing way to get guests inside, and visually define the exhibit entryway.
Turtle Beach's "History of Firsts" headsets showed off versions of the products over time. The museum-style motif is popular at E3, with the show even hosting its own "Video Game History Museum," that includes vintage classic games and accessories.
The Best of Xbox Showcase transformed United Artists Theater, an iconic venue in the Spanish Gothic Style theatre at the Ace Hotel, for a night of hands-on gameplay, demos, and sneak peeks of new and upcoming games for Xbox One. Working with Jennifer Tweed, Beth Honebrink, and Mark Harper from the Xbox Global Marcom team, experiential marketing agency Zed Ink produced the affair.
Decking covered the orchestra-style seating of the 1,600-square-foot, 87-year-old theater, providing ample floor space for the 52 game stations that were organized into lounge areas where developers, artists, and producers from the games offered insight and guidance. Over the three-level venue, there were three bars and a rooftop space with bar and hot tub for V.I.P. guests.
Media and gamers tried never-been-seen-before games at the venue, which was awash in green lighting.
On Monday, Take-Two Interactive Software—the company behind games such as Grand Theft Auto and NBA 2K—kicked off E3 week with a private event at Cecconi's in West Hollywood. Tony Schubert and Event Eleven produced the party, where the brand’s logo decked hedging for a bit of sophisticated branding.
Hannah Bronfman and Michelle Pesce spun for the crowd, and Rita Ora performed.
Sleek monochrome lounge seating made for an understated look at Cecconi's.
At IMG’s inaugural Taste of Toronto festival in July, attendees used R.F.I.D.-enabled cards to purchase food and beverages from vendors at the event. The cards were provided by IntelliPay, a division of Intellitix. Guests could go online before the event to load money onto the card, and they could also add funds at stations throughout the festival. At the end of the festival, balances remaining on cards were donated to Second Harvest Food Rescue. Each individual’s online account also provided a history of all food and beverage items purchased.
On August 19, the Scotiabank BuskerBall took place at Mattamy Athletic Center in Toronto. The fund-raiser for Epilepsy Toronto kicked off the four-day Scotiabank BuskerFest, and some of the festival's street performers appeared at the party. Featured acts included a glowing "elephant" from Quebec-based performance troupe Chasseurs de Rêves. The group specializes in larger-than-life stilt puppets and comprises 11 performers.
State Farm sponsored the Adult Swim PrizeCycle promotion that traveled throughout the Gaslamp district between July 9 and 12. The tricked-out bicycles drove to various locations in the area, giving fans an opportunity to win prizes and swag. Hadley Media executed the activation.
