Neat Ideas

October 1, 2014

State-of-the-Art Internet Café

Photo Courtesy of RentPath, Inc.

Green-screen catwalks, the latest invention from the Bosco, debuted at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in partnership with H&M. Event guests were styled in H&M gear; then, they chose a motion-graphic backdrop from a selection of some 25 styles and walked or danced in place on a moving treadmill. Using green-screen-compositing technology, the Bosco staffers created videos of users walking virtual runways, and the festivalgoers were able to instantly share their six-second videos across all social media platforms. Pricing on rentals varies per activation, and the booths can be set up at events throughout the United States and Canada.

Photo: Courtesy of the Bosco

Super Frog Saves Tokyo, billed as “storytelling plus social theory,” provides video booths for private events, with a twist: the event narratives are filmed in slow motion. The video setup comprises a RED Epic Camera, four LED lights, and a backdrop operated by two or three staffers. The resulting videos require an estimated 25 hours of production. The company has a baseline fee of $6,000 for event rentals, and the final cost can be impacted by date, location, and other details.

Photo: Courtesy of Super Frog Saves Tokyo

The Self Enhancing Live Feed Image Engine, or “S.E.L.F.I.E.” mirror, was created by New York-based digital agency iStrategy Labs. A Web camera and facial-recognition software are hidden behind the two-way mirror, along with LED lights that provide a countdown and simulate a flash, and are triggered when guests stand in front of the mirror and smile. The photo is then instantly posted to Twitter with a watermark or logo. Though it is not available for rental, the invention can be custom-built for companies to own, and pricing ranges from $35,000 to $50,000.

Photo: Courtesy of iStrategy Labs

Foxtales invites event guests to step into a so-called “storybooth” that creates branded photos and HD videos. In addition to a customizable touch-screen interface, the booths have built-in D.S.L.R. cameras and proprietary photo-processing techniques. The pictures and videos populate a mobile-ready storyboard and can be instantly uploaded using Wi-Fi, 4G Internet, or a hard-line connection. Pricing is from $1,500 and includes five hours of run time, the customized storyboard gallery, on-site reps, and post-event analytics.

Photo: Courtesy of Foxtales

Doodlebooth is a Chicago-based company that puts a hand-drawn spin on traditional photo booths. Illustrator Jana Kinsman, who has designed custom illustrations for clients such as CB2, sits with guests and quickly sketches their portraits as take-home keepsakes; the images can also be scanned into online albums that guests can digitally share. Pricing is $650 for three hours, and there’s no extra cost for transportation to events in Chicago and nearby Evanston and Oak Park. Kinsman will travel to events throughout the country for an additional fee.

Photo: Brent Knepper

Ben Mezrich Book Party

To celebrate the release of author Ben Mezrich's book Seven Wonders, the W Boston Hotel hosted a book party on September 4. Reflecting the book's international theme, food displays were decked with atlases, and international postcards served as food signage. Snacks included assorted naans, Middle Eastern breads and dips, handmade dumplings, and Greek cheeses.

Photo: Courtesy of W Boston Hotel

Ikea Promotion

To celebrate the opening of its store in Clermont-Ferrand, France, Ikea teamed up with Parisian event agency Ubi Bene to create a vertical apartment that also functioned as a rock-climbing wall from September 10 to 14. Ikea furniture decorated the wall and served as handy rest stops for those climbing the structure.

Photo: Fanny Reynaud

3-D Snowflake Kit

Planning an office holiday party? Get crafty with the 3-D snowflake kit, $13.95, from Paper Source to create a cubicle of flurries. The kit makes four garland strands.

Photo: Courtesy of Paper Source

Fulton Market Kitchen's "Trust Fall" Cocktail

Suited to fall holiday celebrations, Fulton Market Kitchen in Chicago has a "Trust Fall" cocktail. Made with Remy Martin VSOP, burnt-sugar syrup, Tempus Fugit, crème de cacao, egg white, and sea salt, the drink tastes like salted caramel.

Photo: Courtesy of Fulton Market Kitchen

A Perfect Event's "Holly Jolly" Cocktail

Chicago event firm A Perfect Event serves bright red "Holly Jolly" cocktails at holiday gatherings. The fruity drink combines Real Russian vodka with ginger beer and strawberry jam; it's garnished with fresh rosemary and strawberry.

Photo: Carasco Photography

Tiny Pies

In Austin, the locally sourced goods at Tiny Pies come in a variety of sizes, including the individually wrapped titular three-inch pies, Mason jar pies, and customizable pie pops in either blueberry or cherry, available in the shape of Texas.

Photo: Courtesy of Tiny Pies

Westgate River Ranch's Teambuilding Activities

Turn guests into cowboys for a day by experiencing Westgate River Ranch’s new cattle drive teambuilding adventure. The excursion begins with breakfast at the ranch at sunrise, followed by a scenic guided horseback ride to gather the herd and drive it across the open land into cow pens. The activity ends with outdoor country-style lunch and lessons in whip-cracking and rope-throwing. In addition to cattle drives, more than a dozen cowboy-theme teambuilding activities are available, including a blindfolded saddle assembly competition and an outdoor adventure course.

Photo: Courtesy of Westgate River Ranch

RedBliss Design Holiday Card

Looking for holiday cards? Shine bright in 2015 with the glam beveled acrylic greeting, featuring a gold leaf chevron pattern, from RedBliss Design. Pricing available upon request.

Photo: Courtesy of RedBliss Design

Sugarfina Gummies

Candy boutique Sugarfina opened a second location at the Americana at Brand in Los Angeles this summer. The confections make for colorful gifts in cocktail-inspired varieties such as champagne gummy bears, spiced rum and Coke gummies, and peach Bellini gummies—all top sellers. The boutique‘s gifts come in its signature turquoise bento boxes, which can be customized with 140 candy varieties from around the world.

Photo: A.L. Canterbury

Flipbooth

Los Angeles-based open-air photo booth Flipbooth creates mini books of photos, similar to old-school animation flipbooks. Guests record a six-second video, and then Flipbooth staffers produce a tiny photo album to replay the action. Backdrops, book covers, and props can be customized to match the event’s theme and decor. Pricing starts at $995.

Photo: Stephanie Collins Photography

1. Put Them Where Guests Snap Pics

If your event has an oversize prop, eye-catching decor piece, or some other feature guests are likely to want to photograph, that element is a smart place for a hashtag—and it's bound to make its way online throughout the night. For instance, a Los Angeles event for British Airways and Variety saw hashtags splashed in the front windshields of traditional British black cars. Similarly, Diesel printed the hashtag for its Reboot campaign last September on large-scale installations in New York's Union Square.

Photo: Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Variety

2. Place Them Where Guests Can't Miss Them

Hashtags printed on items that guests hold in their hands throughout the course of an event—say, a fan giveaway at a promotion, or a table card for a seated meal—cannot be easily ignored or forgotten. At Essence magazine's Black Women in Hollywood Oscar luncheon in Beverly Hills, hashtags and handles decked seating cards for easy reference.

Photo: Alesandra Dubin/BizBash

3. Add Them to Activities

When events offer beauty and grooming treatments, guests are likely to feel compelled to share their post-experience transformation, whether it's a new hair look or a fresh manicure. At HBO's Luxury Lounge during the Emmys in Los Angeles, mats under mani stations encouraged social snaps for guests receiving Marc Jacobs Beauty manicures. And at Herbal Essences lounge at BMF's Hard Rock Hotel party during Lollapalooza in Chicago, hashtags on nearby signage encouraged guests to post beauty shots.

Photo: Alesandra Dubin/BizBash

4. Use Them to Encourage Interaction

Hashtags that encourage interaction on site through gamification or another kind of activity are sure to facilitate broad interaction online as well. At Target's Feed U.S.A. event, menus encouraged guests to interact and mingle with tablemates through social media prompts on menus.

Photo: Nilaya Sabnis

5. Create Subliminal Reminders

Sometimes, it's not the biggest message that makes an impact, but the subtle and cleverly rendered one that gets guests' attention. For a look that was well integrated with the venue's existing decor, Pandora launched a new jewelry collection in Los Angeles and emblazoned the Mondrian hotel's bold oversize planters with hashtags.

Photo: Stefanie Keenan

6. Put Them Where Guests Are Likely to Linger

Hashtags get noticed in places where guests spend much of their time on event day—and where they have physical space and incentive to hang out. Certainly, a photo activation is a compelling incentive: Evian's photo activation at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami put a hashtag right above the action, where it was sure to make its way online.

Photo: Elizabeth Renfrow for BizBash

7. Offer Rewards for Using Them

Turning tweeting into a competition drives major social media engagement—not to mention huge buzz at the event. During Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim, prompts directed guests to use a tweet-operated Polaroid vending machine at the Ocean Drive Sun Covered Pool Party.

Photo: Tracy Block for BizBash

8. Pick a Medium That Gets Them Noticed

Hashtags printed on ordinary signage might get overlooked as guests' eyes glaze over to unremarkable displays. But employ a surprising medium to communicate the message and it's sure to get noticed—and photographed for social media. For example, Sonos used lipstick to playfully jot its event hashtag in an unmissable way.

Photo: Alex Porter/Getty Images

9. Make Them Public—In a Big Way

Sure, promoting hashtags within the boundaries of an event can get guests interacting. But put them outside the event's official walls and you're more likely to capture a bigger crowd. At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, a 3-D projection of tweets using the official event hashtag appeared on a 35- by 65-foot billboard. The digital activation, created by Incredible Machines, ran at night, while during the day the billboard showed a static image of the hashtag printed on canvas. Similarly, AOL placed its hashtag on a giant billboard outside the venue of its upfront event during Advertising Week in New York.

Photo: Courtesy of Twitter

10. Supply the Technology

Every guest is likely carrying a smartphone in his or her pocket. But making social sharing as easy for guests as possible can only further encourage the behavior—so try printing hashtags right alongside displays of smartphones or other devices. At Samsung's tent at the Life Is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas, attendees ordered free frozen yogurt and designed T-shirts from devices at stations emblazoned with the activation's hashtag.

Photo: Alesandra Dubin/BizBash

11. Make It Edible

Putting hashtags on food isn't just a tasty idea—it's Instagram bait to boot. An event invitation to the Time Warner Cable Studios pop-up in New York before the Super Bowl came with a hashtag printed right on top of a cake.

Photo: Carolyn Curtis/BizBash

12. Make Them Selfie-Friendly

It's no secret that guests want to photograph themselves—and their friends—for their social media profiles. So if you put your message right in their field of view, you'll capture their attention—and social media impressions. At Prive Salon in Los Angeles for the Colgate Optic White beauty bar ahead of the Golden Globes, handles and hashtags decked mirrors.

Photo: Alesandra Dubin/BizBash