Hashtags on Events

Services like Instaprint are popping up at many affairs, proving popular with guests as a tangible record of their active social media use. At a fashion show held by USA Network in New York, even the wall the machines were mounted on sported the hashtag, motivating curious attendees to snap a photo and post it via Instagram.

Just as common as a red carpet are the rope-and-stanchion barricades that denote an entrance or V.I.P. area. Among the ways the Art Gallery of Ontario displayed the hashtag for its annual Massive Party fund-raiser on April 19, was the use of small signs placed atop stanchions.

The colorful plastic and paper wristbands used at concerts, festivals, and other big events can be customized to show a designated hashtag. To encourage guests at its Party in the Garden fund-raiser to upload photos via Instagram, the Museum of Modern Art in New York handed out entry bracelets printed with the hashtag #PitG2012.

A more subtle approach is to use the hashtag on the cocktail napkins. The organizers of Travel & Leisure's first Social Media in Travel & Tourism Awards (the Smittys) in New York on June 7 made sure attendees saw the hashtag when grabbing a bite from a passing waiter or when taking a cocktail from the bar.

Similarly simple was the approach taken for the August 2011 press preview of Betsey Johnson's fragrance Too Too. The planners incorporated the event hashtag and the designer's official Twitter handle into the overall event design by placing the call to action in frames.

Bars are almost always the most crowded areas of an event, and in addition to displaying the affair's signature cocktails, drink menus can be marked with a hashtag.

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.

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.

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.

The installation was made of empty vodka bottles and connectors from a 3-D printer.