NYE

TellAvision, the live art show that rose to popularity thanks to an appearance on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, is a moving storybook that uses wireless technology and incorporates video screens with performers to tell a tale. Created by Tampa, Florida-based Event Show Productions Inc., the performance can be customized for each event. Pricing is available upon request.

Dos Equis’s “Most Interesting Masquerade” in New York’s historic Masonic Hall in 2012 featured what at first glance appeared to be a painting of a lion. But a closer look revealed that the image was brushed across the bodies of two seated women, their feet just barely breaching the frame of the shadow box. Mirrorball commissioned New Orleans-based artist Craig Tracy to create the living canvas, a process that took approximately 10 hours. Guests were encouraged to pose for a photo with the models to share on social media via nearby iPads.

It really is a jungle out there thanks to Living World Entertainment’s the Original Living Vines, which come to life through a set of choreographed moves to create a fascinating leafy tableau for events. The human foliage can also interact with guests and comes in seasonal shades—including lush spring greenery or wintry branches. To book, contact Orlando-based Key Artist Group. Pricing is available upon request. 

People have largely become immune to the vending machine—an innocuous part of daily life that distributes everything from candy and subway passes to iPhones. Talking vending machines, however, offer a witty way to break through the familiarity and create surprise. Machines custom-built by SoHo Experiential that dispense a variety of goods—including food, beverages, coupons, and electronics—can be set up at events and controlled via remote camera feed so the operator has an authentic, direct interaction with guests. Pricing is available upon request. 

Consumer engagement agency Mirrorball designed four Dos Equis events held in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Miami in 2013, where a group of six over-the-top characters—the Mastermind, Jester, Temptress, Provocateur, Explorer, and Voyeur—personified the party atmosphere. Guests who stepped into the Jester’s Tea Room were subjected to the troublemaker’s tricks, while those who wandered into the Voyeur’s Parlor caught a glimpse of the elaborately costumed performer peering through a mirror. Pricing is available upon request.

Tryon Entertainment reworks traditional notions of event lighting into an opportunity for living decor. The company’s “So Shady” concept transforms models into human lamps by covering the women head to toe in metallic, bejeweled bodysuits and concealing their heads with artfully lit shades. These “lamps”—which appeared at the F5 Networks Technology Conference Closing Party at Rockefeller Center in 2012—can be positioned standing near furniture or sitting on a table to complete the illusion of an inanimate decor element. Pricing is available upon request. 

As an elevated alternative to body painting, Kate Kelley, director of business development and strategic partnerships at SoHo Experiential, suggests digitally mapping images or designs onto a human body. Projection allows the decor to evolve instantly before guests’ eyes, offering brands the opportunity to shift themes or refresh content without costume or makeup changes. Projection actors can be strategically placed throughout an environment as sculptures or as more functional elements, either to hold displays or serve drinks. Kelley suggests creating your own projection mapping with the Meta Agency. Pricing is available upon request. 

“Electric Disco Starz” from Tryon Entertainment involves a four-member crew wearing sleek suits and disco-ball-shaped heads with LED scrolls that can be customized to display a brand message or event name. The squad of performers can act as greeters or interact with the crowd during an event, as it has done annually since 2011 at the Allstate Life Insurance New York 13.1 Marathon. Pricing is available upon request. 

Chicago’s Redmoon Theater—renown for its dreamlike events—showcases “Table Ladies” as part of its Redmoon for Hire program, from which planners can source the theater’s collection of performers, atmospheric elements, and “food service performance devices” for private and corporate events. The Table Ladies are two corseted and wigged performers who circulate among guests wearing Victorian-inspired, oversize hoop skirts that act as tables to display appetizers or desserts. Similar food displays are also available through Redmoon, such as “Floating Trays” (hardwood surfaces attached to backpacks) and “Briefcase Servers” (open briefcases featuring miniature puppet shows within the lids). Pricing ranges from $1,200 to $3,600 for the Table Ladies, from $1,200 for the Floating Trays, and from $700 to $1,800 for the Briefcase Servers; services are available in the Chicago area.

While projected signage has long been an event staple, utilizing a dance troupe to create branding blurs the line between marketing and art in order to tease a product launch or showcase a company’s breadth of creativity. Silhouetted behind a translucent screen, dancers can use their bodies to shape words or objects related to the event—as Pilobolus, a modern dance company famous for its shadow theater, has done for brands such as IBM and Google. Pricing available upon request.

For an otherworldly performance, two illuminated creatures, with laser beams shooting from each finger, appear from a starry background. Combining laser technology and choreography, “Light Beings,” created by Living World Entertainment, is available as a full-stage production or as individual extraterrestrials that can interact with the audience. To book, contact Orlando-based Key Artist Group. Pricing is available upon request.

"My team at V Squared Labs and I are always pushing the envelope with existing technology to generate new forms of experiential visual art. The Volcano is our next experimental design integrating lighting, reflection mapping, and sculptural form," says Vello Virkhaus, founder of the Los Angeles-based visual arts studio. The impressive “Volcano” sculpture, which was designed for electronic music dance group Krewella’s current tour, consists of crystal-like structures made out of one- and two-way mirrored acrylic plastic with reflective backing that creates a mapping effect. Each crystal is also equipped with LED elements, resulting in the illusion that the structure is morphing from within.

For the Toronto launch party for Cadillac's 2014 ELC electric car, guests could sip a futuristic drink: a cocktail with the car's logo stenciled atop in silver edible dust.

At Victoria’s Secret Pink spring break event in Destin, Florida, in March 2014, the retailer placed its event logo on custom surfboards that guests could sign.

Having a pool party? Make sure inflatable pool toys reinforce the brand message. At the iHeartRadio Pool Party in June, sponsor Visit Florida had its logo on an inner tube and other inflatables used at Miami Beach's Fontainebleau hotel.

To kick off the 2013 N.F.L. season, the league hosted a free outdoor concert by Keith Urban and a V.I.P. party in Baltimore. In keeping with the music theme, producers PEDG and Production Glue placed guitars with the Baltimore Ravens logos behind the bars at the Maryland Science Center.

Comedy Central hosted a Kegs and Eggs brunch at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, in March. Kegs bearing the event logo and hashtag severed both decor and functional purposes, even serving as the base of a DJ booth.

Adding humor to the step-and-repeat at the A.S.P.C.A. Humane Awards luncheon in November was a freestanding, hand-drawn fire hydrant with the animal welfare organization's logo on it. The event, held at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York, honors animals as well as people who advocate for them.

Hard-surfaced fruit makes for a healthy snack—and an unexpected place for a brand logo. Fun to Eat Fruit creates the logos using safe-to-eat, custom images without bruising or puncturing the skin.

Facebook and BuzzFeed hosted the Bow Ties & Burgers event during the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington in May. Photo booth props included oversize bow ties in Faceook's signature blue hue with the logo as the knot. Pen & Public produced the event.

At an Oktoberfest-theme event during the New York City Wine & Food Festival in October, beer brand Samuel Adams affixed its logo to traditional Bavarian hats.

The logos for the TV show Modern Family as well as the Union Square partnership were printed on pumpkins at an October event in New York's Union Square dubbed Modern Family Fall for All. Fox 5 hosted the activation to promote its syndication of the hit ABC sitcom.

At an event called Hotel Thrillist, Thrillist took over an entire San Diego hotel for a weekend in September. The rebranding included elevator wrapping with the event's logo.

For a summer event called "Best Day of Your Life" in New York, Thrillist used logos on a number of items to encourage the 800 guests to promote the event on social media. Pool balls featured the event logo as well as branding for the Showtime drama Ray Donovan.

Sponsor Acura provided vehicles to transport people between event venues at the New Yorker Festival in October. Festivalgoers and guests alike knew which vehicles to look for: the ones with the festival's logo emblazoned on the side of the car.

At the event Fun and Fit as a Family at the 2014 South Beach Wine & Food Festival, kids could stack oversize blocks that had images such as sponsor Goya's logo, a fork, and a cartoon mascot for the brand.

The nighttime party Best of the Munchies: People's Choice Food Awards at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival had a carnival theme with a ring toss, tic-tac-toe, and other games. Planners put the event logo on ping-pong balls.

For the massive gala's 2014 iteration, planners chose a "Bridge to Possibility" theme. Held at the cavernous Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the event featured screens printed with the New York City skyline and bridges. The screens enclosed the entry hallway that led to the reception space. David Stark Design designed the event.

Studio 54 inspired the look and feel of the Recording Academy's Grammy after-party at the Los Angeles Convention Center in 2011. Curtains made from reflective beads added a vintage touch, and lots of sparkle.

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation celebrated with its annual Breath of Life gala at the National Building Museum in Washington in 2011. Streamers divided the National Building Museum atrium into three spaces.

For the 2008 event at the New York Public Library, trees provided a natural curtain to separate the cocktail area from the center of the forum, where the dinner and awards took place later in the evening. Bakula Design handled decor.

To separate the perimeter—where cocktails were held—from the dinner area for the event's 2010 iteration, the team hung large lampshades from the ceiling. The pieces measured about two feet high and 22 inches in diameter, and their black and white embellishments were replicated in a pattern projected on the floors. The event again took place at the New York Public Library, with Bakula Design overseeing decor.

In 2006, the gala had an English garden look that tied to the Met's "AngloMania" exhibit of Britain's posh and punk fashion. Event designer David Monn set up 70 tables in separate mini gardens that were hedged by 400 feet of apple trees. The floors were swathed in carpets of spring grass.

Held May 20 at New Yorks's Skylight at Moynihan Station, the event featured foliage in its entry gate. The plants included passion flower vine, plumosa fern, ming fern, steel grass, and sheet moss. Van Wyck & Van Wyck handled design.

For the 2005 event in New York, Guests passed through Raul Avila's 16- by 12-foot curtain of hand-strung orchids before entering the cocktail reception area.

The Daffodil Ball turned the historic Windsor Station in Montreal into an Alice in Wonderland-inspired gala in 2012. A topiary divided the cocktail reception and dining areas. Guests entered the dining room through keyhole-shaped entrances.

Chicago hosted the U.S. Travel Association's IPW conference (formerly known as the International Pow Wow) in 2014. For the opening-night event, held in Chicago's 90,000-square-foot Cinespace film studio, 20 Event Creative staffers worked to together to create a custom "El" train that circulated one room on a set of handcrafted tracks. Video mapping projected images of local Chicago attractions onto two 20-foot-long railcars.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Starlight Express inspired the theme of the 2008 gala benefit for the Children's Place Association. To separate the reception from the dinner area, Joseph Leigh Designs hung fabric panels from the ceiling of Union Station.

About 3,500 people attended the 18th annual dinner October 25 in Washington at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in 2014. The silent auction areas were defined by white cubes created from slats of Coroplast. The word "evolve" came into focus above the entry. Hargrove produced the event.