Activision’s booth touted four of the brand’s big titles: Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Skylanders SuperChargers, Destiny: The Taken King, and Guitar Hero Live. "Being able to get quality playing time with each title is an experience in itself, but we wanted to make sure that each experience was specific to the world and brand of each game title,” said Ryan Fitzpatrick of producer NCompass International. In the Guitar Hero Live area, attendees started their journey into the booth as fans watching performers onstage, then continued through the line toward becoming performers themselves: Attendees moved through a mock-up of the side entrance of a club, where they checked in and were led backstage where they waited to perform a gig.
As attendees got ready to go on stage, staff pretending to be stagehands and groupies pumped them up. Then, booth visitors entered the game-play arena with a display of lights, smoke, and applause. They were guided to center stage—prominently at a visible and heavily trafficked area of the booth—where a live audience cheered them on. A green-screen stage dive was also part of the experience.
Chicago celebrated the opening of the 606, a public, elevated trail along a former railway, with a gala June 5 that paid homage to the host city. Artist Shala created a piece of original artwork at the event, which sold for $8,000 at the live auction. The artist encouraged guests to participate in the creation of the piece by having them sign their names on it.
The New Media Party in Washington, returning for its second year, featured several inventive uses of technology at events. Produced by Event Farm, the party incorporated sponsors such as Vntana, which created holograms of guests that were then projected onto the walls of venue Carnegie Library. Other sponsors included Lyft, Microsoft, AOL, and Yelp, which created a listing for the event and allowed guests to post reviews and photos.
