This year ESPN moved its Escape lounge from the JW Marriott pool to the Ritz-Carlton pool in order to provide a more exclusive and intimate atmosphere for the invited athletes and celebrities, according to ESPN executives. Escape also drew inspiration from the existing Ritz-Carlton decor for a nautical feel accented with gold and navy hues. ESPN's Stephanie Bonk and Sivan Zaitchik worked on the event with producer Caravents.
The official athlete lounge for the awards, the Escape on July 14 and 15 featured games such a Pop-a-Shot, ping-pong, and life-size Jenga.
The ESPYs Escape featured lounge seating areas backed with logo hedging, as well as gifting from sponsors and partners.
On July 14, ESPN the Magazine hosted the official Body at ESPYs preparty for its seventh annual Body issue in conjunction with the awards. The issue features more than 20 athletes from a variety of sports on six separate covers, and the party’s decor drew heavily on the magazine’s imagery. ESPN's Timi Jordan, Lauren Robinson, Bianca Gomez, Eden Ghebresellassie, and Anne Powers worked on the event with producer Event Eleven.
The party at Milk Studios drew athletes, presenters, nominees, celebrities, sponsors, and other V.I.P.s as well as Disney, ABC, and ESPN executives for a total of 1,400 invited guests. It was the first time ESPN hosted the party at Milk; the event had previously been held at Lure in Hollywood. That venue is now known as Le Jardin, and this year hosted another ESPN awards week event, Uninterrupted at ESPYs.
Entertainment came from DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown (also known as Erykah Badu), DJ Khaled, and Fetty Wap.Â
Keeping with the theme of the venue, Event Eleven designed the space to feel like a photo studio with massive oversize prints from the issue. Projections evoked the look of film reels, and framed images hung in a gallery-like arrangement throughout the venue. Lounge seating had a stripped, modern feel.
Presenting sponsor Cadillac's logo sprawled on the wall behind the DJ booth. Additional sponsors included Capital One (which was presenting sponsor of the awards), Axe, Gatorade, Grey Goose, Miller Lite, and Nautica.
Logos floated on hedges as well as appeared in signage on the wall behind the party's arrivals carpet.
A 20-foot hashtag wall and projections brightened the after-party space exterior. Inside, live hedgerow walls surrounded raised lounges on either side of the stage and dance floor. Tying it all together was a 48-foot stage wall projected with video imagery of elements of nature. Falling rose petals, kaleidoscope effects, bubbles, and other looks provided eye candy throughout the evening until the walls opened to reveal the evening’s headline entertainment. ESPN's Bianca Gomez, Timi Jordan, Eden Ghebresellassie, and Anne Powers worked on the event along with producer 15/40 Productions.
For the party’s second year on the Event Deck at L.A. Live, the production team created a strikingly different look and feel. Whereas for the previous two years, the party had evoked an urban loft—with stainless steel bead curtains, metal I-beams structures, exposed truss, and other details—this year, the vibe was more natural and organic. ESPN execs estimated about two thirds of the guests were new to the party this year.
Decor included a raw wood plank back bar and buffet walls and a dramatic six-foot flower arrangement in vibrant oranges. A chandelier-like ceiling treatment made from 1,000 Edison bulbs hung over the party space for a big impact over a large crowd.
Ciara performed at the after-party, serving as arena-level headline entertainment for the crowd of 3,400, which included presenters, nominees, athletes, sponsors, executives, and other V.I.P.s. Big Sean also performed.
Wolfgang Puck catered a 10-foot-tall dessert display on which doughnuts on pegs spelled out the party's purpose.
A 16- by 16-foot wood logo wall with interlaced huckleberry vines incentivized guests to share snaps and selfies on social media.
First launched for the 2012 Olympics in London, Omega's exclusive members-only club returned for Rio 2016. Omega's activation was housed at the Casa de Cultura Laura Alvim on Ipanema Beach, with each individual room paying homage to the Olympics. The main area for guests to mingle was the patio, which featured a white-on-white scheme reminiscent of luxury destinations like Miami, Ibiza, and Mykonos. The white was offset by black-and-white photos highlighting the brand's history of timekeeping.
The house hosted a variety of invite-only events, including the Omega Golf Ball on August 8, celebrating the return of golf to the Olympic Games after a 112-year absence. The event featured a green carpet with a golf ball display that served as a photo op.
Another notable Omega House event was "Cocktails in Space" on August 10, which featured an appearance by astronaut and Omega ambassador Buzz Aldrin. The event featured cocktails served in space ration hydropacks made with Tang, a drink that astronauts actually took to space.
The event paid homage to space exploration with decor that included a luminescent moon.
The event also feature white-haired "space girls" who served cocktails and greeted guests as they arrived.
Olympic partner Procter & Gamble opened its Family Home for athletes and families through the duration of the Games. P&G brands including CoverGirl, Aussie, Pantene, Gillette, and Tide offered beauty and grooming treatments for guests. The "home away from home" also featured experiences including an appearance by Tide Pods ambassador and Olympic Gold medalist Nadia Comaneci.
The company activated a pop-up spa in the Olympic Village for athletes and families. Services from a variety of P&G brands included haircuts and shaves, styling, makeup stations, and manicures and pedicures.
Decor in the lounge, which promoted rest and relaxation, included product displays and branded pillows.
Experiential marketing company Ignition produced numerous activations for Coca-Cola, including the Olympic Torch Relay, which the soft drink brand has sponsored since 1996. Branded trucks blared music, and brand ambassadors with Coca-Cola shirts and polar-bear mascot cutouts served as cheerleaders for torchbearers.
The experience, which translates to "Coca-Cola Station," was geared toward teenagers and housed in a former warehouse in the downtown Praça Mauá neighborhood through August 21. Interactive experiences for guests included a 360-degree photo booth in which fans could pose with the Olympic torch.
The ceiling installation design was inspired by a burst of bubbles exploding from a Coca-Cola bottle. The installation lit up in gold whenever athletes won a gold medal during the Games.
The brand's Olympic Park activation included a pin trading and retail experience, photo ops with the Olympic torch, and highlights of the brand's longstanding partnership with the Games.
The activation's decor included a wall of Coca-Cola's commemorative gold aluminum bottles.
Samsung showcased its Galaxy Studio from August 6 through the duration of the Games in Olympic Park. The experience gave fans a chance to demo the brand's latest products and test out interactive experiences including a 4-D kayaking virtual reality experience.
The studio also gave fans of pin-collecting a chance to celebrate the Olympic spirit with its Rio 2016 pin promotion. The promotion included 22 Olympic sport-theme pins and eight Rio-theme pins, as well as a decorated pin board. Guests could earn pins by completing a variety of interactive stations in the studio. A fan who collected all 30 pins and the pin board was eligible to win a round-trip package to Tokyo, which will host the Olympics in 2020.
Olympic partner McDonald's gave 100 kids from 20 countries the opportunity to walk in the Parade of Nations during the opening ceremony at Maracaña Stadium on August 5. Kids walked with flag bearers from each of the 207 delegations.
Visa's members-only lounge was open for the duration of the games at the Windsor Atlantica Hotel in Copacabana. The lounge featured a Rio-theme branded wall decorated with colorful flip-flops for sale.
The lounge also featured an area that showcased Visa's payment ring, the brand's newest innovation that was announced in June. The payment rings, which are enabled by near field communication, were given to all Team Visa athletes to use during the Games.
As part of its nostalgic Olympic campaign, GE of Brazil launched an interactive web series that starred the actors behind TÃbio and Perônio—two fictional scientists from Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum, a popular Brazilian children's TV show from the '90s. The two characters, which were filmed at the GE Research Center labs in Rio de Janeiro, explained infrastructure solutions developed by GE for the Games. The series premiered August 8 and was broadcast in 360 degrees, allowing the audience to interact with content in the lab that included original set design elements. The campaign, which was created by VaynerMedia in partnership with New Vegas, was Webcast by GE on Brazil's social channels.
