Live auction items such as hand-painted toilet seats raised awareness about the importance of colon cancer screenings at the Bottoms Up! fund-raiser in Toronto in 2010. The theme extended to the menu: Sponge cakes with custard filling, created by A La Carte Kitchen, were designed to look like sugar bottoms.
Lincoln Center benefits and hard hats may sound like an unlikely combination, but at the cultural center’s 2007 “Good Night, Alice” event, the omnipresent theme of construction made it happen. Tabletops adorned with silver hats, trucks, and lunch boxes set the scene inside the dinner tent. In the silver lunch boxes, guests found lobster and chop-chop salad, minted pea soup, crunchy wontons, and Asian sesame dressing.
To mark the premiere of Breakout Kings in 2011, A&E hosted a jailhouse-theme reception at New York's Stage 37. The backdrop for the photo booth was a mugshot-style height chart. Letter board props imprinted with "A&E State Penitentiary" helped complete the picture.
In 2007, the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave gala had decor inspired by Shaker culture. Wooden doors, baskets, miniature apples, curly willow, maple trees, and rocking chairs all contributed to the festive but serene environment. Guests encountered wooden gates and warm projections of leaves and branches upon exiting the elevators.
The Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation hosted a gala that paid tribute to Dr. J. Bernard Gosevitz in June. The doctor's love for outdoor sport came through at the gala, where guests fished for prizes at the "Dr. G. Tribute Fish Pond."
Blue lighting and sequined tablecloths made for a striking look at Ronald McDonald House Toronto’s holiday season gala in December 2012—and the food was also blue. One featured bite was Parisienne potatoes topped with blue-dyed whitefish mousse and blue sea salt.
For thematic snacks, offer a selection of blueberry-based treats. In Atlanta, A Divine Event prepared a spread of blueberry pie pops, blueberry cobbler in iron skillets, and Guinness stout cake.
Sunquest used 16-foot string curtains to create semiprivate meeting areas in two corners of its booth.
At the McKesson booth, a graphic artist from Ink Factory created a new piece of art each day around a specific health care topic based on Twitter and in-person comments. The company recorded a time-lapse video of the artist at work, which it then shared on its social networks.
Ocean Minded used its exhibit to educate attendees about its beach cleanup projects by creating displays of trash volunteers had gathered at recent company-sponsored events.
The playful exhibit for Brooks Sports by Pinnacle Exhibits for the 2013 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City had a team of mechanized mannequins running overhead, bar stools made with mannequin runners’ legs, and monitors displaying social media posts.
At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, MC2’s booth for Michelin featured two simulator floors that let visitors “Be the Tire.” When they stepped onto the floor mat and placed their hands on the dashboard, they experienced the road from a tire’s point of view—feeling vibrations from the bumps and dips of various road surfaces.
For a low-key yet high-impact display, greeting card company JustWink parked a tricked-out a truck at the 2013 National Stationery Show in New York. Called the Wink Wagon, the truck had an HD screen, tablet devices, and a speaker system along with its bright graphics and product displays.
MG Design created a traveling barn-theme exhibit for Organic Valley that had solar panels and a motorized wind turbine to emphasize the food brand’s commitment to environmental sustainability. Other details included rake ends that held lanyards, bent forks that held product sampling cards, and fresh grass from a local Organic Valley farm.
The structural and cosmetic details of the exhibit for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company at the Offshore Technology Conference 2013, built by 2020 Exhibits, reflected the heritage of the United Arab Emirates while including tech-driven informational stations.
Stoltenberg Consulting erected a 20- by 20-foot geodesic dome in the middle of its booth that served as meeting space. Decorating the dome and a nearby treelike structure were discs imprinted with “What if …” questions related to health information technology, which served as conversation-starters with attendees.
A particularly bountiful and colorful dessert buffet was decorated with whole and cut fruit at the Chef After-Party February 20 at Thompson Miami Beach hotel.
Befitting its Polynesian theme, drinks at the Art of Tiki: A Cocktail Showdown were served in a variety of kitschy vessels along with bamboo-style straws. Emeril Lagasse hosted and was among the judges at the cocktail competition February 20 at Shore Club.
In a twist on a traditional seated dinner, guests saw their food prepared at their table during the Interactive Dinner February 21 at the Biltmore Country Club Ballroom. Chef Marc Randazzo hosted the Italian-theme event, and guests got into the spirit by wearing toques with title sponsor Barilla’s logo.
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.
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.
Users entered the Bose Southbooth, covered in mirrors and disco balls, and chose a single song to add to the official Spotify SXSW playlist.
In the new networking area at Sapphire Now in June in Orlando, guests could choose from seating options such as wooden pallets, leather cubes, and cadrboard cubes, which were strong enough to sit on but light and easy to move.
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Pallet chairs from Dublin company This Is What We Do were one of the seating options in the Media Village at Web Summit in November 2014.
HBO’s SXSWesteros house promoted the cable network's hit series Game of Thrones and featured an interactive sword-playing game where attendees used Bluetooth-enabled swords to hit targets on a screen. Before the activity, participants posed for photos that were then incorporated into the game.
The department store featured a Twitter mirror in the artist area at its Make Some Noise house. Users were able to take photos of themselves, add additional content like text and drawings, and then tweet out the image through the brand’s Twitter account.
Yahoo showcased the brand’s digital magazine content through projections on a cube set up near the entrance of the venue during the daytime. For evening events like the Community and Sin City Saints parties, images from the shows were shown.
Mophie helped rescue attendees with dying phone batteries by sending out St. Bernards with a Mophie power reserve unit within a barrel attached to the dog’s collar. Those seeking help had to take a screenshot of their dying battery screen as well as their location, and tweet at the brand. The St. Bernards were housed at the MophieRescue Lodge, where the products were showcased. The organization also worked with the St. Bernard Rescue Foundation to raise awareness of adoptable St. Bernards across the country.
The Honest Company and Target hosted an event in celebration of their partnership anniversary in April. Caravents produced and designed the gathering at the Lombardi House in Hollywood, a residential event space where logos dangled gracefully from a large tree.
An dramatic art installation was made from multicolor neon ribbons at PopSugar and ShopStyle's Cabana Club hotel takeover. The piece was a collaboration with the Las Vegas festival Life Is Beautiful.
Fox hosted a Television Critics Association event in Los Angeles in January, produced by YourBash, where logos in frames got the look of dressed-up wall art.
A smart-looking three-dimensional version of the hashtag served a decor piece as well as a call to action for guests.
At 2013's TEDActive, the sister event to the TED Conference, organizers integrated branding into some of the host venue’s quintessential Spanish tiles. The decals over select tiles at La Quinta in California's Palm Springs area also guided attendees along the paths within the properly.
M.A.C. and Mia Moretii hosted their festival collection with a pool party at the Ingleside Inn. Stoelt Productions produced the event, which was hosted by the BMF Music Lounge. A trio of colorful umbrellas made for a colorful photo backdrop.
Stoelt Productions produced the event, which offered a teeter-totter and snow cones.
As part of its holiday "Give Beautifully" campaign, Stella Artois hosted an interactive, immersive light installation December 10 to 12 at Skylight at Moynihan Station in New York. Guests were led through a dark tunnel to an empty room lit by a canopy of lights, which became interactive by following attendees around and gravitating towards them. The experience was photographed, and guests could share photos on social media in the adjacent Tasting Room.
