Event pros can generate buzz leading up to and surrounding an event with custom emoji. New York-based Swyft Media has been creating custom sets since 2012. Acquired by Monotype early last year, the company frequently works with companies and entities to come up with on-message emoji.
New York-based Eleni's Cookies is among the catering providers incorporating emoji into food presentation. Cookies that imitate the widely recognized happy face emoji are obvious crowd pleasers—and they can be customized with corporate messaging.
Beyond dotting furniture with emoji pillows, organizers can find other ways to add physical representations of the digital icons to the decor. At its Streamy Awards party, Fullscreen hosted a millennial-heavy crowd. In a conceptual twist, Caravents created so-called “emojis in the wild”—accompanied by a well-promoted hashtag of the same phrase—which involved small animal figures placed within the decor throughout the space. The move was meant to encourage guests to share their subtle observations.
At South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, last year, BuzzFeed's BFF Clubhouse offered an emoji fortune-teller. By looking at the most recently selected emoji on guests’ own smartphones, the fortune-teller picked the person’s fortune. The slip of paper, similar to one found in a fortune cookie, included an emoji recommended for guests to use more.
When the Watchmen movie premiered in 2009, emoji were not yet a part of the public consciousness. However, the Los Angeles premiere party’s animated video effects suggested a way to use modern-day emojis: Happy faces lit up two 15-foot circular screens for a larger-than-life audiovisual effect.
To commemorate its partnership with Zoolander 2, Kiehl's debuted a five-day pop-up in the meatpacking district from February 9 through 13 appropriately titled the Derek Zoolander Center for People Who Don't Age Good and accompanied by the zany hashtag #DZCFPWDAG. Open to the public, the activation aimed to introduce consumers to the Kiehl's assortment of anti-aging products.
Produced by MKG in collaboration with Night Agency and public relations firm Sunshine Sachs, the invitation-only ribbon-cutting featured a small army of male models dressed as various iterations of Derek Zoolander. At once cheeky and irreverent, the kooky presentation required the temporary closing of the right-hand turning lane on Eighth Avenue at 14th Street to accommodate guests and photographers.
Inside the venue, a space once home to the Nickel Spa, male models vamped for Instagram-worthy moments, doing their best imitation of the Blue Steel look from the movie—or, in this case, their very best "Blue Kiehl."
Available for immediate purchase at the pop-up, as well as at Kiehl's stores and online, were two special limited-edition anti-aging collections: the Ridiculously Youthful and the Blue Kiehl. Each featured special box packaging featuring Derek Zoolander, as played by Ben Stiller.
As part of a playful 6.5 Step program, guests were welcomed to the center by a pair of male models and asked to step on the aging scale to determine if they are one of the 100 percent of human beings suffering from this terrible condition.
Inside the decontamination chamber, male models in hazmat suits were stationed behind a protective acrylic wall with only their arms reaching through to give guests the choice of anti-aging decontamination: a topical ointment or spray.
Step 3 (pictured, far right) included ScentsAbility, where guests were taken through aromatherapy training to distinguish between young and old scents (i.e. Coachella and meatloaf, respectively). Step 3.5 (pictured, center) featured P.T.N.R., or Pants to Nipple Ratio.
Male model runway experts coached guests for their big turn down the designer finger catwalk. Security by Marty Barnes ensured there were no catfights while rationed bite-size foods from Yum Yum were served in jest.
Debuting nearly simultaneously in Los Angeles was a Samsung activation in partnership with Zoolander 2 that ran February 11 through 15. Consumers were invited to participate in an immersive modeling-theme experience produced by PMK-BNC at the Grove shopping center and dubbed the Zoolander School of Modeling. As part of the model walk-off, fans could strut down a catwalk positioned next to Samsung SUHD TVs.
Each activation involved Samsung technology. At one station, aspiring models learned to perfect their signature model look, inspired by Derek Zoolander's Blue Steel and Magnum.
In Samsung's "Elite Model Lingo" section guests were taught model talk using a dubbing recorded booth powered by Samsung devices. All guests who complete the interactive courses were deemed “Ridiculously Good Looking” enough to graduate and receive a graduation gift from the Zoolander School of Modeling.
