A London-theme design included a colorful neon replica of the city's signature red telephone booth as part of a city-street installation. Guests could listen to music when picking up the phone.
Reebok previewed its fall/winter 2017 collection for media on May 10 at 201 Mulberry in New York. The event, which was produced by M&C Saatchi and fabricated by Mixed Greens Event Design, featured a variety of product displays inspired by the brand's different types of athletic wear. The training display showcased shoes and clothes in a gym-inspired atmosphere, with design elements including a giant tire and a branded punching bag and boxing gloves.
In a room created by Belletrist book club founders Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss, a larger-than-life typewriter is adorned with a quote from Joan Didion. Aiming to celebrate female authors and the art of storytelling alive, dozens of empty books are available for attendees to write in. New to the Los Angeles edition, Belletrist is partnering with L.A.-based book-donation service Re-Book It and local store the Last Bookstore; attendees are invited to donate used books throughout the two weekends.
Fooji is an experiential marketing platform that specializes in brand promotions that involve fan interactions on social media platforms followed by a physical delivery. The company partnered with HBO to promote the new season of Silicon Valley in March. Twitter users who tweeted the hashtag #Sliceline and the pizza emoji had a chance to win a pizza. More than 1,000 pizzas were delivered to fans of the show nationwide, and select fans had pizza delivered via drone.
Click here to see the drone delivery in action.
To promote Avengers: Infinity War, which premiered April 27, Fooji partnered with Marvel Studios to delivered 4,000 pieces Avengers-theme merchandise including figurines, apparel, and augmented-reality kits 10 days before the film’s premiere. Nearly 40,000 people participated in the promotion by tweeting the hashtags #10Days, #InfinityWar, and the hashtags of specific characters in the film. Select winners were surprised by actors in the film such as Josh Brolin and Vin Diesel, who delivered prizes in person.
Click here to see Josh Brolin surprise a fan.
Ferrari North America recently surprised event guests with the reveal of its new car, the Portofino, at immersive launch parties in five markets across the U.S. Momentum Worldwide created custom wall projections that depicted a P.O.V. of driving in the car in Portofino, Italy, and in urban, coastal, and open road tours in the U.S. For the San Francisco launch event, which took place April 12 at Dogpatch Studios, aerialists from the Dahlias Exquisite Acrobatics unveiled the new car during a synchronized silk act. The event also paired food and drinks to match the projection scenes, and enlisted a scent sommelier to pump custom scents into the party based on each driving scene.
Bravo partnered with digital marketing agency 360i to promote the second season of its scripted series Imposters with an interactive event at SXSW in Austin in March. Taking inspiration from the series’s lead con artist character, Bravo sent out invites to a self-described lavish event. But when guests arrived they found the venue to be an empty parking lot with three elaborate sets: one depicting a luxury yacht, one depicting a private jet, and one depicting a fancy ice hotel. Guests who posed inside of the sets received two photos—one cropped to just show the set, and one photo that was zoomed out to reveal the true setting. Attendees were encouraged to post the images on social media using the hashtag #ImpostersSweepstakes for a chance to win a luxury travel experience.
More than 4,000 people attended the two-day activation based on social media posts, and Imposters was the second-most discussed show at SXSW. High Beam Events produced the activation, while SnapFiesta and Luci contributed to the photo booth technology.
Business travel booking site Upside, founding partner of National Business Traveler Day, partnered with experiential marketing agency LeadDog Marketing Group to host the activations for the inaugural event April 24. The campaign, which was a collaboration with more than 20 companies and organizations to recognize business travelers, featured surprise activations at major airports. Activations included custom lounges at O’Hare International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which were equipped with comfortable seating and charging stations. Lounge guests could enter the Business Traveler Dream Sweepstakes—which offered prizes such as free first class upgrades for 20 years and roundtrip international business class tickets from United Airlines—and receive instant giveaways from other participating brands including Mastercard, Uber for Business, Diet Coke, and XpresSpa. The concept also took over four XpresSpa locations—spas at John F. Kennedy International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, and the Westfield World Trade Center—with signage and giveaways.
For New York Comic Con in October, USA Network hosted an immersive theater gala inspired by E Corp—the fictional corporation in the network’s thriller Mr. Robot. The event, which took place at Terminal 5, featured a performance by actors posing as members of the show’s fictional F-Society. The performance ended with a surprise screening of the season three premiere.
On-demand delivery app Postmates partnered with the rapper Post Malone to deliver 10,000 Popeye’s biscuits (amounting to $8,000 worth) to attendees at his Coachella party in 2017. The stunt promoted Postmates and commemorated Post Malone’s album receiving platinum music recording certification.
In June 2017, BMF Media partnered with Driscoll’s berries to create a public activation that involved a 3-D painting of a Driscoll’s berry picnic stationed in the middle of a park in St. Paul, Minnesota. Passersby who encountered the activation could stand on the painting to activate sensors that played music. Interacting with the sensors triggered confetti canons and hidden doors on the upright wall of the painting to open, serving guests treats made with the berries. The activation attracted more than 750 passersby.
In October 2016, Canon partnered with 360i to launch the EOS 5D Mark IV camera by giving four photographers 24 hours to take photos with the new camera and display the images at an invite-only event at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. The event, which hosted 130 members of the media and local photography community, initially featured a gallery of empty frames. Throughout the event, the photos were printed with Canon printers and mounted on the walls of the gallery.
A photo op from event sponsor Citi featured branded bowls attached to a greenery wall. Forks, knives, and spoons were used as additional decor. The Los Angeles Times' in-house events team produced the Night Market event.
The entrance to the Night Market displayed a food-theme neon backdrop where guests could take photos.
One of the primary functions of a name badge is to increase conversations and networking. For the ninth iteration of the Engage! luxury-wedding business summit, held in Las Vegas in 2012, name badges served as an icebreaker: The number of crystal charms on the tag identified how many times the badge-wearer had attended an Engage! conference. Veteran attendees had nine balls, while first-timers had one.
Badges are also an opportunity to give attendees necessary information—without making them carry around a heavy event program. At C2 Montréal last month, attendees wore klik name badges from Montreal-based technology company PixMob. In addition to displaying guest credentials in a large, easy-to-read format, the badges connected them to the klik technology—an audience engagement solution that can be used for ticketing and registration, data and analytics, event communication, and much more. The LED wearable can light up in 16-million different colors in response to remote control commands. In addition to badges, the klik technology can be used in wristbands and in buttons on lanyards; event organizers can rent or buy the wearables.
If every attendee is going to be wearing a badge, it's a good chance to enhance an event's decor. For the 2016 edition of Engage!, held in Palm Beach, Florida, Vanessa Kreckel of Two Paper Dolls designed the colorful leather name tags, which tied into the event’s tropical theme.
Giant trees built by Founders Entertainment with balloon arrangements supplied by Katie Balloons sprouted up throughout the festival grounds.
The DirecTV Now activation, which was created by experiential agency Blue Revolver, featured an oversize boombox, along with an 80s-theme urban playground setting with tricycles, a basketball hoop, and funky graffiti.
Festivalgoers could play DJ inside the larger-than-life boombox and snap pics for social media.
At this year’s festival, Tito’s Handmade Vodka debuted its Love, Tito’s Festival Experience. Produced by New York-based experiential and digital agency the Participation Agency, the activation featured a digital time capsule where festivalgoers could make a video pledge for change that will be emailed to them a year from now. They could also learn about the brand’s charity initiative, which includes highlighting a different charity at each festival the brand attends throughout the year.
In addition to the Love, Tito’s activation, the vodka brand also parked an Airstream trailer bar featuring music and cocktails within the “Best Kept Secret” area.
Located next to the Bacardi Stage on the festival grounds, Bacardi Bay offered fans a tropical island-inspired oasis, produced by Hargrove, featuring specialty cocktails, hammocks, and views of the entire festival grounds from the two-story bar.
Festivalgoers could kick back in colorful day boats inside in the branded space.
At the Bacardi Stage, performers including British band Wolf Alice, rapper Goldlink, Canadian rock band Japandroids, and Silk City with Diplo and Mark Ronson entertained the crowds.
At American Eagle’s inaugural Governors Ball, fans could pick up a free canvas tote with a custom screenprint design provided by Tour Print.
AEO Connected loyalty program members received access to the roof deck, which featured lounge chairs, charging stations, and giveaways.
On the second floor of the activation, which was produced by Shadow and Live Nation, card members could pick up festival essentials like sunscreen, hair ties, ponchos, and more.
State Farm engaged attendees with four different action stations as part of its Neighborhood of Good, including the Here to Help House where fans scored festival gear and the Music Education House where participants built ukuleles from kits. The instruments were donated to local school music education programs.
The Here to Help at Risk Youth space asked fans to write encouraging messages to at-risk youth. The note cards were placed in hygiene supply kits and donated to local nonprofits. Participants also received a stenciled tattoo. At the Here to Help Hunger House, participants assembled food kits of non-perishable items, which were then donated to local food banks. For each activity completed, festivalgoers earned pins that could be traded for branded swag. Following its debut at Governors Ball, the Neighborhood of Good, which was produced in conjunction with Live Nation, will be on site at Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Lake Shake, and other festivals.
At the Lay's tent, attendees could taste four different chip flavors and cast their votes for their favorite by scanning their festival wristbands at the corresponding station.
Similar to last year’s activation, the beer brand’s space, which was produced by MKG, featured picnic-style tables and a bar, along with free charging stations and Wi-Fi.
A new addition for this year was a Plinko-style game where visitors could score swag by using their empty, crushed cans as playing chips.
At the Kleenex Cabana, fans could freshen up with the brand’s new wet wipes, as well as get their faces painted.
Fans could pick up some M&M’s Caramel samples inside the candy brand's bright yellow dome. The empty wrappers could then be exchanged for festival swag, including sunglasses, fanny packs, and blankets.
The sparkling water’s branded lounge included seating, a balloon-adorned photo booth backdrop, free samples, and a ball pit for creating shareable gifs.
The hair brand Göt2b was on on site offering free styles like classic braids and funky knots to festivalgoers. ESP Camera was on hand to snap Polaroids of the finished ‘dos.
Once again this year, Citi cardmembers were able to link up their R.F.I.D. festival wristbands to their Citi credit and debit cards in advance. The wristbands served as a cashless payment device and also offered access to the Citi viewing deck. The elevated area provided a view of the main stage and a cashless bar. Live Nation produced the activation.
A greenery wall, which was created by B Floral and decorated with gold records, provided a backdrop for photo ops inside the viewing deck area.
For the fourth year in a row, Tequila Don Julio was on site, serving up craft cocktails via a 1967 vintage Airstream Speakeasy. And for the second year in a row, the tequila brand teamed up with restaurant review site Infatuation for the #AgaveAndEEEEEATS happy hour at the festival’s "Best Kept Secret" area. The space featured a swing set photo booth and the Tequila Don Julio vintage pick-up truck.
