W Hotels: W Amsterdam Pre-LaunchÂ
Submitted by the Gathery Inc.
W Hotels Worldwide celebrated its new Amsterdam property with a summertime boat party in New York. With design by the Gathery and production by BMF Media, the event featured models dressed as sailors, a menu of Dutch delicacies, and decor inspired by the European city’s famous canals, bikes, and other iconography. Other key markets received a “tool kit” with information on how to recreate the cocktail party, creating more awareness for the new hotel.
Asian Business Association’s 39th Annual Awards Gala
Submitted by Innovate Marketing Group
As a twist on the traditional gala, Innovate Marketing Group aimed to make the Asian Business Association’s 39th Annual Awards Gala a night to remember. For starters, Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles served as a unique venue for the night’s festivities, which began with a V.I.P. reception at Moulin Rouge. From there, a flash mob led the transition from the reception to the program. Additional memorable details included a hip-hop violinist, a hedge-covered step-and-repeat, and custom business cards that took the place of wristbands.
The Eventsful Sci-Fi Holiday PartyÂ
Submitted by FCI Catering & Events
For a private client’s sci-fi-theme holiday party in New York in December 2015, FCI Catering & Events created innovative food stations based on science-fiction classics such as Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and The Matrix. At the “Incubation Station,” guests could choose from a selection of eggs (including quail, duck, and hen), as well as a filling, such as avocado-lime and crème fraîche; the fillings were suspended above the station in piping bags. For dinner, the station transformed into the “Hatched Station” with poultry dishes.
Google I/O 2016
Submitted by Sparks
For Google I/O, an annual three-day gathering of developers, business-decision makers, consumers, and media that builds buzz and awareness for Google’s mobile products and platforms, organizers adopted a playful “show, don’t tell” approach to bring guests hands-on experiences. Taking place at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, the conference brought attendees and more than 380 speakers to an outdoor festival environment spread over 10 acres, changing the face of what a typical developer conference looks like. In addition to sessions and hands-on labs, the conference also featured nighttime performances from chart-topping artists.
Twitter City
Submitted by NA Collective
For C.E.S. 2016 in January, Twitter tasked experiential production company NA Collective to create a “city” at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. The immersive activation was meant to realize a Twitter case study with a fictional town that included townhouses, a movie theater, and sports bars. Interactive elements in the town included headphone brand Muzik’s store that lead to a secret speakeasy for influencers and C-level executives, as well as a digital billboard the curated mentions of CES on Twitter.
Refinery29: 29 RoomsÂ
Submitted by the Gathery Inc.
To mark Refinery29’s 10th anniversary and bring the digital brand to life, a three-day art installation called 29 Rooms was constructed at a warehouse in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn. More than 8,000 consumers and influencers made their way through the exhibit’s 29 interactive rooms, which were curated in collaboration with 29 artists and touched on timely themes such as race, wellness, and gender. The photo-worthy spectacle, which was co-designed by the Gathery and Refinery29, resulted in more than one billion Instagram impressions.
Refinery29’s School of Self Expression
Submitted by the Gathery Inc.
During the SXSW Interactive & Style festival in Austin in March, the Brooklyn-based creative consultancy worked with co-designers Refinery29 to develop a multidimensional, school-inspired environment. Held at the Mexic-Arte Museum, the interactive playground offered programming for consumers and influencers from keynote panels to arts-and-crafts tutorials. Locker rooms featured interactive content on style, fashion, and technology, while the curated panels and craft tutorials were held in custom classroom environments.
Celebration of the Americas
Submitted by Bravo! Entertainment and Hello! Florida Destination Management
For Amway’s event celebrating its top-selling business owners in December 2015 at the Amway Center in Orlando, Addison, Texas-based entertainment production company Bravo! Entertainment created a full touring-style show for the one-time performance. Featuring LED cyr wheels, pyro dancers, and live video manipulation, the show told a story using Amway’s founding principles that illustrated the company’s diverse culture and vision of success.
BBVA Bancomer Tower Opening
Submitted by CIE Comercial
For the opening of the 52-story BBVA Bancomer Tower in Mexico City, CIE Comercial’s events division, CREA, teamed up with Cocolab International to make quite a statement. Audiovisual effects, projections, sequential lighting, and pyrotechnics aimed to highlight the company’s values and history through an unforgettable fireworks show. The event—which was open to the public and attended by V.I.P.s such as the president of Mexico—required 650 audiovisual technicians and more than 3,500 feet of light strips.
The Avnet Champions Club—The Next Generation
Submitted by Inspiria Global Events
The Avnet GCC Champions Club is a program and event designed to recognize and reward outstanding achievements within Avnet, one of the largest global distributors of electronic components and computer products. The top-performing salespeople and M.V.P.s from across the globe attended the incentive trip to Cape Town, South Africa, which took place in March and included a safari excursion, off-site activities, and a celebration.
Tulip Ceiling
Submitted by Westmount Florist
For a private wedding in Montreal in March, Westmount Florist created an eye-catching entryway while also disguising the “dead” space of the venue ceiling. The hanging installation comprised 8,000 to 8,500 locally sourced white tulips on bulbs hanging from grids. The next day, the flowers were removed for planting. In addition, cut tulips were used in the ceremony centerpieces.
FĂŞteFone/The Audio Guest Book
Submitted by FĂŞteFone
The unique take on a traditional guestbook launched in May 2016 as a new, interactive alternative for guests at events to record testimonials, feedback, and more with a stylish telephone rather than pen and paper. Based in Bethesda, Maryland, the phones come in a variety of styles and colors including a Jazz Age version and a baroque-theme version created with faux brass called the Maharani. The self-contained phones also serve as event decor and can come with pre-recorded greetings from event hosts.
#TommyXNadalÂ
Submitted by NA Collective
To launch the campaign between Tommy Hilfiger and tennis star Rafael Nadal, the fashion brand staged a pop-up strip tennis tournament in Manhattan’s Bryant Park around the same time as the U.S. Open. Nadal competed against supermodels, and each time a team scored, the opponent removed a piece of clothing, unveiling Tommy Hilfiger’s men’s and women’s underwear lines. Because Nadal also had a contractual conflict with Nike, which held the contracts for athletic apparel, the staged strip-tennis tournament was a fun and tasteful way to integrate him into the game and showcase the underwear.
LIQS Customized Shots
Submitted by LIQS Cocktail Shots
Ideal for serving large groups, LIQS Cocktail Shots mix premium spirits with real fruit juice and seal individual servings in an attractive plastic shot glass that can be customized with corporate logos or personal messages. The shots chill quickly and can be served on custom trays to alleviate congestion at bars during crowded events.
WTC 860—Riviera at the World Trade Center
Riviera Caterers in partnership with Silverstein Properties launched its versatile event space at 4 World Trade Center in New York in December 2015. The 34,000-square-foot venue on the 68th floor offers 360-degree views of the city, movable walls, and interchangeable lighting for event customization. Riviera provides food, beverage, and culinary design, and partnered with 4Wall for lighting and Patrick J Clayton Productions for event production and design. The venue has hosted events including the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative Gala and the Forbes 400 Philanthropy Summit.
Luminato Festival’s Big Bang Bash
Submitted by Luminato Festival
The 2015 opening party for Toronto’s 10-day Luminato Festival took place at Hearn Generating Station. The decommissioned electrical plant served as a fitting backdrop for the event’s theme, which explored the juxtaposition of nature and industry. The cocktail hour and the after-party took place in the same space, and organizers used music and decor to transition the vibe from lush forest to post-Apocalyptic wasteland. McNabb Roick Events handled decor, and the event raised $800,000.
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s Art Auction 2015
Submitted by HMR Designs
In keeping with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s mission to create outside-the-box fund-raisers, HMR Designs sought to fully recreate the space for the institution’s Art Auction. To accomplish this, the design team covered the entire tent—including floors, ceilings, walls, and even tables—in the same striped pattern. The event was the museum’s most successful Art Auction to date, raising $3.7 million.
Nike Heat Rises Launch Event
Submitted by Team Epiphany
To launch Nike’s new cold weather collection in September 2015, Team Epiphany designed an daylong experience for media and select Nike+ consumers. The raw 9,100-square-foot space of SIR Stage 37 in New York was transformed with a thermoregulation gallery, thermal wall, product displays, locker room, and cold-weather workout room, where the temperature was dropped to 32 degrees. Plus, the event invitations were coated in heat-reactive liquid crystal; when touched, they changed color to illustrate the thermal properties in the human hand.
Zachary Factory
Submitted by Mirrorball
Thirteen-year-old Zachary Blatter—the son of a Mirrorball principal—celebrated his bar mitzvah and birthday in September 2015 with a little help from his dad’s event-planner colleagues. The steampunk-theme evening—which took place in Ardsley, New York—featured integrated virtual-reality technology that created a retrospective of Zachary’s life, as well as immersive theatrical experiences and custom costumes for each of his 120 guests.
TED2016—The Vision of Infinite Dimensions (The VOID)
Submitted by Procreation Design Works
Procreation Design Works brought in virtual-reality company the Void to activate its multisensory experience for attendees at TED2016:Dream, which took place in February 2016 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The 5-D activation combined virtual-reality with interactive physical environments for an Indiana Jones-style adventure that allowed guests to engage with storylines and challenges crafted by the Utah-based startup. The experience featured hardware that facilitated body tracking for environmental responses that included temperature, smells, and sounds.
Jack Daniel's Motel No. 7
Submitted by Mirrorball
For this experiential event series, Mirrorball designed a replica of a motel with an above-ground pool and over 20 room setups, where actors performed an ever-changing tableau of live theater moments. The space also included a main stage made entirely of Jack Daniel's whiskey barrels. The event, which was geared towards millennials and brand loyalists, took place in New York in November 2015.
Kering Caring Day
Submitted by Eventique
Luxury fashion company Kering has spent the last four years exploring the environmental and social challenges of the fashion world and worked with Eventique to communicate their findings to the community. The team created a sustainable and eco-friendly event that still felt luxurious and high-end, using sustainable wood, banners made of organic cotton, and organic and preservative-free catering. Afterward, all wood was recycled and banners were saved for the traveling exhibition, leading to a waste-free event.
New York International Auto Show
Submitted by Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association
By embracing digital and traditional mediums, the New York International Auto Show expanded its reach this year, garnering 1.7 billion social media impressions and 3.22 billion traditional media impressions. The 10-day event brought press, auto enthusiasts, and families together at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York for never-before-seen vehicles, interactive activations, and more under one roof.
Toto at KBIS
Submitted by GES
To draw attendees to Toto’s exhibit at the Kitchen & Bath Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the company highlighted its technological advancements through eye-catching installations and structures. Projection mapping and video screens were used to demonstrate Toto’s offerings, as well as educate visitors on the benefits of water conservation and energy efficiency. A dedicated social media campaign also created buzz and excitement among attendees.
The Art of Bathing
Submitted by Eventique
After a survey revealed that 89 percent of consumers sing in the shower, American Standard teamed up with Eventique to create a unique, interactive activation in Times Square. Three self-contained bathroom units, all containing American Standard products, acted as performance booths for sing-offs. Passersby selected a song, donned a virtual-reality headset, and sang into a microphone-equipped loofah sponge as 3-D animations replicated running water and steam. Performances were live streamed on a large LED screen, and an emcee chose a winner.
BMW Group—The Next 100 Years
Submitted by Voks Dams Agency for Events and Live-Marketing
BMW celebrated its 100th anniversary with a celebration at Olympic Hall in Munich, Germany, in March 2016. Produced by Voks Dams Agency, the visual event used a number of special effects for elements that included an hour-long production of media, song, dance, and poetry, focusing on BMW brands. The show incorporated multi-screen projections from 149 projectors and 27 watch-out servers. The event also broke a Guinness World Record for biggest projection surface with a ceiling sculpture that featured 880 moving sculptures.
Casa Loma
Completed in 1914, Casa Loma is a historical landmark located in Toronto and is considered one of North America’s only castles. The Great Hall features an impressive 60-foot-high oak-beamed ceiling and 40-foot bay window, while the main floor includes the Oak Room, the Billiard Room, and the Library, all decorated in the Gothic Revival style with rich wood finishes. The estate also boasts fountains, sculptures, and rare florals in the expansive garden.
Citi and Global Citizen Fest Partner to Accelerate Progress
Submitted by MAC Presents
Citi partnered with the Global Poverty Project for the fourth annual Global Citizen Festival, a music festival that was attended by 60,000 fans who were given free access to the event by performing a good deed. The event, which took place in September 2015 at New York’s Central Park, incorporated a social media initiative that had Citi partner with social aggregation platform Thunderclap to sync 39,000 pre-registered social media posts that were later all shared in a branded message onstage. The social media message—which garnered more than 1.3 million impressions on social platforms—involved Stephen Bird, C.E.O. of global consumer banking at Citi, lighting up the stage with the branded message “Support the #GlobalGoals and help end extreme poverty by 2030!"
#CampaignCamper
Submitted by FoxTales
To give potential voters in the presidential election a unique way to be heard, Facebook and CNN partnered with experiential marketing firm FoxTales to launch a cross-country campaign with a political-theme Airstream trailer. At a video booth, the public could record 15-second videos of their feelings about the election or questions for candidates that could potentially air live during the debates. Users could share their videos on social media from a branded TaleBoard Gallery, and all videos from the tour were shared on a custom Facebook gallery on CNN’s page. The experience launched in September 2015 and traveled to locations including the College of Charleston, Georgia Tech, and Vanderbilt University.
Pandora SXSW Discovery Den 2016
Submitted by Pandora
At 2016’s South by Southwest in Austin, Pandora hosted its annual Discovery Den for fans to see 39 new artists from diverse music genres. Videographers took 40 hours of footage of the performances, fan reactions, and sponsor activations, which was edited overnight so daily recaps could be posted onto Pandora’s YouTube channel. The Discovery Den generated almost 500 million media impressions.
