For the Toronto launch party for Cadillac's 2014 ELC electric car, guests could sip a futuristic drink: a cocktail with the car's logo stenciled atop in silver edible dust.
At Victoria’s Secret Pink spring break event in Destin, Florida, in March 2014, the retailer placed its event logo on custom surfboards that guests could sign.
Having a pool party? Make sure inflatable pool toys reinforce the brand message. At the iHeartRadio Pool Party in June, sponsor Visit Florida had its logo on an inner tube and other inflatables used at Miami Beach's Fontainebleau hotel.
To kick off the 2013 N.F.L. season, the league hosted a free outdoor concert by Keith Urban and a V.I.P. party in Baltimore. In keeping with the music theme, producers PEDG and Production Glue placed guitars with the Baltimore Ravens logos behind the bars at the Maryland Science Center.
Comedy Central hosted a Kegs and Eggs brunch at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, in March. Kegs bearing the event logo and hashtag severed both decor and functional purposes, even serving as the base of a DJ booth.
Adding humor to the step-and-repeat at the A.S.P.C.A. Humane Awards luncheon in November was a freestanding, hand-drawn fire hydrant with the animal welfare organization's logo on it. The event, held at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York, honors animals as well as people who advocate for them.
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.
The logos for the TV show Modern Family as well as the Union Square partnership were printed on pumpkins at an October event in New York's Union Square dubbed Modern Family Fall for All. Fox 5 hosted the activation to promote its syndication of the hit ABC sitcom.
At an event called Hotel Thrillist, Thrillist took over an entire San Diego hotel for a weekend in September. The rebranding included elevator wrapping with the event's logo.
For a summer event called "Best Day of Your Life" in New York, Thrillist used logos on a number of items to encourage the 800 guests to promote the event on social media. Pool balls featured the event logo as well as branding for the Showtime drama Ray Donovan.
Sponsor Acura provided vehicles to transport people between event venues at the New Yorker Festival in October. Festivalgoers and guests alike knew which vehicles to look for: the ones with the festival's logo emblazoned on the side of the car.
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.
The nighttime party Best of the Munchies: People's Choice Food Awards at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival had a carnival theme with a ring toss, tic-tac-toe, and other games. Planners put the event logo on ping-pong balls.
At Thinkery's Imaginarium gala, held in Austin in September, staff wore necklaces with Scrabble pieces that spelled out their names. These were used in lieu of traditional name tags.
At Stella McCartney's store opening at St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort in South Florida, Scrabble sets served as name plates. The event took place in 2012.
The Pacific-12 Football Championship Game took place at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on December 5. The day-of tailgate party, organized by staffers of the Pacific-12 Conference, took place at the new Great America Pavilion adjacent to the venue. Mascots from each of the college football teams represented by the Pacific-12 Conference attended the event and played "Giant Jenga" with guests.
At a Svedka vodka promotion in Los Angeles in 2013, guests played "life-size Jenga" using huge game pieces stamped with the name of the vodka brand.
One of the largest installations at the 2013 Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science was a life-size version of the board game Mouse Trap. Maker Faire is put on by Make magazine, and it's a place to sample what the magazine calls “the Maker Movement": a tech-focused D.I.Y. community of hobbyists and students who profess to be more concerned with creating than consuming.
In 2012, the designer gathered a crowd at the New York restaurant One if by Land, Two if by Sea for a fashion presentation that included game-playing models staged in intimate vignettes.The mezzanine of the restaurant was converted into a games room for the soirée, and included a table where models clad in the pre-fall collection played Scrabble.
A modified Twister board replaced the game's classic colored circles with Havaianas flip-flops at a promotion for the brand at Miami's Shore Club in 2009.
A different type of Twister board—this one inflatable—beckoned guests at a 2009 celebration for The Simpsons 20th anniversary. The event took place at Barker Hangar in Los Angeles.
In Chicago, the Joffrey Ballet's annual Nutcracker Family Dinner in Chicago offers activities for children and adults alike. At the 2011 event, young guests played Twister on the ballroom floor at the Palmer House Hilton.
Born in Miami, Sunglass Hut returned to its roots in 2011 for the opening of its largest outpost to date, located on Lincoln Road. At the game-filled gathering, adults and celebrities played chess with life-size pieces set up in the 11 11 Lincoln Road parking structure.
At the July 2014 music festival in Chicago, V.I.P. guests could play checkers at staggered tables or rest on colorful hammocks.
Starbucks hosted its first Lollapalooza activation in 2013 at the It's so Miami Lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago. The suite offered oversize chess and Connect Four games, plus small café tables stocked with buckets of bottled iced coffee.
In October, New Yorkers gathered in Times Square to play a life-size version of Monopoly to celebrate the launch of Monopoly Millionaires' Club, a multi-state lottery game and TV show. The gathering featured appearances from actor Billy Gardell, New York Lottery personality Yolanda Vega, and a costumed "Rich Uncle Moneybags" character.
The top-hat-wearing character also made an appearance at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show, where Toyota Hybrid teamed up with Hasbro to create a 30,160-square-foot "Monopoly Ride Experience." The closed course let guests test out the Prius, Pruis V, Camry Hybrid, and Highlander Hybrid. Attended by costumed staffers, the course was inspired by the popular board game and had S-curves, tight roundabouts, a bridge, and train tracks based on Reading Railroad.
The January 10 event took place at the Miami headquarters of the National YoungArts Foundation. Stephen Starr Events catered the benefit, and menu items included tri-colored cauliflower, French beans, and French breakfast radish with house-made lemon hummus and roasted artichokes.
At the PGA Merchandise Show, held this week in Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center, Puma erected an inflatable cube instead of a traditional expo booth. The cube had various sporty goods displayed inside.
Presented by Louis Vuitton, the PĂ©rez Art Museum Miami gala took place on January 17. The museum's Geodesic dome was illuminated in the museum's West Portico, doubling as a photo backdrop for guests interested in printed souvenirs at Remix, the samba-theme dessert party.
Paper silhouettes were a whimsical decor touch and became popular takeaways at the evening's two dinner parties.
The 30th annual Cubs Convention took over Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers January 16 to 18. During the "Kids Only Press Conference," kids could ask questions of Cubs players Anthony Rizzo, Justin Grimm, Kyle Hendricks, and Travis Wood.
Chef Michael Mina celebrated the grand opening of Bardot Brasserie at Las Vegas’s Aria Resort & Casino earlier this month. Parisian-inspired cuisine, cocktails, and entertainment marked the evening, which included a photo booth fit for a Francophile and beret-clad models.
At Pitti Uomo, a men’s trade shows in Florence, Italy, Dexter and Byron Peart found a way to leave a memorable impression on editors and retailers. In lieu of building a trade show booth, the co-founders of the accessories brand Want Les Essentiels de la Vie collaborated with interior designer Maria Rosa Di Loia to build a greenhouse-like showroom reminiscent of a small residential home.
Closing down a stretch of Broadway near Union Square, King launched its mobile game Candy Crush Soda Saga with a public performance that recreated the game's visuals on New York's streets in November. A spray of purple soda covered a New York taxi as part of the performance.
At Thinkery's Imaginarium gala, held in Austin, Texas, in September, staff wore necklaces with Scrabble pieces that spelled out their names. They were used instead of traditional name tags.
Looking for tabletop decor that extends beyond typical flower arrangements? For an event for Munchkin baby products in Los Angeles in November, Jeannie Savage of Details Details used toys on the tabletops to "evoke childhood memories," she said, for the bloggers, event planners, and influential mom guests in attendance.
