Coca-Cola’s “Beatbox” Pavilion
Despite its lack of visible logos, Coca-Cola’s pavilion for the 2012 London Olympics makes a striking brand statement with an exterior marked by 200 red and white panels. The interactive pieces respond to gestures and movements by visitors, emitting sounds and music as people walk through the structure in Olympic Park.
Photo: Nick Hufton/Hufton & Crow
Seattle CityTarget Launch
To launch CityTarget in Seattle, Plymouth Pillars Dog Park became a doggy paradise Saturday that included a “bonetender” at a stocked Bone Bar that offered complimentary treats and toys. Seattle’s Rally Marketing Group helped develop the experience.
Photo: Courtesy of Rally Marketing Group
Pop-Tarts “Crazy Good Summer” Pop-Up Concert
The Kellogg’s brand hosted a Pop-Tarts pop-up concert on Northerly Island in Chicago July 19. With performances from Carly Rae Jepsen, Boys Like Girls, and teen sensation Austin Mahone, the event also allowed guests to pose on the red carpet with giant plush Pop-Tarts.
Photo: Jeff Schear
Zing Vodka Launch
For the Zing vodka launch produced by Chad Hudson Events for Zing, Maloof Ventures, and Bravo, Hudson's team made the garden at the Maloof residence appear to come to life on Wednesday night. Topiaries, shrubs, trees, and statues all popped, through lush decor and live models.
Photo: Sean Twomey/2me Studios
Travel & Leisure’s World’s Best Awards
Travel & Leisure hosted its annual World’s Best Awards July 19 at the newly opened Conrad New York. A sleek wall display housed five tanks filled with Patrón-based cocktails, which guests could pour themselves.
Photo: Diane Bondareff/Travel + Leisure
CTIA Wireless Foundation’s 18th Annual Achievement Awards Dinner
The July 23 event at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium in Washington had an island theme and featured several large centerpieces from Volanni with large banana leaf flowers with hydrangea in the center. Events by Andre Wells produced the event.
Photo: Eli Turner
'Chiquis 'n Control' Premiere
At an intimate media event for about 160 guests and 10 media outlets on Wednesday, mun2 promoted the season premiere of Chiquis 'n Control at the SLS Beverly Hills. In One Production Group created a salon setup as a branded photo op to tease out the theme of the show: Janney Marin's experiences opening her new salon, Blow Me Dry.
Photo: Ernesto Huerta-Juarez
MKG Summer Party
New York experiential agency MKG’s Olympic-inspired summer office party on Wednesday had a panel of judges rate guests as they arrived.
Photo: Victor Castro
UrbanDaddy Samsung Galaxy Note Launch
At the July 17 technology launch at the Brixton, planned by BrandLinkDC, guests could try out the gadget as well as see its features in use through entertainment such as portrait drawings and handwriting analysis.
Photo: Jeff Martin & Daniel Swartz
Kiehl’s Third Annual LifeRide for amfAR Finish Line Party
The 10-day philanthropic motorcycle ride along the Eastern Seaboard wrapped up with a finish-line party July 20 at the Kiehl's Georgetown store. The event, which raised awareness for H.I.V./AIDS research and resources, featured motorcycle-themed decor and cuisine including a dessert display from Georgetown Cupcake.
Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Kiehl's Since 1851
Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Samsung
Fox's 'The Simpsons' 500th Episode Promotion
To celebrate The Simpsons' 500th episode in February, Fox invited fans of the iconic series to participate in "The Simpsons Ultimate Fan Marathon Challenge" at the Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles. Some 100 fans got together with the goal of watching 500 continuous episodes of the show in an attempt to break the Guinness world record of 86 hours, six minutes, and 41 seconds for the longest continuous television viewing. Together with the Fox creative services team, executive producer Night Vision Entertainment washed Hollywood & Highland in yellow. The event included a giant 40- by 60-foot glass structure with a custom yellow top, which served as the theater for the viewing marathon. A massive screen showed each episode, beginning with season one, episode one.
Photo: Courtesy of Night Vision Entertainment
Bravo's Taste of the Five Boroughs 'Top Chef' Promotion
On the eve of Top Chef's fifth-season premiere in 2008, Bravo teamed up with NYC & Company for a launch event showcasing food from some of the most popular restaurants in New York's five boroughs. New York magazine culinary editor Gillian Duffy also gave a demonstration on the kinds of kitchen equipment cooks need in small New York apartments.
Photo: Alison Whittington for BizBash
HBO's 'Game of Thrones' Exhibit
In March, HBO turned its New York retail store into an experiential space with props and set pieces from Game of Thrones. An exhibit of more than 50 artifacts brought in from the set helped build buzz for the second-season premiere. The shop was redecorated as a museum, displaying items like Prince Joffrey's crown, Daenerys's dragon eggs, and Ned Stark's decapitated head. The activation also publicized the Game of Thrones merchandise line: a collection of T-shirts, mugs, and other souvenirs emblazoned with the different "houses" featured in the series.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
Fox's 'Bones' Promotion
The Fox TV network celebrated the 100th episode of Bones with a stunt in front of the Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles. Fox tapped New York-based Pop2Life for the production and creative concept. They in turn looked to specialty games creator Eric Brashear of AGR Las Vegas to design and build a giant crane game to promote the show's milestone and generate buzz. The 10- by 10-foot crane game caught the attention of passing tourists looking to play and win prizes. The “Bones-To-Pick Challenge" had an 80 percent win ratio and was equipped with a claw that could pick up and vend 2,500 plastic bones with the show's logo. Logos were color coded so consumers could redeem the bones on site for various cash amounts, ranging from $1 to $500. Play was free to all players.
Photo: Courtesy of AGR Las Vegas
Fox's 'American Idol' Finale Party
Phillip Phillips took the prize at this year's season 11 American Idol finale, and afterward an array of guests took home their own souvenirs of the night—in the form of pillows and other logo goodies at the interactive finale party at the Event Deck at L.A. Live, with production from YourBash. The 2012 event's look and feel took a turn for the moodier as compared with the settings of past events. The look was darke—although Fox, Ford, and Idol blue, plus Coke red, still served as the basis for the palette—with a central decor piece made from giant, rotating discs. The round pieces, ranging in size up to 10 feet in diameter, were covered in sequins or logos for a statement-making look.
Photo: Sean Twomey/2me Studios
Lifetime's 'Project Runway' 10th Anniversary Party
To mark the 10th season of Project Runway, cable network Lifetime teamed up with Friends of the High Line to erect a 20-foot-long video installation on the High Line in New York that played up the reality TV show's judging segment. The installation, which featured personalities from the series, employed human-tracking technology—a technique that uses a hidden camera to detect motion—that had host Heidi Klum, mentor Tim Gunn, and judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia clapping, frowning, or nodding as people walked by. Tapped by the network to execute the project, Civic Entertainment Group and Nexus Productions filmed each talent separately against a green screen to capture a range of motions and reactions. Open to the public for three days, the opening of the exhibit was marked with a V.I.P. party for 500 in July.
Photo: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Lifetime
Showtime's 'Dexter' Season Three Promotion
For the season premiere of Dexter in 2008, experiential marketing agency Pop2Life brainstormed a concept that could be used in several different markets across the U.S. Inspired by the show's advertising campaign—ads with actor Michael C. Hall on mock covers of magazines like The New Yorker and Wired—Pop2Life came up with the idea to create fake kiosks and place these in busy areas of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Fabricated by Colorado-based company Denver Set Design, the bright red newsstands held candy and snacks—all in red packaging—as well as magazines wrapped in the fake covers from the ad campaign. Showtime also used the opportunity to display videos from its fall season lineup, as well as Dexter bobbleheads, bowling shirts, and other merchandise.
Photo: Courtesy of Pop2Life
Showtime's Season Two 'Homeland' Premiere
For the second-season premiere of Homeland on September 7, Showtime took over the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York, hosting the screening indoors on the hangar deck. The open-air flight deck was the site of the ensuing reception, placing seating between the planes on display and beneath decommissioned space shuttle Enterprise.
Photo: Anna Sekula/BizBash
Fox's 'Glee' Premiere
In 2009, Fox's popular series Glee premiered with a screening and party at the Willows Community School in Los Angeles, produced by Sequoia Productions. The party took over the playground and cafeteria with a down-home look reminiscent of an actual school event—only with booze flowing from bars. Kensington Caterers supplied cafeteria-style buffets, offering mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and pizza slices from the kinds of metal chafing dishes you might see on a high school lunch line. A surly lunch lady—complete with hair net and rubber gloves—doled out trays to the crowd and chided the group to hurry along.
Photo: Kimberly Sue/Fox Broadcasting Company
IFC's 'Portlandia' Premiere
IFC opted to house the red carpet, screening, and party for the 2011 premiere of Portlandia under one roof, bringing the 300-person event to New York's Edison Ballroom. The show's quirky jokes about Portland provided plenty of fodder for the design team, as did the city's bridges and idyllic greenery. Beyond a bird motif, IFC and Precision Event Group's Jason Wanderer referenced the town's Bridge City nickname with tabletop centerpieces, hid the space's six columns with tall spruce trees, created cocktail tables embedded with bicycle wheels, and dressed the waitstaff in flannel shirts.
Photo: Rebecca McAlpin
Showtime's 'House of Lies' Premiere
Showtime premiered House of Lies in January with a party hosted by chairman and C.E.O. Matthew Blank and president of entertainment David Nevins at the soaring AT&T Center in downtown Los Angeles. "We selected the location," said the event's producer, Shari Kaufman, "because it fit perfectly with the look, feel, and modern corporate vibe of [the show]"—not to mention sweeping views of the city. Kaufman worked with Along Came Mary to create a theater on the 30th floor, with a combination of seating and standing room. The group brought in white suede seats, silver couches, and aluminum communal tables with sleek, tall white chairs.
Photo: Eric Charbonneau/Le Studio
Showtime's 'Nurse Jackie' RX Games
When it launched in 2009, Showtime targeted much of Nurse Jackie's marketing campaign toward medical professionals. The network reaffirmed that commitment at New York's Gotham Hall in 2010 with the Nurse Jackie RX Games, a media kickoff and friendly competition between 15 teams of nurses and nursing students to promote the second-season premiere. Health care professionals were clearly the focus of the night, as each of the tournament's activities had a medical twist. Events were designed to test five qualities deemed necessary to nursing—speed, stamina, strength, endurance, and concentration—and played on an aspect of the nursing profession. Participants sped down the course to pick up the next patient in the gurney race.
Photo: Billy Farrell/PatrickMcMullan.com
Fox's 'New Girl' True American Summer Bus Tour
This summer Fox promoted its comedy New Girl with a 19-city bus tour across the United States. The New Girl True American Summer Bus Tour, produced by Hadley Media, stopped in Las Vegas from August 4 to 5 and offered fans the chance to watch videos, play games, win prizes, and receive T-shirts made on site with the show's catchphrases and logos. A social media component involved fans reenacting the show’s opening theme song segment and sharing it on the tour Facebook fan page.
Photo: Courtesy of Hadley Media
HBO's 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Premiere
Although Curb Your Enthusiasm writer, producer, and star Larry David is known more for his on-screen outbursts than his subtlety, the Los Angeles party following the season premiere of his HBO series in 2009 was marked by the latter. HBO execs tapped Poko Event Productions for the production and design of the party, which included white fringed chandeliers above white seating groups, and orange balls of various sizes floating in the courtyard's central fountain. A peek of orange fabric shone through pleats at the corners of white-clothed tables, and a sans serif Curb Your Enthusiasm logo hung above the DJ booth. Poko's Inna Poncher described the look as "modern yet not too edgy, sophisticated and elegant," meant to "create a comfortable environment for the guests to mix and mingle."
Photo: Marianne Franco
HBO's 'Boardwalk Empire' Premiere
For HBO's 2010 West Coast launch of the series Boardwalk Empire, set in Prohibition-era Atlantic City, there was perhaps no more apt venue choice than the Santa Monica Pier, where the creaking wooden slats and historic 1923 carousel set an evocative backdrop. Caravents produced the Santa Monica event, re-creating the look of vintage Atlantic City. The program partly had the feel of a boardwalk carnival, complete with a barker, contortionist, fortune-tellers, and an authentic soda fountain positioned within the pier's carousel area. The rest of the staging conjured a speakeasy environment, with an 11-piece orchestra, dance performances from the era, and gaming tables.
Photo: Line 8 Photography. All rights reserved.
Guests at the Samsung Infuse 4G launch ordered ice cream and toppings through their handheld devices.
Photo: Line 8 Photography
