Activations

A new stage, called Dither, was introduced by III Points organizers for the fifth edition of the festival. Created as a booth, it allowed passersby to watch, and listen in, as if they were in a recording studio.

In August, Simple Booth debuted a new product called LiveFeed. In conjunction with the company’s HALO photo booth platform, LiveFeed displays the guests’ photos in a real-time gallery, which can be projected or viewed on screens.

For the Propel Co:Labs Fitness Festival in August, strategic marketing agency Invisible North designed a photo booth set that channeled the color and energy of Propel’s #LetsGetUgly campaign. Guests used the vignette’s fitness props while getting snapped by tech partner Super A-OK’s A-1 Array multi-camera photo system, which captured the moment in a 180-degree GIF.

HL Group and Natuzzi Italia developed a balloon installation photo booth in collaboration with the Bosco for the Italian furniture brand’s event in May, which featured art by New York artists Ed Granger, Jon Burgerman, and Hektad that was inspired by Natuzzi Italia’s Re-vive chair. Guests splattered paint and decorated a backdrop of black and white balloons with vibrant colors from a branded paint can, creating their own works of art in front of a GIF photo booth.

At a Lancôme event in June, HL Group worked with the Bosco to build a custom setup for a slow-motion GIF photo booth that was inspired by the whimsical packaging of the beauty brand’s product collection with fashion designer Olympia Le Tan. Guests frolicked on a fluffy oversize cloud set against a backdrop of Le Tan’s doodles.

To promote its film A Ghost Story, in which Casey Affleck appears as an apparition in a white sheet, film production company A24 worked with designer Steven Jos Phan and digital design shop Watson DG to create a pop-up in New York in July. The tongue-in-cheek “Ghost Store” invited people to get fitted for a sheet of their own.

Guests posed in a low-fi photo booth designed to match the sterile, abstract space. The photos were uploaded, and guests left with both a Polaroid-inspired print as well as a digital version to share on social media.

FoxTales’ gravity-defying StoryRoom is a rotating 360-degree visual experience. The room and video camera rotate in unison, creating the illusion of guests crawling up the wall and dancing on the ceiling. For Comic-Con International in July, the New York-based experiential marketing firm customized the StoryRoom with branding for FX’s comedy-drama Atlanta.

Another new FoxTales product is StoryStage, an 8- by 8-foot platform outfitted with a 10-foot-high aerial-mounted camera that shoots images from above. StoryStage launched in January at Canon’s C.E.S. booth. The company recruited Hawaiian artist Aaron Kai to create an abstract piece that was inspired by Canon’s theme “Visionaries Welcome” and the slogan “See Impossible.” The aerial photo snapped by the Canon 5D Mark III then became a custom animation.

This summer, the Bosco unveiled a new video booth that is inspired by the video confessional format perfected on reality television. Guests are able to make what feels like a mini music video, then instantly share it on their social media feeds. The videos can be customized by using faster cuts or slow motion, plus they can be branded with a watermark or an animated title card at the end. Click here to watch the booth in action.

At this year’s Rolling Stone Live Super Bowl party, producer Toast created a "trashed hotel room" where guests could take photos and pretend to live the rock star life. The event took place at the Bud Light Hotel, a Wyndham property in New Orleans rebranded for the weekend.

For this year's iteration of the Chase Sapphire activation at Sundance, Abel McCallister Designs created several new photo booth installations based on movies, including Hairspray, Hoosiers, and Little Shop of Horrors (pictured).

At the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center’s gala in Miami, guests could pose for photos behind an oversize golden picture frame. Shiraz Events provided decor for the event, which drew 600 guests to the JW Marriott Marquis Miami and Hotel Beaux Arts in December.

At the Lipton Uplift Lounge at the Sundance Film Festival in January, guests including Lil Jon could pose for photos while sitting in a real ski-lift chair set against a snowy, branded backdrop.

Groupon hosted its Camp Groupon event last July at the Swissôtel Chicago. Kehoe Designs spruced up the hotel with thematic decor for the weekend, including a photo station area with a woodsy backdrop that included life preservers, boat paddles, and bundled logs.

To celebrate the release of Girls season one on Blu-ray—and to hype the second season—HBO hosted a cocktail party at Toronto's House of Moments in December. Guests were encouraged to snap Instagram photos in front of a backdrop based on Central Park in New York City, where Girls is set. The Big Apple-inspired area had lampposts, trees, shrubs, and backdrops decked with New York City architecture.

David Copperfield helped produce the L.A.'s Promise "A Night of Magic" gala in October. The producers at Chad Hudson Events worked with Copperfield's team to set up a photo booth that made it look as though guests were floating in midair in front of the famous magician. In reality, the station had a potted plant placed sideways against a wall, while attendees stood on a metal stand that was hidden from the camera by clothing and feet.

To introduce its new line of men's grooming products and promote its partnership with Space Expedition Corporation to send 22 fans on a flight beyond Earth's atmosphere, Axe built its own space academy in January. The brand turned the Cullman Hall of the Universe at the American Museum of Natural History into its secret space headquarters for the launch event, placing a moon-landing-inspired photo op area up front.

Last fall’s New Yorkers for Children gala had a "light the way" theme, inspired by the nonprofit's mission to improve the lives of young people. David Stark handled the decor, embellishing a photo backdrop of a forest scene with white birch trees, lush greenery, and a path lit by lanterns.

In November, NBC once again hosted Democracy Plaza at Rockefeller Center in New York, a free interactive, election-focused exhibit and promotion for the public that also served as its election-night coverage hub. Inside the Rockefeller Plaza concourse, people lined up to have their photos taken in side-by-side replicas of the White House press room and the Oval Office.

For Dos Equis's "Most Interesting Masquerade," held in Chelsea's historic Masonic Hall in New York and produced by Mirrorball, body painter Craig Tracy drew half a lion's face on the sides of two models. When the models sat back-to-back inside a gold picture frame, the full face of the lion was visible and formed the backdrop of a photo op.

For last year’s American Heart Association gala in Seattle, event designer Matthew Parker created a photo backdrop for the Kentucky Derby-themed event that included a life-size papier-mâché horse made from more than 5,000 individually placed construction-paper strips.

To promote its new line of Outdoor Life apparel, Sears built a campsite-themed area in New York’s Times Square last October. Guests could pose in a photo op area that was set up to look like a real campsite, with a tent, faux grass, a fire pit, and outdoorsy props.

Transitions Optical, working with chef Robert Irvine, had a two-story activation at the recent South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s Grand Tasting Village. Inside the structure, guests posed at a Mad Hatter's tea-party-themed dining set with props, including cutouts of Irvine’s face.

For a recent wedding in New York, Oh Snap Smile constructed a unique photo booth environment: Guests were shot from above while lounging in a bed strewn with custom pillows to use as props.

For e-commerce company Vente-Privee USA's one-year anniversary party held last November in New York, StudioBooth set up a custom photo set with fall leaves and vintage props, designed to mimic the company’s fall campaign. The images were turned into animated GIFs that were emailed to guests.

At last year’s Sundance Film Festival, Abel McCallister Designs created a movie-themed space for Chase Sapphire. Interactive photo booth installations allowed visitors to enter the worlds of well-known films that originally premiered at the festival, including Dogtown and Z-Boys. The photo station had guests stand on a skateboard set next to a sideways backdrop of Santa Monica beach; the printed photographs were then turned horizontally to make it look like guests were captured mid-trick on a skateboard ramp.