OTB Marketing Ideas

Luxury-wedding business summit Engage! held its 24th event June 18 to 21 at Fairmont Banff Springs in Alberta, Canada. The Great White North Gala, which was held in the Van Horne Ballroom on the final night, featured a white-and-metallic winter wonderland theme with illuminated laser-cut paper centerpieces and menus designed and produced by Vanessa Kreckel of TPD Design House. Calgary-based Modern Luxe Rentals provided the tabletop rentals and chairs and Flower Artistry handled the florals, which were sourced from the region. 

Grey Goose held a French Riviera-theme pop-up event series in four Canadian cities from June 21 to 30. Pop-up markets in Toronto (pictured) and Montreal featured step-and-repeats with name of the event in white letters, surrounded by an installation of hanging blue and white striped umbrellas. The installation was inspired by the brand's Riviera bottle series, in partnership with artist Quentin Monge. Pomp & Circumstance and Community Agency produced the events. 

The event showcased topiary of the vodka brand's signature goose. 

During a portion of the World Cup in Moscow, which ends on Sunday, Budweiser activated a double-decker Bud Boat. The boat floated on the Moskva River and offered fans access to food, entertainment, viewing screens, a barcuzzi (a Jacuzzi with a bar), and special events. 

Visa, the official payment services provider of FIFA, had two lounges at the Moscow Marriott Hotel Novy Arbat and the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow for the World Cup. To highlight Russian culture, a dedicated space within the lounge area was decked out with traditional Russian wares and accessories, and during the afternoon Russian fare and delicacies such as vodka, caviar, and wine, were served. Lounge design and production was handled by Shiraz Creative.

In early June, Louis Vuitton opened up a pop-up store in the Miami Design District dedicated to its official World Cup collection. The store welcomes guests with a hexagonal structure that resembles the World Cup ball includes a reflective interior surface for snapping selfies.

The ninth edition of the online-video convention took place June 20 to 23 at the Anaheim Convention Center. To celebrate the original MTV Cribs franchise but add a modern, D.I.Y. twist, MTV tapped creative agency MKG to design an eye-catching, interactive booth built for social media. The space was designed to resemble a house, with a kitchen, a living room, and a second floor that offered a unique view of the convention center. Rock Steady contributed scenic design to the booth. 

Facebook’s consumer booth featured a series of rooms where fans could pose with on-theme backdrops and props. One photo booth featured the brand’s signature blue and thumps-up icon, while others had 3-D emojis.

Twitter worked with Los Angeles-based event agency The Say OK for its lounge, which featured multiple rooms designed in monochromatic colors. The green area, which also included branding for influencer network Niche, featured a rounded entrance lit with neon. A series of Twitter and Niche icons formed on-theme decor on the wall. Each colorful room featured props, furniture, carpets, and pillows that matched the color scheme. 

Tinsel Experiential Design partnered with Comparti Catering and Ceci New York to host a dinner for event planners and media at the Altman Building in New York in June. The event showcased a 1991 Jaguar, owned by Comparti Catering co-founder Mac Osborne. The car was filled with tree peonies, lisianthus, garden roses, and quicksand roses. 

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.

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.

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.

Festivalgoers could kick back in colorful day boats inside in the branded space.

AEO Connected loyalty program members received access to the roof deck, which featured lounge chairs, charging stations, and giveaways.

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.

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.

The sparkling water’s branded lounge included seating, a balloon-adorned photo booth backdrop, free samples, and a ball pit for creating shareable gifs.

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.

In order to pick up a free PacSun denim jacket, guests had to work their way through an activation that featured the clothing company's logo and products worked into photo-friendly backdrops.

Staffers stood behind a brightly colored wall and slid open small panels in order to hand guests McCafé products or McDonald's smoothies. 

To encourage guests to engage via social media, Pandora partnered with the Visionary Group to create colorful photo ops at every step of a T-Mobile-sponsored pool party. As soon as guests arrived, they could pose for an arrivals post at a branded entryway featuring faux magenta bougainvillea and white wisteria on a graphic step-and-repeat.

HP enticed festivalgoers to adopt a hands-on exploration of its products, offering them the opportunity to design a Klean Kanteen water bottle and control the digital blooms hanging from the lounge's ceiling through the use of HP products.

Online clothing retailer Revolve continued to expand its festival presence, this year hosting an impressive roster of musical acts including Chance the Rapper, Snoop Dogg, SAINt JHN, Rich the Kid, and Saweetie who performed on a stage with a colorful surround. 

To reach a bar stocked with Moët Ice Imperial and Ice Rosé Champagne, guests had to wind their way through a hedge maze decorated with florals from Venus Et Fleur.

Marriott gave rewards members the chance to stay at one of four yurts on the festival's campground. A greenery-heavy yurt was meant to evoke the W's Bali hotel, while the others were designed to resemble the chain's Hollywood, Barcelona, and Dubai properties.

Neon signs enticed guests to try out vending machines stocked with YSL beauty products. 

The rideshare company hosted dinners in a double-decker bus for riders with local chef Nic Yanes to celebrate the release of its new Uber Visa credit card. Experiential marketing agency Manifold helped produce the event.

Visitors entered Gatorade’s pop-up store to explore the sports beverage’s other edible products through an iPad tour. Afterward, they were given access to a secret stockroom that showcased Gatorade’s sports technologies, from exercise tracking to basketball simulations.

Vimeo replicated a theater for its SXSW activation, showcasing films and short films selected by the video site’s staffers. The activation included an exterior mural on the venue—with a creepy surprise on top.

Rustic-meets-glam decor included the Food & Wine logo made of wood and lights inside of the Grand Tasting tents. It served as a signature photo op for guests throughout the weekend.

The classic's Grand Tasting tents were located in the heart of Aspen.

Caviar-theme bites from the St. Regis Aspen Resort using Calvisius Caviar were paired with flights of champagne and sparkling wines. Master sommelier Carlton McCoy, wine director at the Little Nell, led the event.

Guests convened in the courtyard between the Grand Tasting tents, where they collected wine glasses, had cookbooks signed by chefs in attendance, and perused the offerings from various sponsors like Lexus, Patron, and J.W. Marriott.

Different types of rum cocktails sponsored by Bacardi and shaken by local mixologists flowed at the event, which was hosted by chef Anne Burrell.

Operation BBQ Relief served cherrywood-smoked pork belly burnt end sliders with artisan red slaw on Martin’s Potato Rolls at the Beachside BBQ.

Smoked ribeye from 4 Rivers Smokehouse was served at the Beachside BBQ closing party.

A savory twist on the familiar chocolate fountain, the barbecue sauce fountain was a main attraction from Operation BBQ Relief at the Beachside BBQ closing party.

Walshy Fire provided reggaeton and island-themed tunes from behind a Bacardi DJ booth as the host of the Rum & Bass Beach Party.

La Croix’s branded backdrop of packaged beverages made for a prime photo stop, complete with oversize fruit props, inside of the Grand Tasting tents.

Impossible Burger served plant-based burgers at the Grand Tasting, and provided a “Bite Me” backdrop on the sand to encourage photos and social media posts.

Nightlife impresario David Grutman brought back his David Grutman Experience for a second year to the Grand Tasting. DJ Alesso performed for guests.

An interactive photo-sharing station invited guests to take a photo at the event and share on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #ServeWithACoke. People who used the hashtag could then print out their photo at a Luster photo-printing station to stick on a mosaic, which eventually revealed the image of a burger and a Coke with New York in the background. 

Chad Hudson Events designed the Grand Tasting booth for the Food Network and Cooking Channel, the festival's title sponsors. The booth featured a living room environment, complete with a fall-inspired photo backdrop. 

ShopRite's massive, four-sided Grand Tasting booth was inspired by its grocery store aisles, and featured the logos of numerous food brands. The booth offered attendees a variety of eats made with products sold at ShopRite. 

At the Grand Tasting, Blue Diamond Almond Breeze had a branded, kitchen-inspired station that offered bites of vegan tomato arancini and New York cheesecake made with almond milk by food specialist Patty Mastracco. The kitchen was produced by Match Marketing Group. 

Presenting sponsor Coca-Cola showcased a variety of activations and lounges during the festival, including a branded bar with exposed brick on Pier 92. The activation included a photo op inspired by New York dining. The brand's activations were produced by Melt. 

Brand activation company Geometry Global designed American Airlines's Grand Tasting lounge, which featured a paper airplane arch installation that connected to the company's logo. 

Dove Chocolate returned to the Grand Tasting with its branded photo booth and VR lounge, which virtually transported guests to Paris and Reykjavik. 

Mastercard's two-story deck offered a V.I.P. viewing experience for cardholders at the Grand Tasting. The deck was produced by Octagon with Art Guild. 

USA worked with Campfire at the Mill on “Purge City,” a darkly comedic pop-up that promoted the upcoming TV series based on the Purge movie franchise, where all crime is legal for 12 hours once per year. Inspired by a Party City store, the shop displayed everything from emergency candles and masks to energy drinks and stain removers, plus interactive components and tongue-in-cheek demos. 

The store’s on-theme items included greeting cards, bumper stickers, and T-shirts with phrases such as “Thinking of you this purge” and “If you are close enough to read this, you better hope it’s not purge night.”

Taco Bell, which is becoming known for its creative events, drew attention in San Diego this year with a Demolition Man-inspired pop-up restaurant produced by Cyrano Rox Experience Design. According to the 1993 movie, Taco Bell is the sole survivor of franchise wars—so the chain tried to imagine what the Taco Bell of the future might look like. The upscale space featured a piano player playing classical music, a gift shop, and a fancy four-course meal of Taco Bell cuisine.

To promote the new horror series Castle Rock, a Stephen King-inspired TV show about a cursed town in Maine, Hulu worked with Creative Riff to create a fully immersive—and fully creepy—experience. Guests could explore an on-theme bed and breakfast, which was designed to make them “question what is real, wonder who they are within this world, and begin to understand just why Castle Rock is called the unluckiest town on earth,” according to organizers. Creepy details included a tub full of mannequin limbs.

Across the street from the bed and breakfast was the Castle Rock Forest, which had additional scary details, including missing-person posters, a car that had crashed in a lake, and a faceless, hooded figure standing in the water. A branded campsite area gave attendees a place to relax and get a sneak peek at the show.

AMC brought back its large-scale Walking Dead-inspired activation this year, which featured a variety of show-inspired photo ops and activities such as Negan Batting Cages. A 22-foot zombie slide was inspired by one seen in Fear the Walking Dead.

Fox installed artwork promoting its X-Men-related show The Gifted throughout the city’s Gaslamp Quarter. Street teams were on hand to give passersby a blue/red gel viewer card, which caused the artwork to become three-dimensional.

Amazon Fire worked with NVE Experience Agency on an experience designed to depict the future of television, while also promoting various Fire TV products such as the new Fire TV Cube. The event brought attendees on a journey through the history of TV, showcasing how Fire TV makes it easy to watch shows, control smart home devices, listen to music, and more. On-site mini activations for Westworld, Jack Ryan, and The Good Place gave fans a fun place for a photo op.

Another fun photo op came in the form of a swing; guests posed in front of a wall of wires and the sign “Cord Cutters Only.” 

To promote its dark comedy The Good Place, NBC worked with OA Experiential to recreate the show’s neighborhood in one of the network's biggest Comic-Con activations ever. The bright, colorful space evoked the show with pun-filled restaurant names, a giant shrimp carousel, and fun photo ops. NBC partnered with No Kid Hungry to donate 50 percent of sales of specific menu items. 

Legendary Digital Networks built a larger-than-life version of Dell’s G5 15 Gaming Laptop outside the convention center. Guests could literally step onto the laptop’s keyboard and play the mobile game “Crypt of the NecroDancer.” Participating guests were entered to win a regular-size version of the laptop. The Visionary Group managed the activation on-site.

Throughout the four-day convention, Syfy hosted 10 panels, two fan parties, karaoke buses and bingo trollies, and pop-up fan awards hosted by Orlando Jones. The network also hosted a human claw machine, where fans could grab boxes with mystery merchandise.

Syfy also worked with Mirrored Media on a merchandise giveaway. The network tapped three famous comic artists—Babs Tarr, Kim Jung Gi, and Jock—and two streetwear brands, who worked together to created limited-edition merchandise. Fans could stop by the New Children’s Museum every morning to grab the items, which sold out in minutes every day.

New this year was the Experience, a space from Grandesign in collaboration with the San Diego Padres that aimed to bring fans closer to the action. A three-acre space at the Lexus Premier Lot (formerly known as Petco Park) was transformed with food trucks, a beer garden, and evening entertainment such as Spider-Man: Homecoming and Cloak & Dagger screenings, music performances, and Fortnite tournaments. While the experience was open to the general public, Comic-Con badge-holders received V.I.P. perks.

Brands such as Samsung, NBC, and Freeform hosted activations at the Experience, including one for Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger also spearheaded by Grandesign. Participants recreated the scene where the main characters discover their powers for the first time, using bungee harnesses to create a shareable video. 

To promote its upcoming drama Project Blue Book, which investigates the presence of U.F.O.s, History created an activation at the Experience where fans could study real-life U.F.O. cases in an immersive environment. 

Inside the activation, which was produced by Civic Entertainment Group, attendees could send messages into space in an attempt to see if there is life beyond earth.

To promote the upcoming Facebook Watch series, in which a teenager escapes a dangerous cult, Fandom worked with the Visionary Group to create an Oculus Go VR experience and an escape room. The room brought fans into protagonist Minnow Bly’s world, where they had to solve puzzles, dive into the cult’s dogma, and complete a confirmation ritual. 

Fox teamed up with Shake Shack for an exclusive fan event promoting Bob’s Burgers. Fans were picked up from downtown San Diego in a branded bus and brought to Shake Shack, which was decked out in artwork and props inspired by the show.

Located behind the San Diego Convention Center was a skate park from Adult Swim, created by Grandesign. The public fan event featured interactive games like mini golf, plus food and merchandise for sale.

Warner Bros. Television hosted its annual Comic-Con Media Mixer at Float at the Hard Rock Hotel. Life-size Lego versions of the characters from The Big Bang Theory decorated the pool area. Other fun details included signature cocktails with names such as the Super Hero Sweet Tooth and the Comi-Chameleon, plus old-school arcade games and a wall for Teen Titans Go! To the Movies that attendees could color with giant crayons. 

On the ground, a photo-op-friendly optical illusion depicted Warner Bros. Studios.

FX took over the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Lawn with an interactive space called FXibition, designed to promote the channel's biggest shows. Produced by Creative Riff, activations included an immersive audiovisual experience for Legion and a deconstructed motorcycle park for Mayans MC. Other highlights included Archer sound boxes, where fans could get a photo of themselves inside a box covered in character art. Each box featured classic sound bites from the series.

The area also included the “Eccentricities Gallery” inspired by American Horror Story, where fans could explore odd and usual pieces of art relating to the show’s lore. Augmented reality was used to enhance the experience. 

To promote the 13th season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, tongue-in-cheek props and photo ops depicted the comedy series as a horror movie.

Elsewhere on the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Lawn was a series of activations from Fox, also produced by Creative Riff, including an immersive dome video experience for the show Cosmos. Dubbed the “Ship of the Imagination,” the collaboration between Fox and National Geographic made guests feel like they were traveling through the universe with narration by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Fans also received a photo of themselves sitting in the captain’s chair.

The area also promoted upcoming series The Passage, which depicts a post-apocalyptic world overrun by a highly contagious virus. Fans could interact with one of the “viral” patients from the show’s secretive medical lab. 

The weekend’s Ready Player One activation, held at the Gallery at the Omni Hotel, was an '80s-inspired space full of nostalgic gaming stations and authentic film props and costumes. Guests could pose for futuristic photo ops and test their knowledge of 1980s trivia.

In keeping with the 1980s theme, an infinity room evoked a Rubik’s Cube. 15/40 Productions created the space.