10 Cool Event Ideas You May Have Missed This Month From Match, Hulu, American Express and More

While Match isn’t typically known for casual hookups, the brand embraced the “hot vax summer” trend with its latest nationwide campaign, cheekily named “Lick Every Stranger You Can”—consenting and safely vaccinated, of course. To play off this idea at Dallas Pride in early June, Match worked with LOUDER Experiences on a fun “Vaxxed + Waxed” installation, which featured a 15-foot neon photo op. The companies also distributed thousands of stickers to attendees saying “Kiss me, I'm vaxxed.”

LOUDER Experiences worked with Legacy West, a shopping mall in Plano, Texas, on another Pride month installation: a 20-foot rainbow floral installation adorned with the words “You can’t get the rainbows without the rain.” In addition to the Insta-friendly photo op, tenants at the mall celebrated Pride with discounts and specials; Shake Shack, for example, donated a portion of proceeds to benefit The Trevor Project, while True Food Kitchen offered a special Pride-themed beverage.

To celebrate Pride month and the June 11 release of season 2 of Hulu’s Love, Victor, the brand tapped AKJOHNSTON Group to create iridescent closets that guests were able to photograph, boomerang or even physically come out of (get it?). The interactive, eye-catching activations were initially set up in Santa Monica, Calif., (where the cast met with fans and members of the press) as well as Disneyland Resort, then traveled to Chicago and New York later in the month.

Resy and the American Express Gold Card hosted a series of outdoor picnics, called Amex Gold Card Picnic in the Park, in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston from June 26-27. Thousands of picnic kits—featuring lunchbox-style meals from top restaurants, along with bubble kits, frisbees, sunscreen and more—were simultaneously distributed across the cities. Extra accessories like custom blankets are available for Gold Card members. Shiraz Creative handled design, production and event management for the multimarket event.

Snack brand KIND honored the LGBTQIA+ community from June 23-24 by projecting rainbow lights high into the sky near New York’s iconic Stonewall Inn. To further the activation’s reach, the brand also invited people across the country to text “Pride” to 1-833-ITS-KIND. For every text message received, KIND donated $1 to the Ali Forney Center, the nation’s largest nonprofit aiding homeless LGBTQIA+ youth.

Kicking off June 14 and wrapping up July 11, hair care brand OGX has partnered with New York’s Milk & Cream Cereal Bar on an in-store takeover, complete with three custom ice cream flavors called “Pride Swirls” designed to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community. The activation, which also featured custom decor, Instagrammable moments and gifting, was produced by MKG. A portion of all proceeds are going to the Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health “Care With Pride” program.

On June 20, rock band Foo Fighters performed at Madison Square Garden—the first concert at the New York venue since March 2020. All guests were required to show proof of vaccination, which allowed the event to operate at 100% capacity. To add a festive, celebratory feel, cut-out cityscapes and bold branding proclaimed “rock & roll returns to the Garden tonight.”

YouTuber and makeup artist Nikita Dragun celebrated her beauty brand Dragun Beauty’s collaboration with Instagram at a hybrid press junket filmed at Hollywood's Slash Studios on June 16. Stoelt Productions created an eye-catching, multi-camera environment complete with switching, graphics and lower thirds, and facilitated one-on-one discussions between Dragun and a variety of beauty editors.

Resorts World Las Vegas, the first new integrated resort to be built on the Las Vegas Strip in more than a decade, hosted an over-the-top grand-opening event on June 26. Katy Perry virtually led guests in the final countdown to the property’s opening—which was broadcast on the venue’s 10,000-square-foot exterior screen—before a massive fireworks display and performances from DJ Tiësto, Paris Hilton and René-Charles Angélil. Earlier in the evening, the resort hosted a celebratory block party along Las Vegas Boulevard, and a festive ceremonial dragon dance guided guests into the casino.

Charlize Theron’s Africa Outreach Project worked with CH Cre8tive on a benefit on June 26. Held at the Universal Studios lot, the event featuring a screening of the new Fast & Furious 9 movie, plus a live and silent auction and a Q&A with the director and cast members Theron, Vin Diesel, Jordana Brewster and more. The block party format appropriately took over one of the lot’s city street scenes and featured a set from DJ Rashida along with breakdancers, drummers, a live graffiti artist and a tarot card reader—not to mention a booth that created 360-degree holograms and a robotic-arm video booth. Catering from Bon Appetit was high-end street food like bahn mi, Kobe beef hot dogs and truffle fries.