One year after announcing an extensive rebranding campaign, Syfy held it's first upfront under it's new moniker on March 16. Planners used the network's strategic sponsorship of the Museum of Modern Art's current Tim Burton retrospective as backdrop for the presentation and cocktail party.
For Syfy director of strategic marketing Kim Volonakis, the venue for the annual event wasn't even a question this year. "Our brand is all about imagination and inspiring that in others," she said. "Nobody represents that quite like Tim Burton. In addition to having all of the exhibition there for our buyers to explore, the white open space of MoMA's atrium really lent itself to our on-air branding."
The museum was also a one-stop shop where Syfy could host the 660 clients and media buyers in attendance for a presentation in the museum's Titus Theater and a cocktail reception in the atrium. For the party, Syfy turned to LeadDog Marketing Group to design and produce a reception that reflected the brand's image and incorporated activities for the guests.
To anchor the interactive portion of the party, LeadDog chose a nontraditional spin on a party mainstay, the photo booth. Working with Digital Air and Robbins Tesar, they created a 180-degree photo booth with more than 90 cameras to snap shots of guests bouncing on a trampoline. The comprehensive images were then superimposed onto different futuristic landscapes and projected on the walls of the atrium.
