This week's roundup includes a gin cannon at a Tales of the Cocktail party in New Orleans, the Bates Motel photo booth and Adult Swim's inflatable fun house during Comic-Con International in San Diego, a large-scale snail race in New York, and a tweet-powered vending machine in Miami during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim.
As part of Comic-Con in San Diego, A&E and The Hollywood Reporter hosted a party to celebrate the network's show Bates Motel. Produced by MKG at the Gang Kitchen restaurant, the July 20 event included a photo booth that used the bedroom set from the TV series and invited guests to recreate the campaign image.
Adult Swim also hit San Diego for Comic-Con, bringing an inflatable fun house that included a mirror maze, a karaoke cage, and a bungee cord jungle. Open July 18 to 20, the TV brand's free event encouraged fans to take videos and post them to Vine using a designated hashtag.
On the opening night of the five-day Tales of the Cocktail festival July 17, William Grant & Sons hosted a party that showcased its portfolio of brands with a variety of installations. The area for Hendrick's Gin included a cannon that poured cocktails from a theater box to the main floor.
During Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim in Miami, Ocean Drive's Sun Covered pool party included an activation from Polaroid. The July 20 event at the Raleigh invited guests to tweet a code in order to get a treat from a vending machine.
Microsoft's preview of back-to-school products on Wednesday added whimsical, school-themed touches to a New York loft space. Amid pom-poms, college pennants, and the tech giant's latest gadgets were floral arrangements wrapped with crayons and measuring tape.
As a fun way to get on-site donations from guests, the Lincoln Park Zoo's ball on July 12 sold ties printed with tigers, penguins, and other zoo animals. Starting at $250, the neckwear from sponsor Paul Stuart helped the Chicago organization raise more than $1 million.
The day before the ESPY Awards, ESPN hosted a party to celebrate its fifth Body issue at Lure nightclub in Los Angeles. The July 16 event saw integrated activations for sponsors GMC, Old Spice, and Hennessy, as well as street-fair-style food shacks doling out sweet, spicy, and veggie fare.
The vintage travel-themed bash for Washingtonian's Best of Washington issue at the National Building Museum on July 17 included a central bar designed to evoke train stations. The façade featured track listings for various destinations around the world, while vintage clocks kept tabs on the local time in international cities such as Amsterdam, Berlin, and Madrid.
As a dramatic way to promote the new film Turbo, 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation's stunt in New York on July 9 combined oversize versions of Turbo's animated characters with Skee-Ball and a vertical race up the side of a Rockefeller Center building.
To engage guests at the Season 5 premiere tasting for Top Chef Masters, Bravo and Chase Sapphire Preferred offered a guess-the-herb activity. The station at the July 16 event held large glass vessels of the garden-grown seasonings with descriptions on wooden breadboards and a herb specialist to provide hints.
