Mercedes-Benz Traveling Tour Hits Orlando

Mercedes-Benz markets itself as having high standards for quality and performance, so when the automobile company took its show on the road, it was adamant about creating a movable event that was up to snuff. Aiming the C-Class series at a target audience of Gen Xers, Chuck Johnsen and Lew Marchiona of Mercedes-Benz hired New York-based EventQuest to design and build the overall upscale environment and experience, and employed California-based AMCI to bring it to life logistically.

An unused parking lot at Universal Orlando was the site when the C-Spot tour came rolling through town as part of its 12-city stint. The lot was transformed into a makeshift driving course, where adrenaline-junkies and potential customers were able to test drive a C-Class Mercedes or, if they preferred, ride shotgun as a pro racecar driver took it from 0 to 60 in mere seconds.

To create the event space, Roder USA and AMCI constructed multiple tent structures. The main structure housed "the dream"—an interior space designed by EventQuest, focused on giving visitors a high-end lifestyle experience. Lounge areas were decorated and furnished by Design Within Reach. EventQuest's specially built video screens were mounted along the walls of the structure projecting colorful, custom images, keeping the energy high. Again, focusing on lifestyle, Saks Fifth Avenue partnered with the automobile maker, offering mannequins dressed in casual summer fashions. In a cafe-like setting next to the lounge, attendees enjoyed hand massages and catered sandwiches, desserts and hors d'oeuvres from Culinary Underground, a mobile catering company used predominantly for rock band touring.

—Shari Lynn Rothstein