This week's roundup includes a billboard brought to life with colorful samba dancers in Los Angeles, chocolate dipped in a buffet of Indian spices at TEDActive in Canada, centerpieces filled with nail polish in New York, and a lounge set up in an empty pool in Austin, Texas.
At TED's simulcast partner event TEDActive, even the snack breaks came with an interactive touch and a flair of global relevance: Attendees dipped chocolate in Indian spices at the Vosges chocolate table. The event took place in Whistler, Canada.
With so many brands vying for the attention of busy festivalgoers at this year's South by Southwest, marketers had to do more than simply host an event to make an impression. At the party for online magazine xoJane, event production agency MKG brightened up a dark room using neon masking tape and ultraviolet lighting, creating an edgy, Pop-Art-inspired look. Upstairs, guests were encouraged to take selfies with mirrors; images were printed by the Bosco to add onto the Shameless Selfie wall and were projected in the main room.
To take full advantage of the space at Palm Park for IFC's Fairgrounds activation—and match the TV network's “Always on. Slightly off” branding—Lead Dog Marketing Group created a lounge inside an empty pool dubbed the Deep End Theater. Pool floats and loungers served as furniture, and the Alamo Drafthouse curated screenings of pop-culture moments for entertainment.
After a major move from California to Canada this year, the TED Conference wrapped in Vancouver on Friday. In Target's "Write the Next Chapter" social space, artist Daniel Duffy drew portraits of speakers using their quotes.
On March 18, NVE: The Experience Agency brought a billboard to life to promote the upcoming 20th Century Fox film Rio 2. From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., the activation took over the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Sherbourn Drive—an area of Los Angeles that thousands of cars whiz by all day. The colorful spectacle involved 15 samba dancers in full costume perched on a catwalk in front of the billboard, plus more dancers below.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival kicked off March 20 with its signature Pink Tie Party at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington. Linder & Associates worked with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to create an outdoor lawn party atmosphere surrounding the stage and centrally located Penny Pitch bar in the atrium.
For the March 18 launch party for new Washington venue Dock5 at Union Market, producers Bruce Pike of Bruce Pike Productions and Bella Notte’s Sara Bauleke sought to bring the outdoors inside. The Garden Glam theme came to life with a mixture of live trees throughout the industrial space, combined with a wall-length forest gobo.
Kalla, a high-end floral bouquet service, launched in Miami with a bash at Soho Beach House on March 13. To match with the springtime theme, Christopher Elbow Artisan Chocolates offered treats in pastel colors.
The Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS opened the 17th annual Dining by Design at Pier 94 on March 21. The weekend-long event, part of the Architectural Digest Home Design Show, held more than three dozen innovative dining-room settings. In lieu of overpowering florals at its table, Essie filled five tall candy jars with its nail polishes in different colors for a simple—and brand-placement-friendly—take on color blocking.
Jes Gordon’s design for the Fashion Institute of Technology was inspired by Pinocchio and the idea of being stranded inside the belly of a whale. As such, guests were seated within a scale reproduction of the upper half of a whale vertebrae.
