Brand: Rivian
Campaign: Rivian x Honnold Foundation at Outdoor Retailer
Agency: The Pineapple Agency

When Rivian introduced its new electric adventure vehicle, the next step was to tell its brand story to outdoor recreation enthusiasts. The best place to do that was the outdoor recreation expo and conference, Outdoor Retailer.

To increase brand awareness, the brand simultaneously targeted Rivian’s three consumer personas in attendance at the show: the achievers, the modern explorers and active families. The directive: impress 29,000 event attendees, hundreds of VIPs on-site, media and hundreds of thousands of live-streamers.

Rivian’s event strategy centered around delivering engaging content for attendees in the form of panels, speakers and influential guests. For instance, a panel for the adventure seekers included Rivian Founder RJ Scaringe and “Free Solo” star Alex Honnold. The latter was making one of his first non-media related appearances since the film was released, so it generated significant buzz. Rock climbing legend Ben Moon made an appearance as well to show support for Rivian and its values related to ethical exploration.

The experience consisted of both a trade show booth design, constructed with sustainable and natural materials, and an intimate event for customers, media and VIPs. The former was a two-story structure that included a multi-media wall display featuring pieces of the vehicle that attendees could touch. Guests learned about the car through video content, signed up for pre-orders, attended a happy hour and enjoyed an aerial view of the vehicle from the second story.

Beyond the show floor build, Rivian held an event for environmental non-profit Honnold Foundation where it announced a partnership to power a city in Puerto Rico using Rivian’s electric battery packs. Livestreaming the event—a first for the former airplane hangar venue—required a full technology build out, adequate bandwidth and connectivity and numerous tests ahead of time.

Rivian used cable spool tables, bars, wheel stands and natural wood benches for décor elements and seating. The space featured vehicle displays and a large LED as backdrop for the livestream. Light snacks and desserts from local restaurants were served and an open bar offered Colorado-based products. The multi-camera livestream was seen by 22,000 viewers.

The event by the numbers: 370,000 social media impressions; 270,000,000 media impressions from coverage; 1,000 drinks served at happy hour; 477 VIPs at the Honnold Foundation event; and inclusion on several top pick lists from Outdoor Retailer show coverage.

Brand: Burger King
Campaign: Burger King & FaZe Clan
Agency: Scout Sports and Entertainment

Brand: Samsung
Campaign: Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 1H 2020
Agency: INVNT

Brand: Corona
Campaign: Cinco at Home Benefit Concert
Agency: Cogent Entertainment Marketing

The experiential marketing industry has been thrown for a loop this year. For months now, consumers have been social distancing within their homes and live events have been put on hold.

But that didn’t stop Corona from a commitment to celebrate—and own—the Cinco de Mayo holiday with a national and regional virtual music experience, a charitable tie-in that benefitted local restaurants and an influencer-led promotional strategy for its first #CincoAtHome benefit concert.

Corona partnered with Live Nation to host the livestream, which consisted of five dj sets and all-day programming. Importantly, the stream provided what consumers were missing about the music festival experience—the choice of different artists, the lead up to the music, the main event itself and the chillout afterparty stage.

The event included a host, Becky G, who appealed to the multicultural consumer target demo. The Mexican music and movie star communicated the day’s schedule and programming in both English and Spanish.

To add some surprise and delight moments, the dj stars playing the event nationally—Dillon Francis and Diplo—were not told which celebrities and influencers would be calling in live and featured on the stream. Each of the nine influencers leveraged for the campaign were sent a “Cinco kit” just before the event and were encouraged to party and celebrate for viewers.

The event’s philanthropic element was integral to the program. Corona’s goal was to raise $500,000 in donations for the Restaurant Relief Fund, with each viewer in attendance earning a dollar donation. Actual metrics amounted to more than 1 million views. The campaign’s total earned media impressions topped 85 million and Corona donated the sum of $1,500,000 toward the Fund. Party on.

Brand: Stella Artois
Campaign: Sessions@Home
Agency: Mosaic

Brand: Alkami Technology
Campaign: Unite + Stronger Together
Agency: In-house

Brand: Ally Financial
Campaign: Ally + MONOPOLY – Grow Your Fortune
Agency: PrizeLogic

To promote financial literacy in an entertaining way while highlighting the brand as one that delivers innovative digital experiences, Ally Financial created an in-browser, augmented-reality Monopoly game with 36 real-life game squares placed in high-traffic areas in six U.S. cities.

The idea was to make talking about money less intimidating by using the classic Hasbro game as a conduit. From research Ally conducted with The Harris Poll, the brand knew that 94 percent of respondents played board games involving money and the majority learned money concepts from them. Enter Monopoly.

Players received clues online that directed them towards the squares and then unlocked the game through scanning them. A dashboard kept track of the squares collected, and those who scanned all three properties in one city were entered into a sweepstakes with a grand prize of $50,000. Meanwhile, consumers had several chances to win smaller prizes, including Uber credits or $200 if they scanned “GO” while playing.

Adding to the experience were playful, giant replicas of Monopoly’s game pieces, such as a car, a top hot and Scottie the dog. The statues of the figures appeared in each of the six cities alongside a “Chance” game square, so that when players posted a photo with a game piece on social media using #AllyMonopoly they earned the chance to win a plethora of other prizes, such as headphones, electronic scooters and smart watches.

Moreover, the “Community Chest” square, when discovered, activated a donation made to the local Junior Achievement chapter to help fund youth financial literacy programs. To top it off, those players who wanted to get in on the action but did not live in a participating city could play an online digital scavenger hunt at PlayAlly.com to win cash prizes.

The results of the campaign supported the brand’s goals of increasing awareness and brand affinity, with the latter increasing by 25 percent. Sixty-one percent of consumers perceived Ally as customer-centric post-campaign and 55 percent said they would be more likely to think of the brand.

Best of all, for its key target market of affluent millennials, nearly 80 percent are more likely to think about the brand after being exposed to the campaign.

Brand: XTRATUF
Campaign: XTRATUF x Salmon Bros April Fools’ Day Video
Agency: In-house

Brand: Progress Sitefinity
Campaign: Experience Sitefinity
Agency: LEAP Agency

Brand: Uber
Campaign: Uber Elevate Summit 2019
Agency: Infinity Marketing Team

When it comes to making flying cars a reality, it truly takes a village. With the goal of making urban aviation and aerial ridesharing up and running by 2023, Uber brought together 1,200 attendees, including policy makers, technology experts, architects, manufacturers, influencers and media from more than 30 countries, to the Uber Elevate Summit in Washington, D.C.

Key to the event’s success was stakeholder buy-in for Uber Air across a variety of industries. That meant that state, federal, local and international governments needed to be on board with Uber’s vision. The solution was to create an environment that brought aerial urban transportation to life for attendees as opposed to focusing on the theoretical.

A centrally-located showroom floor showcased Uber’s plans, designs and prototypes, including eight experiences with product reveals such as VR simulators and various models that attendees could see and touch. Guests could experience a virtual reality simulation of a ride from San Francisco to Santa Clara, CA, and climb into a life-size vehicle designed by Bell Helicopter.

The summit also served as a hub for Uber’s other technology innovations, from Uber Eats to Uber JUMP to its self-driving unit, to showcase the brand’s innovation and how the new initiatives would complement Uber Elevate.

Another key component of the event was content—including four major industry announcements—dispersed across three plenary stages featuring 48 sessions and 11 keynotes, numerous fireside chats and 102 speakers from 46 different companies and organizations. Topics ranged from regulatory progress to urban air mobility to eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) concepts to energy storage and beyond.

The results speak for themselves. The number of attendees surpassed the brand’s goal by 20 percent; press from 120 outlets covered the show; a total of 200 articles were published about the summit; and PR value came in at $83 million—a 66 percent increase over projections.

Brand: Eaton Corporation
Campaign: Ticket of Terror
Agency: Jack Morton Worldwide

Brand: Google
Campaign: Helpful Hub
Agency: Grow Marketing

Brand: Levi Strauss & Co
Campaign: Levi’s Haus Miami
Agency: ANTHEMIC Agency

When your target audience is fashion-obsessed and notoriously fickle, you’d better be able to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience. Enter Levi’s Haus Miami, a retail event space with an artist studio, customization stations, music performances and more. The pop-up, which was set in the city’s trendy Wynwood Arts District during Art Basel, amounted to 152 days of art, music and fashion-related activations, garnering 498 million media impressions and $7.8 million in ad value.

The goal of the activation was to highlight the brand’s commitment to sustainability in addition to its new product customization offerings. At the Levi’s Tailor Shop, which offered products both on-site and to go, attendees could pick from Levi’s classic back patches, monograms and graphics to create their own pair of customized jeans and, using Levi’s Future Finish laser technology, guests could create the rips, distress and wash of their choosing.

Levi’s sustainability objectives shined through the pop-up’s design. Upcycled shipping containers arranged in an open footprint amounted to 12 fabricated, modular spaces spanning 48,000 square feet. The brand identified and worked with 15 local Wynwood- and Miami-based businesses to ensure the project was green from start to finish while supporting the local community.

To lure in the brand’s target audience and increase awareness of Levi’s customization technology, a revolving door of talent, artist and guests, from Shepard Fairey to A$AP Ferg to Khalid, participated in workshops, performed concerts and attended product drops within the space.

The experience required 200 hours of permitting and management to assemble all the pieces, 1,800 hours of construction and landscaping and 10 months of planning—all made possible by the 15 key local partnerships cultivated by Levi’s and ANTHEMIC.

Brand: HP, Inc.
Campaign: The OMEN Gaming Lab
Agency: Infinity Marketing Team

Brand: Ally Financial
Campaign: Ally + MONOPOLY - Grow Your Fortune
Agency: PrizeLogic

Brand: Nickelodeon
Campaign: SpongeBob SquarePants x Kyrie Irving x Nike
Agency: In-house

Setting a sneaker campaign apart from others within the crowded streetwear marketplace is not easy. But this particular line shone rather brightly. When the 20th Anniversary of SpongeBob SquarePants came around, Nickelodeon merged three iconic personalities and brands: Nike, NBA superstar Kyrie Irving (who is a huge SpongeBob fan) and the yellow sea creature himself. Best of all, the trio attracted different fan bases—of all ages.

The campaign was anchored around six different sneaker silhouettes in a range of colors and sizes, from infant to adult to apparel and accessories. To drum up buzz and build excitement for the different styles, Nickelodeon rolled out creative over the course of a three-month window.

The content included videos of Kyrie discussing his love for SpongeBob, an in-depth look at the sneakers’ features and the Bikini Bottom creature each was paired with and inspired by. A diverse group of celebrities, athletes and SpongeBob fans debuted the sneakers, which were packaged inside giant Krabby Patty burger boxes as if they were delivered from Krusty Krab himself.

Another key component of the program was a fan activation at San Diego Comic-Con where a limited number of sneakers were available for purchase through the Nike SNKRS app. Nike made its annual NY vs NY basketball tournament SpongeBob-themed, free to all families and capped it off with a live appearance from Kyrie.

More than one billion impressions over the three-month period led to the sneakers selling out on launch day in minutes online and in a matter of days through brick-and-mortar. And digitally, it was one for the history books: The social posts featuring product details, which were all earned rather than paid, became one of Nickelodeon’s most engaging posts of all time on both the @spongebob and @nickelodeonstyle Instagram accounts. Color us impressed.

Brand: Frito-Lay North America
Campaign: Cheetos House of Flamin’ Haute
Agency: The Marketing Arm

Brand: St-Germain
Campaign: Maison St-Germain 2019
Agency: Nike Communications

Brand: IPSY
Campaign: Destination: IPSY
Agency: PMG

In the past, subscription cosmetics service IPSY has relied solely on social influencers and vloggers to push its product. But in 2019, the brand decided to embrace a live event strategy to provide participating brands with additional touchpoints beyond their online sales channels. The result was a three-stop mobile tour spanning 7,500 miles that allowed consumers to interact with IPSY social influencers, presented IPSY as inclusive and community-focused, increased its social footprint and benefited 25 brand partners.

To ensure that the brand’s first event marketing promotional effort went off without a hitch, IPSY created a test program using existing premium assets to build buzz for the events. They honed in on three events to sponsor: SXSW in Austin, Miami Swim Week and Lollapalooza in Chicago, each attracting the campaign’s target audience of young, socially-conscious and tech-savvy individuals.

On the ground, the footprint consisted of a 40-foot display trailer that accommodated three brand partners, photo ops and an interactive stage. Beyond the vehicle’s interior, Destination: IPSY allowed brands to set up shop with 10-foot-by-10-foot branded tents in the remainder of the activation’s footprint.

Touchpoints included a giant IPSY sign and a display vehicle covered with flowers as photo ops; a 30-foot metallic dome housing Build Your Own Glam Bag (BYOGB) activities, a tangible version of IPSY’s monthly Glam Bag delivery; an oversized mailbox for new members to enroll in the program; a stage hosting sessions on best practices for skin care or cosmetic application, product giveaways and live panels; and a dj elevated on top of the trailer.

IPSY welcomed 8,300 attendees over the course of the three events, engaged 25 brand partners, experienced full participation in the BYOGB touchpoint, and enjoyed a social reach of 50 million. Now that’s amplification.

Brand: ViacomCBS
Campaign: Nickelodeon's JoJo Siwa for Amazon Prime Day
Agency: In-house

Brand: Progress Software
Campaign: The Gold Standard
Agency: In-house

Brand: HP, Inc.
Campaign: HP Festivalization: Coachella
Agency: Infinity Marketing Team

When HP set out to connect with consumers through its technology, Coachella was the ideal place to showcase the brand’s consumer line of PCs and printers. Combining art and technology through colorful, dreamlike, interactive experiences, HP created emotional connections with more than 150,000 people throughout the event’s two weekends.

The challenge was to stand out amid the festival clutter, specifically to high earners and influencers. The solution was to create a digital art playground consisting of two installations: the 11,000-square-foot “Antarctic Dome,” the site of a new film premiere, and “Dreamland” at the HP Lounge, where attendees could create their own digital art pieces using HP technology.

Finding a music partner for the film—one that was known for pushing boundaries between music, art and technology—was key. In a first for the festival, HP held a press event ahead of Coachella’s opening to premiere its new film, “Underwater.” The piece, featuring music written by RÜFÜS DU SOL and a simultaneous interactive display of multi-colored laser light beams, was created on HP workstations and using visual imagery from six HP digital artists.

Over in HP’s Dreamland activation, attendees used HP tablets and laptops to create art projections and then share them on social platforms; engaged with HP inking and printing technology to design drawstring bags made of recycled vinyl; and enjoyed dj sets from more than 30 big names. Also on-site: an interactive “Affirmation Wall” doubling as a selfie backdrop that revealed positive affirmations when guests interacted with its tiles.

HP also partnered with TikTok, becoming the first brand to launch a challenge with the social platform. Using the hashtag #HPCoachellaDreamland, attendees shared videos about their own personal dreamlands and where music transports them.

The activation blew away all its benchmarks: from hosting 62 percent of festival attendees versus a goal of 40 percent to achieving 37,702 on-site demos compared to the expectation of 20,000 to landing 166 million video views on social media versus the hope of 100 million. Cha-ching.

Brand: Frito-Lay North America
Campaign: Cheetos House of Flamin’ Haute
Agency: The Marketing Arm

Brand: L.L. Bean
Campaign: Fall 2019 Pop-Up Retail Campaign
Agency: Newbridge Marketing Group

Brand: LUNA Bar
Campaign: Someday Is Now
Agency: Advantage

It’s one thing for a brand to champion a cause. It’s another when you can connect that cause to a consumer passion point in order to bolster the message and inspire others to join the fight. LUNA Bar, a Clif Bar & Company brand, put its money where its mouth is for its annual Equal Pay Day “Someday is Now” campaign in 2019, zeroing in on the disparity in World Cup compensation for U.S. National Team female players versus their male counterparts.

The first part of the campaign came in the form of a check. LUNA paid $31,250 to each of the women named to the World Cup team—the difference between the roster bonus for the U.S. Men’s and Women’s teams. The video announcing the payment was aired on LUNA’s social channels, including YouTube, and garnered more than 14 million impressions.

LUNA then placed the campaign center stage for its 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup sponsorship, hosting a #SomedayIsNow Salon inside the Eiffel Tower in Paris featuring tennis legend Venus Williams, retired soccer player/ESPN commentator Julie Foudy and hockey player Hilary Knight. The event livestreamed on LUNA’s Facebook Live channel and scored 100,000 live views, and a total of more than 400 million impressions across 114 earned media placements.

Taking the campaign to the streets, LUNA sent brand ambassadors out in search of fans of the U.S. Women’s National Team and rewarded them with blue “Someday is Now” shoe laces—connecting the cause back to the national team and encouraging consumers to walk the walk with LUNA.

Brand: HP, Inc.
Campaign: Yo Me Sumo
Agency: Furia

Brand: American Airlines, Stand Up To Cancer
Campaign: Life’s Journeys
Agency: Serendipity Works

Brand: Mastercard
Campaign: League of Legends Esports
Agency: Rogers and Cowan PMK

Social media has evolved into a key storytelling medium, one Mastercard embraced as it looked to level-up its partnership with Riot Games’ League of Legends and increase its relevance as a nonendemic sponsor in esports. Anchoring the campaign on a new Twitter handle, @MastercardNexus, the brand created a hub of constant conversation.

The goal: to tell unique stories about the esports community—elevating fans to heroes, enhancing the fan experience tied to global events and highlighting “priceless moments” happening on the ground.

Mastercard’s short- and long-form (scripted and unscripted) content strategy included a series called “Together, Start Something Priceless,” which highlighted stories of pros, families of pros and League of Legends fans. At the events, like the League of Legends World Championship, the brand partnered with prominent esports shoutcasters to create “whimsical” content. Think: influencers roaming the streets of Paris asking random Parisians questions about League of Legends, and filming an influencer known for being a picky eater trying Parisian delicacies.

The Twitter handle became a giveaway engine, too. Fans could receive Priceless Surprises in the form of Riot Points, the coveted in-game digital currency that unlocks cool flair to show off to other gamers. Mastercard also engaged audiences on Twitch, partnering with seven influencers to create a series of global Pep Rallies. Each stream occurred in the influencer’s native tongue.

Prominent esports influencers helped amplify content, and, with a five-figure media spend only, the content garnered 26 million views, while the Twitter handle experienced a 30-percent increase in followers over the course of the World Championship. #Priceless.

Brand: Dodge
Campaign: Dodge Horsepower Challenge
Agency: PrizeLogic

Brand: Progress Software
Campaign: Influencer Marketing via Blog and Podcast
Agency: In-house

Brand: BMW
Campaign: Road to Coachella 2019
Agency: Mirrored Media

Slapping a logo on a sponsorship and walking away has never been BMW’s style, and the third iteration of its Road to Coachella campaign was no exception. The program, which blends music, design and mobility, illustrates what the journey to the renowned festival looks like for the artists that perform at the event and the influential young fans who attend it.

At the heart of the 2019 campaign was Khalid, a Coachella headliner and the biggest musician BMW had worked with to-date. Riding on the success of the recent release of a new album, the artist helped BMW outfit an assortment of its i8 Roadsters to match the aesthetic of the record’s cover.

Thirty-plus global influencers were then invited to document their own Road to Coachella while cruising in one of the wrapped vehicles. In addition, an iHeart Radio sweepstakes gave two lucky fans a chance to drive one of the Roadsters to the festival and enjoy VIP passes and a meet-and-greet with Khalid.

The artist partnership also entailed a “pit stop” pop-up experience housed in a shipping container that was open during the first weekend of the festival. The space featured Khalid merch, the van from his album cover, two BMW i wrapped vehicles, TVs broadcasting the artist’s original #RoadtoCoachella content piece, an album art photo op and a claw machine that dispensed custom bandanas. Phew.

The 2019 program blew projections out of the water, with BMW reaching more than one billion people through its social media, press and marketing efforts. And that’s what the road to success looks like.

Brand: HP, Inc.
Campaign: HP Festivalization: Coachella
Agency: Infinity Marketing Team

Brand: Mercedes-Benz USA
Campaign: Mercedes-Benz USA x Glamour – Mercedes-AMG Driving Academy
Agency: Engine Shop

Brand: AT&T
Campaign: Black Future Month
Agency: The 360 Agency

The traditional corporate approach to Black History Month has remained stagnant, but AT&T endeavored to honor the “New Black Renaissance” in its celebrations by revering the past while looking to the future.

To break through to forward-thinking Black millennials, the brand invited its target to “Dream in Black” through the lens of 28 celebrity “Future Makers” that ranged from Sean “Diddy” Combs to Bozoma St. John. Leveraging the Afrofuturistic Dream in Black platform, AT&T delivered a fully integrated campaign that culminated in experiential activations at culture-driven events like Essence Festival and the Soul Train Awards.

Throughout the month of February, AT&T tapped into its roster of Future Makers to engage consumers in storytelling via paid and organic social media posts. Each week, Future Maker Terrence J announced and tagged seven Future Maker honorees on Instagram, pushing out content that exceeded the brand’s goals for increasing its social following. What’s more, “hero” Future Makers anchored a video series that was promoted across social, digital and linear advertising, including during the NAACP Image Awards. To support the social push, Future Makers participated in special events, like the Women of Power Summit.

In order to more directly impact its audience, AT&T also launched a social media contest open to all consumers to determine who the 28^th Future Maker would be. The open spot was symbolic of those who may not have opportunities or widespread recognition.

In the end, the numbers said it all: AT&T saw a six percent lift in its brand reputation and earned a total of 165.9 million impressions—results worth celebrating year-round.

Brand: Butterfly Network
Campaign: 2019 Holiday Campaign
Agencies: CitizenNet and Magnitude Digital

Brand: L.L. Bean
Campaign: S’more Out of Summer
Agency: Jack Morton Worldwide

Brand: Mastercard
Campaign: Rugby World Cup 2019
Agency: Octagon

Mastercard has partnered with the Rugby World Cup since 2011, but in 2019, when the tournament was held in Japan, the brand wanted to go bigger than it ever had before. It turned to its Player of the Match trophy activation to do so, with the intent of driving consumer engagement, usage, acceptance, brand awareness and positioning Mastercard as an innovative brand.

It’s a tall order—but Mastercard delivered. For the first time ever, the brand created a live, interactive trophy that told the story of each match right after its conclusion.

Logistics were not on the team’s side. The massive tournament consisted of 45 matches in 44 days across 12 venues. The host market of Japan brought challenges, too, since Mastercard has low market share in that part of the globe and the country had limited credit card usage and relied mainly on cash purchases. In fact, credit wasn’t accepted at any of the venues before the tournament. Mastercard introduced terminals in all 12 stadiums and contactless transactions for merchandise at plazas and ticketing areas.

Back to the trophy activation. The process required collecting social data from the matches in real-time that was then used to tell the game’s story. Fans posted on social media about their favorite moments during the matches and the Mastercard team used audio-to-text software to collect the game commentary. The top fan comments were used to curate a list of 15 highlights, which were then laser-engraved onto the trophy and presented to the winner immediately following the match.

The trophy was crafted in origami, an homage to local Japanese art. The design, a collaboration between Mastercard and a computational origami expert, combined a modern feel, local tradition and cutting-edge laser technology in one foul swoop.

Thanks to rugby brand ambassadors in key markets, brand awareness was boosted with a Priceless Surprises Twitter thread that brought together fans, influencers and ambassadors and resulted in 80 percent share of voice and two million engagements across social. Impressive.

Brand: HP, Inc.
Campaign: HP Festivalization: Coachella
Agency: Infinity Marketing Team

Brand: HP, Inc.
Campaign: Yo Me Sumo
Agency: Furia

Brand: Pernod Ricard
Campaign: Jameson Barrel-Aged Beer Garden at the Great American Beer Festival
Agency: Legacy Marketing

In 2018, Jameson became the first and only liquor sponsor of the Great American Beer Festival, a beer convention that brings more than 60,000 brewers and beer enthusiasts to Denver each year.

What’s a whiskey product doing at a beer festival? The sponsorship was a way to connect with craft beer drinkers aged 25-34 in an unexpected place while also leveraging the brand’s brewery partnerships. The latter helps create the Jameson Caskmates series, which is whiskey brewed in beer-soaked barrels.

Jameson created a beer garden footprint in its first year, a “Love Thy Neighborhood” experience, with 22 partner breweries. The goal for 2019 was to engage even more attendees and also to focus on trial and sales of its whiskey.

There was just one problem: It was only legal to pour beer on the festival grounds. So, Jameson engaged consumers beyond the festival and within the city of Denver itself. Out-of-home media buys across the city teased the product and, at the brand’s 13,000-square-foot festival activation, ambassadors passed out 30,000 wooden tokens that would redeem a Castmates drink at 16 local spots. A pamphlet mapping out the participating locations accompanied the token.

On-site at the festival, Jameson activated the Barrel-Aged Beer Garden, and each participating brewery promoted three different beers. A Jameson merch store sold t-shirts, socks, hats and pins. The Bow Street Bar section, which offered the highest foot traffic, was available for partner use. Another area served as the headquarters for the brand’s Irish ambassadors, who lent brand knowledge and culture to the experience.

To engage brewery partners more intimately, Jameson hosted a Brewer’s Brunch with all 22 partners and more than 70 media outlets. Guests enjoyed a barrel-making demo from Ger Buckley, Jameson’s Master Cooper (that is, a person trained to make wooden casks and barrels), who flew in from Dublin for the event.

Music from local djs served as entertainment and a “Drinking Buddies” sweepstakes gave attendees the chance to win a trip to a partner brewery.

The activation, both at the festival and in the city of Denver, was a roaring success. The beer garden saw 57,128 attendees come through, which surpassed the brand’s goal of welcoming 80 percent of event attendees.

Social media mentions were four times more frequent than the year prior, 44 Jameson barrels of beer were consumed, $15,000 worth of Jameson merch was sold and the sales of Caskmates in Colorado rose 44 percent.

Brand: Saks Fifth Avenue
Campaign: Saks Carousel
Agency: 160over90

Brand: Café Bustelo
Campaign: Café Bustelo Pop Up Cafe
Agency: Inspira Marketing Group

Brand: Stage 13
Campaign: Family Style – A Seat at the Table
Agencies: In-house

The 12-episode, online-only series “Family Style” set out to connect Asian American foodies with pop culture enthusiasts. But the promotion of this short-form content, created by Asians and for Asians, posed a particular challenge.

Though created by Justin Lin’s production company YOMYOMF, known for films such as “Better Luck Tomorrow” and “The Fast and the Furious” franchise, the show was not hosted by celebrity chefs. Its hosts were Asian Americans with no involvement in the food industry. Simply put, they loved food, talking about food and good conversation.

So, without the built-in cachet that celebrity brings to the table, the show creators looked for other promotional ideas to deliver result for the series’ sponsor, Toyota RAV4. For instance, they connected with the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival for a premiere event. They launched the show on Facebook Watch and YouTube, where Asian American foodies and culture fans spend their time. They relied on targeted paid social with minimal budget and used first-party data from Warner Bros. as well.

Finally, they leveraged the handful of celebrity guests who came on the show, including “The Good Doctor” star Daniel Dae Kim, “Fresh off the Boat” actor Hudson Yang and “Crazy Rich Asians” director Jon M. Chu, to create social content. Topics on the series and on social media ranged from eating every part of a pig to boba milk tea’s popularity to growing up Asian.

Speaking of social engagement, Stage 13 also used its Facebook Watch page as a place to build an audience community and participate in social discussions. Prompts and added content included topics like cultural appropriation versus appreciation, cast interviews, a food dictionary, invites to Family Style events including the series premiere, viewing parties, restaurant dinners, restaurant partnerships, prizes and giveaways.

With more than 42 million impressions, five million views across Facebook Watch, YouTube and stage13.com, and an earned media reach of 16 million, Family Style earned what it sought after most of all: a second season.

Brand: HBO
Campaign: Human By Orientation
Agency: The 360 Agency

Brand: REVOLT Media & TV
Campaign: REVOLT Summit presented by AT&T
Agency: Superfly

Brand: Land O’ Frost
Campaign: Gone Rogue Brand Launch
Agency: Activent Marketing

Gone Rogue, a high-protein chip made from meat, was entering the market as a new kind of snack. Not a protein bar. Not beef jerky. So, it required a bit of audience education. Gaining awareness, landing highly-targeted impressions and creating brand equity topped the list of goals. And of course, it was all about driving trial through sampling.

To reach the brand’s target audience of athletic, adventurous enthusiasts who love fitness and sports, Gone Rogue sponsored the Spartan Race Series, a group of 55 events featuring military-style obstacle races of varying degrees of difficulty.

The challenge was to communicate what the product is through both messaging and experiences. Through partnering with extreme fitness influencers, Gone Rogue was able to position the brand as a fitness leader. Being early adopters and attracted to resilience and grit, Spartan athletes turned out to be the perfect fit.

Assets for the sponsorship included spots on the Spartan World Championship broadcast on ESPN, social media exposure, podcasts, pre- and post-race emails, naming rights of certain events, rights to use influencer Spartan Pros and more.

The campaign included an on-site activation with two experiences at 14 races that promoted trial. One was a custom obstacle: a 14-foot-tall climbing wall where participants made their way up it via an outline of the Gone Rogue logo.

The other activity provided value to the athletes: a “Recon Lounge” station for before the races and a recovery lounge for after the races. At the former, videos from Spartan pros displayed techniques used to tackle the course, giving viewers a competitive edge. Post-race, the brand’s lounge offered up masseuses to aid recovery as well as Gone Rogue Protein Chips.

The Spartan campaign was a smashing success by all accounts, generating 85 million on-site and Spartan media impressions. Gone Rogue engaged one-on-one with nearly 200,000 Spartan athletes at the activations, generated thousands of email addresses for future communication and distributed 685,000 samples.

Brand: School Specialty, Inc.
Campaign: FOSS Student First Campaign
Agency: In-house

Brand: Pernod Ricard
Campaign: The Glenlivet Drop Shop
Agency: 160over90

Brand: Amazon
Campaign: “Dormcore” Pop-Ups
Agency: Engage & Resonate

Amazon’s online retail dominance is indisputable. But when it came to getting in front of college-aged students and their parents during the back-to-school shopping period, a physical visualization of what a dorm room could look like was integral to promoting Amazon Basics products IRL.

The brand created a brick-and-mortar pop-up retail environment full of shoppable products across 10 college campuses across the country. Since each pop-up took place at an on-campus Amazon Hub Locker+ location, the campaign drove awareness of the hubs as a destination for college students’ dorm room shopping needs.

Same day delivery was offered on select items, and for those students that couldn’t make it to one of the 10 locations, the brand designed an interactive “Amazon Dormcore” retail site in order to reach a broader audience and enable purchases from additional customers.

Designing and executing 10 different pop-ups simultaneously required careful coordination. The look and feel across each needed to be consistent and visually appealing, modular to fit a range of footprints and accommodate structural challenges, and convey a DIY look that would be desirable, easily replicable and inexpensive options for students.

And then there was the fabrication. Structural materials had to be low cost, sustainable and recyclable. An open floor plan was key to making the small spaces feel roomy. And the structures needed to be easily dismantled by staff without disrupting store operations.

The solution was a lifestyle pop-up dorm room constructed out of a low-cost wood and plywood framework that incorporated painted and raw surfaces into the design. Open sightlines made the spaces feel less confined and the modular design allowed for layout customization when needed.

Thanks to the program, participating brands experienced a noticeable sales lift compared to the previous year, campus stores enjoyed additional dwell time and foot traffic, and managers were thrilled with the positioning of their stores as experiential destinations for students.

Brand: ViacomCBS
Campaign: Paw Patrol: Ready, Race, Rescue Launch at Walmart
Agency: In-house

Brand: Levi Strauss & Co
Campaign: Levi’s Haus Miami
Agency: ANTHEMIC Agency

Brand: Quaker
Campaign: Quaker Chewy Dipps Llama Rama Beach Towel Offer
Agency: MRi

The Quaker Chewy Dipps brand team was launching their latest innovation in the granola category, Llama Rama, and needed to drive new product trials and increase in-store promotional displays. But due to budget and time constraints, flash packaging and codes couldn’t be used for added promotion. That meant the team had to get creative.

With the target audience of parents aged 35-54, Quaker devised a buy/get offer that would resonate with them: a high-quality, llama-branded beach towel. The team used tear pads displayed at retailers, a custom microsite with a receipt recognition engine to ensure purchases were validated and social media outreach to drive awareness of the offer.

Since budget was tight, Quaker engaged with promotional influencers on social media through commenting and encouraging sharing on social media.

The $15 beach towel promotional item, featuring a colorful rainbow and a llama, was obtained by families with proof of purchase of three boxes of Chewy Dipps. Promotion influencers who posted about the towel on social media and retailer-specific bloggers who highlighted the program in their weekly savings deals also drove awareness and encouraged trial.

This campaign’s success owes much to agency partner MRi’s OCR Receipt Validation technology, a proprietary system that enabled capturing receipts in real-time and triggering an email confirmation to the user along with the expected delivery date.

Along with driving trial, an important objective was to boost sales and market share for the whole Chewy granola bar portfolio. On that front, it truly delivered. Not only did the campaign inspire thousands of Facebook social referrals and more than 75,000 unique site visitors over eight weeks, but Chewy Dipps had its best Q1 sales for the product ever.

Brand: Saputo Cheese USA
Campaign: Fresh Family Favorites
Agency: HANGAR12

Brand: The Kroger Co.
Campaign: Kroger’s #TransformUrDorm TikTok Challenge
Agency: 360i

Brand: Under Armour
Campaign: Under Armour Run Campaign
Agencies: 160over90 and Soul Focus Sports

In its HOVR shoe, Under Armour had developed its most high-tech running shoe to date. But there was an issue: The sports apparel brand was not known to runners as a creator of performance shoes. In fact, when runners had evaluated previous versions of UA’s products in the past, they were not impressed. The brand faced an uphill battle: convince skeptics to give the it another try.

So, to get the attention of serious runners, local running store associates and influencers—the program’s target demo—Under Armour had to drive consideration through trial. Enter the North America Run Trial Tour, nearly 400 running events in 77 cities.

These pop-up trial runs took place at events of all sizes—from large races to mom-and-pop running stores—and were staffed by trained local running influencers to lend authenticity to the pop-up.

At the heart of the brand’s strategy was an insights survey taken at every event to help the team determine purchase intent, get product feedback, make comparisons to competitors and tailor messaging for greater impact.

The events on the ground numbered four to five per week and involved trialing with both a run crew and a retail partner or expo. They included myriad moving parts: run crews, specialty stores, retailers, partner colleges, expos and encounters with runners on the street.

Each runner received custom pairs of HOVRs catered to their size, needs and color preferences. Post-run, UA offered Hyperice massages, NormaTec leg recovery systems, RxBars and a free trial of Under Armour’s Connected Fitness platform.

To increase brand awareness, UA also activated a challenge in New York City: a night race in which 150 runners sporting HOVRs ran towards a beacon of light for a chance to be crowned UA HOVR Challenge Champion. Using multiple start locations and a reveal 24 hours ahead of time, the contest challenged the runners determine the most efficient route to the finish line.

In April, a UA shoe was featured on the cover of Runner’s World magazine for first time ever and sales of HOVR in 2019 blew past expectations. ‘Nuff said.

Brand: Santa Margherita USA
Campaign: Follow the Vine
Agency: Factory360

Brand: Amazon
Campaign: “Dormcore” Pop-Ups
Agency: Engage & Resonate

Brand: Jeep
Campaign: Champion of Adventure
Agency: Inspira Marketing Group

After being the presenting sponsor for Winter X Games for 15 years, Jeep needed to shake it up. The goal was to reinvent the on-site experience for attendees, celebrate the qualities of the Jeep Wrangler that resonated with the adventurous X Games consumer and, most importantly, generate purchase intent.

Because thrill-seeking outdoor enthusiasts were the target audience here, Jeep focused on improving upon the touchpoints at previous X Games that were lacking or fell flat. Examining interviews from previous years revealed that the biggest pain points were the cold temperature and lack of food.

Knowing that attendees wanted to experience things rather than sit back and watch them, Jeep showed them what it would feel like to be behind the wheel of a Wrangler through a multi-sensory film within a 30-foot geodesic projection dome. The cinematography and sound effects mimicked an uphill, off-roading expedition through extreme terrain, from desert hills to snowcapped mountains. Sensory effects included gusts of wind and bursts of scents like cedar and pine.

Then, consumers got behind the wheel of a real 2019 Jeep Wrangler for live demos and also posed in front of the vehicles during meet and greets with X Games athletes. As a food draw, the team served branded waffles out of a Jeep-branded cabin. Attendees had a chance to win Rossignol skis packages and customize leather keychains with GPS coordinates from an adventure they experienced.

Another supporting element was the launch of an inaugural competition, the Jeep Wrangler X Challenge, in which X Games athletes tested their off-roading skills on a course that showcased the Wrangler’s capabilities.

The activation saw 2,188 attendees pass through it, which exceeded Jeep’s goal by 137 percent. Brand ambassadors conducted 812 vehicle demos, more than half of the initial goal. And best of all, Jeep’s Champion of Adventure experience saw a 220 percent increase in leads compared to the prior year. Cha-ching.

Brand: Mastercard
Campaign: Rugby World Cup 2019 Player of the Match Award
Agency: Octagon

Brand: adidas Golf
Campaign: Code Chaos
Agency: Sparks

Brand: Ford Motor Company
Campaign: 2020 Ford Explorer VR Test Drive
Agency: Imagination

Auto shows are hands-on affairs. Attendees are accustomed to seeing, touching and even climbing into vehicles they want to learn more about or are interested in purchasing. So, how do you showcase a vehicle that’s not yet available? That was the obstacle facing Ford Motor Company at Detroit’s North American International Auto Show.

The new 2020 Ford Explorer had not yet arrived—but that didn’t mean that attendees couldn’t experience it. Ford brought the new Explorer to consumers through a 4D-synced, in-car virtual reality experience.

The journey began with viewers being transported into the car’s interior. Attendees were taken through an urban setting to highways to mountains tops and back again.

The differentiator here: The synching of the visuals with the car’s movements not only prevented feelings of sickness that are often associated with the technology, but it also enhanced the reality of what was being viewed. A nice added touch: Ford delivered a cooling effect from the vehicle’s air conditioner while the journey passed through the Colorado mountains.

So, how did they pull off? The technology used to simulate the drive included Microsoft mixed reality headsets, the 3D platform Unreal Engine and 44 OptiTrack motion capture cameras with 16 tracking points on each car, which allowed guests’ headsets to synch up with the cars’ movements in real-time. And get this: motion tracking inside the car allowed attendees to see each other within the vehicles during the journey.

The experience saw 4,725 attendees pass through and remained at 100 percent capacity for 10 straight days. To boot, the brand recorded 95 percent positive social sentiment.

Brand: Jeep
Campaign: Champion of Adventure
Agency: Inspira Marketing Group

Brand: Ally Financial
Campaign: Ally + MONOPOLY - Grow Your Fortune
Agency: PrizeLogic

Brand: State Farm
Campaign: Vehicle Loan Illusions
Agency: The Marketing Arm

State Farm Bank wanted its current customers to know that it offers vehicle loans—and better yet, for them to consider State Farm Bank for their next vehicle purchase. But the brand also knew that of the 70 percent of consumers who need a loan to help purchase a car, 80 percent of them use financing at the dealer to buy it. The fact that consumers more readily commit to higher rates from a dealer was the unique challenge facing State Farm.

Enter the Vehicle Loan Illusions campaign, which set out to dispel the “loan illusions” that dealers propagate at the time of purchase. The program also educated buyers on the products and services State Farm can provide.

Banking on awareness as the driver of growth for this product, State Farm used creative storytelling to boost awareness on social media. The catalyst for that content was a live event at the Los Angeles Auto Show featuring celebrity illusionist Justin Willman doing custom magic tricks about financial concepts that are often confusing for buyers.

Using the magic theme to engage audiences and educate with entertainment, illusionists cleared up topics like compound interest, rate shopping, loan terms and dealership tactics.

On-site at the show, a sculpture and stair wrap served as optical illusions themselves and attracted people to the booth. Attendees also put on glasses that revealed vehicle loan financing tips throughout the footprint. Performances by local illusionists and one-on-one conversations with agents about products and financing tips rounded out the footprint.

The content from the event was then edited into six-, 15- and 30-second spots and posted on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. A microsite dubbed “Simple Insights” served up long-form video as well as educational articles, loan calculators and other helpful content.

Results were anything but an illusion: 900,000 attendees at the Los Angeles Auto Show, nearly 1,000 conversations between consumers and agents and 17 times the number of loan quote starts on Facebook and Instagram than the year prior. The campaign was successful across the board, earning the recognition of being the brand’s most successful vehicle loan campaign ever.

Brand: Frito-Lay North America
Campaign: Doritos Spark the Beat
Agency: The Marketing Arm

Brand: Metro by T-Mobile
Campaign: Metro Media Jam
Agency: SPORTFIVE

Brand: Bravo
Campaign: BravoCon
Agency: Superfly

BravoCon was an opportunity for the TV network to engage its fiercely loyal fanbase, reward them with live interactions surrounding 85 “Bravolebrities” and monetize that fan love through multiple revenue streams. And boy did it deliver.

The convention, which took place over three days in three New York City venues, offered more than 45 events and panel discussions, 32 scheduled talent photo ops, 13 paid experiences beyond the ticket price and tons of immersive pop-ups themed around Bravo shows.

It was a congregation of fans’ favorite Bravolebrities under one roof, from shows like “The Real Housewives,” “Vanderpump Rules,” “Project Runway” and “Top Chef,” but it also served as a means to generate content from interviews and live tapings.

The Con’s three venues, totaling 60,000 square feet, were chockful of photo moments featuring original art and neon-lit catchphrases from talent. Show-themed spaces included The Real Housewives Museum, which featured a recap of every season along a timeline, iconic props and 22 dresses worn during reunion episodes.

A Top Chef food hall served food inspired by the show. In the Bravo Bazaar marketplace, attendees could purchase products created by their favorite stars. Themed bars served cocktails based on several shows, and in the evening, guests watched live tapings of “Watch What Happens Live” with Andy Cohen, enjoyed a dj set and watched a cabaret performance.

In addition to ticket prices, which ranged from $124 to $699, Bravo monetized the event through food and beverage, exclusive experiences, event merch and sponsor integration, such as Pepsi’s launch of a rosé with Lisa Vanderpump.

Talk about a success. Tickets sold out in less than a minute after going on sale, which led to a resale frenzy for four times the price of the original ticket. Attendees came from 45 out of 50 states in the U.S. and 939 different cities. BravoCon was covered in 200 press stories. All in, the event earned 24.5 million social impressions and 400 million views on TikTok.

Brand: AT&T
Campaign: “Dream in Black” Activation at Essence
Agency: The 360 Agency

Brand: NBCUniversal
Campaign: The NBC Experience at San Diego Comic-Con
Agency: Giant Spoon

Brand: Michelob ULTRA
Campaign: MOVEMENT by Michelob ULTRA
Agency: Mosaic

When you think health and wellness, beer doesn’t always come to mind. Michelob ULTRA was determined to change that.

Through creating an owned event platform targeting health and wellness enthusiasts, the brand set out to increase positive perception of the low-calorie beer while promoting the idea that wellness doesn’t have to mean sacrifice and suffering. On the contrary: It can be fun.

The message was a new one for the brand. Prior to the campaign’s launch, Michelob ULTRA associated itself with more extreme fitness routines, like CrossFit and marathons. But in 2019 it pivoted from the warrior fitness lifestyle to occupy a more creative position within the wellness space.

The event series hit 50 cities and drew in 7,000 consumers, all of whom came together for affordable fitness and wellness activities to move, sweat and drink beer. The brand partnered with hundreds of local fitness studios, wellness influencers and professionals and health brands, which lent validity to the events.

Programming was designed around the brand’s four tenets of a balanced lifestyle: move, recover, evolve and revel. Classes that got attendees moving included boxing, spinning, dance and yoga. The recover tenet featured mass mediations, cryotherapy, reiki healing, facials and more.

For evolve, guests experienced inspirational talks from celebrities such as Scottie Pippen, panels about diversity in the wellness industry and cooking classes. And for revel programming, happy hours, pool parties, djs, dancing—and, of course, beer—was in abundance.

The event series garnered more than one billion impressions, 23,000 social mentions, sold out attendance and earned the brand 99 percent positive consumer sentiment. Moreover, 97 percent of attendees said they were more likely to drink Michelob ULTRA after attending a MOVEMENT event. Score.

Brand: Mastercard
Campaign: Rugby World Cup 2019
Agency: Octagon

Brand: Santa Margherita
Campaign: Follow the Vine
Agency: Factory360

Brand: Ally Financial
Campaign: Ally + MONOPOLY – Grow Your Fortune
Agency: PrizeLogic

To promote financial literacy in an entertaining way while highlighting the brand as one that delivers innovative digital experiences, Ally Financial created an in-browser, augmented-reality Monopoly game with 36 real-life game squares placed in high-traffic areas in six U.S. cities.

The idea was to make talking about money less intimidating by using the classic Hasbro game as a conduit. From research Ally conducted with The Harris Poll, the brand knew that 94 percent of respondents played board games involving money and the majority learned money concepts from them. Enter Monopoly.

Players received clues online that directed them towards the squares and then unlocked the game through scanning them. A dashboard kept track of the squares collected, and those who scanned all three properties in one city were entered into a sweepstakes with a grand prize of $50,000. Meanwhile, consumers had several chances to win smaller prizes, including Uber credits or $200 if they scanned “GO” while playing.

Adding to the experience were playful, giant replicas of Monopoly’s game pieces, such as a car, a top hot and Scottie the dog. The statues of the figures appeared in each of the six cities alongside a “Chance” game square, so that when players posted a photo with a game piece on social media using #AllyMonopoly they earned the chance to win a plethora of other prizes, such as headphones, electronic scooters and smart watches.

Moreover, the “Community Chest” square, when discovered, activated a donation made to the local Junior Achievement chapter to help fund youth financial literacy programs. To top it off, those players who wanted to get in on the action but did not live in a participating city could play an online digital scavenger hunt at PlayAlly.com to win cash prizes.

The results of the campaign supported the brand’s goals of increasing awareness and brand affinity, with the latter increasing by 25 percent. Sixty-one percent of consumers perceived Ally as customer-centric post-campaign and 55 percent said they would be more likely to think of the brand.

Best of all, for its key target market of affluent millennials, nearly 80 percent are more likely to think about the brand after being exposed to the campaign.

Brand: Saputo Cheese USA
Campaign: Fresh Family Favorites
Agency: HANGAR12

Brand: Dodge
Campaign: Dodge Horsepower Challenge
Agency: PrizeLogic

Brand: ViacomCBS
Campaign: Nickelodeon's JoJo Siwa for Amazon Prime Day
Agency: In-house

Jojo Siwa, a YouTube personality and Nickelodeon star, has no shortage of followers (a cool 10 million on Instagram). Or notoriety. However, the TV network saw the need to enhance the awareness of the celebrity’s consumer products business on Amazon, increase ecommerce sales and expand her portfolio of products.

The target was Prime Day and the audience was Jojo’s fanbase as well as Prime members with daughters aged 6-13. Nick partnered with the Amazon corporate marketing team, which identified tweens and families as a space for potential growth, and, using video to get consumers excited, Nick leveraged Jojo’s social following of 13 million YouTube subs and 17 million TikTok followers.

To cut through the Prime Day clutter, the brand focused on a robust content strategy by creating family-friendly shoppable content with 24 new Prime Day launch products and 30 deals—all showcased in nine different videos. All content was optimized for each format—on-site, app, through press—within the categories of apparel, toys and new ones for Jojo, like home and publishing

Placement of the content was optimized, too—on the Prime homepage, deal pages, FireTV, live selling and video in search. With the goal of upping ecommerce sales, one-click purchases of products were enabled directly within the video player.

On social media (Facebook, Instagram and YouTube), short clips featuring JoJo drove her mass following to longer-form videos on Amazon where purchases would occur. And on the ground, the brands created a custom storefront of JoJo videos. Consumers were driven there by accessing SmileCodes, which are Amazon QR codes, on branded kit giveaways in Times Square and Amazon stores.

A campaign differentiator was the new technology that was employed to drive conversions: shoppable video, voice selling through Alexa, video in search and SmileCodes.

The program drove a 61 percent lift in Nickelodeon product sales compared to the year prior, and JoJo toys performed 10 times better than on a typical day. Boom.

Brand: Frito-Lay North America
Campaign: Cheetos House of Flamin’ Haute
Agency: The Marketing Arm

Brand: e.l.f. Cosmetics
Campaign: Beautyscape Bahamas
Agency: Duncan Channon

Brand: Santa Margherita
Campaign: Follow the Vine
Agency: Factory360

Wine selection can be intimidating—and perhaps overwhelming—for shoppers. So, how does a brand stand out among a sea of labels? Santa Margherita needed to pop out from the crowd, but it also wanted to be sought after by wine lovers.

The solution: create brand loyalists through education within an experience designed to enhance retention—and turn attendees into knowledgeable, cultured fans of Santa Margherita.

The brand realized that in order to contribute to a conversation about wine, consumers must be armed with knowledge. Enter the “Follow the Vine” experience, a grapevine maze in which attendees would discover tasting notes, flavor pairings and visual experiences to strengthen memory retention at its various twists and turns. The purpose was to educate attendees so that they could discuss the wine, its origins and characteristics within social settings.

To enhance the likelihood of information retention, a strategy was needed. For that, the team turned to neuroscience. At each moment that information was being conveyed, a dopamine rush, in the form of an exciting moment, kicked in. From colorful cocktails to fancy hors d’oeuvres to an interactive wine tasting to the event’s culmination, a 360-degree film about the brand story, these strategically-placed moments supported the brand’s retention goals.

On a second event day for trade partners, attendees created abstract sculptures themed around the wine’s characteristics and turned the space into a sculpture garden.

To get attendees to RSVP and attend, Santa Margherita built a microsite with an online user journey for signups. The brand tracked interactions with the site and then created digital ads to retarget them.

As each event occurred, the team analyzed the engagement at one particular on-site touchpoint, a photo booth, and created look-a-like audiences with which to target potential attendees for the next event.

But the experience’s crowning jewel? A seven-minute film detailing the wine’s brand story within a hemispherical dome theater at the end of the maze. Using a multi-projector system, the Santa Margherita immersed attendees in a 3D-content environment with old footage, motion animations and projection mapping.

The event earned 915 million media impressions, which was more than 10 times the brand’s KPIs. Event impressions came in at 3.5 million, 31,000 samples were doled out and 18,000 people RSVP’d—more than twice the goal. Cheers to that.

Brand: Rivian
Campaign: Rivian x Honnold Foundation at Outdoor Retailer
Agency: The Pineapple Agency

Brand: Mastercard
Campaign: League of Legends Esports
Agency: Rogers and Cowan PMK

Brand: Ford Motor Company
Campaign: Mustang Mach-E Reveal
Agency: Imagination

Product reveals are splashy affairs. And the one for the Mach-E, which marked the first expansion of the Mustang family in 55 years, was no exception. The event needed to capture the audience’s attention, inspire them and drive reservations.

The Mustang Mach-E SUV was an exciting step for the company since it was bringing the brand into the electric age. So, instead of engaging just fans of the classic muscle car, Ford needed to target a younger, more tech-savvy demo as well—a new generation of potential Mustang owners.

The company turned to live entertainment to accomplish that. The show combined music, live performances, interviews, product demos and high-tech displays into one, genre-busting evening at the Jet Centre in Los Angeles.

The event used a TV show format with actor Idris Elba serving as host and welcoming additional special guests including Ken Block, Molly McQueen, Billy Johnson, Ben Collins and Bill Ford.

Presented to attendees in bite-sized segments across three separate stages for interviews and product demos, the show’s content took the audience through the journey of the Mustang brand and its new all-electric iteration.

Attendees’ attention spans were top of mind: Each segment in the production was just three minutes or less. Highlights of the production include a performance from the Detroit Youth Choir and a 28-foot-high pony used for projection mapping on stage.

By all accounts, the event was a success. The first edition Mach-E sold out nine days after the reveal. Mustang partnered with Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to live-stream the event, which helped it garner 5.9 million views within 48 hours and 1.3 million views on YouTube and Facebook. And talk about press coverage: More than 16,000 stories appeared online within the first 24 hours.

Brand: BMW
Campaign: Road to Coachella 2019
Agency: Mirrored Media

Brand: Amazon Prime Video
Campaign: Jack Ryan
Agency: Riddle & Bloom