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Aveeno, Coach, Kia and more get in on the rising WNBA hype With the WNBA continuing to hit record viewership and attendance numbers, the league’s 30th season celebration couldn’t have come at a better time, and All-Star Weekend in Chicago continued to build on that momentum. The game on July 25 at the United Center was the second most-viewed WNBA All-Star ever, and it brought in the largest crowd in the event’s history. But the real kicker was that for the first time, the WNBA All-Star Game drew...

Jessica Sibila, Executive Director, The Exhibitor Advocate Many exhibitor service manuals contain an EAC fee. Most exhibit and event marketers have never been told what it is, what it covers, or why it keeps showing up. Open the exhibitor services manual for your next show and scroll past the carpet and the electrical order forms. Somewhere in the labor section sits a line item called the EAC fee. It is sometimes listed at upwards of $350. At some shows it is charged more than once for the same contractor....

Fans encounter training facilities, auction houses, quests and carnivals As far as pop culture events go, San Diego Comic-Con is Mecca. In the beginning, fans flocked to the annual convention to explore their favorite media through exclusive panel content at the convention center. These days, they attend for the first-rate brand experiences that take place around the Gaslamp Quarter, too. From the badge-holders, to the superfans who can’t get their hands on a ticket, activations at SDCC tend to welcome...

Since childhood, Dr. Ilana Gilovich-Stossel has been drawn to magic of storytelling and the world-building and imagination that go into it, especially in the theatrical medium. Through her English literature studies and Ph.D. earned at Columbia University, she homed in on the academic side of theatrical performance, which has influenced her career as a creative director and experience designer. Gilovich-Stossel spent 13 years working with “Sleep No More” and Emursive Productions, stepping into various...

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK This week’s hot takes on hot topics in experiential marketing cover the Febreze Boot Room Tour, folding pubs and Peroni Portals. SPORTS PLAYERS SMELL BAD. FEBREZE HAS A TOUR FOR THAT. As the Official Odor Fighter of Major League Soccer, Febreze clearly has no problem being real about the fact that sweaty sports players stink up all kinds of surfaces and materials, including those that can’t be thrown in the washer, from couches to gear to car upholstery. So to give its...

Our Cannes Lions 2026 coverage continues with more brand action from the annual festival of creativity, this year June 22-26. From patisseries to panels, here’s a look at another batch of experiential highlights from the French Riviera.   CADENT’S SALON While the Croisette was bustling with cabanas and exclusive suites, adtech brand Cadent carved out fresh real estate in town to solve a known pain point amid the French Riviera’s mega-heat by offering touch-ups, blowouts and a glass of champagne during...

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK This week’s hot takes on hot topics in experiential marketing cover a margarita salt cave, museum spectacles and Dragon Solstices.   CAYMAN JACK ANSWERS BACK-TO-OFFICE MANDATES WITH A MARGARITA SALT CAVE While (evil) corporations are forcing employees back into the office in large numbers, ready-to-drink cocktail brand Cayman Jack wants to ease the pain by reigniting post-work happy hours, which diminished in the fallout of the pandemic. So on June 25, the brand popped...

If you thought 2023’s “Barbie” movie summer was the end of the pink trend, think again. Brands have been leaning into the bubblegum palette to spark feelings of playfulness, creativity, coziness and, often, empowerment in their activations. While Barbie collabs have been driving a lot of the reenergized pink craze, companies have staked their own claim on shades of the rosy color. Take LoveShackFancy. The apparel and lifestyle brand became known among Gen Z for its coquette aesthetic and blush, flower-pattered...

The who’s-who of the marketing and communications world converged from June 22-26 for a week of education, idea exchanges and relationship-building at the 2026 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Once again, some of the best interactions and experiences took place outside of the Palais des Festivals. And let’s just say there was a lot happening. So we began with part one of our coverage, spanning activations, suites and VIP events that took place on the Croisette and beyond. Check...

Welcome to Studio Sessions, interviews filmed in the field with the minds behind the moments. In this episode, Sylvia Lopez-Navarro, national manager of brand experience, corporate events and auto shows at Kia America, joins us at the 2026 Experiential Marketing Summit to discuss how brands like Kia are building real emotional connections with audiences, what that actually looks like in practice, and the small, unexpected moments that often land hardest. Plus, we explore what it means to feel fully...