FIVE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK
This week’s hot takes on hot topics in experiential marketing cover $0 Days, cosmic luggage and AI Journey Accelerators.
DONUT UNDERESTIMATE BRAND PARTNERSHIPS
Freebies abounded on Nov. 19 during the first-ever “$0 Day” as Grubhub celebrated its Delivery’s Other Half campaign, which offers Amazon Prime Members $0 Grubhub delivery fees. Hosted at Chicago’s Pioneer Park, along the Magnificent Mile, consumers who stopped by the footprint encountered a 12-foot-tall, co-branded inflatable donut that teased the new offering and prompted plenty of social sharing.
Beyond the giant pastry, a food truck dished out $0 deals, including free coffee, hot chocolate and donuts from Chicago-area staple Stan’s Donuts & Coffee. Attendees were additionally encouraged to sign up for Amazon Prime Grubhub+ on the spot by scanning QR codes printed on signage, coffee sleeves and napkins. Plus, new and existing subscribers received gift cards from Grubhub and Amazon as surprise-and-delight gifts.
To drive awareness on social, Grubhub conducted on-the-street-style interviews featuring attendees reacting in the moment to learning about the $0 benefit. Plus, foodies at home could follow the campaign as the brands tapped into Chicago landmarks, including Wrigley Field, with CGI takeovers that saw the massive donut rolling on through.
Adding to the action was an LED truck that drove a popular circuit around Chicago to drive awareness of the partnership and intrigue in the event. It’s safe to say we would have followed that truck all the way to $0 donuts. (Agency: BMF)
ALL THAT SHIMMERED AT AWAY’S COSMIC LAUNCH EVENT
For the launch of its glitter-infused, limited-edition holiday line earlier this month, luggage brand Away brought the shimmer of the new Cosmic collection to life with an event “under the stars” at Xanadu, a roller disco located in Brooklyn, NY. With a dj spinning a ’70s soundtrack, attendees were invited to skate around the rink and check out floral-themed installations featuring the new products.
Off of the rink, attendees enjoyed ’70s-era f&b, like cosmic brownies and blue drinks garnished with cotton candy, and they had a chance to get mini crossbody bags custom bedazzled by a rhinestone artist. Groovy. (Partner: Care of Chan)
THIS ROMAN COLOSSEUM INSTALLATION WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was the enormous “Gladiator II” installation that towered over attendees during the film’s red-carpet premiere on Nov. 18 in Los Angeles. The façade of the renowned TCL Chinese Theatre Hollywood was indeed transformed into a replica Roman Colosseum, standing 40-feet-tall and 80-feet wide, and complete with 20 statues, giant columns and a grand, 30-foot-tall archway that served as the event entrance. (For more “Gladiator II” experiential news, check out last week’s Pepsi COLAsseum experience.)
The feat was the product of 25,000 people hours put in by more than 100 workers across five weeks of fabrication. Our favorite part? The installation wasn’t exclusive to talent and VIPs; it’s open to the public through the end of the month. Are you not entertained? (Partner: Avenge Creative, fabrication)
Photo credit: Line 8 Photography
TECH WORLD ATTENDEES MEET AN ‘AI JOURNEY ACCELERATOR’
“Smarter AI for All” was the event theme at the Lenovo Tech World ’24 user conference in Seattle last month, but the host didn’t just want attendees to learn more about AI, it wanted them to interact with it. Enter: the Lenovo Solutions and Services Group’s AI Journey Accelerator, a personalized digital photo op powered by GenAI.
The Accelerator was something of a meta experience in that it was not only powered by AI, but was also designed to help attendees better understand how to implement “smarter AI for all” within their organizations.
Through a combination of interactive questions and a Stable Diffusion image generation model, the activation determined where participants were in their current AI adoption process, then assigned them one of five persona-types that represented stages in a customer’s AI journey: Investigator, Navigator, Catalyst, Coach and Achiever. Based on their identity, attendees were then provided with personalized insights and resources, and a unique, animation-inspired GenAI portrait.
Ultimately, more than half of Tech World ’24 attendees engaged with the AI Journey Accelerator, which will now be a permanent feature of Lenovo’s trade show presence moving forward. To infinity and beyond… (Partners: Event Strategy Group; Fivestone)
THIS TRACK AND FIELD EVENT IS MORE GOOD NEWS FOR WOMEN’S SPORTS
Step aside, New York City Marathon. A new kind of race is making headlines.
In September, Athlos NYC served as a groundbreaking event that redefined track and field by bringing together the world’s fastest women to compete for the largest-ever prize purse in a women’s-only meet. The brainchild of Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, the event was held at Icahn Stadium in New York, where the audience experienced a blend of high-stakes racing, live entertainment and in-stadium sponsorship activations.
The competition, which was livestreamed on a variety of platforms for fans at home, featured multiple live music performances—including a headline set by Megan Thee Stallion—along with a red-carpet fashion walk for athletes and their guests, walk-out songs, sparklers and smoke effects for each of the 36 competitors and, of course, the promise of $60,000. Athlos also offered ranking points for the athletes’ global standings.
On the sponsorship end, Tiffany & Co. was a premiere partner, and central to a unique aspect of the event: a crowning ceremony where winners were presented with custom Tiffany crowns in a special on-stage celebration. What’s more, the competitors were treated to a series of pre-race events that highlighted their accomplishments. We say: three cheers for the continued rise of women’s sports. (Agency: Game Seven)
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