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FIVE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK This week’s hot takes on hot topics in experiential marketing cover boozy “sailgates,” Golden Porta Potties and a “Bridgerton” bust.   FYRE FEST MEETS WONKA? THIS ‘BRIDGERTON’ EVENT WAS A SPECTACULAR FAILURE Come to the ball, they said. It’ll be glamorous, they said. Let’s just say the only fancy thing about the “Bridgerton”-themed ball in Detroit was the majority of superfans who arrived dressed to the nines in their “Regency era” finest. The Sept. 22 event, which was...

The third annual Agency Forum convenes at Dream Downtown in New York City on Nov. 13, where experiential agency leaders will hear about agency growth strategies and blueprints, trends, client retention, and driving innovation. But this year, we’re reimagining the format. Leading Agency Forum 2024 are the experts from Projectory.live, who will incorporate playful, collaborative content experiences throughout the day that will have leaders thinking differently about not only their roles, businesses...

Gabriela Neves, Partner, Factory360 Data from Event Marketer’s annual Event Agency Business Forecast indicated that 2024 would be a year of growth, as agency leaders reported business development, hiring and marketing among their top three investments. Early findings from our 2025 forecast (out this November) show “people” continue to be a key investment for agency leaders, remaining second in line in their top investments heading into next year. “What I’m seeing is more people in our industry,”...

LEO Events has formed a strategic partnership with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, launching a new corporate event strategy, promotion and production minor offered jointly through the College of Communication and Information (CCI) and the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences. Beginning this fall, students will learn b-to-b event marketing, production and event management through classroom, instructional and hands-on training for the 15-hour minor, as well as have the opportunity...

Little Cinema, which burst onto the experiential marketing agency scene in 2016, has helped clients, ranging from Amazon Prime Video to the Kansas City Chiefs to Disney, reimagine their creative possibilities through technology integration and content. It’s been a busy season since the group picked up the 2024 Grand Ex award for Taco Bell’s Live Más LIVE last April, an industry-first product showcase experience held leading up to the Super Bowl. We dig into lessons from that project with the Little...

Lighting effects can greatly impact your mood and, thus, the moods of your event attendees. It may affect how they take in information, their energy levels and their overall happiness. But beyond mood lighting (which, side note, MGM Resorts International studied extensively as it developed its Stay Well Meetings program), a/v elements within experiences create feasts for the eyes, generate fodder for social posts and have the potential to increase brand loyalty (check out this compilation of insights...

School buses are among the experiential marketing industry’s earliest rides. In fact, a quick flip back in our archives to 2002 will reveal a Peeps tour housed in a school bus, one of many longer haul programs to emerge in that era as event budgets increased and the concept of the event campaign grew along with them (read: tours). Flash forward to last month, as Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS World Tour blew up on TikTok with a purple star-covered school bus as the hub, and it’s clear the charm and convenience...

When two brands come together, they become megaphones for one another, boosting messaging and profiles. Add in more partners, and you have a full-blown cross-promotion strategy, as well as a well-rounded experience for event attendees. But what goes into finding the right brand to collaborate with? Does the key lie in similar audiences or products? What about complementary brand aesthetics? We rounded up eight case studies that show successful partnerships don’t just happen because of similar backgrounds,...

National Geographic has captured many natural wonders of the world and shared them through its breadth of content, and at Disney’s D23 superfan event in Anaheim, CA, attendees got a chance to plant themselves in the middle of it all at the “Hexadome.” To remind fans that Nat Geo offers a diverse collection of content and that it all falls under the Disney umbrella, the brand built a spherical theater installation that enveloped viewers in its top series and transported them around the planet with...

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK This week’s hot takes on hot topics in experiential marketing cover flavor fantasies, speed-dating picnics and GenAI Lofts.   SINGLES SWIPE RIGHT ON FRESHDIRECT’S SPEED-DATING PICNIC IN NYC Research shows that in-person dating is making a solid comeback as singles grow increasingly frustrated with digital-first dating. Case in point: A recent Forbes health survey showed that 79 percent of Gen Z are reporting “dating app burnout.” And for online grocery delivery brand...