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How Nike Likes to Celebrate Anniversaries

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Are anniversaries promotional? We’d like to think so. Nike’s shoe-inspired pop-ups have come a long way. Now, they’re extending into dynamic promotional territory with the brand’s “Sneakeasy” in promotion of its Nike Air Max. Air Max Day is a thing, and it’s been celebrated every year for the past four years. Highlighting the company’s past and present designs, Air Max Day is a much-celebrated event guaranteed to turn heads.

From East Coast to West Coast

In promotion of the Air Max’s 30 years of success, Nike’s Sneakeasy pop-up stand took an always-accessible approach. It traveled from New York City to Chicago, stopping in Toronto and Los Angeles on the way. Select locations featured the VaporMax model—which is one of the company’s newest, coveted, model.

Yeah, the event was based on R.S.V.P. interactions. That said, Nike’s interactive experiences don’t come cheap. Marketing real estate in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and Chicago is top-tier, and the brand excelled in highlighting its strategy while throwing a rad party.

All About the Art

The Sneakeasy, while inherently a promotional stand, offered interactive art experiences. Hosting live music performances, curated exhibits and local influencers, the Sneakeasy was a one-stop culture shop for locals and travelers alike. The interactive Air Max display was, of course, the centerpiece. Alongside the Nike Air Max 1 Flyknit, the Nike Air VaporMax made quite an impact.

Nike pulled it off by showcasing its many innovations, remixes and re-releases. According to Matthew Kneller, Nike North America’s communications director, it was the brand’s first-ever stab at a speakeasy-inspired pop-up. Understandably, speakeasies and sports don’t always mix. By commodifying quality products, however, Nike succeeded in giving consumers full product access while retaining the classiness and intimacy of a true-blue speakeasy display.

An Unorthodox Event Space

The Sneakeasy’s event spaces are worth mentioning. At every destination, Nike planted its feet in urban locations to engage consumers. The Toronto Sneakeasy, for example, was established in an unoccupied Chinatown warehouse. While unorthodox, the location still garnered attention. Guests who procured golden tickets from Nike’s much-advertised Air Max Bus were given VIP access. At every location, interiors were inspired by the much-loved Air Mx 90 style. There were upside-down shoe portraits. There were benches. Yes, there were Nike-themed history displays. Nike relied on intelligent modern artists to pull off the look—and it worked.

The first Air Max shoe rolled out in 1987. This brand cornerstone was highlighted by Bryan Espiritu—an artist who created a “Tear down this wall” display in homage to President Ronald Reagan’s Berlin Wall speech. Nike is a brand of culture. Like all cultural displays, its anniversary paired class with a modern edge. It was memorable, serving as modern proof that anniversaries still have great marketing potential. 

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How L’Oréal Paris Keeps it Fresh with Consumers

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L’Oréal Paris might be a beauty brand, but it has some DIY chops, too. In celebration of its newest product lines, the brand hosted a “Galentine’s Day” party in New York’s West Edge. February 13, the event’s day, was an unofficial holiday for L’Oréal Paris, featured on NBC’s Parks and Recreation. Centered on events for women, the faux holiday was powered by L’Oréal Paris spokeswoman, Blake Lively. High-fashion décor, activities and music were had, as well as Valentine’s Day card creation.

Design Elements and the Art of DIY

The event catered to jewelry-lovers, too. Attendees could have their necklaces engraved, check out new fashion options and compare styles. Cookie decoration highlighted the event’s sweet tooth touch, and a variety of celeb-hosted introductions brought the average consumer’s vision to life.

There were about 15 DIY stations. Guests could listen to DJ Vashtie songs, get their feet wet with crafts and check out classic clips gathered from a variety of memorable movies and television shows. All products on display, of course, were up for grabs. The combination of practical DIY and digital is a good one, and L’Oréal Paris decision makers took on several beauty influencers who snapped, posted and shared photos.

Explore, Discover and Share

The event’s mantra was “explore, discover and share.” Non-traditional lighting, instrumentation and DIY stands certainly turned the age-old event participation approach on its head. Guests were urged to snap their best creations, creating environments capable of reaching high visibility on social media. Aside from L’Oréal Paris’s influencers, the event received attendance from a 300-plus crowd. V.I.P. members, of course, came out to play. L’Oréal Paris president, Tim Coolican, was one such memorable face. Other notable figures, like actress Robyn Lively, similarly attended.

Product Launches and Crafts

The arts-and-crafts area was covered by a lush, floral canopy. The area was outfitted by Tinsel & Twine and Agency, empowering the creativity of attendees. DIY card-making may not seem like a profitable event investment at first, but the event’s station packed plenty of embellishments capable of packing in personalized touches. Paper Fashion’s Katie Rodgers, meanwhile, offered highly customized guest illustrations. At every level, the event was attendee-centric.

When you combine Polaroid cameras, quirky props and several impromptu photo shoots, you’re set up for success. Take note: L’Oréal Paris has quickly become one of this year’s most notable DIY pop-up event providers, mostly due to their consumer dedication. In the world of event marketing, few brands get it better.

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Once Again, SOBEWFF Delights its Guests

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The South Beach Wine & Food Festival, more commonly known to its fans as the SOBEWFF, celebrated its 16th anniversary in Miami this past weekend. Even though the event just ended, we can still look to it to see this year's top trends and adapt them for our own events in the upcoming months. Here are some of the things that took the spotlight:

Tastings and Demonstrations

This year's tastings didn't stop with serving up food to curious attendees. The Grand Tastings were all accompanied by demonstrations by KitchenAid so people could see how to make the dishes at home. Of course, doing so would presumably involve buying some KitchenAid products. These were integral to the demonstrations, and many people who view such demos come to the feeling that they have to have the items shown within them. Needless to say, that's the plan.

Intimate Dinners Hosted by Well-Known People

While the big A-listers of Hollywood weren't hosting dinners, SOBEWFF did get some notable personalities to do the honors. Each dinner featured a different person or group who, for the most part, are known for their food or wine expertise. This type of dinner has been trending for a few years now, and many people are fans. Importantly, the term "intimate" doesn't refer to the sort of dinner that caters to lovebirds. Instead, it's a chance to talk to the hosts in a setting that is far more personable, or intimate, than the typical stage-to-audience speech setup.

Fitness Events

Companies have tried to make fitness into a trend for years, but it is now finally catching on. Two "Buddhas and Bellinis" events happened over the course of SOBEWFF and drew plenty of people to the yoga-themed mass classes. Other fitness-related events were geared toward families, and some included healthy cooking. It's clear that people are still interested in fitness and healthy food, and that the longstanding association between these things and deprivation dieting is continuing to fade.

Celebrity Chef Talks and Signings

A couple of decades ago, the very idea of a celebrity chef was all but unheard-of. Now, there are several making the rounds. People always love to get closer to celebrities, so it was a hit for SOBEWFF to bring in well-known chefs and home experts. The topics were highly varied, with one on the future of restaurant operations on all sizes and another that claimed that political discussion outright belongs at the dinner table.

While it's hard to match the scale of a festival like SOBEWFF, you can make your event a big hit by using it for inspiration. The other thing you need is a great venue. Try our flexible 70,000 square foot space here at Soho Studio for your own Miami extravaganza.

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Edible Graffiti in Wynwood

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It isn’t often art and food are mixed so intimately. Sara Myers’ cooking series, titled “Sprouted Chef,” returned on Monday, September 21, with an unbelievable approach to Wynwood’s already delectable art scene.

A Nontraditional Art Display

Experiential marketing efforts are constantly changing, but they’re still available to time-tested-and-true eye openers. Monday’s artistic iteration was a selection of edible masterpieces created from savory vegetable purées. Each event-goer was handed “canvas” plates—to be used for color mixing, pattern creation, texture guessing and, yes, tasting.

Each recipe, Sarah Myers revealed, was a concoction of fennel, beets, sweet potatoes, roasted red peppers, curried cauliflower, garlic spinach, carrot harissa and cashew cauliflower. Purple potatoes made an appearance, too, to spice up the color pallet. Attendees were given the option to add their own, hand-selected entree spices and sides, too, ranging across nuts, vegetables, flowers and shaved ribbons.

The Flavor Profile Creation

Primarily, Myers aimed to create a fully interactive class for participants to expand their creative horizons. By tying food and graffiti together, she was capable of ensuring the artist’s overall perspective was preserved while keeping things spicy all day. While attendees needn’t be color masters, art connoisseurs or even massively creative, the food aspect tied most together to bring visual pieces of art to life.

Collaboration wasn’t out of the cards, either. Artist Pedro Amos arrived to assist the classes. Pedro, himself, was Wynyard’s very own graffiti artist—one who’d previously painted its Orlando mural. The two hit it off, furthering the artistic allure of Wynyard. Because collaboration was more than expected, the dynamic duo succeeded in creating a truly organic event.

Combining Marketing Experiences

Sure, old dogs can’t learn new tricks. The combination of two marketing powerhouses—food and art—is, however, an entirely different beast. The Wynwood way has continuously facilitated the relationship between art and South Florida food, and Myers’ hotplate approach and homage to the historically Art-Deco-dominated area is refreshing. Where self-promotion is considered, Myers couldn’t have hit the nail squarer on the head. Her iteration of public taste tests, representation of versatility and sheer love of art carried her series, Sprouted Chef. While Sprouted Chef airs episodes on a weekly basis, events like Monday's are incredibly valuable to maintaining viewership.

It’s slightly rare to see a cooking series successfully navigate the cross-market waters between painting and food dish creation. Myers’ approach, for this reason, is both bold and innovative. Myers has wanted to propose new seasonal concepts for some time—to both elevate her show and highlight Wynwood’s community. The event crossed a communication barrier many marketing approaches fail to surpass, and Myers ability to strike up conversations about her show, on their turf, is nothing short of extraordinarily creative.

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The Real Deal South Florida's 3rd Annual Real Estate Showcase & Forum

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Get Ready, South Florida, for The Real Deal's South Florida 3rd Annual Real Estate Showcase and Forum to be held at SOHO Studios on Thursday, October 20, 2016 from 10 AM until 6 PM.  This promises to be one of the biggest Real Estate events ever! The Real Deal, considered the bible of New York City's real estate, is hosting what they are already promoting as their record-breaking real estate showcase listing a full day of panels, networking and viewing new developments.  Last year's event hosted more than 4,500 real estate professionals and business leaders and this year's event already promises to exceed those numbers.

Save the Date.  If you are a real estate professional, or someone just interested in learning more about South Florida's real estate then you'll want to make sure you're at this event.  The event has grown exponentially so much so that they have tripled the venue space in order to accommodate the attendees.  Here are a few more reasons you should be at The Real Deal's South Florida 3rd Annual Real Estate Showcase and Forum:

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  • The event is going to be huge, so The Real Deal plans to accommodate their guests at the beautiful SOHO Studios , our own venue which also happens to be Miami’s largest event space.  Situated in the Wynwood district, it is a one of a kind large event venue space designed to host functions from 150 to thousands.
  • All attendees will be privy to a full day of events including 4 Panels and great food & drinks compliments of local Miami merchants.
  • This year's event will host 4 Panels, 50 Developments, and 4,500 plus Prospects. You won't believe how much there is to see and do.
  • This not to be missed opportunity to network and expose your brand is so extraordinary that it sells out sponsorships every year.  Confirmed sponsor for this year's event include:

Douglas Elliman Real Estate, U.S. Immigration Fund, One/Southeby's International Realty, ArX Solutions, Meridian Capital Group, The Palms Residences, The Highlands, Jenn-Air, ALNO, Citi, Paramount Miami Worldcenter, Oneworld Properties, and Allure.  

About The Real Deal

The Real Deal knows and understands their business... and yours.  Since 2003 they have delivered time sensitive industry news and in-depth reports with a monthly circulation of over 60,000 readers and over 1 million unique visitors monthly online.  They are on the cutting-edge when it comes to real estate across the nation, and when it comes to the issues and needs unique to real estate professionals they are at the top of the pile.  Just recently The Real Deal received a record-breaking 12 National Association of Real Estate Editors awards.  Among their top honors was the Gold for Best Residential Trade Magazine and a Silver for Best Commercial Trade Magazine.

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Mike’s Hard Lemonade Goes for a Guinness World Record

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When Mike's Hard Lemonade decided that it needed to catch people's attention, it knew that boring TV ads and newspaper coupons weren't going to cut it. It would need to do something noticeable – and do it in a way that made people care that it had done so. That's why they decided to create an experiential marketing campaign like none other before. How did they do it?...

The first thing they kept in mind was the desired brand image. Mike's Hard Lemonade is an alcoholic brand, but it's beverages are quite different from standard beers and other alternatives. This naturally leads to positioning the brand as new, young, and different. Now, they just needed to think of how to draw a large audience and make sure that the Mike's name stayed with them.

They decided that the best way to do this would be to break a fun world record. The Guinness Book record for: "Most Candles on a Cake," was chosen as the target. Next, they needed to get people interested enough to not only spread the message, but directly partake in the history-making event.

Social Media

Social media fans have become immune to most companies' endless requests for likes and retweets. Mike's Hard Lemonade needed a way to get them to truly want to like their page. They hit on tying the number of likes to the number of candles on the cake, with each like resulting in the addition of a candle. The result? The cake ended up with 51,151 candles crammed across its entire top surface.

The Movie

The idea of putting 51,151 candles on a cake naturally leaves people with plenty of questions. How will they fit? Will they be lit? If so, how? They decided to answer them with an exciting short film that uses exciting camera angles and zooms to capture all of the critical points.

For those who watch the movie, the answer to the first question comes fast. The candles all fit because the cake is huge. Then, people are drawn further into the experience as they get to see that the candles are indeed lit – with torches! After more exciting key scenes, the finale makes every viewer cheer: The Guinness judge proclaims the record beaten!

Crafting experiential marketing campaigns that work as well as this one requires skill, experience, and plenty of creativity and verve. Contact us the next time you want to make sure that your brand stands out, not just for the presence of its advertising, but for its ability to get people to care about it.

Remember that experiential marketing doesn't just take place online and in movies. The people who partake in person need an unforgettable place to participate. Call us to reserve our venue, SoHo Studios, to make sure that everyone loves being a part of your event!