Event Marketing Trends: What to Watch for in 2017

Event marketing has come a long way. In 2016, marketers innovate constantly to offer unique, engaging displays. In recent years, a few trends have risen to the top—and decision makers are utilizing the world’s newest technology to create unprecedented initiatives. Check out these winning event marketing trends guaranteed to make a splash in 2017, and set your sights on creativity.

One: Event Sponsorship

In the past, event hosts and sponsors united with logos, branding partnerships and insight seminars. Now, intensive sponsorship opportunities highlight the relationship. Today’s experiential marketing platforms are expanding to event marketing initiatives, and both brands and hosts are joining hands to elevate sponsors. They’re boosting ROI while furthering symbolic partnerships. Unlike the symbolic partnerships of the past, however, these partnerships are highlighted, grown and promoted via intensive funding campaigns.

Two: Event Streaming

Live events are here, and they’re only getting better. Already, platforms like Facebook Live, Periscope and Meerkat are emerging to create next-level events. Hosting quality content at break-neck speeds, these platforms are advancing the world of seamless event presentations.

While live steaming is still being improved upon, it shows a lot of promise. Initiatives like Thursday Night Football, created by Twitter, reached 243,000 streamers. Audiences are being primed for real-time event broadcasts, and event marketing is next in line for the batter’s box.

Three: Augmented Reality Mobile Apps

You’ve probably heard about the much-touted augmented reality initiatives. AR, too, is still being worked on—but it’s gained a lot of ground in recent years. Brands are expected to experiment with augmented reality quite a bit in 2017, utilizing mobile platforms as jumping off points. If Pokémon Go is any evidence of AR’s capabilities, event marketers had better hustle to catch up. Already, brands are utilizing the iPhone’s visual overlay services to create scavenger hunts, product promotions and in-store sales events.

Four: Data Analytics

Big data is already a major marketing tool. In 2017, experts believe it’ll emerge in the event marketing world. Mobile event apps aren’t new, but in-event data gathering is still fresh. With mobile beacon technology, mobile polling, real-time surveys and social media mobile analysis available, decision makers have incredible resource power. State-of-the-art cloud computing services, too, are making headway in the event marketing world, giving event marketers total reign over gathered data to further entire marketing campaigns.

Advanced marketing automation is likely to boost many of 2017’s event marketing initiatives. Technology is growing at a rapid pace, and it’ll expand upon business opportunities as the Internet of Things grows. Big data, of course, is a leading factor. In any event, real-time services will probably frame leading event marketing initiatives. After all, who doesn’t like seamlessness?

Come Be a Kid Again with MCM and Soho Studios

At Soho Studios, we believe everyone gets the chance to be a kid. It’s time to enrich the lives of others, fostering a love for everything cultural while promoting community involvement. By meeting children across the multicultural community, Soho Studios and the Miami Children’s Museum offer extensive meet-ups with programs, exhibits and art displays.

The Community Connection

The Miami Children’s Museum is all about community. Here at Soho Studio’s, we’re all about networking. Florida residents can kick back, enjoy the festivities and engage community efforts at every level. At every turn, an exhibit waits to be found. The Miami Children’s Museum’s “Be a Kid Again” Gala presents the area’s leading cultural displays. While networking is a major event feature, entertainment, culinary delights and education, of course, are promoted.

Every child in the community is welcome, as are parents, to engage in the Museum’s teaching goals. The community connection is far-reaching, connecting event-goers with a variety of exhibits. Co-chaired by Christy and David Martin, alongside Daniela Swaebe and Michael Comras, the Be a Kid Again Gala excels in connecting Soho Studios with its wonderful surrounding community.

Fundraising at the Family Level

Soho Studios believes every fundraising opportunity thrives upon family involvement. To meet the community’s needs, Soho has connected with museum professionals. Programs, interactive exhibits and art-related learning materials are only the beginning.

Powerful fundraising excels when children of all ages are allowed to imagine, learn, play and create together. In the past, Soho Studios has assisted with similar community involvement initiatives. No great idea is created alone, and we believe fun begins with helping others. Miami Children’s Museum is one of the area’s premier institutions, serving entire families by inspiring them about their surrounding community’s needs. By prompting involvement via literacy programs, art workshops and childhood education, Miami Children’s Museum succeeds in raising awareness.

A Wonderful Outreach Location

Soho Studios is located in Wynwood, Miami’s Art District. Over the years, it’s evolved to encompass the city’s expression. Soho Studios is Miami’s epicenter of expression, creativity and opportunity. Every campaign, fundraising event and initiative is treated with sincerity. Soho Studios believes in Miami Children’s Museum, and we’re proud to create a platform of continuity for future efforts.

Visit our studios, and check out our extensive art, culture and education showcase. At Soho Studios, events are constantly changing. The community always comes first, as do its needs. With over 70,000 square feet available, we’re ready to host extravagant, yet intuitive, community support events. Come on over, and be a kid again at one of this year’s biggest gala’s. We’ll be waiting, and we’ll be ready to show you the enthusiasm of our community’s bright, intelligent minds.

Community: Adobe's Stunningly Effective MAX 2016 Pavilion

Pavilion-based events are all about bringing attendees into the experience, and Adobe MAX's Community Pavilion did not disappoint. It used a variety of unique and offbeat methods to get people fully immersed and keep their attention throughout the event. There's no doubt that this area was noticed – not just for its many electronics-based exhibits, but for the scattering of pool float-style seats on the floor in one area. Here, patrons got to relax in inflatable geese, flamingoes, and turtles to play with Adobe software on tablets or just take a load off their feet. In the background, a big LEGO-style bench provided more elevated seating in a more solid form.

Elsewhere, the exhibits took on a more traditional look for a software/electronics event, but they didn't skimp on providing activities. A project area with big screens was dedicated to Adobe's Make It software and gave visitors a chance to check it out in person. Other hands-on exhibits included one that let users make custom t-shirts, an examination of the emotions involved in creativity, and an area that included real Airstream trailers indoors along with recharging stations for patrons' devices.

Overall, the Adobe MAX event did two very important things for the company. It let the firm showcase its overall look and feel, which is one of creativity that can be taken in any direction a customer chooses. Next, it allowed users to see all of its offerings in a way that got them to actually try them out. This is very important for companies whose products are better off experienced than merely explained.

Your company doesn't have to be Adobe to put on a great, fully-immersive show. All you need is an exciting theme and some exhibits for people to interact with.

You also need a venue large enough to hold your expected audience. Our venue, Soho Studios in Miami, can provide up to 70,000 feet of space that can be adapted for any event. We can even repaint it to match your specs or transform it for more extensive extravaganzas. Just give us a call. We'll be glad to work with you.

How Wearables and Emotions Created the Perfect Artwork for Infiniti

Pebble Beach’s Concours d’Elegance auto show was host to Infiniti’s latest, greatest promotional strategy, hosting consumers, car-lovers and tech junkies alike. The Infiniti Pavilion gave users an armband, but it wasn’t governed by generic haptic technology. Event-goers could “transform” their emotions upon Infiniti’s finest product selection, creating a color spread up to 44 feet long across an LED screen.

The Biometric Interactive Experience

Infiniti’s wearable armband devices weren’t alone, either. Microphones and cameras, outfitted to gauge attendee emotions, assisted with the transformation. As individuals engaged with Infiniti’s cars, data insights were gathered. Infiniti’s further engagements, of course, will utilize the collected data.

That isn’t to say Infiniti’s Pavilion was a one-stop-shop for a data campaign. The company’s ability to impact, engage and educate consumers is titanic in the industry, and it plans to further its reputation by tapping into its own static car displays. Titled, aptly, as Driven by Emotion, Infiniti’s experience balanced its reputation as a luxury automaker with the unexplored waters of concept car promotion.

The Ride-and-Drive Experience

Last year, Infinity connected with drivers via a virtual reality experience. Also centric to the manufacturer’s concept cars, Infiniti’s virtual tour paved the road to this year’s Pavilion experience. Aside from its adoption of biometrics, Infiniti also sponsored a full-fledged concert headlined by OneRepublic.

Attendees looking for a typical—albeit energy-driven—experience could, of course, check out Infiniti’s line-up alongside its age-old ride-and-drive experience. Freed from the virtual realm, Infiniti’s hands-on driving experience took to different realms of modern technology. Driven by Emotion was powered by armbands capable of determining the wearer’s movements, gestures and even muscle cell activity.

How, you ask? Each band was connected to sensors—and each sensor was connected to a corresponding car. While the pavilion’s surrounding cameras determined facial expressions and room “sentiment,” the Pavilion’s proximity microphones measured conversation level changes within and around each car.

How Far Can Real-Time Responsiveness Go?

Sure, drivers might not have been directly “driven” by emotion, but their collected data was evidence enough of their driving habits. Driven by Emotion pulled each driver’s data into an algorithm, combining different data sets into digital artwork. The LED screens, of course, were viewable. After the event, each armband’s data was further transferred into a comprehensive artwork poster.

Infiniti’s approach to data solutions is unique. One of its leading models—the Infiniti Q60—even packed a steering-wheel-mounted heartbeat center. Astounding things happen when data is useful to both an auto manufacturer and its drivers, and Infiniti certainly debunks the industry's age-old “data is exclusive to businesses” trope. Few can determine Infiniti’s future, yet most are resigned to understand the manufacturer’s prominence in the automotive world. Now, however, its dedication to “driven” data has turned automotive marketing on its head—which may not be a bad thing.

If your company is looking for a venue for its own experiential marketing event, check out Soho Studios in Miami, Florida. We have multiple event spaces that are perfect for big events of various sizes, so you can be sure that you can fit a huge crowd inside. Whether you're planning one event or a multi-venue tour, make sure one of your stops is with us at Soho Studios!

Why Brands are Placing Value on Live Events

Live events have always been a valuable component of any marketing strategy. However, in the 21st century, the value for brands of hosting live events has grown exponentially. In a world where customers might interact primarily, or even entirely with a company, on-line, a live event might be the only chance that a brand has to impress a customer in a face to face interaction. Here's a quick look at how three brands are taking advantage of what live events have to offer.

1. Casper is a mattress company which Forbes called a mattress disruptor over the summer after it revealed it was on track to reach $200 million in sales. The company sells mattresses online, delivering them in a box. and because of reduced overhead, is able to offer prices that are greatly reduced from the traditional showroom model. However, if there was ever an industry in which consumers would desire an in-person shopping experience, the chance to check out the feeling of a mattress would be it. One way that Casper combats this is by offering a free 100 day return period. And the other method is to host live events. From a nationwide "Nap Tour" to events that combine rock climbing and free beer, these live events simultaneously serve to provide the traditional marketing value of live events, while also giving consumers an opportunity to experience the product.
2. Zappos, an on-line shoe retailer, is in a similar situation to Casper, in that it sells a product that consumers have a vested interest in being able to interact with before purchase. While at this point, consumers are much more accustomed to buying (and returning) shoes on-line than buying a mattress, the company still values the in-person interaction. Catherine Cook, the company's awareness marketing and public relations associate, puts it this way, "we love to get in front of our customers. We love to get that one-to-one connection; we call it the personal-emotional connection—really creating solid conversations and getting good feedback from our customers, and just talking to them because it’s not something we get to do often." In 2013, the company moved their headquarters from Henderson, Nevada to downtown Las Vegas, where they built the "Downtown Project." The innovative campus, which would be at home in Austin, Texas or Silicon Valley, features an area built from shipping containers, designed to host events, creating a community that serves as a model for the company throughout the country.
3. Tinder. While finding love on-line will always lead to in-person interactions when successful, that in-person interaction is between consumers, not directly with the company; the brand might play no role in that interaction. When using a dating service, people are engaging with a company on an intimate level, making themselves vulnerable, yet it's not unusual to have any direct interaction with that company outside of the digital world. By having live events, Tinder is creating a more direct relationship with users and as Josh Metz, the company's director of marketing, points out, "we like to keep the brand relevant and cool and it’s a great way to reach our target audience." One of Tinder's first advertising partners was Bud Light, and the campaign allowed users to "swipe right" in order to win the chance to attend Bud Light hosted live event parties, called "Whatever, USA."

If your company is looking for a venue for its own live event, check out Soho Studios in Miami, Florida. Our multiple event spaces are perfect for big events of various sizes, so you can be sure that you can fit a huge crowd inside. Whether you're planning one event or a multi-venue tour, make sure one of your stops is at Soho Studios!

How to Host an Event that Exceeds Expectations

Event marketing is one of the best ways to grow your customer base while creating engagement opportunities that build rapport as well as your brand's reputation in the industry. However, your event must be memorable if you want it to make an impact. Here are four great ways to host a memorable event that exceeds everyone's expectations.

1. Develop a Creative Theme

You will need to develop a creative, cohesive theme that builds a seamless brand experience. Your theme needs to be different than what everyone else is doing. You could use a current event to liven things up. Think about how Saturday Night Live uses satire to build their show and make it memorable to the point the media talks about it for a week after it has aired.

2. Create an Interactive Experience

It's not enough to just have a booth and hand out giveaways as people stop by. You need to create an experience that gets your visitors actively involved in the parts of your business you are trying to promote. Visitors need to be able to feel, touch, taste and enjoy the experience if you want them to remember it favorably. You could use games or a booth within a booth where you could serve refreshments and have your visitors sit down and use your products for a more hands-on experience. But whatever you do, it will have to be fun and memorable if you want to make a great impression.

3. Host a Workshop

Set aside some time at your event to host a workshop where you can either entertain or educate your visitors. Perhaps a popular band or comedian or you could have a DIY session and provide your visitors with a valuable giveaway. Something so valuable they can't believe you gave it away for free. This is a great way to make your event memorable. Then as your visitors use and love your giveaway, to the point they can't live without it, they will contact you to find out what else you might have that would be valuable to them as well. They already love your giveaway so you've built trust which makes it easier to sell them something else of a higher value.

4. Use Multiple Touch Points

People are busy so unless you use multiple touch points your event probably won't be successful or memorable. You should be using a mix of direct mail, email, social media and other types of paid promotions if you want to get people talking and excited about attending your event. Just make sure you are matching your promotions with the right segments of your audience. That might mean you need to have different types of promotions for each group such as one promo based on job titles, one for each industry and another for specific locations if you want them to be more relevant and impactful.

What Organizations are Doing to Raise Voter Awareness for the 2016 Election

Conventional wisdom forbids talk of religion and politics at the dinner table. And as any company or organization well knows, politics can easily turn into a fraught subject; politics are often not great for business. Whatever positive political message an organization might want to promote, there's a great likelihood that a large segment of 

the population will view it as a negative. However, there is one political message that just about everyone can agree is a positive, and that is promoting the power of each individual to exercise their democratic right to vote. Raising voter awareness and encouraging people to get out and vote for whatever and whomever they believe in, will always be viewed as a worthy cause. Here are a few examples of companies and organizations creating their own campaigns to promote this positive message.

Univision & MTV

In this specific presidential election cycle, the subtext of Univision's voter registration drive is anything but non-partisan. But this year, the media company is poised to have a monumental effect on the election in that it has sought to register 3 million voters, and as of last May, the drive had attracted over 100,000 people to drives, workshops and other events. The campaign, which is somewhat unusual for a media company, includes extensive public service and advertising campaigns, as well as a text message tool to which 130,000 users have subscribed in addition to the live events taking place across the United States. While the media company's involvement in this election does reflect a very public dispute between the company and one of its highest profile figures, Jorge Ramos, and the GOP nominee for president, it also serves to increase the political clout of the company in Washington while also creating a memorable branding opportunity that provides a public service.

MTV has been encouraging its viewers to vote for years with campaigns like "Elect This" and partnerships with Rock the Vote. Young people are always some of the least likely to exercise their civic power to vote, and so it's perfect that MTV chooses to make this a cornerstone public service message, as this hits their target demographic. From Generation X to today's millennials, they are in the perfect position to encourage this group to vote. This year, they combined their campaign with a live event, by turning Total Request Live into Total Registration Live, and broadcasting from the regular Manhattan TRL studio, hosted a wide range of celebrities and musicians discussing what issues were most important to them.

National Voter Registration Day

That special TRL was held on National Registration Day, the fourth Tuesday in September, which is devoted to encouraging people to register to vote. Numerous companies, including Tumblr, Starbucks and Twitter partnered to help create this day after 6 million Americans were unable to vote in 2008 election because of missing the deadline to register. In 2012 the campaign got 303,000 people to register, with Tumblr being responsible for 100,000 on their own. By partnering with political campaigns, the organization is able to use the resources to create events across the country. This year, Hillary Clinton's campaign alone announced 1,400 nationwide events as part of the initiative. Currently, in any given presidential election, approximately 60% of eligible Americans participate by voting. Virginia Bergin, director of Global Responsibility for Starbucks, which partners with Democracy Works and "TurboVote" to increase voter registration, dreams of achieving 80% participation by 2020. For her, "This is not about this election, this is about every election."

Contact us today to use on of our space for your election awareness event for the 2016 Election.

Toilet Paper Wall at New York Fashion Week

Even toilet-paper gets its kicks in fashion. This year, Cottonelle created a highly unique offshoot beauty lounge to spruce up New York Fashion Week and change up typically showcased brands. Both creative and memorable, the toilet-paper brand’s hosted lounge created a variety of excitement-packed options for event-goers.

Pampering in Style

The toilet-paper market is tough to market. It isn’t, however, exclusive to typical comfort commercials. Cottonelle’s approach, harnessing the triumvirate of promotional power—gifts, celebs and media—took Fashion Week by storm with a rather ornamental element.

Attendees were pampered, offered photo ops, gifted with Cottonelle gift bags and were given meetings with industry influencers. Taking place at SoHo’s Openhouse, Cottonelle’s beauty lounge created, yes, an entire wall out of toilet paper rolls. The rolls, designed and placed along the wall, created a photo booth backdrop to encourage hygiene-related poses.

The Method and the Meaning

Cottonelle’s toilet paper wall was created to boost its CleanRipple Texture toilet-paper—which is one of the brand’s own innovations. Designed to clean better, CleanRipple Texture toilet-paper definitely benefits from an “all hygiene, no nonsense” marketing effort.

Cottonelle’s approach worked, too. Senior associate brand manager, Jeremy DeWitt, considered the event to be a major success, setting Cottonelle apart from typically flat patterns, uninspired visitation booths and, of course, the brand’s leading competitors. The toilet-paper industry, itself, is difficult to compete in due to the product’s marketing monopoly on television time. That said, experiential approaches certainly exist—and Cottonelle has hit it right on the head.

More than a Showcase

Cottonelle’s display, in essence, was a consumer visual test for CleanRipple’s design. The product’s showcase, being out front and center, was a compelling feature reveal. While a highly forward approach to display marketing, the massive toilet-paper wall wasn’t necessarily off-putting. Here, the brand’s dedication to its beauty lounge takes the main stage. Its attention to consumer interaction—and not only detail—won its visitor population’s heart.

The Sponsors and Affiliates

Few experiential marketing efforts, today, are solo efforts. Cottonelle utilized its big-industry brand partners to breathe life into the event, backing a truly unique idea with truly resourceful entities. Corso Coffee, Pulsaderm, YouCam Makeup and Nonni’s Foods, all sponsors and partners, directly assisted the beauty lounge’s creation.

Integrating sponsors into experiential approaches can be difficult, but Cottonelle’s resounding support reveals quite a lot about its strategy. Primarily, it works. Secondarily, it displays an overarching inclination to try new things. Few marketing creators have the intensity, the openness and the creativity to display toilet paper on a wall, but Cottonelle’s display proves such a venture is, indeed, a successful one. The event’s success is likely attributed to its initially bizarre ideation, right alongside its solid approach to practical marketing.

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

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:

•  

• 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.

KBY Designs Livens Up the Dead Sea

When a special event needs to be taken to the very top level of specialness, KBY Designs pulls out all the stops. One recent example of their work was a beach party, which was set up to show potential customers what they could do. What made it so different from other such parties? The first difference was its location on the banks of the Dead Sea. What happened next, however, is what made it so special. Ten Truckloads of Sand Start Things Off

Bringing sand to a beach may seem strange to those who don't live near water, but it's actually basic preparation in many areas. The sand naturally found near water is often more like gravel, is muddy, or has other undesirable traits. Covering it up with a better grade of sand is often the solution. KBY Designs, however, wasn't satisfied with a small patch of improved beach. They used 10 truckloads' worth of good sand to make sure that the entire planned space would look and feel beautiful.

No Mere Volleyball Net for This Party

Since this was a high-end event, the right trappings had to be brought in. Some of the added accouterments included an eatery under an open-sided tent, outdoor market-style plants, fruits, and other themed items, market umbrellas to keep the people cool, pails of Dead Sea mud for children to play with, and plenty of services. The company worked with a multitude of subcontractors to make sure everything went off perfectly. These subcontractors included caterers, bar service providers, and a company that provides child-watching services for events.

The catering was especially notable. Instead of bringing in pre-cooked food on trucks, it brought in a big tabun oven and cooked everything on the spot. Fresh fruits, vegetables, and breads were also displayed around this stand and were used in the meals. In keeping with the overall theme, the food was of a light Mediterranean style.

The Possibilities Are Endless

This is just one example of how a special event can be made unforgettable, and how it can be used to truly show potential customers a party planner's capabilities. The key is to make such an event match the tastes of the target market and then do it in truly grand style. Word will quickly get out, greatly increasing the memorability of the brand. After it's over, consider releasing a highlight reel as an advertisement so more people know how well the company fits their interests.

If you're looking for a place to hold an experiential marketing event that doesn't require traveling to the Dead Sea, check out our space at Soho Studios. We make it easy to set up the perfect experience.