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!

What We Can Learn from LEGO's Quest2Ninjago Summer Tour

In early September, LEGO concluded its extremely successful Quest2Ninjago Summer Tour. The event presented children in seven markets the opportunity to compete in an "American Ninja Warrior" inspired obstacle course. The winning team from each market was flown to Legoland headquarters in San Diego to compete in the finale. The event was not a recruitment program, set on expanding the base or raising awareness, rather it was a campaign that rewarded and engaged existing fans of the two franchises, LEGO and Ninjago, which is also a cartoon and movie. From the success of the summer long, nation-wide event, there are several best practices that others can apply to kid-based marketing campaigns.

1. The Ease of Friendships for Kids Leads Them to Be Natural Influencers. Though the event was aimed at existing fans, the one thing kids love more than a really fun game or event, is bringing friends to that game or event, and then talking about that game or event before and after it has taken place. With an example like the tour's events course, the natural competition that it inspires also serves as its own form of publicity. When kids went home and bragged about their scores to friends, those same friends would soon come in to see how they would fare, and if they could beat the scores.
2. Include Something for All Ages. While the central challenge course was aimed at 7-12 year olds, the event planners understood the importance of including younger siblings. LEGOS wisely does not let the activation segment of the course go to waste, setting up 'free play zones' where children can play alone or with a parent. In the Quest2Ninjago Tour, this activation area served a dual purpose by being engineered to create a fun, hands-on play environment for young children of four or five years old.
3. Combine Large Scale Events with Internal Engagement. LEGO also set up the course's activation at their headquarters. There, instead of kids versus kids, the course was run with kids versus adults. This created a perfect opportunity to create and drive a broader LEGO message. Kai Witbeck, event marketing manager-brand relations at LEGO explains, "to see that interaction, it makes us think about bringing that socialization in our marketing, that LEGO isn’t just about playing upstairs in your room by yourself; you can involve your friends or parents and do a larger activity with them."

These are examples that you can use for planning your next experience. Our event venue offers a space that's perfect for company experience. Call us at Soho Studios and ask about our space.

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.

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.

Funkshion Returns to Miami

One of Miami's favorite organizations, the Funkshion Fashion Show, returned to host their Fall/Winter fashion this March, and for the first time they chose right here in the Wynwood Arts District as their home base. Funkshion is Miami's Fashion Week, held three times throughout the year. Taking great pride in their Miami home, Funkshion believes in serving as a connecting force between the Latin American and US fashion markets. One thing many love about Funkshion, is how well they showcase both established and emerging names in fashion. And as their name suggests, in representing the fashion world in Miami, they set themselves apart from other fashion weeks around the world by always being sure to bring the funk. Music and art are integrated into the events, including live DJs at many of the shows to get the audience dancing in their seats.

The Winter/Fall show ran from March 16-19, 2016 with a packed schedule. Highlights included opening night's discussion, "DESIGNED IN MIAMI," with internationally celebrated designers based in Miami discussing what it takes to find success in the fashion world in Miami and beyond.  Friday's fashion event, "EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!" inspired by the Richard Linklater film in theaters now was also a great highlight. Stars of the film made an appearance, including Blake Jenner, Ryan Guzman and Tyler Hochelin. As with every fashion week that Funkshion hosts, one of the most beloved events is the Emerging Designer Series in which incredibly talented new designers who are just coming on to the scene are able to present their work in a high-profile show at no cost. March's show was no exception, with plenty of designers you'll surely be hearing from in the future.

Funkshion Events always welcomes the public to attend.  All of the events are free, one would just need to RSVP beforehand. As the Funkshion Fashion gears up for its next event this July, this is something to keep in mind. In true Miami style, they'll be celebrating swimwear in the event which runs from July 13-17, 2016. If you're a swimwear designer over the age of 21 then consider entering the Emerging Designer Series. One designer will be winning a trip to New York Fashion Week.

Funkshion Fashion Week is a great way to celebrate so much of what makes Miami great.  It brings established artists together with the newest talent and connects diverse cultures. The area is still buzzing from this event, and cannot wait to see what the next show has in store.

Game of Thrones at the Annual South by Southwest 2016

Game of Thrones has been one of the most talked about cultural phenomena over the last half decade, seeming to only grow in popularity each passing year. Those who attended SXSW were able to see an up close view some of the of the GoT phenomena. GoT is produced by HBO, and appearing at SXSW was the Hall of Faces. This exhibit brought to life, or perhaps to death, a symbol of GoT, and turned a normal San Antonio street into a symbol of the violence and mayhem GoT fans have come to expect, and to love.

As part of the series, the faces of the dead seen at the Hall of Faces, presumably all suffering their demise from an executioner’s swing of a sword, can be seen as a warning to the enemies of the state. At SXSW, fans were able to join the macabre scene and have their own face digitally installed in the ghoulish hall. The Hall of Faces wasn’t just a one-off exhibit for SXSW, but it will instead travel the world, going to Europe, and then returning to San Diego in time for Comic-Con.

In addition to seeing and even joining the Hall of Faces, there was a chance to experience a hologram that was a simulation of Melisandre’s flame, which fans of the show know she uses like a crystal ball. The hologram, created by Dreamoc HD3, was 30 seconds of exclusive content visible through those flames. Viewers were able to learn more about what happened to Jon Snow, or at least gain a few more hints as to whether Jon Snow is really dead or not.

Fans 21 years old or older were then able to try some grog. Not grog, but a beer called Ommegang’s Game of Thrones: Iron Throne blonde ale. Presumably the beer has a shorter nickname to make it easier to order at the local bar.

A vice-president of consumer marketing at HBO, Joanna Scholl said that part of the reason GoT went all out for this display and interactive content was not only to please fans of the show, but to impress non fans that might be influential in areas of technology and social media. These wielders of influence might become fans of the show themselves, or influence other people to become fans. Scholl said, “We wanted to bring something that was state of the art and allow them the opportunity to engage and share content from the show.”

The sixth season of Game of Thrones will premiere on HBO April 24. By that time, thousands of people will have been able to become a part of the Hall of Faces if they have chosen, enjoyed Melisandre’s magical flame, and even enjoyed a drink of Iron Throne blonde ale. Certainly by April 24, those people will ready for the premier.

Rolling Loud Miami

Welcome to one of the biggest music events of 2015. Dope Entertainment presents Rolling Loud music festival featuring 

-Schoolboy Q -Juicy J -A$AP Ferg -Action Bronson -Curren$y -Travi$ Scott -Casey Veggies -Denzel Curry -Robb Bank$ -Domo Genesis -Shy Glizzy -Key! -Pouya -Dash -Retch -Chris Travis & Xavier Wulf -Yung Simmie -Kembe X -Lucki Ecks -Quest -Retro Sushi -Lambs -Cashy -Allan Kingdom -SDotBraddy -Awful Records -Alex Wiley -Phenom -Mani Coolin' -Gatsby -Sean Bang -More TBA

Dope Entertainment are making music more interesting while avoiding mainstream artists in favor of trendsetting rap artists that are up and coming. Dope Entertainment believe that Rolling Loud will be the next big thing in music entertainment.

There's no better place to host a music festival other than Soho Studios event space in Miami.

For tickets please go to buy tickets here http://m.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=5592185

UPDATE

Pictures of the event

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