The Ultimate Guide to Planning and Producing an Experiential Event

The Ultimate Guide to Planning and Producing an Experiential Event


At Soho Studios we have hosted some of the best experiential marketing events that Miami has seen.  From offering food, to presenting new products, to creating the best experiences for your guests, we have been a part what it takes to create an experiential event that exceeds guest expectations.  

It takes a lot of work behind the scenes to put together an experiential event.  We have put together a quick guide that will help you think about creating the next winning event for your brand.  Grab this free guide and use it as a reference for you and your marketing team. 
Get your Guide here or click the photo below.

Why Thomas Created the Rolling Toaster Tour


Why Thomas Created the Rolling Toaster Tour

The best way to engage your customers is to interact with them live and in-person because this encourages them to participate with you and your brand in whatever you are offering. This type of marketing is often called experiential marketing, engagement marketing, event marketing, ground marketing, or live marketing. Experiential marketing helps create a closer bond between you and your customers, which is a great way to build brand loyalty and a lifelong following.

How Thomas' Developed a Unique Interactive Breakfast Campaign Unlike Anything Before

Thomas', makers of some of the most popular bagels, English muffins and other fine products, came up with a unique way to get up close and personal with as many people as possible.  And they did this by hitting the streets with a truck and trailer, but not just any truck and trailer, a rolling toaster truck and trailer to be exact.

The Thomas' Rolling Toaster Tour Cross Country Marketing Campaign

Talk about experiential marketing at its best. Thomas' has taken this interactive marketing technique to new heights. They fully customized a trailer that was designed to look like a toaster with a huge bagel and English muffin sticking out of the top. So there was no question about who this was or what they were offering.

Thomas' called this event their "Breakfast Like No Other" tour and it was an instant phenomenon. People all over the country flocked to their trailer when it rolled into town. But then Thomas' took their marketing a few steps further which added a viral element to their efforts.  

What Thomas' Did to Create Excitement, Encourage Engagement and Cause Their Efforts to Go Viral

Obviously, Thomas' Rolling Toaster Tour was a live event that stretched across the country. But how they engaged their customers at each stop was really what skyrocketed their efforts into a marketing sensation.

  • Customers were able to order freshly made breakfast sandwiches created by the resident chef.
  • While waiting for their order, customers were invited to walk into the giant toaster to take selfies in front of a seven-foot tall English muffin statue. Which was a great tactic for getting their message to go viral.
  • Then they were offered a turn at a toaster-themed game that awarded prizes to the winners who then again took selfies of their winnings.
  • Once receiving their freshly made breakfast sandwiches, customers were encouraged to eat at one of Thomas' custom designed tables that were built to look like stacks of English muffins and bagels.
  • After the meal, Thomas' provided some fun outdoor games such as a Ring Toss, some Cornhole, and KanJam for their customers to enjoy.

The Secret Sauce Thomas' Used to Kickoff Their Tour

To kickoff the tour Thomas' held a special free sampling event at Santa Monica Place to celebrate National Bagel Day. This allowed their customers to be among the first to try their new limited edition Lemon Blueberry flavor that was only offered for six weeks. Then they donated over 2,000 packages of bagels to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

What Thomas' Did That Made This Campaign So Successful

Thomas' made this a memorable interactive experience that no one is likely to forget. And they did this by thinking outside the box, so to speak. They came up with a unique idea for their marketing campaign. Then they continued to drill down their ideas to further ensure its success, as well as turn it into a viral sensation which is ultimately free advertising and unlimited brand exposure. And so much more!

This is the beauty of hosting a live event, one that allows you to get up close and personal with your customers. This is also what helps create loyal, lifetime followers of your brand. It is all about the experience and making your customer feel special and appreciated. If you haven't tried hosting a live event to build your brand and your customer base, you are definitely leaving money on the table. 

How Lyft Celebrated its Birthday with Style  

How Lyft Celebrated its Birthday with Style  


A birthday celebration should always be special, and this is even truer for corporations than it is for individuals. Celebrations give companies the chance to pump up their branding in fun and memorable ways, and such opportunities should never be missed. This is why Lyft chose to create an unforgettable experience for its drivers in its home town of Los Angeles as a way to mark its fifth anniversary of operations. It also made sure that everyone else who came near the event site would see a very memorable ad for the company.

To make this happen, Lyft started by painting a historic car wash – La Cienega Car Wash & Oil Change – in a bright, light shade of pink. As expected, this brought immediate attention, but it was just the start. Inside, Lyft drivers can get car washes for just $1 and get discounts on services like oil changes. This display and deal will run for a total of 30 days. It opened on July 14.

The location was chosen based on several criteria. One was its iconic status in the immediate area. Changing it, especially in such a radical way, made it easy to get plenty of local press coverage. Another was the condition of the structure itself. It had to be solid enough to not only paint it, but return it to its original form once the event ended. Finally, it had to be able to handle the increase in traffic the event would bring.

It wasn't just the paint that was changed. The car wash's original sign was modified into a retro one that temporarily renames the venue as the Lyft Car Wash. All of the changes combined took seven days to do.

Since opening under the promotional name, about 100 Lyft drivers a day have taken advantage of the $1 car washes. Meanwhile, regular customers continue to use the facility at its standard rates. To speed things up and keep everyone properly sorted, Lyft drivers are directed into a special lane when they enter the lot.

The point of the Lyft makeover is to increase the company's branding and thank its drivers for their service rather than to make money from selling car washes. Therefore, all proceeds from this event are being donated to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. This both helps the community and increases goodwill from this socially-forward area.

Good planning like this is the key to holding a successful single-venue event. As Lyft's experience shows, choosing the venue is, in itself, a big part of making something like this work.

For an excellent venue in Miami, Florida, try Soho Studios. We have up to 70,000 square feet of indoor space and two outdoor areas that can be configured to meet your company's specific needs. We also have concierge services to help you find the perfect event firms to provide all of the equipment, planning, and execution services you need. This frees you to concentrate on essentials like your branding and marketing efforts and helps to ensure that your event will create wonderful memories for both your guests and your business.

How the Irvine Marriott Lauched its Grand Opening with Multisensory Events


How the Irvine Marriott Launched its Grand Opening with Multisensory Events

When you put $35 million into the redesign of a business like Irvine Marriott did in California, you want to put on an event to showcase the updated and improved spot. Instead of a traditional ribbon-cutting or stuffy event, this Marriott created an impressive experience to interact with participants with its multisensory event series from February to April. This is a fantastic example of experiential marketing that other brands could follow.

Multisensory Events

For its reopening, the hotel created an event series that would evoke the senses and imagination of event goers to help them experience different aspects of the hotel and the brand. It focused on the Marriott brand’s guiding principles of taste, culture and innovation with three events in the series. While normal grand opening parties can bring people to the premises and create excitement, they tend to fail on conveying the experience of staying at the hotel. This aspect is where Irvine Marriott shined with its multisensory event series. When people see a hotel room or meeting space, for example, they can't always imagine what it's like to use that space. Irvine Marriott's series helped event goers experience the hotel. 

The taste event provided a sensory dinner for high-level customers and bloggers, who had the chance to try food stations prepared by different Marriott properties. These stations incorporated different senses to create an experience. For instance, one station combined auditory and taste sensations by having participants eat seafood along with audio of the ocean. The culture event hosted a larger number of guests, providing networking and performing arts. Finally, the innovation event incorporated virtual reality, robot experiences and other interactive displays and workshops that focused on the past to the future.

All of the events highlighted areas of the hotel and showed guests how these areas could be used. Guests also got to experience Marriott catering, which they could incorporate into their own events.

Learning From Irvine Marriott

Multisensory marketing like Irvine Marriott’s guest series can create an effective and memorable event for many brands. Marriott used different senses, including sight, sound, touch, taste and smell through food aromas, textures, audio and other methods. Any brand could find ways to incorporate multiple senses into one experience. For instance, create a food serving station that focuses on the aroma or texture of the food in addition to the taste.

Irvine Marriott’s event series provides a great example for similar types of businesses in particular. That’s because it helped guests experience what it’s like to stay at the hotel and use its services. You could create a similar event if your business is based on on-site experiences. This could work for hotels, restaurants, recreational activities and other experiences.

The idea is to showcase the site and how it could be used. It’s similar to a real estate agent staging a home to give an idea of living in the home. The Irvine Marriott showcased its cuisine, while captivating multiple senses. It had artists perform around the pool to highlight the hotel’s pool while giving guests the feeling of traveling and experiencing a new place and culture. 

How and Why Taste of Home Upgraded its Tour

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How and Why Taste of Home Upgraded its Tour

Taste of Home, a multi-platform producer of food-related information, has launched a new series of cooking events this year. This version has expanded greatly from prior iterations, and is going by the name Taste of Home LIVE. It began with a tour of 10 major markets, including Chicago and Atlanta, and by the end of the year, will travel through 40 different cities. Next year, it is slated to expand to 80 cities.

For the new model of events, Taste of Home has expanded to include more experiential marketing aspects, more sponsors, and a charitable experience. Many of the changes are geared for engagement with Millennial moms and other younger people, but is also working to please its core audience. To meet this and other objectives, it has made specific changes:

  • On-stage experiences and social media sharing are now being prioritized. Millennials are more likely to be comfortable with getting up on stage – and sharing their experiences across multiple platforms. Therefore, the shows are offering plenty of on-stage experiences. To have a chance to participate in these, attendees must first post to Facebook or Twitter about the event.
  • The show has partnered with Fusion Marketing, an experiential marketing agency, for "creative event activations." The companies will work together to provide a cohesive and powerful branding experience to the effort. Fusion will plan and execute each city's event.
  • Taste of Home will support local charities. Ten percent of the proceeds from merchandise sales will be going to Feeding America, a hunger-fighting charity that operates in all of the markets where events will be held. Each event will also include a food drive. By choosing Feeding America as its beneficiary, Taste of Home can provide local support while dealing with just one main office.
  • The events will still teach kitchen tips and food hacks to participants. It will also have advice from expert chefs. This will please long-time fans and make it easier for new cooks to get up to speed.
  • Expert chefs will still prepare great meals at each event. This aspect is another one that is sure to be a winner with both long-time and new attendees. Everyone loves to see an expert at work!

By expanding its show to include more sponsored equipment and other features, Taste of Home will make its shows more interesting while sticking to its theme of creating great food. This tight adherence to its theme will make the branding aspect of the events more powerful, while the expansion and modernization of the presentation will bring in younger people and improve the event's word-of-mouth marketing. Taste of Home's new event style is sure to gain the brand many new fans.

If you're looking for a venue to hold a Miami stop for your company's event tour, consider Soho Studios. We have up to 70,000 square feet of indoor space that can be configured to your specifications. We also have two outdoor pavilions if you would rather have your expo in the open air. Our concierge service offers all of the help you want or need, so you won't have to search for local companies to assist you. Just give us a call for more information.

BMW's Ultimate Driving Experience Returns for Another Tour

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BMW's Ultimate Driving Experience Returns for Another Tour


The need for speed is something every driver understands, and so is the desire to drive a luxury car. Imagine having both urges fulfilled at the same time, and you have the appeal of the BMW Ultimate Driving Experience.

After a year-long break, the Ultimate Driving Experience is back and making the rounds. It features activities for everyone from experienced racers to beginning drivers, instruction from BMW's staff of professional drivers, and of course, the chance to drive plenty of fast BMW cars.

Unlike many experiential marketing events, these activities aren't all available for free or even a token price. It costs $750 to attend the M Car Control Clinic, which provides students with a full eight hours of driving M-Series cars, instruction and practice at performing high-speed skids, and the chance to maneuver through slalom courses. Other activities include a two-hour closed-course driving program featuring the BMW 5 Series. These programs both come with automatic entry into a driving competition.

Twelve winners will be selected for the finals of the driving competition. They will win a trip to BMW Performance Center West in Thermal, CA to complete the driving competition.

Teen drivers aren't left out of the loop. They'll get to take a driver's education program that features basics like adapting driving methods for different weather conditions, avoiding accidents, and braking. This traveling program is based on the driver training program offered at the Thermal CA location, but what makes this program truly different is that participants will be learning to drive in BMW 2 Series and 3 Series cars. That certainly beats the basic workhorses most driver's ed programs use!

The goal of these programs is to prove to attendees that BMW's tagline, "the Ultimate Driving Machine," is not just marketing hyperbole. After experiencing the speed and maneuverability of BMWs under the no-limits conditions of a closed course, drivers should be quite convinced that this brand isn't about driving around slowly in land yachts. Instead, it is just as much about having fun as it is about attention to the finer details.

Six cities will be visited during this year's tour of the Ultimate Driving Experience. It began its trek at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ and will finish back home in Thermal, CA. With such a range of activities to choose from, attendees will always be sure to have a fun and unforgettable experience.

One of the keys to success with a touring experiential marketing program is to choose the right cities and venues for your stops. If your tour will be coming to Florida, consider Miami's Soho Studios. Our venue has up to 70,000 square feet of indoor space and two outdoor pavilions. These can be configured to meet your needs whether you need all of the space or just part of it. We can also handle the design, set-up, and peripheral needs of your event. To learn more or book space for your Miami stop, just contact us.

How High Brew Samples its Coffee with Style

How High Brew Gets Consumers to Sample its Coffee in Style


Not every brew is a type of beer. For High Brew, it's all about coffee – and adventure. The company recently sent a refurbished 1952 GMC bus on a nationwide tour to reach millennials with its cold-brew coffee, old-fashioned great taste, and to reinforce its branding. Since this branding is all about travel and adventure, the company figured that sending a big Coach bus, once a favorite of tour operators, would create an image that was a perfect fit.

The High Brew Tour is expected to cover a total of over 16,000 miles, with plenty of stops in key places. At each stop, it sets up a sampling bar inside the bus complete with stools so that those who come over can enjoy tasting their coffees in comfort. When the bus is on the road, the bar folds into what was once the luggage compartment. This makes it easy to set it up and take it down, and the innovative system adds to the attention-getting qualities of the stops.

Unlike many branded experiential marketing efforts, High Brew has chosen to keep things simple and fairly low key. The bus itself isn't completely plastered with its imagery, and inside, the only experience besides the coffee is a station for sending out postcards so attendees can share the news. These postcards include coupons to buy one and get one free.

One of the reasons for the choice of communication medium is that the company is hoping those who partake will tell older people about the brand. Assuming it works, it will get the message across the generations without losing the "cool factor" that helps to sell High Brew to younger people.

The bus will be stopping at some obvious places, such as key retail accounts, but it will also hit areas where it can associate the brand with those on the go. These areas include college towns and city areas that have plenty of professionals. Once the bus leaves, field marketing personnel will continue promotional efforts.

This is just the latest news from the experiential marketing world. Companies all over the world are using new and innovative ways to draw regular people into their brand experiences. A successful campaign doesn't just entertain people; it cements the brand image and gets those who partake to interact with, taste, or otherwise get personal with the products being promoted. This icebreaker can be enough to earn repeat customers for years, and sometimes, for life.

You don't need a bus to set up an experiential marketing event for your company. All you need is a great venue in a thriving city, an innovative idea, a target market, and a solid goal for your brand's image. Here at Soho Studios in Miami, we can provide the venue and the city. Our 70,000 square feet of indoor space can be configured to your needs, and we also have two outdoor pavilions. We can also help with the rest of your needs. Our full-service package includes design, sound, and other support services for your event. Just give us a call to learn more and to get started on producing a memorable experience for your current and potential customers.

Why Strongbow Teamed up to Become More Sustainable

Why Strongbow Teamed up to Become More Sustainable


Recently, Strongbow wanted to come up with an experiential marketing effort that would get people in NYC to interact with its alcoholic cider brand. What better way to get people interested in a major city than to create a nature experience? This is what Strongbow did with its surprising and innovative floating fruit orchard from April to May 2017 within its broader Nature Remix campaign.

Strongbow's Experiential Campaign

The brand experience featured a garden and orchard on a barge that floated on the Hudson River, stopping at various piers to connect with area residents and tourists. When the barge was stopped, people were able to pick their own apples and other produce. In the process, they would learn a thing or two about the nature they were interacting with, which was planted in a sustainable way, and about the Strongbow cider, which is free of artificial flavors and colors. And of course, participants got to try a few of Strongbow’s ciders, which is what the event was designed to promote. This floating orchard was the North American campaign for the brand, which also carried out campaigns throughout the globe as part of the Nature Remix program. 

This event was a great idea to introduce people to Strongbow ciders and to provide a connection to nature that is lacking in such a large city. Even when the barge was on the move from stop to stop, it had the potential to build excitement when people would spot it and wonder what it is. The brand also created excitement through press releases, a YouTube campaign video showing work on the barge, a media cocktail party and various social media efforts. And the brand also began a program to send coasters with seeds in them to nationwide customers who can use them for their cider and then to start their own gardens. Strongbow found ways to share its natural roots and to promote the positive message of caring about the environment.

Takeaways From Strongbow’s Floating Orchard

If your brand is interested in creating an experiential event, you can gain some takeaways from Strongbow. Even if your brand has nothing to do with food or nature, there are some universal points here.

Strongbow didn’t have the know-how to create a garden on a barge, so the brand partnered with Swale, a New York City food forest on a barge. Swale helped it figure out the practical side of a floating orchard so the marketing team could focus on its specialty. In return, Strongbow’s sponsorship is helping support the Swale initiative for the rest of the year. Strongbow also gained marketing insight from PR agency Current Marketing. 

Further, Strongbow really stuck to the mission of experiential marketing by creating an event that directly tied into its product. Orchards are used to create the cider, so it gave people a chance to experience an orchard. You could try the same method by creating an event that connects to your product in some way, whether it shares a piece of the creation process like Strongbow did, ties into a culture surrounding your product or makes some other connection.

How Perrier Lunch Break Maintains its Popularity Into 2017

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How Perrier Lunch Break Maintains its Popularity Into 2017


The Perrier Lunch Break returned in 2017 after having a very successful run the year before. In it, dance parties are hosted by Perrier that feature quirky characters and hot air balloons. The unusual decorating scheme gives the events a fantastical, fun atmosphere that is instantly recognizable. Another unusual choice Perrier has made is to hold them during or near the lunch hours instead of the traditional times for dancing and partying.

Perrier has made these and other choices to highlight its product as being unusual compared to the alternatives. It ties in perfectly with its branding as Perrier Extraordinaire and will surely make attendees think of the sparkling water when they host parties of their own.

This event wasn't originally sponsored by Perrier, but instead, started out under the umbrella of vodka company Absolut. The company set up events at several popular nightclubs, which were glad to host it and bring in customers during what had been their off-hours.

The maiin reason for the event's growth is the change in the experience brought on by Perrier's sponsorship. This company took it from being a sparse event that simply mentioned a brand of vodka to a full-on engineered experience. As word of the change spread, more and more people attended in expectation of actually having a fun time. Now, some clubs host over 400 people when they hold Lunch Break events.

Notably, Perrier doesn't directly control all aspects of the events it sponsors. Instead, club owners are given plenty of latitude in terms of design, which musical acts are hired, and more. This allows each club to customize the experience to meet the tastes of their audiences, while Perrier provides just enough guidance to ensure that certain branding objectives are met.

During the events, it is typical for DJs play the latest trendy music while people enjoy a drink or two and have a dance. Then, when the event is over, each attendee is given a take-out bag of lunch to eat. Long lines can be expected at nightclubs that have had these events before, proving their popularity.

Perrier Lunch Break dancing events take place in major cities around the United States. New York city sometimes hosts multiple parties, and cities like Miami, Los Angeles, and Chicago also get their share. Other big, trendsetting metropoles are also included.

While Perrier isn't explicitly promoting the idea of social media sharing through the use of incentives, it is typical for people to go ahead and share anyway. This year's kickoff event in New York, for example, was so exciting that it gained 20 million social media views just from natural postings.

There's no need to have a giant marketing budget to sponsor a big, exciting party or other experiential marketing event. All you need to get started is a fun idea and a venue. In Miami, consider Soho Studios for your event location. We have up to 70,000 square feet of indoor space available, and we can provide all the help you need to design, configure, and outfit that area for your extravaganza. Our location also has two outdoor pavilions, so you can also party under the sun or stars.

Why SPAM® Jumped on the Tour Train

Why SPAM® Jumped on the Tour Train


Tiny houses and marketing tours have both been making waves recently, and the SPAM brand has jumped onto the trend with its Tiny House of Sizzle tour. This tour features a towed tiny house, painted in SPAM's iconic blue and yellow colors, that is traveling across the country serving SPAM recipes to those who enter. These recipes are cooked right inside the house in the Tiny SPAM Kitchen that makes up its heart. This will show those who have managed to miss out on the smells and sounds of sizzling SPAM how great it is just waiting for it to come out of the pan. Of course, the finisher for the experience will be the meal that gets served at the end, so no one will have to leave hungry.

The recipes used in the Tiny House of Sizzle will be chosen to highlight the product's versatility. Many have been developed by local chefs and influencers to tie in on food trends across the nation. Even so, those who want their SPAM in a traditional form won't be out of luck: SPAM sliders and other such favorites are on the menu.

SPAM has chosen this form of marketing not only to be trendy, but to engage all of the patrons' five main senses. There will be smells, sounds, sights, the feel of the food, and of course, the taste of the dishes all waiting to be enjoyed. The company is sure that after all of this, no one will forget the experience or the brand that provided it.

This tour won't just help the SPAM brand. The brand has partnered with Convoy of Hope, a hunger-fighting charity, to help raise funds for food. Each person who texts SIZZLE to 50555 will cause SPAM to donate $5 to Convoy of Hope. The brand will also match people's own donations dollar-for-dollar up to a total of $25,000.

A total of 12 cities, some of which have already been visited, are on the schedule for the Tiny House of Sizzle Tour. Many of the appearances are connected to food and other festivals, so they will be part of a larger fun experience. This will allow the company to catch people while they're already excited and having a good time, which will further cement the association between SPAM and positive feelings.  

While tours are fun to do, they aren't in the plans of every company. Experiential marketing also works when it takes place at a stationary venue in one or more popular cities. This allows more people to attend your event and it lets you avoid the expense of driving all over the country with a specially-designed vehicle.

For a great venue in Miami, try Soho Studios. We can provide up to 70,000 square feet of configurable, customizable space for your extravaganza. If you'd rather have your event outdoors, one or both of our two outdoor pavilion areas will provide just what you need. We also have a variety of service packages to take care of any details you don't want to have to handle on your own. For more information, just give us a call.