Merry Christmas to All from Decibel Management: Our End-of-Year Roundup
COMPANY NEWS
Christmas already? Good heavens. This year has flown by, as all years do, and as we see the new year rounding the bend, we d like to take a moment to look back and salute the last 12 months. We ve been working on a showreel of our top moments of 2014, which we re super excited about posting, but in the meantime, a quick roundup of Decibel s 2014 highlights.
A look at some of our 2014 projects
We took on quite a few repeat clients this year, honing events that we ve managed for the last few years running, plus a couple of new projects and challenges. Not for the first time, Decibel Management tackled the annual National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress on the National Mall. This event sees hundreds of thousands of visitors annually and is a truly gratifying undertaking. Come on, who doesn t like watching people get excited about reading? It s a joy.
We also stepped back in for the annual National Small Business Week sponsored by the SBA, the Glass Packaging Institutes annual meetings, the DoubleTree by Hilton CookieCare Mobile Tour, and additionally several unique events for nationally-recognized brands (H&R Block, Clorox) with our friends at PR powerhouses Ketchum and FleishmanHillard.
Some of our other projects have included the T. Rowe Price National Sales Meeting, some trade show work for ACell, and more forays into political event management with the Republican Attorney General Association.
A shoutout to friends and vendors
It takes a huge team to pull off large-scale events, and everyone s gotta be on the ball. We feel extremely lucky to be partnered up with some of the most on-it folks in the biz, companies that we trust to back us up in creating some killer events. We particularly want to give some love to the folks who keep bringing the skills year after year. That list includes:
- EventEQ
- M1 Interactive
- CGS Premier
- GES
- Optima GFX
- Greenroom Communications
- Polaris Logistics
- Nomadic Display
- Olympic Case
- Design Foundry
- Legacy Scenic
- Matrix Display
- Access Passes
No really, Merry Christmas
It sounds like a platitude, but platitudes are platitudes for a reason: looking back on this year, we re grateful. We re grateful that we know so many incredible, interesting and capable people; grateful for the opportunity to work in a field that never fails to fascinate us and keep us on our toes, grateful for all of our terrific clients and friends.
We wish you all an incredibly fulfilling 2015, a year that is full to the brim with new experiences, huge successes, and of course, lots of love. We hope you re spending the season surrounded by loved ones and lots of cheer. From everyone at Decibel Management, Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years.
Yet Another Trade Show Roundup: Ultra-Creative 3D Trade Show Booth Ideas
TRADE SHOW
Creative genius comes in many forms. Turns out Behance, a web platform where creatives can showcase their works, is home to a small contingent of trade show booth designers who have some incredible portfolios of inspiring ideas for marketing design. These days, 3D rendering software allows booth designers to concept custom designs before the booths ever get built, so bear in mind that these are renderings rather than actual photographs, but man: the thought that went into some of these.
Activision Booth Design, by Ariel Villalobos, Mexico
Great futuristic open-plan booth with scanner doors for gaming company Activision.
Arab Health Exhibition in Dubai, by Christina Sidhoum, Cairo
Clean, bright and attractive corporate design.
La Vista booth for Cityscape Egypt, by Mostafa Shehatta, Cairo
Want people to come sit down in your space? Make it bright, cozy, and super inviting. With the profusion of trade shows over there, I see lot of great work coming out of the UAE and Egypt these days.
Lipton Tea Lounge, by Hossam Moustafa, Cairo
Hossam is a senior 3D designer, and the experience shows in his creativity. Way to take a brand and bring it to life in an engaging way with this Lipton Tea cafe/booth concept.
Arby s Take-Out Booth Concept, by David Simmons, Boston MA
I dare you not to love this: a mini take-out counter booth shaped like an Arby s drive-through window.
Shell Petroleum, by Murtaza Saleem, Pakistan
Way to knock the branding out of the park: this booth is super on-message, incorporating Shell s colors and visual identity effortlessly.
Quick shameless plug: Decibel can get custom booth design done for you, too, so give us a ring if you re in the market.
Whatever
EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS, PERMITS
We have been watching with fascination the Whatever USA advertising campaign, event, experiential activation, promotion and commercial film shoot from Anheuser Busch. Most of us have seen the commercials from Bud Light about the fictional town Whatever USA. The brand marketing team launched a series of commercials about the town, and held a contest for 1,100 lucky winners to visit for three days of fun- all expenses paid.
Permitting:
Whatever USA was built in the actual town of Crested Butte, CO. From the beginning, there were challenges reported about the permitting process. The Town Council ended up approving the event, but it was after heated debate from the citizens of the town. The standard permitting fees start at $10,000 here, and to secure the special event AB originally offered $250,000 to the town. After the debate began to build in late August, Bud Light upped the offer to $500,000, including a promise to fix any damage and restore the town to its original condition.
The Controversy:
The controversy began with the build of the event. The event team began construction of the fences and infrastructure prior to getting the official approval from the Town Council. After an 8.5-hour debate at the town council, the meeting ended with a temporary permit for construction to begin. Once locals began seeing the extent the complaints started rolling in. Citizens felt a lack of communication, even though the marketing firm and Anheuser Busch have been working with the town since last spring, including producing a 100 page operational plan, however residents did not learn about the extent until weeks before the event.
The Build:
So what did the build include? In addition to the full concert build, the main avenue in Crested Butte was painted blue, the iconic avenue was adorned with blue paint, blue light poles, Bud Light branded fencing, custom archways and signs, as well as a host of other branding elements. This also included a giant blue gorilla, Bud Light Blue busses, oversized props, etc. In addition, local retail establishments were only serving Bud Light throughout the event.
Issues and Cleanup:
Many issues were compounded when Bud Light ran out of wristbands for local residents to attend. In fact, they had to distribute permission slips for people to go to work. After the event, heavy rains caused the paint to run, and plans had to change for the resurface. In fact, they had to spend an extra $40,000 to remove an 1/8 of the road to re-pave Elk Avenue.
Final Thoughts:
I am a fan of this event, and applaud the marketing team and the client for pushing the boundaries with this event. Were there issues? Could communication be better? Will there be a host of key learnings coming out of this activation? Cost overruns? Yes to all, but it looks like an overall win, especially for content and the advertising that will come out of this activation for the next year. As always, content is king.
Behind the Scenes with Decibel Management: How an Experiential Event Comes Together
BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS, TRADE SHOW
If you have ever wondered what goes into a technical and experiential event build, take a look behind the scenes with Decibel Management and our amazing production team for the building of the H&R Block- Get Your Billion Back experience.
The development, programming and construction was challenging, complex, and delivered on a lightning fast timetable. We were truly only able to succeed because of the great team we assembled. This included our partners: M1 Interactive, CGS Premier, Greenroom Communications, and EventPro Strategies as well as great clients in Ketchum Public Relations as well as H&R Block.
6 Innovative Outdoor Summer Event Theme Ideas
TIPS & TRICKS
Tis the season for fun in the sun. We recently ran cross this inspiring summer party ideas pinboard on Pinterest, and we re loving it! In the spirit of the season, here are some more ideas for ramping up your outdoor summer shindig.
Image: bonvivant.co.uk
The Craft Beer Garden
Craft beer has become wildly popular in many parts of America, while beer gardens typically outdoor tented sit-down areas with either self-serve beer or table service are a traditional way to relax in most of Europe. Mix up the two by tracking down a couple kegs from your local craft brewery and throwing up a big sunshade. Easy to put together and often a big success (is beer ever not a success?), beer gardens are a great addition to your summer party.
BBQ Contest
Few things can bring together almost all event goers, but a love for tangy barbecue may be one of them. This is particularly great as a summer team-builder: organize a BBQ contest and watch every attendee worth their seasalt, from the CEO to the head of accounting, pick up a pair of tongs. Keep non-meat-eaters involved with veggie kabob or tofu BBQ.
Fairgrounds Theme
Elephant ears, fire-breathers and magicians, oh my! A mini-fun fair is infinitely scaleable for any budget, and isn t just for kids. Looking to go all-out? Rent out a dunk booth, hire some jugglers, and get a cotton-candy stand. On a tighter budget? Pop up some kettle corn and hang some streamers.
Image: 100layercake.com
Old Timey Down Home Picnic
Prop up the old fashioned lemonade stand, break out the fresh peach pie and set up your ice-cream bar. Don t forget the okra!
English garden party
The ideas above may not suit those seeking how to throw an event for the posh and well-heeled. But a touch of the Old Country might provide the inspiration you need. The Queen is well-known for her afternoon teas on the grounds of Buckingham Palace. A great white marquee tent, a skilled caterer, white-tie waiters, and naturally an open croquet green, and you have yourself the makings for your own garden party.
UK-Based Pathfindr is Blazing a Trail for More Accurate Event Wayfinding
EVENT PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
Wayfinding is the art and science of ensuring that visitors to any location can easily and quickly get around. It s particularly important at large, heavily-trafficked locations, like stadiums, shopping malls and airports. Pathfindr is a new patent-pending technology that could help event planners make navigating large-scale events an interactive mobile affair.
You d think that indoor wayfinding would be after all, we ve all got smartphones and those smartphones come with GPS; but there are issues with GPS technology over small distances, notably that GPS is unreliable across small distances.
According to OpenStreetMap, The accuracy of GPS data depends on many factors. For example, the quality of the GPS receiver, the position of the GPS satellites at the time the data was recorded, the characteristics of the surroundings (buildings, tree cover, valleys, etc) and even the weather. And according to developers on Stackexchange, The United States government currently claims 4 meter RMS (7.8 meter 95{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} Confidence Interval) horizontal accuracy for civilian (SPS) GPS. Vertical accuracy is worse. Mind you, that s the minimum. In reality, best case scenario is usually accuracy within 15 meters or so.
In other words, GPS wouldn t be able to easily track which floor of a tall building your attendees are on, and it doesn t know exactly, to the foot, where attendees are standing it could only give an approximation. GPS is also influenced by air clarity, weather, and connection strength, so if your event was underground or if the sky was cloudy, the accuracy of GPS would decrease even further.
The alternative to GPS was the use of Bluetooth, WiFi, and other close-distance technologies, but these were equally problematic for a variety of reasons, specifically that loss of signal could result in inaccurate readings. Enter indoor wayfinding tools like Pathfindr, whose solution is best described by the company themselves:
Using the front or rear facing camera on your smart device, Pathfindr constantly scans for signature images (markers) on the ceiling or floor. These markers can be read incredibly quickly, and the user s exact position and orientation is then triangulated from this view. When a marker is not in view, the device s array of sensors are used to estimate and track movement. This position is then refined as soon as another marker becomes available.
From the markers we can also determine the user s orientation, unlike other platforms which rely on the unreliable indoor performance of compasses, offering an important advantage to wayfinding. No data is required to operate, meaning GSM deadzones provide reduced barriers to operation.
We think one of Pathfinder s most interesting features is intelligent waypoints, which could allow event managers to send mobile alerts to attendees when they were within a certain proximity of trade show booths, points of interest or activations. The tech can also be tricked out to provide guided mobile tours and customized directions.
This is much-needed stuff for large-scale events, and we hope to see it in wider implementation very soon.
The 5 Most Christmassy Christmas Events the World Over
LIVE EVENTS
Santa-hats off to the event producers responsible for these huge holiday productions, which draw annual audiences in droves.
Radio City Christmas Spectacular, New York
With all that seasonal weather, ice-skating, window shopping and tree-lighting, New York is the epicenter of the American urban Christmas. It s also home to the Radio City Music Hall and the world-famous Rockettes. Every holiday season, the Rockettes high-kick their way through dozens of seasonal dance numbers, drawing annual audiences of over 2 million. In terms of event planning, the Spectacular involves more work than your typical stage show: the beloved Radio City Music Hall is traditionally decorated from roof-to-foundation with eye-popping holiday cheer.
Winter Festival of Lights, Niagara Falls, Canada
For visual wow-factor, the Canadian Winter Festival of Lights takes it home. From mid-November to mid-January, 1.5 million visitors walking or driving the show route enjoy hundreds of stand-alone Christmas light displays, backed by the year-round lights that are projected onto the thundering mists of Niagara Falls after dark.
Hyde Park Winder Wonderland, UK
The annual Winter Wonderland is a 6-week fair of fun and shopping complete with frozen ice-sculpture forests, a Snow Queen, amusement park rides, ice bars, Christmas Markets, and duh, Santa s Village. This event gets our thumbs-up for their stress on sustainability: Winter Wonderland will provide suitable facilities for visitors, traders and operators to recycle their waste and all site waste will be sorted off site to divide out recyclable and non-recyclable materials. Cooking oil will be recycled as bio-fuel. Power, lighting and water usage is kept to a minimum by careful planning.
Cologne Christmas Market, Germany
The 4-week Cologne Christmas Market is actually seven distinct markets that spring up seasonally in the German city of Cologne, with the Cathedral-side market being the main attraction. Seeing 2 million visitors annually, the Cologne Christmas Market is one of the largest in the world. The wares are uber-Christmas as well, with vendors offering snow globes, music boxes, nutcrackers and bratwurst.
Grand Opening of the Christmas Season in Rovaneimi, Finland
For those of you who ve been living in a hole, Rovaniemi in Finland s Lapland, is where the real Santa calls home. Though the location is undeniably Christmassy year-round, at the end of November the big man officially opens the season with a public address. Visitors can see the Northern Lights, hang out with reindeer, or stay in a snow hotel.
Image Sources: Niagara Falls lights picture Copyright CAA Festival of Lights, Santa giving opening address copyright Visit Rovaniemi
Event Registration Software: What s Out There, and When to Build Your Own
EVENT PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
Event registration is one of the most important processes in event set-up. Do it poorly, and at best, you ll have a ton of complaints. At worst, you ll see a significant drop in attendance as frustrated would-be guests decide they don t have time to bash their heads against your sign-up form. So what are the best tools available to event planners looking to get their online registrations rolling in?
cevent
Cevent is the industry s heavy-lifting event registration system, and its development team is clearly catering to high-demand events. Sadly, as with most big, feature-rich systems, Cevent s website and application design is starting to feel a little bit early-2000 s-trade-show dated, and the event website templates they offer leave your event looking a bit clunky as well. We re hoping they update their look and feel soon, because their feature list is nice and robust.
Eventbrite
Eventbrite is kind of a dual-sided deal. For event planners, it offers ticketing and event management tools. For the public, it offers localized event listings. This symbiotic relationship allows event organizers to publicize their shindigs while handling sign-ups. In terms of their event management toolkit, Eventbrite feels a little more accessible to plebs and smaller event organizers (though larger events are absolutely supported) and has more of a modern, usable interface. They make their money by charging a portion of your ticket sales (around 5{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3}, give or take, which includes the credit card processing fee), so if you re organizing a free event, Eventbrite is completely free. Eventbrite, however, is not very customisable, and if their suite of tools doesn t include one particular feature, there s no real way to get that feature added.
etouches
Etouches is much more than registration software: it also comes with a bunch of venue management features, a budgeting system, automated badge creation, travel management features, and a bunch of other goodness. Etouches has a clearly international bent, with multi-currency support a bunch of major international brands touted as clients.
Those are your three major players, and there are a ton of smaller management software providers out there as well. Not too shabby a selection, and one of those options should work for most situations.
When to build your own
The problem enters in when you ve got very specific event requirements not covered by traditional features. Example: when running political events based at the White House, the U.S. Secret Service typically requires personal information on attendees in advance in order to be able to run pre-event background checks. If you re looking to automate a registration process like that (we did that once!), you re gonna have to custom-build.
A word of warning: Building your own is not a process to be undertaken lightly, but if you have the budget, the time, and set of system requirements that can t be met by out-of-the-box software (security requirements for political event registration, for example), it may be the best way to go. Realistically, you re looking at a 6-month design and development period for your registration system, and that s providing you choose the right team. You ll want to ensure that whoever you choose has experience building secure systems that are user-friendly, and you should specifically ask to see examples of similar work.
In terms of budget, a very basic system is likely to cost somewhere in the $30,000 range (for basic registration management only, say), and prices for building complex systems can jump as high as $500,000 (ouch!), so unless you re swimming in time and money (and who is, right?), building something just for a single event isn t terribly cost-effective. The best idea here is to think long-term:
But I m not a techie where do I even start?
First of all: avoid part-time freelancing sites like Odesk, eLance and Getafreelancer. Producers on those sites are rewarded for getting in and out of projects quickly, and they often deliver cheap, fast, poor-quality code. You are unlikely to get any hand-holding or support for the product you are given. What you want is a reliable freelance team that can stay in close contact with you during the build, installation and deployment of your system.
You ll need, at the very least, a designer with experience designing websites and other interface, and a developer (coder) with experience creating database-driven applications. One of the best places to look is on developer- or designer-directed sites like Stack Overflow or Creative Bloq. Good luck!
Mobile Media Tour Inspiration: Great Vehicle Wraps and Mobile Billboards
EVENT PRODUCTION INSPIRATION
Vehicle wrapping is an artform. At its most basic, we re talking printing out a billboard on removable vinyl and cutting it to the shape of your bus, food truck, SUV, etc. Highly customized and creative work involves thinking with the shape and outline of the vehicle and using those shapes to create optical illusions or other attention-grabbing advertisements (Need something done? Give us a shout, we can wrap anything).
We re loving the stark, manly modernity of this Bacon Bacon food truck wrap, printed by Wraps1.com.
Hats off to the minds at YKCR / Y&R Advertising Agency, who came up with this genius wrap for a local Irish Music Festival. Using the natural structure of the vehicle as a canvas, YKCR created a natural accordion with articulated buses.
Printed at Australia s Graphic Art Mart, this clever mobile ad makes it appear as though the bus has backed into a street sign a sure way to attract attention.
This super eye-catching wrap concept was never actually printed, but was submitted to the (now defunct) 2007-2008 Rhino Rolling mobile ad awards.
Created by the vehicle-wrapping Einsteins at Vector Media, this whale bus isn t just wrapped on the outside: the inside was also painted pink like the inside of a whale s mouth, and the dangling passenger handle grips were shaped like whale teeth.
H&R Block Get Your Billion Back America Campaign
COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS
In early 2014, H&R Block launched an experiential marketing program that builds off their Get Your Billion Back America ad campaign. The tour puts the brand in the hands of consumers and rewards them with cash.
Developed in partnership with Ketchum, Decibel Management designed and created a custom, interactive kiosk composed of four computers, multiple touchscreens, cameras and ATM components.
The 20-foot-by-20-foot kiosk is set up in high-traffic locations where participants take a two-minute quiz which includes imagining what they would do with a billion dollars. As a reward, the kiosk dispenses up to $100 per participant.
This kiosk is definitely a first of its kind. It is part ATM, part photo/video booth and was built from scratch for the Get Your Billion Back events hosted by H&R Block. And it was built in 6 weeks, from concept to completion.
H&R Block Rewards Consumers With Cash
Marketing Daily
By Tanya Irwin
March 26, 2014
http://www.mediapost.com/
H&R Block has launched an experiential marketing program that puts the brand in the hands of consumers and rewards them with cash.
To build off the Get Your Billion Back America ad campaign, Ketchum, Decibel Management, M1 Interactive and CGS Premier created a custom, interactive kiosk composed of four computers, multiple touchscreens, cameras and ATM components.
The 20-foot-by-20-foot kiosk is set up in high-traffic locations where participants take a two-minute quiz which includes imagining what they would do with a billion dollars. As a reward, the kiosk dispenses up to $100 per participant.
The kiosk is definitely a first of its kind for us or for anyone, says Christina Lively, H&R Block director of brand strategy and integration. It s part ATM, part photo/video booth and was built from scratch for our Get Your Billion Back events.
The activation concept is based on a study H&R Block conducted last year that revealed that when taxpayers prepare their own tax returns, about one in five is leaving money on the table by not claiming all available tax credits and deductions, Lively says. These inaccuracies contribute to more than $1 billion in unclaimed money.
The kiosk program is available in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Kansas City and New York. The campaign includes four spots running on broadcast, digital and social media.
The reaction has been incredible, Lively tells Marketing Daily. We set out to surprise and delight consumers, and this activation did just that. Consumers can t believe that H&R Block is giving away real money and long lines formed very quickly in all of the markets.
About 600 consumers have gone through the experience, and thousands of others have been exposed to the brand onsite and through event videos, she says.
Lively said it has not been determined whether the kiosk will be expanded to more cities next year.
We ve had a lot of fun with this throughout the season and would love to continue surprising and delighting people the way we have with our Get Your Billion Back events, she says.