Posted in Custom Branded Games, Events, Experiential, Gamification, Interactive Brand Experiences, Multi-Touch, Uncategorized Bookmark the permalink.

5 Reasons Why Gamification is the Right Experiential Solution for Events

March 26, 2015 at 16:04

by Chris Rogne

Gamification is defined in many different ways. A business using gamification for its own internal use utilizes games for on boarding, training, employee motivation and peer building, to name a few. For companies looking to incorporate gamification into an event, trade show or conference, it solves completely different goals:

1) Booth attraction—People are waving their arms around or jumping in place. These types of games work to bring a level of excitement to your booth that gets people curious. Once you’ve gained their attention you can share the message you want them to learn.

2) Lead generation—Capturing attendee information before playing a game is a great way to generate leads. People don’t mind giving up a few personal details for some fun. Be sure to collect the data points you will use to contact your lead for post event follow-up to keep the conversation going and extend the relationship.

3) Brand awareness—Perhaps you are a well-known brand and just want viewership to stay in the minds of consumers. If you are a smaller brand or a company wanting to create a brand image, games can be leveraged to reinforce brand messaging throughout the game.

4) Occupy and entertain—Have you been fortunate enough to have an interested group of people in your booth but all your booth attendees are with other people? Having a game in the booth that reinforces your brand while they are waiting to learn more about your product or service is a great way to keep them occupied and engaged until someone is free to chat with them. Also, if you anticipate long lines at your event, having gaming stations throughout the line is an excellent way to keep your participants happy while waiting.

5) Infotainment—Playing games can actually be created to teach the participant in your booth what you want them to learn such as key features of a product. It becomes an interactive canvass to help to convey the message(s) you want to share.

Any or all of these reasons are why you should choose adding games to your next event, trade show or conference. Gamification allows for a fun interaction with your brand which leaves a longer lasting impression on an attendee.

Want more information on adding gamification to your next marketing event? Learn more!

Elation Digital develops a wide variety of interactive brand experiences and event technologies to draw crowds for tradeshows, events and mobile marketing tours including photo & video activations, custom branded games, social media, data capture, tracking and reporting. Their solutions are perfect for all budget levels from simple solutions to complete integrated campaigns.

Posted in Custom Branded Games, Events, Experiential, Interactive Brand Experiences, Multi-Touch, Uncategorized Bookmark the permalink.

Generate Leads With 1 to 1 Interactive Technologies for Tradeshows

March 16, 2015 at 11:25

by Chris Rogne

Participants and attendees at tradeshows and events have goals. They know what they are looking for and while many will still walk the entire show, they know what they want to see. You need to grab their attention. How will you do that?

· Entice them with exciting elements in your booth
· Keep the experience one to one
· Make it personal
· Teach them something

Do you have something exciting to showcase? If you are a technology company or if you solve a need, you probably do. If you don’t, there are plenty of experiential technology companies that can help make your product or service enticing.

One to one experiences resonate more than group presentations and will leave a more lasting impression. Have interactive solutions for them to have contact with which will make it more memorable–which is good for your brand.

Personalization is a buzzword I’ve seen discussed lately but it’s always been important. Be sure to tailor your pitch specifically to the person’s needs and company. Keep asking questions because you might have a solution for them they didn’t even know they needed.

Learning something new stimulates the brain and can pique interest. Think about what do you want people at your booth or show to learn and how you can make teaching that interesting.

Attendees are smart. Make them feel special so they don’t feel like everyone else that stopped by. Use these ideas and choose an experiential partner that understands your needs and how to get your audience excited about your brand. Once they are excited you will generate solid leads of people who now have a real interest in your company, product or service.

Posted in Events, Experiential, Interactive Brand Experiences, Multi-Touch, Uncategorized Bookmark the permalink.

Success at ExhibitorLive 2015

March 6, 2015 at 13:28

by Chris Rogne

Our CEO made the cover of Exhibitor Magazine! Well, we weren’t the only ones….but we’ll take it! ExhbitorLive 2015 was an amazing show. Great exhibits, fun friendly people and there was much to learn and experience.

We wrapped up the show feeling good about what we accomplished for our first showing at ExhibitorLive2015! Our interactive booth attractions which showcased custom games, infotainment and more were well received and the feedback was very positive. Check out what we have to offer!

Looking forward to next year! See you there.

Elation Digital develops a wide variety of interactive brand experiences and event technologies to draw crowds for mobile marketing tours, tradeshows, and events including photo & video activations, custom branded games, social media, data capture, tracking and reporting. Their solutions are perfect for all budget levels from simple solutions to completely integrated campaigns.

Posted in Events, Experiential, Interactive Brand Experiences, Multi-Touch, Tradeshow Technology, Uncategorized Bookmark the permalink.

How Adding Interactive Solutions Can Drive Engagement for Your Next Event

February 17, 2015 at 10:24

by Chris Rogne

Entertaining and engaging an audience with interactive solutions can drive brand awareness, aid in teaching your message and meet your campaign goals. You have a strategy–what is the best way to get the information to your audience? Digital Interactive Solutions.

Here are some examples of how getting your audience involved generates buzz and knowledge about a brand.

Food Bank of NY

The Food Bank of NY put together a program to educate teens so they could learn to make better food choices for their health. Their campaign was #changeonething. The strategy was to teach teens that if they learn to change one thing rather than their entire lifestyle completely, that change would help them make better choices over time. Two games were created for this campaign to help instill these better choices. One was a trivia game where the teens had to answer questions about making food choices. The other was a multi-touch game where food images appeared on screen and users had to choose only the healthy options by touching the correct ones and ignoring the unhealthy choices. This was a great way to disseminate information in a fun and engaging way.

Ministry of Health–Argentina

The Ministry of Health in Argentina wanted to share tips to staying healthy during summer. We developed interactive solutions to engage audiences on the beaches in Buenos Aires. Running in place against a friend, choosing healthy food options and jumping in place to get your heart pumping helped spread their message and were all very successful. These games created excitement and the participants learned while they played. Players also had the opportunity to have their pictures taken and could share these photos socially. Data capture was used so the Ministry of Health could collect email addresses to send news and information to help participants stay healthy.

Twingo

When Renault released Twingo, they wanted to do something special for the launch. We created a Kinect motion game where audiences or individuals could control a Twingo car and maneuver it by the movement of the player’s arms and body–move your arms to the left and the car will move to the left, move arms to the right and the car moves to the right–as it drove through a virtual city collecting points. The game was premiered at Kineopolis Cinema and there, the audience worked together to move the car. Getting the entire audience to move their arms simultaneously to control the car created an exciting experience to launch Twingo.

Deciding to offer solutions for your audience to engage and interact with your brand will leave a more lasting impression than the typical event experience of simply talking about it.

Posted in Events, Experiential, Interactive Brand Experiences, Technology, Tradeshow Technology, Uncategorized Bookmark the permalink.

Why You Should Have Photo Activation At Your Next Event

February 5, 2015 at 11:24

by Chris Rogne

People love capturing memories and photos are one of the best ways to do that. Truth is, people love getting their picture taken. A branded photo opportunity gives attendees a memorable way to keep the experience alive. People of all ages love to share photos whether via email or on their favorite social site: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and more.

What Photo Activation Can Do For You

• It’s an attraction draw to your booth.
• Participants generate branded user content for you!
• It’s socially viral and your brand will gain even more visibility
• Photos will live on even after the event is over.

What to consider:

• Give them a reason to stop–Make it fun and memorable
• Brand it properly–Use interesting backgrounds, filters, overlays or frames showing off your brand!
• Offer social sharing options¬–Make it easy and they will share!
• On-site print options–Some people just love getting things and your brand looks good in print.

It’s good for your ROI!

Posted in Events, Experiential, Interactive Brand Experiences, Technology, Tradeshow Technology, Tradeshows Bookmark the permalink.

When Tech Trends Don’t Matter

January 27, 2015 at 10:15

by Chris Rogne

There are many exciting technology trends for 2015. We’ve even written about Google Cardboard and Samsung’s 3D Project Beyond. We’ve used Kinect technology to create motion games that generate huge crowds at events and tradeshows for launching new products. But when do these trends not matter? When they don’t meet the goals you’ve set for your campaign.

Be sure when choosing a tech trend for your event, tradeshow or mobile tour, that it meets the specific needs of your goals and brand – not for the sake of being trendy.

Ask Yourself:

What is your audience looking for?
Is it relevant to them?
Is it delivering the content you want your audience to know?
Will it reinforce and amplify your brand?

New tech trends might capture audience attention and be engaging but what will they walk away remembering? Will it be the technology or your message?

Posted in Events, Experiential, Uncategorized Bookmark the permalink.

The Millennials—What’s Next?

January 15, 2015 at 13:13

by Chris Rogne

I’ve been reading many articles on Millennials; what to expect from this group, what do they respond to and how they interact as consumers. Articles list this group size anywhere from 70 to 100 million with a purchasing power of over $200 billion. As companies, don’t we want a piece of that pie?

This is what I learned:

o They want to be engaged with and recognized as individuals. Since this group is extremely diverse in culture, religion and ethnicity—they recognize their uniqueness.
o They expect two-way communication. If there is no back and forth communication, they are not interested.
o They respond in real-time. Growing up in the socially centric world, they are not willing to wait.
o They have strong belief in philanthropy and expect companies to feel the same and give back.
o They want to feel involved and informed, not just marketed to. They enjoy rating products and rely on peer reviews to make decisions.
o Happiness, passion, diversity, sharing and discovery are extremely important to them.

So what does all this mean? Companies always need to continually make shifts to their business goals as things are constantly changing. If the Millennial generation is causing the push to change—great, but companies need to get there regardless. And since this group is approximately 25% of the U.S population and the buying power stated above, they shouldn’t be ignored.

What should you do?
o Stay current on trends
o Stay technologically up-to-date
o Interact with your customers (the Millennials require it)
o Listen and learn about your customers’ wants and needs
o Apply that knowledge by customizing your marketing and products/services
o Get out and meet them (check out this article on how to interact with them at events)

Not sure where to start? The number of articles written about this group is staggering, but check out a few. Type ‘Millennial’ in your favorite search engine and you’ll see articles upon articles, infographics, and statistics until your eyes blur. What else could you do? You could always hire one. They know the trends, the technology and as hyper-connected socially driven individuals, they just might help with reaching your audience from the inside.

Posted in Events, Experiential, Interactive Brand Experiences, Technology, Tradeshows Bookmark the permalink.

4 Reasons Why Capturing Attendee Information is Key to Event Success!

December 17, 2014 at 14:59

by Chris Rogne

Companies attend events and tradeshows to generate new business and choosing the right data capture technology and tracking software is critical. Utilizing data properly drives future success.

1) Controlling the Queue—People at events are used to waiting for an attraction if there is something interesting they want to see or do. Good data capture software can help manage that queue process which makes it easier for you to control the line and your attendees will be happier knowing when it’s their turn. Dynamic personalization is a fun option to choose so the participant can see their name incorporated in the event. Having an attraction loop playing so your attendees will be entertained while waiting is a great idea.

2) Lead generation—Let’s face it, you participate in events to generate leads. Collecting information for potential customers allows you to engage over time to build a solid relationship and eventually convert those leads to customers. If the contact is already current customer, it allows you to further your connection through brand perception, drive demand, offer special discounts and coupons or provide education or information.

3) Consumer Insight—Staying in contact with the leads you have captured allows you to gain insight by conducting surveys and collecting information that can help you serve your customer better. What do they like, what do they dislike? It also can provide knowledge of features you could add or develop for your product or service to stay ahead of the curve and your competition.

4) Reporting—The numbers talk. The information you collect can help you develop reports to create an ROI for your event. How many attendees were there? How many leads did you capture? You can track follow through sales if you send them a coupon or special offer. Measuring success of an event helps you determine whether to participate in that event again and/or look for similar events if this one was a success!

Be sure the software you choose can integrate with your existing CRM platform.

Things to consider when choosing a provider:

What type of devices can be used to capture the information? Are these devices purchased or leased? Is a brand ambassador necessary or is it self-service? Is it easy for the brand ambassador to manage and set up?

Posted in Advergames, Events, Experiential, Interactive Brand Experiences, Multi-Touch, Tradeshows, Uncategorized Bookmark the permalink.

Successful Show at IAEE Expo! Expo!

December 11, 2014 at 19:28

by Chris Rogne

We just wrapped up at IAEE Expo! Expo! We showcased our photo activation software, data capture as well as several interactive games, including a custom game with Kinect Motion technology. By simply moving your arms in a steering wheel motion you can direct a car through a virtual city.

We teamed up with Cordell Racing who offers simulated racing experiences and corporate branding on Nascar race cars. By combining our event technology and social media solutions with Cordell’s expertise in corporate sponsorship and promotions at events and tradeshows, we can offer clients an even greater opportunity to draw crowds and generate brand recognition.

This unique combination drew in a large crowd as well as much interest in our combined offering. What did we learn? Two IS greater than one and it’s always a good idea to pack extra hardware so when all the parts don’t arrive, you are in a much better place to start the show!

Posted in Experiential, Interactive Brand Experiences, Uncategorized Bookmark the permalink.

Cardboard Provides Immersive Experience

November 23, 2014 at 13:52

by Chris Rogne

Last week I wrote about a new immersive technology by Samsung. This week I read an article about Google Cardboard, another immersive product introduced last June that is currently being used by Volvo. Cardboard is a rendition of Oculus Rift that’s made out of—you guessed it, cardboard and it’s being used in a marketing campaign to create a simulated driving experience for Volvo’s XC90.

Critics say the experience is not as immersive as Oculus. At a cost of only $7, using cardboard, magnets, some lenses and velcro—seems it would provide an awesome ROI. Read about it here.