THEME:
The “created for viral” event era arrives with WestJet’s Christmas Miracle program, where 150 volunteer “WestJetters” dress as Santa’s helpers and purchase and wrap personalized gifts for passengers aboard two flights. Online video of the experience leads to a record-breaking viral result, proving that event content is a viable buzz generator. Meanwhile, electronic dance music goes from underground to mainstream as EDM festivals become a big business. Concert promoters like SFX, Live Nation and AEG get in on the game, buying up festival properties
and facilitating partnerships with brands like Anheuser-Busch, Motorola and Heineken.

TREND:
Target amps up efforts to connect with the college collective and changes its perception among millennials as a place where their mom shops—scoring a Grand Ex in the process. The brand’s Bullseye University Live is a 360-degree
experiential campaign that is part digital, part physical, part reality show and total marketing genius. It starts with a Bullseye University dorm erected on-campus at UCLA and inhabited by YouTube personalities and grows from
there with live-streaming, Target merchandise and, of course, shopping opportunities.

TREND:
Cisco upgrades the industry standard smartphone strategy this summer with the Cisco Cloud Mobile Trivia Game, which in June provides attendees at its annual Cisco Live! user conference a fun and organic way to experience the event. Even more fun—the in-depth analytics report that is used to craft more efficient event experiences.

CASE STUDY:
As interest in live-streaming interest grows, Bud Light’s 50|50|1 concerts bring the power of live music and the fun of tipping back a Bud Light to fans in all 50 states on a single day. Fans download the Bud Light Music First app to score prizes and 50|50|1 concert tickets throughout the summer. Concerts in five markets are livestreamed on the Bud Light Music First MySpace hub. The event draws 2.5 million live streams and one million unique live streams, the biggest for any A-B brand.

CASE STUDY:
Samsung’s Feist Holographic event, designed to hype its new Galaxy S4 phone and position the brand as a technology leader, does just that via a three-city simulcast that leverages hologram technology to make images appear in 3D form. The highlight—a choreographed holographic musical performance by Canadian music artist Feist, which creates a “wow” moment shared among attendees.