32 Cool Event Ideas You May Have Missed From Adidas, Red Bull, STARZ, and More

Legendary jam band Phish hosted a four-night residency April 18-21 at The Sphere in Las Vegas, filling the 160,000-square-foot, 16K LED screen with trippy, psychedelic visuals timed to the music.

Staging and production for the unique set was a collaboration between Abigail Rosen Holmes, Moment Factory, Chris Kuroda, Atomic Design, and Tait.

In late March, STARZ celebrated the premiere of Mary & George with a royal red carpet premiere event at The Biltmore in Los Angeles. The evening was produced by Westhaus, which kicked off the event’s 17th century theme with live fencers on the red carpet. The carpet and step-and-repeat were designed with a monochromatic red wall with baroque-style wainscoting, stylized draping, and 17th century-inspired candelabras. Other design notes included opulent red floral arrangements built in period-appropriate vase sconces.

For the after-party, Westhaus sourced a 24-foot bar from a prop house in Downtown LA that evoked a regal, European flair. The entire bar came in 18 pieces that required a 5-ton truck and three hours to build, the team notes.

For general guest seating, the event drew inspiration from the King's feast. Twelve-foot-long tables were dressed with candelabras, greenery, and fruit, and the team sourced mismatched Victorian chairs from a prop house. Other seating areas also incorporated Victorian prop furniture, as well as marble tables with ornate arrangements and reserved signs with calligraphy handwritten on old parchment in antique frames.

There was also a portrait studio where guests could pose in various vignettes inspired by the Villiers’ home.

The Adidas Fútbol Society is a curated space popping up in six key Latinx communities, all intended to celebrate soccer and the culture born from it. The premium retail experience and cultural hub is centered on the 2024 Major League Soccer season and Copa América, the popular South American men's tournament that's returning to the U.S. this year for the first time since 2016.

Monks was responsible for the strategy, creative, and production, shaping every aspect of this immersive tour. The tour kicked off in Miami and this month traveled to Los Angeles, where it popped up in the La Brea District April 4-8. The four-day activation, concepted by Monks and produced in collaboration with Stoelt Productions, included a private opening party and content capture and was open to the public April 6-7.

Highlights in each city included a custom bodega and a mural created by a local artist, plus jersey customization, a retail showroom, and more. The tour will travel to New York next, popping up in Brooklyn June 6-10.

BlueHive Exhibits created this 30-by-50-foot exhibit for Bio-Techne—a global developer, manufacturer, and supplier of high-quality reagents, analytical instruments, and precision diagnostics—at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting, held April 5-10 in San Diego. With a catalog of over 500,000 products, it was essential for the brand's new exhibit design to integrate several of these brands under the Bio-Techne name without losing each brand’s individual equity; the team also wanted to feature Bio-Techne's specific workflow solutions for each vertical market through an integrated system allowing for scalability and graphic flexibility. BlueHive's resulting design was an abstract coil structure that served as a visual metaphor for progress in scientific innovation.

The coil structure, created with fabric prints and LED color accents, included a physical laboratory and a billboard-style LED matrix display that could showcase large, overarching messaging as well as targeted support visuals for each individual product display. Working together with Bio-Techne’s internal teams, BlueHive also developed a user experience to highlight the company's individual brands and workflows in an interactive VirtualLab touch-screen experience.

STEEZY, an online platform for dance enthusiasts, has joined forces with Nike to curate a series of activations celebrating the platform’s 10-year anniversary and the launch of the Air Max Dn, Nike's latest innovation in footwear. The campaign kicked off with a user-generated content competition, and was also featured in the STEEZY "House of Reflections" at Coachella, sponsored by Nike Air Max. The activation took the form of a massive shoe box.

Inside the shoe box, the immersive experience—inspired by STEEZY's decadelong commitment to dance—provided performers and dancers with a colorful, infinity room-like setting for self-expression and content creation.

Two Red Bull aerobatic pilots, Kevin Coleman and Pete McLeod, worked with a team of photographers to create a series of once-in-a-lifetime photographs during the rare, full eclipse in Sulphur Springs, Texas. Photographers Dustin Snipes and Mason Mashon worked with Red Bull on the stunt, which included installing reflective wrapping on the wings to make the outline of the planes more visible and to combat the darkness created by the eclipse. The pilots had to fly in a tight formation, at 1,500 feet in elevation and only 4 feet apart, in order to line up the sun, the moon, and both the planes within the same frame. On the ground, Red Bull Air Force team member Luke Aikins received instructions from the photographers that he then translated directly to the pilots.

Fragrance company Pura hosted its Take Me There Fragrance Experience across Florida this month, popping up on April 6 on the beach in Jacksonville and April 12 at Bud & Alley's in Seaside. The brand worked with experiential marketing and production company AKJOHNSTON on the activation.

With about 1,000 total attendees in Jacksonville and 800 total attendees in Seaside, Pura hosted an immersive scent experience with its fragrances and an exclusive look at the Pura 4 smart fragrance diffuser, its bestselling home scenting diffuser. Guests also walked away with Pura merchandise, drinks, prizes, and a special promo.

American Eagle Outfitters debuted a pop-up shop in Austin, Texas, April 4-6, merging Texan coffee and denim with its "Back to Blues" campaign. The activation was produced by CNC Agency.

The 400-square-foot “American Eagle Café” featured free Jo’s coffee and pastries and some of the brand's top denim styles, which were available for purchase.

For a sustainability moment, CNC worked with Revision Goods to produce 1,500 denim coffee sleeves using reclaimed AE denim.

MAMA’s NIGHTMARKET: “YEAR OF DRAGON” Presented by Honda marked the culmination of Lunar New Year celebrations in Los Angeles. Held at Central Plaza in Chinatown, the 2,000-attendee event was produced by MAMA's NIGHTMARKET and experiential agency Mirrored Media through a partnership with the Bruce Lee Foundation.

MAMA's NIGHTMARKET, known for its dedication to preserving immigrant culture through food, curated an immersive experience that transported attendees to the heart of diverse food culture. With over 20 diverse, mostly underrepresented restaurants from various SoCal neighborhoods, guests had the opportunity to savor traditional and new-generation dishes that celebrated the Lunar New Year. There were also more than 75 featured performers including DJs, musical artists, martial arts demonstrations, and a mesmerizing lion and dragon dance show. There were also karaoke sessions sponsored by -197 and mahjong sessions with Mahjong Mistress sponsored by Suntory.

Honda played a significant role in enhancing the event experience with its DreamLab activation. Guests were treated to live cooking demos with Rie McClenny and curated vendors featuring experimental Honda-inspired dishes. Honda also showcased its newest vehicle, the Honda Prologue, with a custom interactive projection-mapped display prior to the retail launch. Prizes were up for grabs at the "Lucky Truck."

Proceeds from the event went toward supporting the Bruce Lee Foundation's programs, including Camp Bruce Lee, educational initiatives, and collaborations with artists and athletes. Additionally, Respect Your Elders, a nonprofit organization focused on feeding seniors in minority communities while supporting local restaurants, was part of the fundraising efforts.

In celebration of The Macallan’s 200th anniversary, WSJ Custom Events created a memorable, intimate experience for collectors and aficionados at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York. As guests walked into the space, they were immersed in The Macallan story, starting with a three-dimensional archway and moving through a gallery tunnel of illustrations depicting The Macallan founder Alexander Reid’s journey from teacher to whisky expert.

The Trust’s Willem Marx hosted the evening, which included a fireside discussion between The Macallan brand ambassador Molly Melville and Sunday Times columnist Will Lyons. Later, Melville dramatically unveiled a custom display case housing The Macallan’s newest limited-edition release, Tales of the Macallan Volume II. (Only 300 bottles were produced globally, valued at $100,000 each, encased in a Lalique crystal decanter, and inset within a substantial handcrafted 800-page book.)

Afterward, attendees were invited to participate in a special whisky tasting and pose for photos in front of 9-foot replicas of the Volume II book (pictured).

The evening was brought to life by Custom Events from WSJ, in partnership with The Trust, WSJ’s custom content studio. Siegfried’s Basement fabricated all scenic builds, Bentley Meeker designed the bespoke lighting, CxRA provided catering, Taylor Creative supplied all bars and furniture rentals, and Ode à la Rose handled the florals.

Purina DentaLife celebrated the launch of its new Puppy Teething Chews with a pup-filled event in New York City. The Puppy Smiles Gallery by DentaLife, held March 22, was an adorable gathering designed to educate pet owners about the importance of dental health. Highlights included puppy portraits captured by photographer Randal Ford, adoptable puppies from Best Friends Animal Society New York, insights into puppy dental health from Purina veterinarian Dr. Callie Harris, and complimentary samples of the new Puppy Teething Chews.

The 2024 Americares Airlift Benefit, hosted by Bryan Cranston, was held April 11 and raised $1.9 million to improve health worldwide. The event drew 400 guests to the historic TWA Hotel at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, where the departures and arrivals board was used for event branding.

The benefit celebrated the organization’s 45 years of life-changing health programs and the health workers and partners who make the programs possible. The event highlighted the organization’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, health clinics in Colombia, and its support for uninsured and underinsured patients across the United States. STAMP Event Co. produced the gathering, and Oberland was the creative agency behind the visual identity and experiential themes. The live auctioneer was Lydia Fenet, founder and CEO of Lydia Fenet Agency.

The evening culminated with a group of guests departing on an airlift to Colombia to see Americares' work firsthand.

Jameson celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by hosting a series of events on St. Patrick’s "Eve," including a consumer activation in New York’s Times Square with a New Year's Eve-style “rock drop” at 8 p.m. ET to coincide with Ireland’s midnight. 160/90, Pernod’s experiential agency of record, produced the event, which ultimately generated over 28 million fan impressions on social media.

The space featured a larger-than-life silhouette tunnel in the shape of a Jameson bottle, “The J Shop” merch storefront, and musical programming by DJ Stormy. Jameson continued the festivities from coast to coast, including by lighting up The Sphere in Las Vegas in Jameson green, wrapping ferries and water taxis in the dyed-green Chicago River, and with a digital takeover at LA Live.

LG’s Transparent Conversations in partnership with NCAA—the traveling podcast series focused on mental health and wellness for college-level student-athletes—recently completed its first stop of Season 3 in Phoenix during the NCAA 2024 Men’s Final Four. At the experience, which took place April 6 and 8 and was produced by Lupine Creative, tournament attendees witnessed the podcast recordings in the LG-branded mobile studio, participated in an audience Q&A, and enjoyed cornhole and other lawn games.

Attendees walked away with custom sound-reactive glow bracelets and foam fingers as giveaways, and had the chance to enter into a raffle for LG electronics including the StandbyME, the C2 55 Inch, and the XBOOM XL7 Portable Tower Speaker.