This week’s hot takes on hot topics in experiential marketing cover charitable hair flips, a cross-country scavenger hunt and “Death to Midlife.”

BEAUTY FANS FLIP THEIR HAIR FOR GLAMBOT SHOTS—AND CHARITY

If you watch a lot of red-carpet events, you’re probably familiar with GlamBOT director and celebrity whisperer Cole Walliser, who on Feb. 19 teamed up with K18 to give consumers their own time in the spotlight at an activation in NYC that aimed to break a Guinness World Record.

In support of longtime nonprofit partner HairToStay, the haircare brand took its viral Hair Flip Challenge to Grand Central Terminal, where it aimed to break the record for most hair-flip moments posted on TikTok and Instagram within 24 hours.

Beauty fans, creators and commuters were invited to stop by to get freshened up at glam stations, and pose for their GlamBOT shots, with Walliser and his red-carpet team there to direct and capture their “best hair moment.” Nearby, a roving K18 mascot and oversized hair mask bottle installation helped attract curious consumers.

In the end, K18 didn’t break any world records, but it did accomplish something far more important. For each hair-flip video posted, the brand contributed $20, ultimately donating $100,000 to HairToStay, which provides low-income cancer patients access to treatments that reduce hair loss caused by chemotherapy.

To boot, #HairFlipK18 generated 1.9 million social impressions, while 5,000 K18 hair masks were sampled on-site. That’s how you do hair and care.

Photo: Courtesy of K18

CORONA AND ITS ‘SUN TAGS’ HELP WORKERS RECLAIM THEIR LUNCH BREAKS

As Corona Cero makes a major push for global expansion, the non-alcoholic beer brand is reinforcing its relaxation-focused philosophy with a “Sun Tags” campaign. The new effort is aimed at helping city workers take back their lunch breaks and get some R&R by soaking up the sun, despite the looming buildings that block it.

Across four locations in Argentina, with subsequent launches planned for Japan and South Africa later this month, Corona has turned overlooked public spaces into sunny sanctuaries featuring branded, custom-built tables and resting apparatuses (Sun Tags) that can easily be adjoined to existing city structures, like public railings, staircases and lamp posts.

To help people find their whereabouts, Corona unveiled a microsite that maps out where the sun hits between 12 and 2 p.m., and shows the exact locations of its corresponding Sun Tags. Those who encounter one of the installations can scan its QR code and register to redeem a free Corona Cero at a nearby point of sale, bringing the refreshing lunch break concept full circle.

Photo: Courtesy of Corona Cero

WITH A PUBLIC FUNERAL, HONE HEALTH DECLARES ‘DEATH TO MIDLIFE’

As anyone who’s made it through middle school knows, words can be harmful. In that spirit, Hone Health has declared “Death to Midlife,” and any other outdated terms related to aging. RIP, “Past your prime.”

To drive the new campaign messaging home on Feb. 26, the telehealth brand, which provides services that support hormone health and longevity, hosted a funeral for “midlife” at New York’s Grand Central Terminal. The stunt follows Hone Health’s recent full-page ad in the Sunday edition of The New York Times calling for the symbolic death of the word “midlife.”

The activation encompassed an open casket that featured accents of Hone’s signature yellow hue; a “Bury a Word” station that invited consumers to toss away the age labels they want to see eradicated from the vernacular, like “senior moment”; stand-up comedy routines; a free juice “Shot of Life” that represented vitality; and branded educational touchpoints showcasing how hormones, stressors and metabolism shape the way people age.

The highlight, however, was a eulogy delivered by comedian Whitney Cummings, who did less mourning of passé language, and more roasting of “midlife” and its cohorts.

We’re not sorry for this loss.

Image credit: Hone Health

A NATIONWIDE SCAVENGER HUNT CELEBRATES THE 50^th SEASON OF ‘SURVIVOR’

Across its multidecade history, CBS’s “Survivor” has garnered fans from all walks of life, and to mark the show’s milestone 50^th season, the network on Jan. 30 launched the Survivor 50 Challenge, a coast-to-coast scavenger hunt that gave members of its widespread audience a chance to uncover “treasure” in their home state.

CBS placed a hidden immunity idol (an amulet from the show that can protect contestants from elimination) in a secret spot in all 50 states, and teased the locations via cryptic riddles and other mysterious puzzles and clues that had to be unraveled. As CBS News Colorado reported, residents discovered that their immunity idol was stowed in Castle Rock by solving a riddle that read:

“Not Manitou, but Just as Steep,
Where Wooden Steps in Silence Creep,
Beneath a Butte, a Castle’s Base,
This Hill Will Test Your Heart and Pace.”

As the challenge unfolded, other immunity idols were revealed to be located in places like a cave in Kentucky, a resort in Idaho, a hotel in New York and a park and preservation area in Arizona—and hundreds of people showed up in the locales for a shot at victory. Photo moments and appearances from past “Survivor” winners were also part of the activation in each state.

The contest wrapped just before the debut of “Survivor’s” 50^th season on Feb. 25. And for the grand prize, a winner and their guest will be flown to L.A. on May 20 with all expenses paid to view the live season finale of the show. Everyone else will have to watch from their couches. The tribe has spoken.

Photo credits: CBS; Tamarack Resort

LACTAID STIRS UP THE TASTE BUDS CAFÉ IN MANHATTAN

Who says lactose drinkers get to have all of the café fun? With a new line of lactose-free creamers to promote, Lactaid on Feb. 12 hosted the Taste Buds Café experience in NYC to offer consumers a sip of its latest product innovation. Because if you want to earn New Yorkers’ attention, you might as well start with a free cup of caffeine.

The pop-up spanned hands-on tastings, cold-brew flights featuring drinks with foam art; a claw machine game; a charm bar; curated photo moments, including with an oversized creamer bottle; and an appearance by comedian and brand partner Hannah Berner. Bottoms up. (Agency: Dera Lee Productions)

More from The Brief:

• The Brief: Clean Machines and Gummy Bars
• The Brief: Drive-Thru Pit Stops and Traveling Basecamps

The post The Brief: Hair Flips and Word Burials appeared first on Event Marketer.

The concept of “stress-free travel” may sound like a distant fantasy, but Hertz is on a mission to alleviate travel anxieties through its Gold Plus Rewards loyalty program—and a pack of friendly golden retrievers known as the Gold Squad.

First introduced last summer to help airport travelers decompress, the brand’s highly trained group of pups has since begun infiltrating select Hertz locations, where the company says they’ve been very well received. But the Gold Squad, and the brand, really found their calling on Feb. 7, serving as presenting sponsor of Goldens in Golden, an annual celebration in Golden, CO, that this year drew more than 5,500 golden retrievers (and their humans) from around the country. Hello, dream event.

To bring the intangible perks of its loyalty program to life, the brand kicked off its sponsorship at Denver International Airport, where it unleashed the Gold Squad to relieve travel stress and spread some love to Hertz customers.

Then it was on to the main event, Goldens in Golden, where the brand hosted the Golden Pup Cup Café, a community-centric activation anchored by an Airstream trailer—where the Gold Squad made plenty of appearances—that provided humans with warm lattes and, of course, matching treats for their fur babies.

The footprint also included a branded mural that doubled as a photo op and featured “Feeling Golden” messaging, as well as swag and room to sit down and socialize. Outside of the activation, the Gold Squad mingled with human and canine attendees, alike, across the event.

“Ultimately, it was about: how can we have a meeting spot for folks to be able to sit down, entertain their dogs, interact with each other, and just have the best possible experience, and keep it all aligned to what we’re trying to achieve as a brand and as a company—that customer experience comes first,” says Brian Canning, cmo at Hertz.

Naturally, the Gold Squad and the café inspired social sharing on-site, but Hertz also drove hype in the leadup to Goldens in Golden with the help of its dog influencer partners, a group of golden retrievers (and their parents) that the brand has worked with over the last six months while expanding the Gold Squad campaign.

“This was an event that just made perfect sense for us in terms of being able to not only show up and make the event a little bit better from our perspective, but also to have golden retriever influencers [come] from all over the country, show the joy of a road trip, especially with your dog, and show off our cars and what you can do with Hertz vehicles, and the power of our Gold Plus program,” Canning says. “So it really aligns to what we want to do and how we want to represent ourselves as a brand and in the community.”

SQUAD GOALS

The good news for dog lovers is that Hertz is just getting started on translating its brand promise, and product, into an experiential platform. In fact, the company is currently recruiting for a Gold Squad Pack Leader, a role that will entail strategizing for, and producing, Gold Squad appearances and activations.

The goal, Canning says, is to grow the program exponentially. “We’re doing more and more cities. We’re going to be doing more events outside of the actual Hertz locations. So it’s just going to get bigger and bigger. [The Gold Squad] are going to become a part of our brand DNA, because it aligns, again, with what we’re trying to do in investing in the customer experience.” Agency: Preacher.

Related:

• Purina Enlists Pet Behaviorists to Build a Dog-Friendly Section at an MLS Stadium
• Milk-Bone and Jif Collab on a Pop-up, Dog-friendly ‘Museum’

The post Hertz Unleashes a Pack of Dogs and a Pop-Up Café at the World’s Largest Gathering of Golden Retrievers appeared first on Event Marketer.

This week’s hot takes on hot topics in experiential marketing cover Wendy’s drive-thru Pit Stop Express, Kayali’s fragrant café and the traveling All Conditions Express basecamp.

NASCAR FANS RACE TO WENDY’S DRIVE-THRU PIT STOP IN DAYTONA

Wendy’s invited hungry NASCAR fans to rev their engines for its burgers, chicken sammies and fries over the weekend during the Daytona 500 at its Pit Stop Express experience in Florida. The racing-themed activation took over the drive-thru at the brand’s International Speedway-based restaurant from Feb. 13-15 in celebration of a newly inked three-year partnership with Trackhouse Racing.

Visitors were first greeted with a tire-shaped archway that welcomed them to the Wendy’s Speedway for the “Biggie 500,” as well as a flag stand installation. From there, the replica racetrack experience was complete with stop lights, ambassadors waving flags and a full pit crew that washed fans’ car windshields and shined their tires, delivering the full pit stop treatment.

Once their vehicles were sparkling, visitors were provided with their choice of one of the Biggie Bags featured in Wendy’s new Value Menu, plus branded racing merch. (Agencies: TMA; VML; Spark; Ketchum)

Photos: Courtesy of Wendy’s

Meanwhile, NASCAR itself made history ahead of the big race with an activation in NYC’s Times Square, where the organization achieved the Guinness World Record for the planet’s loudest billboard.

ATHLETES TRAVEL FROM MILAN TO THE ALPS ON THE ALL CONDITIONS EXPRESS

The train takeover trend is chugga-chugging along, and Nike’s newly relaunched All Conditions Gear (ACG) brand is the latest to embrace the tracks.

The “worn to be wild” outdoor performance company made a bright-orange splash in Italy from Feb. 4-8 during the 2026 Winter Olympics with the All Conditions Express, a commuter train that was transformed into a traveling basecamp that carried athletes from Milan to the Alps and back. ACG’s promise? “This is going to be one hell of a wild ride.”

Each of the train cars offered a different experience, from a fully stocked gear room that included a mini model of the All Conditions Express, to elaborate, custom-designed seating compartments, to a recovery unit featuring a log-burning fire and lounge seats equipped with binoculars that gave passengers a closer look at the outdoor scenery. There was also a café serving “All Conditions Espresso,” and offering branded “souvenirs,” like shirts, patches, postcards and bags.

Once athletes made it “into the wild” in the Alps, ACG provided expert-guided trail runs and hiking sessions that demonstrated the effectiveness of the brand’s apparel within the rugged terrain it was designed for. (Agency: In-house)

Image: Courtesy of All Conditions Gear

KAYALI’S POP-UP CAFÉ BREWS BEVERAGES AND BEAUTY SAMPLING

Between Galentine’s Day, Valentine’s Day and New York Fashion Week, Kayali’s charming mobile café, which popped up in Manhattan from Feb. 13-14, was in the right place at the right time. The fragrance brand parked its pink Airstream trailer near a Sephora location in SoHo, where apron-clad ambassadors served beverages inspired by its “gourmand fragrance universe.”

While in line for a beverage, consumers could select one of four top-selling Kayali fragrance samples to ultimately take home. Once they reached the café counter, visitors were treated to perfume sampling and education, a mini layering bar, photo ops and giveaways. Plus, those who received a beverage scored two extra samples for the road. Smells like an experience we wouldn’t mind bumping into. (Agency: Base Beauty)

Photo: Courtesy of Kayali

JACK IN THE BOX’S ANNIVERSARY TOUR IS A HOT MESS

Anything called “The Hot Mess Anniversary Tour” has our attention (and blessing). And that puts Jack in the Box on our radar.

As part of its 75^th anniversary celebrations, the fast food brand resurrected its cult-favorite Hot Mess Burger—reportedly the most-requested Jack in the Box item on social media—and gave it a nostalgic “reunion tour” for good measure. The burger originally debuted in 2013 through an ’80s-rockstar-themed ad starring brand mascot Jack (a spot that was reprised for this year’s anniversary campaign).

So with the throwback spirit in mind, Jack in the Box is hosting one-day pop-ups this month in select cities that feature nostalgic touchpoints, exclusive brand swag and, naturally, samples of the Hot Mess Burger itself.

The tour hit Jack in the Box’s hometown of San Diego on Feb. 13, followed by a stop on Feb. 14 in L.A., where streetwear brand The Hundreds was on-site to help hype the first drop in the companies’ co-branded apparel line. The tour wraps in Austin on Feb. 21, Jack’s actual anniversary. Rock on. (Agency: Small Girls PR, p.r.)

Image: Courtesy of Jack in the Box

WASABI’S WONDER WALL INSTALLATION CELEBRATES LUNAR NEW YEAR

The world officially welcomed the Year of the Horse on Feb. 17, and as part of a broader supermarket campaign, Wasabi celebrated Lunar New Year with a stunt in London designed with the holiday’s traditions, such as gifting, in mind.

The activation at Camden Market was anchored by a towering installation of festive red envelopes dubbed the Wasabi Wonder Wall. Whether roaming around the installation or hidden inside it, UK influencer Max Balegde, who’s known for his random gifting, surprised passersby with their very own red envelopes. (Although, at times, a surprise red-gloved hand emerged from the Wonder Wall to assist Balegde.)

Each packet featured a fortune and a number that represented the recipient’s cash prize, and only featured the number eight (as in: £8 or £888), a digit that represents good fortune in many East Asian cultures. (Agencies: All Things; RCP; Unfinished)

More from The Brief:

• The Brief: Spicy Brunches and Home DeCoors
• The Brief: Keg Cities and Social Experiments

The post The Brief: Drive-Thru Pit Stops and Traveling Basecamps appeared first on Event Marketer.

MOBILE CAFÉS

Earlier this month, Fenty Beauty fired up a mobile coffee shop for its Complexion Café World Tour, which is making its way to five UK cities in September to promote the brand’s new Grip Trip primer. Consumers who attend tour stops are invited to “sip, swatch and glow” as they enjoy a free iced matcha or coffee beverage of their choice, find their shade match, learn from professional makeup artists and walk away with a free primer sample. (Bonus: The brand also just hosted a Fenty Beauty Coffee Party in Brazil.)

During New York Fashion Week, Redken took a cue from Sabrina Carpenter’s mega-hit, “Espresso,” and launched the 24/7 A.B.C. Café, a nod to its Acidic Bonding Concentrate 24/7 Night & Day Serum, in partnership with the singer. The small, sophisticated mobile café was parked at strategic locations in SoHo and the Flatiron District, where consumers could grab coffee beverages with branded foam art and learn about the serum as a screen within the vehicle played ads featuring Carpenter promoting the product.

GLOBAL POP-UPS

Charlotte Tilbury is “serving flawless” at its Café Airbrush pop-up in the UK, which debuted in London and will also hit Cheadle and Nottingham this month. To celebrate the launch of the Airbrush Flawless Foundation and Airbrush Flawless Matte Setting Spray, the brand is likening foundation shade-matching to how one takes their coffee.

Consumers who visit can score complimentary Light-as-Air Lattes, and participate in games and activities to collect Airbrush Flawless stamps. Those who collect them all walk away with a Tilbury Bag Charm featuring a mini Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray. There’s also a photo moment with the brand’s “Flawless Wings” and the chance to learn pro tips from the brand’s “Airbrush Angels” at a dedicated beauty station.

Carolina Herrera may have opened a Good Girl Coffee Shop in Paris, but the brand took its design cues from classic New York-style cafés to promote the launch of its newest fragrance. Over 10 days, the red-drenched Good Girl Coffee Shop lured in consumers with a striking experience design motif, notes of the new fragrance wafting through the space and a series of events, from a latte art workshop with a pro barista to daytime raves featuring live dj sets.

LOCAL POP-UPS

On the flip side, Sephora popped up a coffee shop in Los Angeles that took its cues from Parisian cafés. The Café Sephora experience included branded baguettes and cotton candy, coffee beverages, a “fragrance menu” that mimicked coffee orders, elegant pastries on display and plenty of beauty products to test out.

Beauty, architecture and art converged at the Eye Stylus Studio + Café from Ilia Beauty and design studio Gustaf Westman during Frieze Los Angeles, as the duo took over Café Telgrama to launch Ilia’s Eye Stylus eye shadow sticks. The space featured one-of-a-kind Gustaf Westman art and furniture pieces inspired by the beauty brand, including a tiny pink table specifically designed to hold one of the studio’s coffee mugs. To boot, the first 50 people in line scored a free Eye Stylus, and, naturally, attendees were treated to coffee and matcha beverages with branded foam art on their way out.

Featured photo credit: iStock/Tempura 

Related Topics:

• Fenty Beauty Engages 300 Influencers with Drive-Thru Sampling
• Experiential Trend of the Week: Pop-up Perfumeries

The post Experiential Trend of the Week: Beauty-themed Cafés appeared first on Event Marketer.

“For as much back and forth as there is going over these designs and the concepts and location, I’ve always found the simpler you keep it, the better. And this was a small, immersive space that brews great coffee. As long as you keep that as your guiding principle, then the execution will fall in line.”

–Stephen Kill, Marketing Director, Nespresso USA

When Nespresso transformed an elevator at New York’s One World Trade Center into the stylish, two-person Vertuo Pop Café in March, the footprint may have been small, but the feat was not. It was the same scenario in Santa Monica in the summer of 2023, when the brand turned a gondola on the Pacific Ferris wheel into a mini coffee shop. Indeed, creating a micro-experience is harder than it looks, from scouting out suitable locations to the logistical challenges of having limited space. So we tapped Stephen Kill, marketing director at Nespresso USA, for tips and insights on creating mini activations that pack a big punch. (Agencies–New York activation: nmbl; Invisible North)

More Tips on Building a Micro-experience:

• How Nespresso Turned a New York City Elevator into a Mini Café
• Hilton on the Green: How Golf Fans Watched the Pros Tee Off from the Comfort of a Pop-up Hotel Room

Securing the right location takes time.

Nespresso’s stylish elevator cafe was designed in partnership with editors from Architectural Digest.

You might think it’s easier to lock down a location for a micro-experience than a full-blown activation, but Kill says finding the right space is more challenging than it sounds. Ultimately, by selecting an elevator at One World Trade Center, Nespresso had the benefit of not only activating inside a secure building, but reaching the right crowd.

“We had initially planned to roll out a bunch of [Vertuo Pop Cafés]. We kind of pulled back a bit to land this one and do it right,” he says. “This one, because it’s a secure building, you’re getting commuters and you’re getting people in media, which is important [because] you have them sharing this stuff.”

Partnerships matter.

Nespresso’s partnerships with One World Trade Center and Condé Nast-owned publication Architectural Digest were fundamental to the success of the Vertuo Pop Café. In the case of the Trade Center, the brand worked with the building’s operations team to tailor the experience.

“They were great to work with, even in terms of being able to control the elevator doors opening, et cetera,” Kill says. “So we were able to really customize the experience. We weren’t totally at the mercy of their everyday operations.”

And working with editors from Architectural Digest was critical to nailing the café’s elevated look, as well as driving awareness of Nespresso’s Vertuo line of coffee machines among the publication’s sophisticated audience.

“If we’re trying to drive consideration, we need the reach as well,” says Kill. “The partnership with Architectural Digest was really important because that’s where the reach is coming from. Of course, we’re going to get the earned coverage, but by partnering with them, leaning on their design chops to help inform the design of these things, we’re not only trying to reach new audiences, but we’re reaching a more premium audience, if you will.”

There may be structural limitations.

Depending on where a micro-experience is located, there may be structural obstacles to consider. In an elevator, for instance, there are safety protocols that can’t be altered.

“Within the elevator, we couldn’t mount anything. It needed to be freestanding, so we couldn’t change anything structurally,” Kill says. “And you’re also dealing with safety challenges, right? You have the escape hatch above, you have safety messages on the screen in there that you can’t change or manipulate.”

Consider the logistics from every angle.

Nespresso had to consider every nitty-gritty logistical detail to make the Vertuo Pop Café feel like a real coffee shop, from restocking supplies like water and milk, to keeping them hidden within the activation, to slowing down the elevator ride to ensure there was time to brew a cup of coffee and engage with passengers.

“You’re dealing with the volume of even water and milk, and where do you store that? We snuck in cubbies, and we had a milk frother tucked away that we could pull out on glides,” Kill says. “So there was some other hidden magic in there. But the thing that worked in our favor also is the [elevator] just keeps going up and down, so you can reload pretty quickly. Once two [people] jump off, you can add more supplies as necessary.”

Photo credit: Kelsey Rose

*This story was originally published in April 2024 and is updated periodically

The post How to Create a Micro-experience: Four Tips from Nespresso appeared first on Event Marketer.