Event Marketer

Aveeno, Coach, Kia and more get in on the rising WNBA hype With the WNBA continuing to hit record viewership and attendance numbers, the league’s 30th season celebration couldn’t have come at a better time, and All-Star Weekend in Chicago continued to build on that momentum. The game on July 25 at the United Center was the second most-viewed WNBA All-Star ever, and it brought in the largest crowd in the event’s history.

Jessica Sibila, Executive Director, The Exhibitor Advocate Many exhibitor service manuals contain an EAC fee. Most exhibit and event marketers have never been told what it is, what it covers, or why it keeps showing up. Open the exhibitor services manual for your next show and scroll past the carpet and the electrical order forms. Somewhere in the labor section sits a line item called the EAC fee. It is sometimes listed at upwards of $350.

Fans encounter training facilities, auction houses, quests and carnivals As far as pop culture events go, San Diego Comic-Con is Mecca. In the beginning, fans flocked to the annual convention to explore their favorite media through exclusive panel content at the convention center. These days, they attend for the first-rate brand experiences that take place around the Gaslamp Quarter, too.

Podcast Podcast: Designing Theatrical, Immersive Worlds, with Dr. Ilana Gilovich-Stossel Thursday, July 30, 2026 Since childhood, Dr. Ilana Gilovich-Stossel has been drawn to magic of storytelling and the world-building and imagination that go into it, especially in the theatrical medium.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK This week’s hot takes on hot topics in experiential marketing cover the Febreze Boot Room Tour, folding pubs and Peroni Portals. SPORTS PLAYERS SMELL BAD. FEBREZE HAS A TOUR FOR THAT. As the Official Odor Fighter of Major League Soccer, Febreze clearly has no problem being real about the fact that sweaty sports players stink up all kinds of surfaces and materials that can’t be thrown in the washer, from couches to gear to cars.

Diehard sports fans recognize that you can’t win ’em all, but that doesn’t make their team’s losses any less devastating—especially during tentpole tournaments like the FIFA World Cup and March Madness. And as of late, savvy brands have been quick to offer a shoulder to cry on with commiseration-themed activations designed to boost spirits (and engagement).

To know the fan, you must be the fan. And the brands that showed up to Fanatics Fest 2026, the sports fan festival in hyper-growth, proved it. Among the ways brands hit the mark for the 200,000 consumers, collectors and luminaries in attendance: Capturing the zeitgeist of sports culture, providing unparalleled access and recreating the frenzy on the field. We navigated around talent walkways—how stars get from backstage to in-booth panels and appearances—drops and more across the Jacob K.

How a theme park takeover, celebrity partnership and gamified interactions were built for client retention Paycom has been part of the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo for more than a decade, but this year, the brand hedged its bets on a decidedly experiential strategy, resulting in its most comprehensive sponsorship to date, and a record number of leads.

The AI shopping app’s trendy activation highlights brand partners at Swim Week It may be a surprising stat, but Miami is home to the most top Instagram influencers per capita in the U.S., beating out L.A. and NYC. And for a growing brand like Minty, the first AI cashback and savings app in ChatGPT, activating in one of the hottest creator markets during the world’s largest swim festival was a strategic opportunity to generate buzz and awareness.

Field Report 3 Things We Loved from Laneige’s Wonder Lab Pop-up Thursday, July 23, 2026 The Laneige Wonder Lab is on the move, hitting six locations this summer with hydration-inspired experiences. We stumbled upon the tour’s first stop in Orlando, FL, in front of Sephora at Disney Springs, which took place July 18-21. The activation featured the brand’s signature color palette of blues and pinks with a tiled backdrop that evoked a bathroom setting.