Our recognition of the best use of design and technology in experiential marketing
If you’re reading this, you’re probably tired. Really tired. After all, it’s been a year of increasing events for the experiential industry, with event marketers reporting their portfolios are on the rise and on the path back to pre-pandemic levels. Audiences are craving reconnection, and experience builders are happy to deliver them. But with a flood of new and returning opportunities to engage audiences, brands have had to think thoughtfully to address volatile timelines, to move fatigued digital audiences, to attract cautious registrants, and to, in some cases, reignite passion for brand stories that have evolved with new missions and value propositions in the new era.
That’s the big picture. The Experience Design & Technology Awards program, however, digs into the details of the year’s best campaigns, from the décor to the a/v to the content, and everything in between. For the program’s 10th anniversary, we did some redesigning ourselves. On top of refreshing the branding for the program, we added several new categories that reflect all the little things that come together to create something big in the best events. Among them, Best Culinary Experience, Best Use of Signage/Décor and, because it’s on every marketer’s mind today, Best Measurement or Data Strategy.
A panel of brand-side judges reviewed applications across 23 total categories to select the finalists and winners based on a set of criteria that examined the tool or approach, the creativity, the execution and the results. Our editors then digested the applications to create mini case studies of excellence on the first place (gold), second place (silver) and third place (bronze) winners.
To all our readers, but especially, all our winners: Take a breath. You earned it. And congratulations.
