The Show 2018

Lucky you, award winner, you

GOAL
Deliver award show whimsy through event activation at Minnesota’s biggest annual creative event

ROLE
Design Director
Created at FAME

OUTCOME
An unforgettable experience with one of the largest attendance numbers for an AdFed event

YEAR
2018

The Advertising Federation of Minnesota (AdFed) is a professional trade organization that’s served the Minnesota advertising community for 100+ years, and The Show is their biggest event of the year. It’s a party, smorgasbord of networking, and best-of award show all in one.

For the 2018 version of The Show, our creative concept revolved around luck, that elusive but crucial element of success. Knowing that behind each entry lay a tremendous amount of work, we wanted to also provide just a touch of luck to help entrants take home a coveted award. Symbols of luck were featured throughout the creative and were used to fill an entire warehouse at the event. From concept to event experience, we oversaw it all.

A space for 5,000
of your closest friends

We packed The Show’s massive 13,000 square foot event hall with interactive experiences, a real-life fortune teller, colorful selfie stations, and impressive food and beverage spreads. The experience design employed larger-than-life visuals to excite and entertain attendees, complete with bright and boisterous lucky charms placed throughout. The focal point was a massive balloon wall and awards screen that displayed the winning work.

The invite

The Show invite had to be just as memorable as the event itself. Hand delivered to each in-house office, production studio, and agency in the Twin Cities, these boxes were designed to pique maximum curiosity. We stuffed each one with custom fortune cookies, entry materials, plus an interactive save the date that predicted the likelihood of attending—with all signs pointing to “yes.”