Social Engagement at IMEX America 2014

This fall, the IMEX Group will host its fourth annual IMEX America show in Las Vegas, NV. For the second time, IMEX plans to use the social photo booth, powered by Pixe, which generated a lot of interest and success at IMEX Frankfurt. Pixe’s social photo booth solution allows the official IMEX Social Team to capture pictures of attendees and directly upload them to Facebook and Twitter live from the event.

IMEX America, the largest Hosted Buyer Program in North America, draws thousands of attendees each year. A Hosted Buyer Program allows international buyers to meet with exhibitors and sellers in one-on-one appointments. Let’s face it; large-scale tradeshows can be overwhelming even for seasoned attendees. But this program gives both buyers and exhibitors the opportunity to focus on exactly what their brand needs and wants to gain from the show.

Pixe will also showcase its solutions to buyers interested in growing their event’s social engagement. Our solution gives events the unique opportunity to reach 4-5 times as many social fans as they would with traditional marketing.

Similar to our presentation at IMEX Frankfurt where we captured 268 photos, Pixe plans to gain even more on and off site fan engagement. The photos uploaded directly from the show floor created 50,753 Facebook Impressions and reached almost 30,000 social fans. With Pixe’s unique ‘photomonial’ ability, show attendees expressed their interest and appreciation for all of the opportunities they were exposed to during the show. The infographic below displays the expansive reach of the Pixe Social marketing solution at IMEX Frankfurt.

 

Record Highs for Pixe and CapCom at SDCC

The CapCom Monster Hunter Pixe Photo Booth at the San Diego Comic-Con extended the brand’s reach to 1,207,239 fans online. The 2,556 fun photos shared by attendees on Monster Hunter’s Facebook Page live from the show generated 1,904,928 Impressions!

The following infographic also highlights the the increase of activity on the Monster Hunter Facebook Page as a result of the photos posted by Pixe. The brand's Page reached over 1.7 million Facebook fans in a matter of two weeks. Video game fanatics from across the globe were excited to share their photos with friends and family on their social networks.

 

Related Links  

• CapCom Reaches 1.7 Million Facebook Fans at San Diego Comic Con
• Pixe Facebook Page

Taking the Challenge out of Crowdfunding, the #IceBucketChallenge Way

For the past couple weeks, social media feeds have been flooded (pun intended) with videos of friends and colleagues completing the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Thousands of participants including politicians, athletes, and members of Hollywood have humbly accepted the challenge to dump a bucket of freezing cold ice water on their heads to raise awareness for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Those that accept the challenge, in turn, challenge their friends, coworkers, or even complete strangers to do the same or donate $100 to the ALS Foundation.

As with many other social media viral campaigns, the critics have voiced concerns about how much the ALS Association is actually benefiting from the videos. In reply to the doubtful naysayers, Alsa.org notes that between July 29 and August 12, 2013 the ALS Association raised $1.12 million. During that same time this year, nearly 150,000 individuals have donated $4 million and those numbers have risen in the past three days. Along with donating to the cause, thousands are now educated aware of how many people are affected by this disease each year.

Starting with Peter Frates, a former Boston College baseball team member and currently living with ALS, on July 31, the challenge has reached over 15 million people on Facebook alone. This unique execution of crowdfunding, a large number of people raising monetary funds for a project usually through online word of mouth, has greatly surpassed the expectations of both the ALS Association and social media experts.

In order to provide some entertainment for your Friday afternoon and spread the word about ALS, a few Pixe team members have accepted the challenge, including our leader, Rajiv Jain (See videos below). Enjoy!

Last Call! Enter to Win Tickets to the Final Pixe Summer Music Take Over Concert

For the past three months, Pixe has hosted an interactive contest series for Pixe Snap users, Summer Music Take Over (SMTO). Music fans along the East Coast were encouraged to download the Pixe Snap mobile app, select the specific geolocation with a corresponding concert, and tweet a photo. Each contest was announced on Pixe’s Facebook and Twitter feeds directing participants to more detailed information about the concert and contest. All of the photos were tweeted with the concert hashtags to connect with fans across Twitter. Winners were randomly chosen from the entrants and announced on Twitter and Facebook.


The Pixe team was elated with the amount of interaction with music fans via social media. With over 70 new Pixe Snap registrants throughout the contest series, the app has grown in popularity within the targeted demographic. Festival enthusiasts were eager to enter two SMTO contests for the Firefly Music Festival in Delaware and the Mad Decent Block Party (MDBP) in Maryland. Along with pre-show fan engagement, Pixe created a contest for MDBP attendees to capture photos during the event and win tickets to the next weekend’s Moonrise Festival. Pixe Snap users captured over 190 photos before and during the MDBP concert.

As the summer comes to a close and local schools are gearing up for returning students, the Summer Music Take Over contest series has one final contest for fans to enter. This September, international singing sensation, Ed Sheeran will perform at Merriweather Post Pavilion. As a result of the enthusiasm of Ed Sheeran fans, we have decided to open the contest early and run it through 2 September 2014. We encourage fans to download the app on their iOS or Android devices, select the “Ed Sheeran” geolocation and tweet your pictures. A winner will be randomly selected and announced via our social media channels on 3 September 2014.

Good luck and thank you for playing!


Related Links

• Contest Terms & Conditions
• Learn more about Pixe Snap
• Download Pixe Snap on iOS
• Download Pixe Snap on Google Play

CapCom Reaches 1.7 Million Facebook Fans at San Diego Comic Con

For over 25 years, Pixe client, CapCom, has become the industry leader in video game production and distribution across Asia, Europe and the United States. After receiving rave reviews from E3 attendees, CapCom wanted to replicate the interactive social-sharing experience provided by Pixe Social at San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) for fans of its Monster Hunter video game.

For those familiar with the world of cosplay, comic books, and anime, SDCC is known to draw hundreds of thousands of attendees each year. Taking place for over 30 years, Comic-Con International: San Diego hosts the annual event to showcase comics and all related art forms such as film, video games, multimedia artwork, and design. Fans from across the globe gather in Southern California outfitted in their best cosplay to meet up with other comic enthusiasts and celebrities.

Pixe captured over 2500 photos of passionate fans posing with a life size replication of the “Gore Magala” character in the CapCom booth. The photos engaged 330,942 online fans leaving a total of 1,904,928 Facebook Impressions. SDCC attendees shared the CapCom SDCC Photo Booth photos an impressive 420 times from the Monster Hunter Facebook page. One particular photo from one of the five Facebook photo albums was liked 2277 times and shared 82 times.

Now that we have you sitting on the edge of your seats with anticipation, take a look at a few of the awesome pictures from the CapCom Monster Hunter booth at San Diego Comic Con.

View all five albums here.

The Introverts' Guide to Successful Networking at Tradeshows

Guest blog post by Nicholas Weeks, Operations and Assets Coordinator

The Pixe team joined our friends at a2z, Inc. in a week-long series of team building activities designed to foster cross-functional team work and communication. At the start of the week, every team member completed a Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment. This test analyzes and reveals how an individual prefers to use his/her perception and judgment. Under the system, a unique letter represents each of the four main communication characteristics to signify which communication style we prefer in both professional and personal relationships.

The first, and usually most telling, category is either an “I” to represent Introversion or an “E” to represent Extroversion. Introverts are not necessarily shy, they just prefer to process ideas and concepts internally in large social settings. Extroverts, on the other hand, thrive in large groups and can quickly process and verbalize their opinions. So how do executives with “I” personality type survive in the hullabaloo at a trade show or conference, and successfully interact with event attendees in their booth before and during an event?

Pre-Event
This is the most important stage for any team, especially when you have any “I” team members. For me personally, being a very strong “I”, it’s best to have my pitch down a couple weeks beforehand and have 2-3 small talking points in case I need to approach someone. Perfecting the pitch helps you more in the long-run to develop confidence and the ability to talk to anyone, cutting down on inevitable pre-event anxiety. Your talking points encourage natural conversation rather than an awkward silence followed by meaningless chatter that provides no real value.

During the Event
From past experiences, I’ve realized there are two types of successful conversations while exhibiting at an event.

• The Booth: Anyone who approaches your booth is there for a reason; they are curious or interested in learning more. This cuts down on pressure because the conversation will have a predetermined path. With any booth demonstration, I rely heavily on the pre-event planning. With all of the practice and preparation one has put into the introductory pitch, one already the key support system in place to break the ice.
• Show Floor: Instead of starting off with your pitch, all you have to do is introduce yourself followed by a brief description of the company, and now the ball is in their court. To me, this is the easier of the two conversations. As an introvert, I tend to be more of a listener and keep my thoughts to myself to analyze while others talk.

To help all the Introverts out there, here are some simple steps for survival in an Extrovert world:

• Wind down time:  When you ask any introvert they will say that they need their own space to get focused, reorganized, and time for reflection. Usually the hour after an event ends is the time that is most critical.
• Take breaks:  During the event, it’s useful to clear your mind every couple hours or so. If the floor gets slow, take advantage of this time to walk and clear your head.
• Don’t worry:  It’s okay to make mistakes and they are going to happen anyways. So what if the last pitch you gave wasn’t the best? That’s the best part about tradeshows, there are usually hundreds of people that you will talk to next, by the end of the day one fumbled line will be the last thing on your mind.
• Have Fun: The most important part of the tradeshow for me is the experience in itself. I have found that the more you relax and try to have fun, the better the results you will have. People love fun and when you product incorporates fun naturally, it’s easier to relax.

Related Links:

• Pixe and a2z Team Members Participate in Pixe Snap Scavenger Hunt
• An a2zWeek Full of Fun, Learning and Team-building Exercises  
• Booth Sales THEN and NOW! (Video) – Part 1

Increasing the Social Reach of the Brasil Game Show

 

 This fall, Pixe will host an interactive photo sharing experience for the attendees of the Brasil Game Show (BGS). For seven years, the BGS has hosted thousands of gaming and electronics enthusiasts at the biggest electronics show in Latin America.

Over 180 video game developers, producers, and distributors gather in the Expo Centre Norte in San Paulo, Brazil to release the newest game additions. With this exclusive opportunity to preview games before their official release date, BGS organizers expect more than 250,000 visitors for this year’s event.

Pixe will provide BGS attendees with a social gamification activity through our popular photo booth technology, Pixe Social. Complete with the logos of BGS and one of their notable sponsors, this innovative solution integrates on-site fan engagement through fun photos with an extended viral reach on leading social
media sites.

Pixe Social operators will encourage fans at Entrance Lines, VIP and Media Centers, during sponsored evening events to snap a photo with friends to post in real-time on the Brasil Game Show Facebook Page and Twitter Feed. Gaming fans will also have the chance to see their photos on the Pixe Photo Wall, a large,
HD screen with a scrolling slideshow. Pixe encourages BGS attendees to share their photos with friends and family on their own social profiles to show off their exciting time at the event.