Events: The Importance Of Being Instagrammable

How do you judge an event's success? Watch how many attendees snap photos.

The client may or may not encourage hash-tagging and live social media integration, depending on the level of privacy they wish to maintain. However, in the age of Snapchat and Instagram, guests love to strike a pose and collect their memories with their smart phones. It is one way of ensuring great engagement.

Branded, ready-made photo backdrops are popping up everywhere. And we love them, too. Here Brynne with our very own City of Angels Wings, created for a La La Land event last year. 

Branded, social media savvy PR campaigns and activations abound. Why spend a lot of money on advertising when you can get the public to do it for you. Selfies on social media have been around since 2013 when the word was named "word of the year".

However, recognizable backdrops are nothing new. The granddaddy of all famous signs in the L.A. area, the HOLLYWOOD sign, was erected in 1923. The original "selfie" is even older, taken by Robert Cornelius in 1839.

Add smart phones to the mix and you have the perfect recipe for unforgettable moments and free PR.

Public attractions have been savvy at using our centuries-old human need to express ourselves. 

The City of Beverly Hills declared itself BOLD this summer to promote itself to a younger set of visitors. How did they get everyone's attention? They added selfie boxes on Rodeo Drive and adjacent streets and painted Instagram friendly murals on the walls of public parking structures along Santa Monica Boulevard. 

The L.A. County Museum of Art's Urban Light is one of the most famous selfie backdrops in the world, recognized by international travelers from everywhere. Melrose Avenue remains relevant as a must-see selfie stop for young global visitors. 

While many critics had hoped the endless stream would just have its 15 minutes, it seems the selfie trend is here to stay.

It is a driving force in tourism and events.

We love to add creativity and function to this aspect.

A little earlier this year we were tasked to design the experience around a press conference and VIP/Public Reception to celebrate the opening of an art installation.

Creative Director Kate Brack: "We were challenged to create an environment that framed the art installation and distinct character of the existing interior design. It was a thrill to come up with minimal, striking details that fulfilled multiple roles; at once providing a professional engagement for the press conference, an elegant urban space for the VIP reception and a social media friendly environment for the public event."

The simple gold metal chain drape served many purposes:  It hid the event specific coat check storage area. The drape became a popular selfie backdrop and served in multiple functions on both days.

We employed it as a backdrop for the speaker stage at the press conference, the DJ stage and as hallway divider and decor. Lighting effects were used to enhance the effect.

Incentive and Reward travel has become an immersive, more personal experience through the integration of social media.

L.A. Stories Tour designs custom programs that deliver that enhanced experience.

We spoke to David House, Executive Director, Grayline SOCAL and Founder of L.A. Stories Tour.

"I have 15 years experience in the entertainment and touring industries and I had been observing tourists all these years. Los Angeles is a top destination and traditional companies will take you to the world famous attractions by bus but I did not see them catering to new trends and delivering what people actually want now. Visitors want to be engaged. They want to connect and get an authentic, personal experience.

When I started L.A. Stories the intention was to deliver that and to explain why Los Angeles is such an amazing city. We will show you the famous sites you want to see but in a much more experiential, immersive manner. For starters, we will take you off the bus. We deliver gentle walking tours.

Our content is a lot more in depth. You won't find the information on Wikipedia. We have done enormous background research. We all work in the entertainment industry as well and our friends share information no one else has access to. We can design complete custom tours and we offer two public tours that engage anyone from age 16 to 80 so you don't necessarily have to take selfies. Our Sunset Boulevard tour focuses on more historical anecdotes while our Melrose tour is really a selfie dream which even includes our own LA Stories Latte or ice coffee, complete with the logo etched in the froth. We take visitors to the famous selfie spots but while these provide an personal element we make sure to enhance the tour with a lot of entertaining information that will explain to guests the significance of Melrose in pop culture and local history.
Our tours are local, current, relevant and entertaining. Last but not least, our tours are set to carefully choreographed soundtracks, in order to enhance the experience, whisk you away in to another world and hopefully trigger some happy memories when guests hear the song again in the future. It's more immersive than your average tour.

We get great responses from corporate clients. Our tours are ideal as company outings or as an activity during a business program. We work directly with destination management companies to design custom experiences for their guests. We can adapt to budget, number of guests and time frame. We understand that a corporate client has a goal and we make sure to deliver the right content and message. 

Attendees want to engage and experience. Selfies are part of that but it also takes a lot more effort, labor and passion to deliver an informative tour that guests will remember."

Shoot us a selfie by tagging us on Instagram or Facebook.

Thank you for reading!