How To Use Products As Event Decor

Getting ready to launch a new product? A product launch is a critical time for an early stage company and if products aren’t properly launched, companies can’t generate revenues, growth, or even survive in todays dynamic economy. Today, there are great pressures to be more competitive and profitable, so solid launches are even more critical. ABCey has gathered 5 of our favorite events that have made the best use out of their products!

1. Bridgestone | For the 2010 Superbowl, Bridgestone used it’s tires and stacked them to create tables at the ESPN the Magazine Next Big Weekend party.

2. Jameson | During the Northside Festival this June, whiskey brand, Jameson, hosted the Black Barrel Lounge and decorated the space with chandeliers made from deconstructed flame-charred Jameson Black barrels.

3. Clinique | Clinique celebrated it’s Dramatically Different lotion at an event by creating a hallway for guests to enter through that was lined with more than 4,000 bottles of the 45-year-old, award winning lotion.

4. Mattel | For Barbie’s 50th anniversary, Mattel created a real life version of the doll’s Malibu Dream House with a huge wall of Barbie dolls.

5. Godiva | At InStyle’s Golden Globes after party in 2009, Godiva decked out an entire suite with chocolate decor, including a mosaic of individual chocolates beneath a glass topped dining table.

We love all these creative ideas that companies used to promote their product! Which one is your favorite? Let us know in a comment or on Facebook or Twitter! Make sure to stay updated with ABCey for event posts, ideas, and tech news!

Startup Monday: Splash

Startup Monday is ABCey’s weekly post that features some of the best and brightest companies in the Bay Area. They are often companies that we have our eye on or have worked with in the past that we would like to share with the friends and followers of ABCey Events.

It’s time to usher events into the online age. It’s about time you used Splash.

Splash, a service to better event goer’s online experiences, is like the Apple of event apps. Unlike Ticketmaster and Eventbrite, Splash boasts an extremely user-friendly interface so event planners can take control of the event’s internet buzz. The team will help you in every stage of the event process from building budgets to tracking tasks!

With Splash, you can create a mobile-friendly customized event website, custom e-vites, and social media galleries! This service even makes it easier to get guests to your event. Tickets can be sold through the website and Splash keeps track of every RSVP and mobile check-in!

We think Splash is a great tool for large-scale events… what do you think? Tell us your thoughts in a comment below, on Facebook, or Twitter!

ABCey’s Weekend Line-Up: 6.20.13-6.23.13

This weekend marks the official start of summer! Across the bay area, there are nighttime yacht cruises, a free BBQ, and hackathons galore. Celebrate everyone’s favorite season with ABCey!

1. API Hackday 2013 | Sunday, June 23rd | 8:00 a.m.-5 p.m. | 169 11th St. San Francisco | This all-day coding fest is where to be if you’re a developer who really wants to design apps and mashups with APIs. Admission and all the meals you could want are free so you can focus on creating the next best app! At the end, hackers will present their ideas and creations to the judge panel and have a chance to win some pretty cool prizes.

2. “Grilling in the Mo” Annual Fillmore Summer Fest Kick-Off | Saturday, June 22nd | 1:00 p.m.-5 p.m. | 1900 Geary St. San Francisco | Celebrate the official start of summer with some free BBQ! Bring the kiddos along for face-painting, line dancing, and fun for all.

3. Mobile Commerce World 2013 | Monday, June 24th | 8:00 a.m.-7:30 p.m. | Palace Hotel, San Francisco | Businesspeople in all fields will benefit from learning how to grow and expand their mobile commerce and marketing strategies at Mobile Commerce World. This three-day event will teach you everything to know about developing efficient mobile products and strategies and how to create the “next big thing.”

4. Hack//Meat: Re-imagine the Future of Meat | Friday, June 21st- Sunday, June 23rd | 8:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. | Institute of Design at Stanford | Food and tech come together in a giant hackathon to decide the future of the meat industry. Everyone from policy experts to technologists and other “steakholders” will be ready to discuss and develop new technologies and tools to progress the meat industry in America.

5. SPLASH! | Friday, June 21st | 7:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. | 10 Marina Blvd, San Francisco | End your week in a big SPLASH! presented by UCSF’s Partners in Care. Sip champagne while a luxury yacht takes you around the bay to see the Giants game and the beautiful Bay Bridge lights. Proceeds go towards helping families and patient care at UCSF hospitals!

Which event are you most excited for? Tell us in a comment or on Facebook and Twitter!

ABCey’s Weekend Line-Up 6.13.13-6.16.13

If you and dad need some time away from the Father’s Day BBQs, take him to one of the events on ABCey’s Weekend Line-Up! From liquor-themed carnivals to street festivals and every tech event in between, ABCey’s here to amp up your family time this weekend!

1. San Francisco Craft Spirits Carnival | Saturday, June 15th | 1 p.m.-5 p.m. | Fort Mason Festival Pavilion | This is one carnival you definitely don’t want to miss! Try some of the local Bourbon, Whiskey, Tequila and other spirits available for unlimited sample along with your admission. And yes, those are technicolor trapeze artists, that’s not the absinthe talking!

2. GigaOM Structure 2013 | Wednesday, June 19th-Thursday, June 20th | 7 a.m.-6 p.m. | Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF | From cloud to concept, this year’s theme will track how the real needs of businesses are driving IT construction and development. Speakers include representatives from Google, Amazon.com, and Revlon and startups and tech trailblazers will be recognized during presentations.

3. California Music Industry Summit | Friday, June 14th- Saturday, June 15th | 8 a.m.-5 p.m. | Laney College Theater, Oakland | Attention all music lovers and aspiring rock stars! This Friday, you’ll finally get your shot at stardom when hundreds of people from the music industry come out for a day of workshops, exhibits, and networking. Independent artists from all across America come to sing their hearts out and build relationships with others in the industry. Think of this as American Idol without the catfights.

4. North Beach Festival | Saturday, June 15th- Sunday, June 16th | 10 a.m.-6 p.m. | North Beach District, San Francisco | Take dad to San Francisco’s Little Italy this weekend for Tony’s Pizza and the North Beach Festival. Enjoy the summer sun and bay breeze as you wander through the craft stands and chalk art adorning this charming area of the city.

5. Bloomberg Next Big Thing Summit | Monday, June 17th- Tuesday, June 18th | 7:30 a.m.-9 p.m. | Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay | This hunt for the “next big thing” brings together entrepreneurs and investors to examine the impact of technology and business on innovation and the human experience. Talented journalists, businessmen, and analysts are sure to give conference-goers great insight into forward-thinking strategies for the tech industry’s future.

Would your dad like to go to one of these events? Let us know in a comment or on Facebook and Twitter!

ABCey’s Weekend Line-Up 6.6.13-6.10.13

There are so many events happening around the bay this weekend! Only in the bay area can you choose between barrel tasting some of California’s best wines, learn how yachts are engineered for the America’s Cup, or chow down in a burger brawl. ABCey gives you the inside scoop from San Jose to San Francisco!

1. Chipotle Cultivate Festival | Saturday, June 8th | 11 a.m.-7 p.m. | Golden Gate Park, Hellman Hollow | Chipotle is sponsoring a free event in order to engage people in conversations about healthy and sustainable food. You’ll need all day to take advantage of the wide array of activities in this festival, like the live music, chef tents, and the food and tasting halls. Make sure to try the Cultivate Farmhouse Ale, a special-edition beer exclusively available at the festival!

2. The Future is Electric: Plug in and Get There | Saturday, June 8th | 10:30 p.m.-2 p.m. | 100 Larkin St., San Francisco | Learn about the many advancements in plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in an event that expertly combines the know-how of a workshop and the festivities of a street fair. Inside the event, held in the San Francisco Public Library, experts will discuss the environmental and financial benefits to owning a PEV.

3. The Tech Museum After Hours | Wednesday, June 5th | 6 p.m.-11 p.m. | The Tech Museum, San Jose | Here’s the chance to live your secret desire to be in a museum after it closes! At After Hours, peruse the scientific and technological exhibits with added nighttime entertainment. You haven’t seen a museum until you’ve seen it with a cocktail in hand!

4. Passport to Pinot | Saturday, June 8th- Sunday, June 9th | 11 a.m.-4 p.m. | How does a drive through wine country sound? Visit the beautiful Russian River Valley and explore the over thirty participating wineries with your Passport to Pinot! You’ll be able to tour vineyards, barrel taste the 2012 wines before they are bottled, and pair your wines with local foods. Click here to buy your tickets!

5. Inside Social Apps |Thursday, June 5th- Friday, June 6th | 8 a.m.-6 p.m. | Hilton Union Square, San Francisco | Whether you’re an app fanatic or just an interested beginner, you’ll leave this event with a better understanding of how to work and benefit from apps. The all-star team of presenters are sure to capture your attention and relate to your business interests. Attend sessions on topics such as Trends in Social and Mobile Advertising, Maximizing Audience Participation, and Developing Cross-Platform.

6. Apple Worldwide Developers Conference | Monday, June 10th- Friday, June 14th | Moscone West Convention Center, San Francisco | This weeklong Apple conference will tell you everything you could possibly want to know concerning the latest developments in iOS and OS X. There are over 100 available sessions discussing Apple technology, lunchtime expert speakers, a “stump the experts” Apple trivia contest, and a huge bash at the end! Who said learning can’t be fun?

7. The San Francisco Burger Brawl | Saturday, June 8th | 12 p.m.-8 p.m. | Fort Mason, San Francisco | We live in a town full of foodies and chefs who all claim to know about the “bay’s best burger.” The time has finally come to dispel the rumors once and for all. At the Burger Brawl, the bay’s finest burgermeisters will battle it out for ultimate bragging rights. You get to reap the benefits with a full bar, live music, and all the burgers you can eat!

8. Baby Loves Disco | Sunday, June 9th | 12 p.m.-2:30 pm | Temple Nightclub, San Francisco | For once, your legal age will get you kicked out of a club! Families with children aged 6 months to 7-years-old are welcome to shake their booties together under the disco ball during this event’s brief time in the bay. Healthy snacks, kid-friendly entertainment, and diaper changing tables are readily available. And, of course, everything is baby-proofed.

9. San Mateo County Fair | Saturday, June 8th- Sunday, June 16th | 11 a.m.-10 p.m. | San Mateo Convention Center | Get a little taste of American summer with an old fashioned county fair! You’ll see all your old favorites like funnel cakes, the Ferris Wheel, and a petting zoo. Get nostalgic this weekend at the county fair!

10. 2013 America’s Cup: A Transformation | Tuesday, June 11th | 5:30 p.m. | South Beach Yacht Club | The whole city is excitedly awaiting for the bay to fill up with yachts for the America’s Cup. Learn about the tech side to the America’s Cup, from engineering the boats to the creation of mobile apps and games, at this unique and exclusive event.

What are you doing this weekend? Would you go to these events? Tell us in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!

Startup Monday: OurCrowd

Ever have a great idea but don’t know how to get it started? Or maybe you’re short on the necessary funds? At ABCey, we’re all about helping each other out and OurCrowd is too!

Based in Israel, OurCrowd is an equity-based crowdfunding platform to provide venture capital funding for venture capital start-ups. For those who aren’t familiar with the term, crowdfunding is essentially pitching an idea or project to the general public and hoping that they find as worthwhile of an investment as you do. Co-founders, Jon Medved and Steven Blumgar, explain that in Israel there are 500+ venture financings and over 1000+ angel financings, making it an ideal place for OurCrowd to launch — and prosper. Individuals can now use this platform to browse through hundreds of different startups and search through entrepreneurs, artists, technologists, and more.

According to its website, OurCrowd has become the first Israel focused, equity-based investment platform to launch and one of the world’s leading accredited investor only platforms! OurCrowd offers users effective tools to research companies in order to determine follow-up investment. IN addition, it offers a low-cost portfolio as well as a broad network of fellow investors.

What are your thoughts on crowdfunding? Would you support a project on a crowdfunding site? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter!

Startup Monday: Sticky

Are you getting noticed? And by that we don’t mean your latest outfit. Your ad is competing for attention against publicity efforts by hundreds of different companies. Today at ABCey, we’re featuring Sticky, a startup that measures the effectiveness of ads by using special eye technology.

Sticky not only notifies advertisers about whether an ad was fully rendered and served but also whether or not the consumer actually saw the ad. Its selling point is being able to distinguish between viewable ads, which simply means has the opportunity to be seen, and verified impressions — ads that were most literally seen. Furthermore, Sticky can determine how much money needs to be spent in order to reach views by 1000 pairs of eyes and offers ad campaign recommendations to help you achieve your needed goal. Its objective, writes Sticky, is to improve the “digital planning and buying decisions on true branding performance.”

This could revolutionize how marketers and advertisers develop future content and strategies. What do you think? Could you “see” yourself utilizing Sticky’s services? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter!

Startup Monday: Ask Your Target Market

In a time where it’s crucial to know whether or not your newest idea is going to be a hit or a flop, market research is key. It can be far too expensive to hire a firm, and often too time consuming and difficult to find the resources on your own. With the help of Ask Your Target Market, or AYTM, you can put your market research stressing behind you.

AYTM is a cool new way for companies of all different types and sizes to learn more about their potential customers. Using a panel of over 4.5 millions of consumers across 5 different countries, the firm helps you define your target market, create your survey, and make sense of the data that is returned to you.

If you’ve ever tried to conduct market research on your own, you know that having a tool like AYTM would eliminate countless headaches! We think it’s great the way that they can utilize their broad span of panelists to provide you with the most ideal respondents and information.

Would you consider using AYTM the next time you’re thinking about doing some market research? Tell us why or why not in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter!

Make Your Event a Stress-less Success!

Every event needs organization. Without it, we are stuck with a stressful mess of ideas, plans and an abundance of information. The best way to keep everything in order, is to incorporate technology into the event planning, and event itself. ABCey has adapted an article from Collaborate Meetings Magazine, who featured PlannerTech by Liz King of Liz King Events and Josh Gooch, elaborating on a list of some event planning tools to help you keep your cool.

1. EventFarm is an all in one ticketing service. They provide a variety of options for your attendees and for you as well! Their distribution process is comprehensive and even allows for ticket block distribution and progress tracking. Payment is simple and convenient, and registration/check-in can be modified by you- with the ability to ask registration questions, show seating arrangement options, as well as request entree selection. Along with ticketing features, also come promo codes, waiting lists, arrival alerts, and even the ability to create name tags/badges.

2. Social Tables is a sophisticated option for important details like venue mapping, making general processes more efficient, streamlining the check-in process and communication. This service also allows for real-time collaboration among team members, as well as in depth seat mapping. They have received funding from 500 Startups and even gained the business of the 1,300 attendee Latin Grammy’s- a shocker to CEO Dan Berger. Congrats!

3. Hubb is a cloud based CMS which gives attendees, speakers and planners the ability to create personalized schedules, interact with one another and provides one location to view all social information associated with the event on a “community wall”. The mobile integration allows for real-time updates- making sure no one is left sitting in the wrong room.

4. Bizzabo helps planners make (and attendees get) the most out of an event. This service also allows everyone to receieve up to date info and help networking opportunities. It’s easy to use and allows for the much needed interaction before, during and after the event. As of now, its free to event planners and attendees, but in the future Bizzabo will provide some outlets for event organizers to gain extra revenue.

5. Splash is a great tool to use to create an awesome and original event page, which lets you select a location, time and also serves as an invitation. You can take care of aspects like generating a budget, creating one-sheets and overall brainstorming, as well as tracking RSVPs and VIPs in real time. Pictures can be posted to the event page afterwards using a #hashtag!

Which of these services or apps have your tried to help techify your event and streamline those somewhat complicated tasks ? Let us know in the comments below, or on Facebook & Twitter.