Photo booth as brand activation machine

Unlock your branding potential in new ways

As one well-known media magnate says, here’s one thing I know for sure: whether it’s in your personal or professional life, when you step out of your comfort zone, amazing things can happen. And it’s no different when it comes to marketing your brand.

In today’s crowded marketing space where we’re bombarded by the clutter of message over exposure, it’s becoming more and more difficult to make a memorable impression. And just how do you tap into those valuable networks of your existing clients?

Researchers have found that visuals increase people’s willingness to read a piece of content by 80%. With visual being the name of the game,  your digital content needs imagery to appeal to the masses. Even financial news is made more bearable when you throw in a graph.

Your visual brand activation partner

Meet today’s disupter in Calgary’s photo booth market. At Hip Image, we’re taking the photo booth experience to a whole new level. In fact, feel free to call us your brand activation partner.

Mix one part fun, one part “selfie,” a dash of your brand (with hashtag, of course), for added benefits, throw in a contest (or not) and see your brand go to new and unique places.

With a fleet of options to choose from including Buttercup, the 1970s era VW Bus, our “new” old Boler trailer and our vintage pop-up booth with green screen option, we are transforming how photo booths arrive at events.

Plus, we love to brainstorm with our clients on how we can combine our talents to surprise and delight your guests. Here are some tips and ways we help extend your brand reach into the depths of the social universe.

1. Give your brand ambassadors permission for creative self-expression. Then, let the sharing begin.

As you know, there’s nothing like a good word-of-mouth referral. Multiply that by the power of social media,

But first, we need to make something worth sharing.

Say you’re a corporate brand that’s not Red Bull or Tony Hawk. How do you get people to share your message (or at a minimum, associate with your brand)?

Let’s first of all assume you’re putting on some type of event. You’re adding a photo booth to your event because it’s, well fun. Now, let’s brainstorm together to push the envelope and try something new.

And where is the most obvious, easiest and broadest place for them to share that? On Facebook, Twitter or Instagram of course.

Have a theme? Check. Now, let’s go a little crazy.

Take a look at some fun we had with Honens for their Hullabaloo event and a community Back to the Future party.

2. Branding opportunities—where and how?

There are a lot of options when it comes to placing your brand on the entire Hip Image photo booth experience.

• • On the Photo: the most obvious place. Guest photos come with your brand—both digitally and in print.

• • Hashtags: built in from the backend, when your guests choose to share their photos via Twitter or Facebook, your hashtags are automatically pre-loaded. If you like, you can also include the hashtag on the print and digital photo.

• • • Touchscreen: When guests enter the VW, Boler or vintage pop-up booth, the first thing they’ll see is the touchscreen. We can customize this with your logo PLUS we can do some cool voice commands. For the CBC Stampede breakfast, hosts Doug Dirks and Jenny Howe customized the countdown messages for their four unique shots.

• • On the VW Bus or Boler: Want to make an even bigger statement? We can do that. By customizing removable graphics for the outside of the VW or Boler, we can become a billboard for your brand and event. We’ve got a lot of real estate up for grabs there!

3. Add an incentive and hit the “boost” button on your social shares.

Want to put your sharing into overdrive? Let the games begin by adding a contest for the most likes and shares on your social platform of choice. We’re happy to work with you to promote the contest both at the event and through our digital means.

Last year, we ran a Facebook contest with the Bridal Expo. This lucky couple won a free Hip Image photo booth session with +900 likes on their Bridal Expo Facebook contest.

4. Surprise and delight your clients with uniquely sourced props.

We like to think that we are honing our “prop sourcing” gene. We promise not to show up with a box of the same old sunglasses and moustaches as the next guy. Why yes, we have those, but SO much more too.

What kind of props would surprise and delight guests? What do people want to interact with besides the expected? Let’s give them something different from the norm and set the table for guests to tell a story—the kind of story that’s so fun and visual they want to share it with their friends.

5. Give inspiring service.

Here’s another place where we’ll reflect your brand. Over the course of 2015, we’ve literally put thousands of people through our funky little VW photo booth—all of whom came out of their experience with smiles and laughter (the ultimate payday for us all).

Now here’s the thing—not everyone who initially came into the line up was totally up for it. We have learned how to work with folks to also take them a tad out of their own comfort zone to get photos they love.

Heck, we’ll even try to come in costume to make it just that much more inspiring.

Plus, we’re a small, owner-operated business. We promise to do our best to overcome challenges that may come up (after all, we are dealing with technology that can have its own mind). At the end of the day, we want to make your guests—and by extension you—happy with our service. So happy that you’ll want us back and tell others about us too.

When it comes to branding in our visual, non-stop information age era, it takes some extra creativity to get noticed. At Hip Image, we work a little differently. We work with you to present ideas and inspiration for planning your own creative visual activation.

With a focus on creative visual branding, guest experience and activation, we’re changing the way Calgarians interact with photo booths.

Give your guests some great memories to take home—and share.

Get in touch to find out more>>

Check the coolest photo booth in Calgary!