Making Branding the Silent Co-Star

The most important part of the AV for an event isn’t the lighting rig or the sound system. The critical question is: where will you put the branding?

In 25 years, I’ve seen it all. Every black drape, spandex panel, wood slat, and LED display. I’ve been a part of beautiful creations and now I look back at the pictures and think “What was that show even for?”

Invisible Branding Is Your Biggest Missed Opportunity

In today’s highly social world, if your brand isn’t in the frame, you are leaving an organic marketing opportunity, and potentially even future revenue, on the table. Your AV and scenic design should be the supporting cast to the content and speakers of your event, helping to elevate the brand in every piece of content that is created.

Branding in multiple locations at eye level when looking at the speaker.

What we do in the event industry isn’t just about the room anymore. Regardless of the purpose for a meeting - education, training, staff alignment, or a corporate kickoff- the audience outside of our meeting is just as important as the people inside it. We learned this during the pandemic when there were no rooms at all. Many of us had to quickly master how to communicate across the digital landscape to keep our brands relevant and our meetings intact.

Since then, the digital presence of our events has become even MORE crucial. If you have an audience of 500, just a few selfies or clips shared can easily reach an audience of tens of thousands.

We call it “The Hero Shot." It is such a key consideration for every event. Whenever you have your biggest draw to your event or a perfectly designed "wow" moment, attendees will grab their phones to snap a picture. It could be a shot of a key slide or a photo of the camera shot on the screen to remember the speaker, or a direct photo if they are close enough to the stage.

Where is your brand in this moment? It should be the silent co-star, sitting right over a shoulder, in front of a lectern, or visible in the corner of a slide so that no matter where that photo is taken, the brand comes along for the ride. Now every ‘share’ is a tiny advertisement, every ‘like’ is a little endorsement of your event. It just takes planning to add free, organic marketing to your event. (When someone sees a photo and wishes they were there, they should actually know where “there” is!)

Branding options at the right heights and in multiple locations, for both standing and seated presentations.

This isn’t the kind of question you can answer with an AV gear list. Methods are opportunities, not answers. Giant LED walls are beautiful canvases, but like any other tool, their only value is in the result. Those tools, used by a partner that understands your goals and cares about the result, will create something much better than a vendor that just wants to sell you a pile of equipment.

You will have moments when you want the branding big and loud and Godzilla-sized, but it doesn’t always have to be the star of the show. A subtle step and repeat of your silent co-star can be just as impactful (and sometimes more!).

So what are some of the ways we can make this an opportunity and not a problem? 

Start by bringing your AV, content creation, and event planning teams together, to discuss how best to use the elements of your stage to showcase the branding.

With the right partners, you can look at a floor plan, visualize where the camera shots will come from, and design your event in a way that will maximize how often your branding is featured.

Here are a few key ideas to have your teams think about:

⬥ Create moments based on the elements of your event. If you have a photo opportunity, pick the perfect place on stage for the photo. If you have a panel discussion, put it directly in front of a logo. 

⬥ Consider angles. What will the branding look like from an audience member’s perspective, sitting in their actual chair? What will it look like from an extreme angle or from the “cheapest seat” in the back?

⬥ During session breaks, when an attendee comes up to the stage for a selfie, what does their background look like? Even if you have a dedicated photo booth or step and repeat in the lobby, many attendees want that “organic” looking selfie - that’s the one they post to their personal social media, not their business account.

⬥ Discuss with your photographer ways to make sure to include branding in as many photos and from as many angles as possible. Sometimes all it takes is one step to the left or right and the branding fits just perfectly in the frame.

And remember, if you can’t see something, change it! Move the furniture on stage, alter the graphics, move the lectern. We test recordings before we start every event for light levels, sound, and what the backdrop and branding look like. If something is off, we fix it!

In the world of scrolling, you only have a fraction of a second to make a connection with someone who wasn’t at your event. Do not miss opportunities to grow organizations, amplify brand awareness, and raise revenue for conferences.

As a free gift, I'm making available the checklist that we use as a guide to help us check for branding to create that perfect hero shot. Download it and elevate your next event. https://www.jarosproduction.com/theheroshot