It's Time for Experiential Marketers to Snap Out of Photobooths

Visit any event marketing conference and you can’t fail to notice the photobooth companies. Their sheer numbers makes them easy to spot.

They’re clearly popular. A combination of old-world charm and a potential for plain old silliness makes them ideal for family events like weddings. In fact, between 2005 and 2012, there were more online searches in the United States for photobooth rentals than wedding DJs.

But are they really the best option for experiential marketers? If brand activation is the aim, surely there’s a better way than setting off a flash in a box.

A few years ago, marketers used to plan for a certain site at their event to be the key spot for social media content. They used the term “Instagram moment” to describe the place at which, with a corporate logo clearly visible, attendees would be encouraged to take pictures to post to their social channels.

Today, the photobooth has taken a similar role. But the environment alone – a closed structure that takes attendees out of the event, rather than keeping them actively involved in what’s going on – goes against everything experiential marketing hopes to achieve.

Some industry experts even suggest photobooths will keep relevant by producing animated GIFs as standard. But a GIF is like a cheap burger compared to the three-course meal of rich, user-directed video footage.

Content creation and collaboration are what Cinebody is designed for. Rather than encouraging attendees into a small box away from the action, we enable them to enjoy an even more immersive experience…and film it.

And with the ability for brands to send Cinebody pushes directly to their attendees, even deeper connections can be forged. Whether it’s feedback, encouragement on filming, or even directions for what to shoot – with Cinebody, brands can directly engage with their attendees like never before.

Finally, any footage the attendees capture is not just uploaded to the cloud: it’s also saved on their phone, giving both the brand and attendees a bank of footage to post across all their social channels. When brands use that footage, the individual attendees who filmed it are likely to feature. It is direct engagement far beyond the limited experience any photobooth can offer – GIFs or no GIFs.

Technology and expectations have come a long way. It’s time for marketers to move to “the full social optimization” of their events. And it’s something only video can achieve.