As the lead engraver for an Apple TV show premiere and afterparty, I knew I needed to ensure I had a professional, efficient, and talented team to support this engraving event activation. Come behind the scenes and into my head as I plan my team, the guest flow, and execution for this star-studded event.
Set the Scene: For the Engraving Activation
When you’re having the cast and crew of a TV Show as your high-profile guest list, you need a venue thats dripping with elegance and beauty. This engraving event took place at the beautiful and iconic Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, California. Featuring old Hollywood glamour, its paired with modern luxury and a Tower bar perfect for the theme.
My team and I were placed right outside the restaurant doors, overlooking a beautiful pool and skyline views of Los Angeles. We had a beautiful 6-8ft able that allowed me and my two other artists to fit comfortably. Since the theme was old-Hollywood, our chairs were perfectly inline with the details being a soft velvet that were very comfortable.
The rest of the venue was draped with gorgeous red and orange flowers – homage to the “Lucky” show’s poster. A DJ was placed on a “floating” stand in the middle of the pool, where velvet wraparound couches lined every corner of the patio. It truly was a beautiful setting.
Planning the Engraving Event Team
As a professional engraver who has completed over 150 live events, I know what it takes to ensure a successful event. As I was communicating with the client, it was shared that there would be an estimated guest count of about 300-350 guests. In my professional experience, that would require at least 3 artists and 2 assistants for an event lasting approximately 2.5-3 hours.
I knew I needed a team that was fast, efficient, and talented in order to ensure no one left without their hand engraved Zippo lighters. I also needed assistants that were sociable, team players who could manage a line queue, entering guest information into an Ipad, and ensure our planned guest flow was executed.
The items we were hand engraving were gold Zippo Lighters. In the show, Lucky, played by Anya Taylor Joy, carries around a Zippo lighter with her everywhere. The client thought it would be a fun to have engraved zippo lighters as the takeaway gift for this event – and let me tell you, they weren’t wrong, but more on that later!
Managing Guest Intake & Flow
This event was a little different than any event I’ve done previously in that we weren’t using paper intake forms. Since the main client was Apple TV, they requested the use of Apple iPads for our intake system.
I worked with my team once these decisions were made, to ensure we were on the same page and had a plan in place to execute flawlessly. With my communication and partnership with my client, we decided on two iPads would be placed at the engraving station with the artists, and each assistant would have their own for intake.
We used an app called “AirTable” and were able to come up with a system that worked. The two assistants worked on opposite ends of our table, taking the guests’ personalization requests and submitting them through the app. They would input the name of the artist for whom would engrave the zippo, with the personalization request right next to it. Due to guest count and time, we limited the engraving requests to names or initials.
Once the personalization request was submitted, it would end up on our iPads at the table. We’d see our name, and know that we were supposed to engrave that particular request. Now, one of the most strategic things I planned for how the activation would work is the pick-up process. Since we knew we’d have a continuous line with no breaks, and a table that wasn’t big enough to leave completed items, we needed guests to stay at our table during the engraving process.
As my assistants logged the personalization requests, they would let the guest know which artist they needed to stand in front of to wait for their engraved Zippo lighters. Since engraving metals is quick – there is no color inlay needed – this process worked perfectly. Guests would line up by their designated artist, interact with them, ask questions about the activation, and watch in real time their item being engraved! This allowed guests to actually interact with us instead of leaving us their requests and coming back later once complete. We were truly preforming our art for them!
A Successful TV Show Engraving Event Activation: The Stats
WE RAN OUT OF ZIPPO LIGHTERS AND HAND ENGRAVED EVERY SINGLE ONE. That’s it. That’s the proof! The client ordered 300 zippo lighters to last us the whole 2.5-3 hour event and we hand engraved every single one. We actually kept hoping the client had more, but they didn’t which is OK!
You can see that this was such a successful engraving event and how I helped to plan and execute my specific activation. The client trusted in me that I would bring a talented team and they didn’t need to worry about any of our details because I had it all handled.
From building my engraving team and bringing along assistants, troubleshooting and planning guest intake on iPads, managing line queues and ensuring each guest saw the artistry happen in real time – I can tell you with 100% confidence that this type of engraving event activation works. But you need someone with experience and expertise in order to ensure a smooth event. Queue me – Dani of Inked Blank Page!
Being a part of such high-profile events is what I do best. I’ve got a team ready to handle any size event from 50-1000+. You can bet that I have the knowledge to work with you and your team to help plan and execute whatever type of personalization station you have in mind.
Let’s chat and get this party started! You can also reach me by a simple email: dani@inkedblankpage.com. Just let me know as much detail as you can share including approximate guest count, location, and event length and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!
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