While we operate globally, we truly value our home city of Houston, Texas, and derive a lot of creative inspiration from the culturally vibrant and diverse city. It's one of Bianca's aspirations to be part of one day seeing Houston become a top 10 destination.
So, it is fitting that we dove in on a client project working with Visit Houston and partner DMC MCI-Group providing Creative Direction for the visiting conference, ICCA World Congress. For this special project, Bianca worked as the lead designer providing Production Design for the main stage environment + general session space, concept design + execution for the Opening Reception and Speaker readiness, and scripting for the Visit Houston host delegation in the main stage components of a welcome and closer.
Luke was tapped to provide creative content creation- blowing it out of the water with a very unique Conference Opener, video for the reception, and an on-location, in show shoot of a "thank you" video that rolled at the close of the conference.
The stage set design was carefully implemented with the partnership of many local AV providers, a curated group of vendors all collaborating to create a Texas-Sized 200'wide LED stage set. We worked with a very talented graphic designer to bring to life the stage set elements so that the LED was transformed into a moving scenic environment from moment to moment.
Hosted at the fabulous Marriott Marquis Houston, the opening reception coincided with the Astros World Series game 3, providing for a stellar night under the stars with a global DJ, live art sculptor and of course a live game feed on a giant LED screen peppered with international food and beverage samplings unique to Houston.
Here are snapshots of our creations.
Space Shuttle Launch Opener
This opener is the first and only time we've done a fully timed opener- that began with an epic countdown clock the moment we opened doors, timed five minutes to allow for 400+ guests to be seated in the Plenary space. The opener count down culminated with an impressive space shuttle launch spanning all screens - straight into Visit Houston brand imagery. From an experience design perspective- it was truly incredible to see the entire room seated prompted by video. Check out a condensed widescreen version here
Opening Night Reception Sizzle
Thank you For Visiting Houston
This video closer was shot during the conference, in one day, with the assignment of finding as many languages as possible, showcasing the diverse fabric of the Houston Marriott Marquis staff. Luke produced + shot this on location, finding 9 distinct languages, for a global, time-specific, authentic thank you closer to the show.