Product Launches & Brand Activations

The Samsung app launch in San Francisco and the Google product launch and new office event in Santa Clara are both technology launches, and both were built from the brand color direction the client supplied. That constraint is the point of the work: a launch installation built from a company palette reads as part of the announcement, while one built from a generic celebration palette reads as decoration that happened to be in the room.

The Google project is also a useful illustration of how launch work overlaps with workplace events. It combined a product moment with the opening of a new office, so the décor had to serve an outward-facing announcement and an internal occasion at the same time.

Retail activation is a different problem. The storefront brand activation at Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose had no invitation list and no start time — the audience was shoppers already moving through the center, so the display had to work at distance, at an angle and continuously through the activation period.

The Minions movie premiere at AMC Metreon in San Francisco sits in the same family: an entertainment brand activation in a working venue, with yellow and blue taken directly from the property being promoted so the reference registered the moment guests reached the lobby.

Across these projects the recurring requirements are the same. The installation must be complete before doors open, not still being adjusted. It must hold together in wide shots as well as close ones, because a communications team will reuse both. It must be built from the brand palette rather than approximated. And it must come down cleanly, often within a short window after the event closes and frequently under a venue's vendor access rules.

Balloon Décor handles design, delivery, on-site installation and breakdown for launch projects across San Francisco, the Peninsula, Silicon Valley and the South Bay.