EBAY
Each year eBay celebrates the end of their summer internship program with a giant conference/party, where they fly all their interns from around the country to San Jose in July for three days of speakers and activities.
As the lead creative, I pitched and won with a Festival theme, suggesting eBay treat their conference like a three day music and arts festival instead of a typical tech conference. eBay was really vocal about wanting to get the interns out of their shell and connect them in different ways; they tend to be shy and introverted and have trouble connecting. We called the conference "Connected From the Start" to solidify this important theme. While their branding team shot down our ideas of tropical patterns and festival photos, we were still able to get across the carefree festival feel with the activities and experiences we created, such as giving out wristbands as well as lanyards, and providing live music at the parties.
Agency: Jack Morton San Francisco
WELCOME PARTY- DAY 1
We didn't want the interns to ever be bored during the week. So for the welcome party the day they arrived, we provided different activities that would make the interns work together and discover new things about each other, while still bringing in that artsy feel.
EXPERIENCES
- Mural: we had a mural artist pre-paint an eBay mural in black and white before the party, then we had the interns fill it in together at the party any way and in any color they wanted! The artist was around in case they needed any inspiration.
- String Art: to show the interns how they are all connected, we had a string art board made that the interns could interact with. They started the string where they were from, then connected it to all the other options that apply to them, highlighting everyones unique point of view.
- Mission Machine: We filled gumball machines with a mix of small items like eBay Popsockets and stickers, as well as short missions that instructed the interns to interact with each other in fun ways, such as telling them to introduce themselves to two people or to get a drink with someone. When you completed a mission, you received a small prize!
- Sunglasses: We had a make your own sunglasses table where you could choose and customize the color of each piece of your sunglasses, from the frames to each ear piece.
- Band: we had a DJ/band combo called Ibiza Vibes perform all evening, giving the interns funky vibes to jam to while they socialized.
SPEAKER SERIES- DAY 2
The next two days were jam packed full of speaker events and a hackathon in the eBay Main Street building. We didn't want the interns to just sit around on their asses for two days though, bored out of their minds. We wanted them to be pumped and get their brains working early in the morning! So each day we started them off with a morning rave before the speakers began, with an emcee and DJ blasting hits and telling them to stretch. It was fun and embarrassing and they loved it! I also selected funky, colorful furniture for the interns to sit on, as well as a huge ball pit to play or work in when they needed change of pace while brainstorming.
These are gifs I made that were played on the eBay Main Street screens to liven up the room during downtime and in between speakers.
I also designed the large art that would be flanking the stage, to emphasize the artistic festival vibe.
CONFERENCE PARTY -DAY 3
The last night of the three days is saved for the conference party. We really wanted to go hard on the festival theme for the party, since it was more of a celebration and less of a brand event. I chose the San Pedro Market Place to host it, a really cool venue that is both indoor and outdoor and has a really nice open air, festival feel. The party was at night, and there were an abundance of activities for the interns that really played off the festival theme. We really wanted the interns to just cut loose and have a good time.
EXPERIENCES
- Swag: we wanted to have the interns take home a festival swag, so we gave out free flower crowns and LED hats for them to wear all night and have as a souvenir.
- Screen Printing: I designed 4 different festival-esque eBay images that could be screen printed onto four different colored shirts at the party. Totally customizable in color, the design and shirt were an immediate and handmade gift that the interns could wear there or later to proudly remember their time as an eBay intern.
- Body Marbling: Less messy than tie dye, we discovered a really cool painting technique where you dip your arm or whatever you want into a paint solution and your arm comes out covered in marbled paint. Then you dip your arm into a drying solution and voila! You have a super cool, personalized festival design on your hand or arm or whatever til you wash.
- Caricature Artist: Everyone loves a good caricature artist. A big hit at last year's party, we had three different artists available for laughs.
- 180 Photo Booth: Instead of a regular Photo Booth, we rented a 180 degree 3D Photo Booth for the party. With a custom background I designed, interns could grab their friends and make memories that were immediately emailed to them to share.
-VR: To inspire and elevate the fun, we had two Oculus Rift sets interns could play together.
-Band: We chose Matt Masih & Messengers as our band to rock the Market all night.
The entrance art to the party I designed.
Some of the 180 Photo Booth gifs in action.
