Experiential event marketing
Pop ’Til You Drop Grand Opening.
Turning the UCR Student Recreation Center grand opening into a high-energy campus experience built around participation, play and a world-record-inspired idea.
Project Details
- Role
- Campaign Lead & Marketing Manager
- Focus
- Branding, experiential, social, motion design, PR & sponsorship
- Client
- UC Riverside Recreation Riverside, California
A Little Pop, A Lot of Fun.
I developed a simple experiential concept for the grand opening built around an unexpected interaction: popping bubble wrap. Familiar, playful, and easy to participate in, the activity offered an immediate way for students to engage. The tactile, repetitive motion also created a calming, low-pressure experience that helped make the new space feel welcoming, memorable, and fun.
The Challenge
Make a major facility launch feel welcoming.
The campaign needed to generate excitement around the expanded recreation center while remaining sensitive to student concerns about increased fees. I focused on creating an inclusive, fun, and simple highly participatory event built around one of the most popular Guinness World Records attempts of 2014: popping bubble wrap.
Shift the conversation
Move attention from increased fees and toward the shared student experience that the new facility would create.
Lower the barrier
Design an activity that required no skill, explanation or advance commitment.
Create real momentum
Build a concept strong enough to travel across print, social, campus screens, PR and earned media.
Strategy & Execution
One campaign idea, carried consistently across every touchpoint.
The campaign combined a distinctive visual identity with coordinated promotion before, during, and after the event. More importantly, it communicated that the new fitness center would be more than just a place to work out. It was envisioned as a welcoming community hub where every student could feel invited to participate, connect, and belong. Each touchpoint reinforced that message while positioning the grand opening as an experience students could actively be part of.
Campaign identity
Developed the “Pop ’Til You Drop” name and oversaw a playful visual identity featuring circular forms, bright colors, and rounded typography inspired by bubble wrap. Extended the campaign beyond static posters with animated popping bubbles for digital signage and short-form promotional content.
Motion & Digital
Created a teaser video to build anticipation for the event, using playful motion, quick pacing, and campaign visuals to introduce the “Pop ’Til You Drop” concept. The video was designed for digital signage and social media, helping generate interest and excitement ahead of the event.
Multi-channel promotion
Coordinated print, social media, direct mail, and campus display promotion to build awareness and anticipation. The campaign’s video visuals also earned praise from University Communications for their creativity and strong execution.
PR & sponsorship
Expanded reach through press outreach, sponsorship efforts, and a national radio media opportunity with On Air with Ryan Seacrest, tied to the record-driven story.
Event Experience
The campaign came alive through the people who joined it.
The strongest visual proof was the event itself: students arriving, wearing the campaign identity, gathering around bubble wrap and turning the recreation center opening into a collective celebration.
Results
A grand opening designed to be experienced, not just announced.
By pairing experiential marketing with an activity that resonated with students’ emotions and needs, the campaign turned a facility opening into a campus‑wide celebration that eased students’ fears about increased fees.
- Created strong on-site participation and a high-energy opening-day atmosphere.
- Unified print, social, digital signage, direct mail, PR and sponsorship around one recognizable campaign idea.
- Created a memorable launch story with enough visual identity and participation to live beyond opening day.
- Generated national media exposure through On Air With Ryan Seacrest.
- Positioned the Student Recreation Center as approachable, inclusive and student-centered.
The Press Enterprise
The Press-Enterprise, a local news outlet serving Riverside and the Inland Empire, covered the story and helped extend awareness of the event beyond campus to the broader community.
The Highlander
The Highlander, UC Riverside’s student news service, covered the event while also reporting on student reactions to rising fees, adding broader campus context to the story and the conversation surrounding the recreation center’s opening.