As experiential marketing really takes off, there are more and more cool examples of people running very creative campaigns. Here are five of our favorite examples from the last few years.

NJOY gives Fashion Week the skinny on e-cigarettes

We’ll start with a campaign put together by Factory360. We developed a week-long experiential marketing campaign for e-cigarette brand NJOY at New York’s Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. The goal was to establish NJOY as a premium brand, both for people who smoke regularly and those who enjoy partaking in cigarettes only occasionally. Since e-cigarettes are a relatively new product, NJOY has plenty of room to grow their name recognition and position themselves in the field.

Factory360 hired promotional models who sampled NJOY’s products throughout Fashion Week event. We arranged to have social influencers conduct interviews and write blog posts about the company’s presence. These folks were also invited to exclusive after-parties chock full of supermodels, fashion designers and celebrities. A special hashtag made it easier for new and existing NJOY fans to join the conversation about the brand.

The results were outstanding. Models handed out 22,000 samples to VIPs, celebrities and influencers. That’s over twice the number they distributed the previous year. The campaign grew NJOY’s Facebook likes by nearly 800 and generated over a million impressions. Through the social influencer program the brand received over 60,000 impressions. We aren’t blowing smoke when we say the campaign was a huge success.

Trojan talks about sex

With so much in the news about sexual assault on college campuses, it’s refreshing to hear about programs to promote healthy sexual behaviors and attitudes. That’s what condom brand Trojan is aiming to do with its big experiential marketing push.

As part of the Evolve Campus Tour, Trojan went to 21 college campuses and planned activities to get students thinking about values like self-case, trust and worthiness. They asked students to sign sexual health pledges and petitions encouraging advertisers to run condom commercial during primetime television hours. On an “Evolve Bus,” students could view Trojan advertising and share their thoughts about sexual health in a video booth. At “Evolve Lounges,” young people could participate in sexual health trivia games and other competitions to win prizes.

This is a great example of how experiential marketing can be about more than parties and giveaways. It can also be about giving back to the communities where you live and do business.

Toyota leaves people hanging with Toyota Corolla launch

For the 2014 model year, Toyota did a major redesign of its popular midsize Corolla. That was exciting enough to warrant a party. But Toyota was still smarting from a series of recalls that gave it some pretty bad publicity. When it launched the new Corolla, it wanted to engage in an experiential marketing campaign that would help its plummeting image.

They started by inviting 750 people to a party at Barker Hanger, one of Santa Monica’s most exclusive event spaces. Celebrity chef Richard Blais, who won the “Top Chef All-Stars” competition on the Bravo network, appealed to people’s sense of taste with a creative menu. Appetizers included roasted pork belly with licorice grits and pickled peaches. The drink of choice was a martini spiked with liquid nitrogen so they created fog.

Popular Argentinian performance art troupe Fuerza Bruta performed a visually stunning 30 minute show. Several of their acrobats were suspended from the air, while others performed in tanks of water. As the finale to the performance, Toyota revealed that the acrobats weren’t the only one hanging from the rafters. They surprised guests by lowering one of the new Corolla models down from the ceiling. Others were unveiled from clever hiding spaces around the hanger.

The last big “reveal” of the evening was an appearance by comedian Adam Carolla, who joked he was the “oldest Carolla in the room.” After remarks from him and the company’s chairman, guests were invited to dance to live music and check out the cars. By appealing to all the senses, and delighting guests with one surprise after another, Toyota pulled off a very memorable evening.

Ubisoft gets Londoners dancing

Anything that can get grown men and women to let go and dance like kids is worth talking about. When French video game developer Ubisoft was ready to introduce the latest version of its popular Just Dance Now game in London, they planned a huge experiential marketing event to get fans jazzed and social media buzzing.

Every year there is a big Christmas tree lighting event at Trafalgar Square in London. Once the tree was lit, dancers in neon-colored shirts took over the stage and put on a rousing performance. Attendees were encouraged to dance along or to find their own rhythms with the Just Dance Now app.

If people recorded themselves getting down in the crowd, their avatar could be shown on the big screen behind the dancers. Everyone who downloaded the app was also eligible for prizes. It was a cool December night in London, but the dancing and the energy left everyone with a warm feeling about the experience and the brand.

Merrell helps people experience life in 4D

If you’re lucky enough to attend the Sundance Film Festival, it’s hard to imagine you’d want to be anywhere else. Shoe company Merrell gave people the best of both worlds – a chance to explore Italy’s Dolomite Mountain without ever leaving the event.

Using not-yet-released virtual reality technology from Oculus, Merrell simulated the experience of walking through the mountain range. The experience was made more real by what Merrell called “in-motion virtual reality.” They made the ground shake during a rock slide and wind gusts come rushing down as people walked on virtual suspension bridges and rock ledges.

The goal of this experiential marketing campaign was to promote the new Capra hiking boot, which is named after a breed of mountain goat. In the swanky Merrell lounge at the Sundance Film Festival, people could learn more about the shoes and pose with a goat sculpture made entirely of Capra hiking boots. People may have come to the event ready to meet stars, but they left feeling like star climbers.