Sigma Photo Brings Wild Energy to Photo Plus Expo

Sigma Pro, Lindsay Adler, shot some amazingly captivating imagery that became the central visual for the Sigma Safari Experience

Sigma Photo is confidently emerging as an industry leader in pro-quality photography gear, and catching the attention of the most passionate photographers. In early 2013, the company announced Sigma Global Vision, a fresh brand strategy with new products and a new mission to redefine the relationship between photographers and their lenses. Sigma aims to be the tool of choice for those in pursuit of the perfect image. To demonstrate the prowess of their product and help educate curious amateur, enthusiast and pro shooters, Sigma put together the Sigma Safari Experience, which took place at Photo Plus Expo 2013 at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC.

Amazing makeup by Griselle Rosario and wardrobe by Lisa Craig Smith dramatically transformed professional models into safari animals at PPE2013

Sigma recruited their pro photographers as safari guides for this fun, educational and entertaining live event, which was broadcast on the web for three days from the Big Apple. Lindsay Adler, Jennifer Rozenbaum and Kevin Ames each hosted one session per day, transforming professional models into safari animals, and lending their expertise on topics of interest to amateur, enthusiast and professional photographers.

In years past, Sigma’s in-booth model shoots have drawn quite a crowd at trade shows across the country. So Sigma added a colorful theme, and we took this this concept to an international audience for PPE2013.

To promote the event, we broke it into three phases to build hype, host the event and nurture an ongoing audience for the recorded video content. In the weeks leading up to PPE, we developed a promotional framework that consisted of segmented email campaigns, Dealer Co-op marketing, online advertising and an aggressive social media blitz using hashtag #SigmaSafari.

We used TINT to aggregate and display the social media feed for #SigmaSafari.

It was expedition control at Blue Collar during the days of the live streaming event. Without knowing how quickly word would spread through the industry, we were prepared for crowd control. We built Fort Knox hosting, set up unlimited bandwidth, monitored analytics and managed a lot of real-time communication with the team on the trade show floor. At the end of the day, the venue served the audience. People came from far and wide to virtually hang out with our pros and models in NYC for the Sigma Safari Experience.

Over the course of the three-day event, Sigma streamed 4 ½ hours of live content and 10 hours of additional photography content to a global audience. The #SigmaSafari social media boost and promotional effort pushed the message out to engage photographers worldwide.

If you missed the excitement, the promotion lives on. Relive the Sigma Safari Experience here.

The key to a live event is that it goes off without a hitch. The event, web, PR and video production was seamless! Special thanks to Livestream, Boston-Based PR firm, Matter Communications, and of course, the entire marketing and trade show team with Sigma Photo.