When PwC partnered with TED in 2025 to pivot their brand’s narrative from consulting to AI, they went all-in. But by 2022, generative AI exploded across the world — and by 2025, everyone wanted in. Therein lies the challenge: how do you get your company to stand out from a crowded field, while also pivoting your brand’s focus in a strong, authentic way?

We brainstormed solutions that would check all of PwC’s boxes — positioning PwC as an innovative AI leader, creating a cool and inviting space people would naturally return to throughout the week and showcasing specific thought leaders within their company. The solution? A PwC-branded speakeasy cocktail lounge that we called the AI Hideaway. Who doesn’t love a secret, exclusive experience? We tucked this ultra-cool neon lit space behind a diner façade, where attendees had to order a special dessert to gain entry to the speakeasy. Once inside, a fully stocked bar was waiting with signature cocktails and mocktails, low lighting and comfortable seating throughout the space. Throughout the week, there were invite-only fireside chat sessions inside the space to allow their leaders to speak to an intentional audience.

But we went even further for PwC’s activation. After all, they wanted to not only give people a great experience, but to refocus their brand and its association in the business world. TED collaborated with AI artist Apolinário Passos, who curated three interactive AI art installations to bring AI into the space in an unexpected way. Attendees were able to talk to an AI version of themselves or engage with an AI flower art piece that wrote poetry based on its interactions.

This was one of the highly rated and popular conference activations we’ve created, receiving top scores from some of the over 700 unique attendees who visited the space in our post-conference survey and even needing to turn away attendees when the space hit capacity several times. See what the hype was all about here!

How do you turn software into a community experience? Adobe clearly found the secret to this conundrum and brought it to TED2025. Debuting their newest proprietary AI, Adobe turned what could’ve been a dry demonstration into a shared experience throughout the week.

Each attendee was able to analyze a series of questions about their work style, likes and dislikes, and other personality-related questions to then be analyzed and categorized into their “creative type”. After receiving the result, attendees got a pin with their creative type to compare with others throughout the week (FYI: lanyard pins are a huge favorite at TED’s conferences), as well as a digital asset to share across their online networks. It provided an illuminating perspective on the personalities that can coexist within a team or network, and gave everyone something to talk about for the rest of the week.

People with the same creative type pins found each other throughout the conference, and made connections within their teams as they better understood how the dynamics across the team worked together. By the end of the week, there were virtually no badges without an Adobe creative type pinned to them!

Experiences that evoke emotion are the ones that stick and shape us into who we are. You may remember when your dad yelled at you for spilling on the carpet because you felt sad or guilty. You might remember your wedding day or the birth of your first child because you felt joy and excitement. You probably remember a loved one’s funeral because you felt way too many big emotions.

Emotional resonance makes things memorable and relatable. When we partnered with Lilly to promote their work on Alzheimer’s research, our goal was to connect to attendees on a deeper level, bringing out emotions associated with memories. The TED Memory Project was a custom-built experience, a personalized visual album capturing the moments that shape our lives. Throughout the experience, attendees answered questions about pivotal life moments and the memories associated with them, using those responses to create shared images for others to observe and reflect on.

The destruction Alzheimer’s wreaks on its victims affects their memories, taking away a part of them that’s so core to what makes them who they are. This experience was meant to give a glimpse into how it feels to live with the fading memories and the importance of preserving them. The emotional connection to this experience is what we aimed for — something that, regardless of age or life experience, would impact how attendees view the importance of memory in forming our identities.

While TED’s attendee experience is overwhelmingly positive and joyful, experiencing a variety of emotions throughout the week is what leaves a truly lasting impact on attendees, and could even be the missing piece you need to get your audience fully invested in your brand.

The creative possibilities for activating at a TED conference are truly endless. But activating in a way that’s unique and true to your brand is absolutely vital. TED attendees carry certain expectations for our conferences and tend to gravitate away from any kind of surface level sponsorship or logo slap. The antidote to this is authenticity in a meaningful, impactful way, whether it’s through emotional connection, shared experiences or a space that’s “too cool to miss.”