Kenneth Briodagh

EM brings you tips and tricks from pros and experts who’ve been eating social media marketing for breakfast. So eat up, and check us out on Twitter @eventmarketer and facebook.com/eventmarketer for more.

In our Then and Now series, EM revisits old event marketing trends to find out where they’ve gone since we first reported on them. Are they old hats and has-beens? Or is that past up-and-comer a future best practice that’s now an industry standard? In this eco-installment, we re-examine green-friendly trade show booth materials, which we began covering in our earliest issues.

Coors Light this April wrapped up a 10-week TV and online campaign inspired by its iconic Silver Bullet Express by welcoming 100 consumers aboard a fully branded VIA Rail Canada train for three days of events at select stops throughout Canada. From April 15 to 17, the brand totally transformed five baggage cars to engage consumers during the period after the Super Bowl when, according to Coors Light, its competitors’ promotions go dark.

Amtrak marked its fourth annual National Train Day by kicking off a four-market tour on May 7 that celebrates the anniversary of the first transcontinental railroad and, this year, the brand’s fortieth anniversary.

As part of its stepped-up partnership with the IZOD IndyCar Series, Verizon has signed on as a founding sponsor of the IZOD IndyCar Fan Village, a newly reformatted fan experience at the races. Verizon also sponsors a car in the series, Penske Racing’s No. 12 car driven by Will Power.

Verizon presented the idea for the village to IndyCar, which in turn worked with Verizon’s agency Marketing Werks to design the village. Additional sponsors include title sponsor IZOD, National Guard, Honda and Mattel Hot Wheels.