The mobile technology branch of electronics brand LG set out on two simultaneous road tours in February designed to promote the brand’s newest high-definition, 3D mobile devices. The East Coast leg began in New Jersey, hit Boston and New York, and will continue to Chicago before wrapping in Kansas City at the end of May.

Members of the Laborers’ International Union of North America just wrapped a traveling tour through Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. in a flatbed truck carrying an oversized roll of duct tape and the message “Emergency Bridge Repair Team” emblazoned on the side. The tour was created to raise awareness for the Highway Bill that’s being considered in congress to fix the nation’s decrepit roads and bridges.

Truck and engine manufacturer Navistar on March 21 held a panel on a hot button issue for the industry—natural gas. The VIP event took place one day prior to the opening of the Mid-America Trucking Show, an annual forum for the heavy-duty trucking industry and the largest trucking show in North America, held March 22 to 24 in Louisville, KY.

Ever since the Swedish home store IKEA first set up shop on American soil more than 25 years ago, it has offered customers not only its furniture, but its full-fledged Scandinavian shopping and dining experience. (Swedish meatballs and a glass of lingonberry juice, anyone?) Thanks to its early efforts in innovating a unique retail experience, IKEA has earned a loyal following. But for those new consumers getting their home furnishing cues from experts in magazines, online and on TV, the brand has had to amp up its efforts.

Build it and they will come. That’s the idea behind SiMan, an 18-foot tall, 700-pound glowing behemoth built and decorated by attendees over two days at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) held this past September in San Francisco’s Moscone Center. It was a simple way to engage and inform attendees about a more complicated concept—intelligent connected solutions and embedded technology that is key to the future of computing. SiMan helped drive the message home.