hat fair-goers to the l964 World’s Fair wanted, was to see zippy new technology — inventions that would revolutionize life as they knew it. Forty-nine years later, the folks at TiVo think their TV recording service fits the bill. And since the World’s Fair won’t be back to the United States for at least another five years, TiVo decided to hold its own — the Tivo New York World’s Fair. TiVo had the same goal as IBM Corp. did at the ’64 World’s Fair, when it put on a puppet show to demonstrate how computers work — to make technology accessible to the masses. And what better way to reach the masses than through the New York media.
Which is why, on a clear day last June, TiVo transformed the Roxy, a hip New York nightclub, into the 1964 World’s Fair and invited 600 “buzz-builders” in the New York media and entertainment scene. “We wanted to link the TiVo brand to a New York-specific iconic event that was about showcasing technology and making it relevant to today,” says Adam Nelson, president of Workhouse PR, the firm TiVo hired to develop the event. Workhouse PR researched the 1964 World’s Fair and recreated icons from it at the event — the original pavilions were renamed as the Tivo Better Living Center, TiVo Progressland, and the TiVo Modern Living Room; the Lowenbrau Gardens became the Limoncé Gardens; and an ice sculpture recreated the famed Unisphere sculpture, which still exists in Flushing Meadow Park in Queens. In the TiVo pavilions, guests could test TiVo’s Series2 DVRs (Digital Video Recorders), which can be programmed to automatically record up to 80 hours of TV. Of the 573 invitees who showed up for the event, 300 were reporters from technology, trade, business, and mass media publications. Other guests included celebrities, film producers, and socialites — the who’s who of the New York arts and entertainment world. So far, the event has paid off. At the time of publication, TiVo had counted more than 100 media mentions from media that attended the show. And as the holiday season approaches, the company expects even more publications to be a-buzz with TiVo fever.
Whitney Archibald editor