When you’re one trade show exhibitor out of thousands, it’s tough to stand out from the crowd. There’s a lot of pressure to create a lasting impression on attendees. At CES, the massive consumer tech trade show in Las Vegas, brands were on their A game, making the most of their rented show floor space to come up with wild, sometimes wacky, but certainly memorable experiences.

One of the most notable was Netflix. The streaming giant created a fictional company Psychasec and set up a booth tour where young people dressed in white gave you a pitch for “sleeve” products – also known as a spare body you can transfer your consciousness into. The booth featured scantily clad mannequins in vapor-filled tubes, and a “body” curled up in a vacuum-sealed bag. At the end of the tour, the guides handed out promotional “aftercare gel” for the sleeve you hypothetically purchased. Of course, it's all fake, an elaborate marketing ploy for Netflix’s sci-fi drama Altered Carbon, and the free gel was merely a promotional bottle of moisturizer with aloe vera.

American Express set up a cozy office lounge for tired show-goers. But they also created an “Escape the Office” game, where groups could collaborate  and solve the puzzle of how to get out of a meeting at fake company “Robots & Sons.”

Really great booth at #ces2018 for @AmericanExpress with “Escape the Office”. Just shows what you can do with a little bit of #creativity. Also, as yet, the only exhibitor to be pushing out comms over #AirDrop. Needless to say #teamsavvy prevailed... #winners pic.twitter.com/nYC6lzvCb4

— Savvy Marketing (@savvythinking) January 11, 2018

Another really great example of creative marketing came from Swedish brand FOREO, which created an immersive experience to introduce its new UFO beauty product. The UFO looks like a cross between a Bluetooth speaker and the otherworldly flying disk it’s named for. In reality, it’s an app-controlled “smart mask treatment” that uses LEDs, pulsation and heat to provide a spa-level facial in 90 seconds.

However, FOREO leaned hard into the UFO angle. At a press event prior to CES, the company handed journalists sleek black boxes with the words “Ultra Top Secret” emblazoned in magenta on the lid. Inside was a white silicone slap bracelet with a QR code printed on it and a dozen pink and black stretchy alien toys complete with slingshots to shoot them across the room. Inside a silver bubble wrap “invitation” envelope was a magnetic jigsaw puzzle with more details about the CES product launch. Plus, a branded keychain light displayed Foreo’s booth location when you lit it up. Color me intrigued.

During CES, FOREO had a handful of people in camouflage guarding what looked like a secret military base, complete with barbed wire fence and vague but ominously threatening signage. For the brave few willing to learn more, FOREO handed out pink and black blindfolds. We were told to hold the shoulder of the person in front of us and were escorted into the booth.

When the blindfolds came off, we were presented with a disturbing tableau: a raving, chainsaw-wielding mad scientist, and several brainwashed test subjects who had plastic-wrapped faces and clutched vials filled with an unidentified liquid. Once the surreal performance was over, we were ushered into a smaller room, where FOREO representatives revealed the UFO device and how it works.  Sure, it was over-the-top and kind of silly, like one of those cheesy murder-mystery dinner theaters, but you can’t say it wasn’t memorable, and the clever promotional items worked in concert with the booth experience.

For those interested in the product itself, the UFO is available for preorder on Kickstarter. It’s set to retail at $279, with a mini version priced at $179. During the prelaunch on Kickstarted, prices are significantly lower.

The box of goodies Foreo handed out to journalists before CES.

Inside were a dozen stretchy alien toys, along with slingshots.

Also inside was a silicone slap bracelet, a keychain light and a padded silver invitation envelope that contained a magnetic puzzle.

When you turned on the keychain light, the beam revealed Foreo's CES booth location.

Foreo's CES booth was designed to resemble a secret military base, complete with barbed wire and ominous signage.

The Foreo booth was even guarded by stoic men and women in tactical gear.

All of the fuss was to spur interest in Foreo's new beauty product, the UFO, described as a "smart mask treatment."