On our annual roster of events, the IFA gala is a recurring favourite: always a bit of a challenge – but one we cherish to the max! Every year, the world’s leading business event for consumer electronics and home appliances attracts thousands of exhibitors, journalists, pro traders and fans to this showcase of future technologies. Among this year’s luminaries and 600 gala attendees: German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

For the 50th edition of this exceptional technology (fun) fair and opening gala dinner at the Palais am Funkturm, we upped our production and design ante with plenty of additional media design together with lead agency Vitamin-e. The night’s overriding theme: 50 years of IFA milestones, blended into a fast and furious trip of consumer electronics innovations.

To this end, flora&faunavisions devised the event’s entire visual concept, the venue’s lighting, space and event design as well as a string of slide installations, event graphics, video production and a very special image trailer. Sleek, modern and classy all the way, the venue boasted a massive, 14-metre wide 3D feel video projection as an atmospheric backdrop and a high-tech backing for each part of the night’s production, performance and historic journey. Here, the large-scale video projections emphasised the event’s main statement and logo – after all, this is not your average celebration, but a cool half-century of world-leading exhibition prowess. flora&faunavisions whipped up a proud display and smart blend of IFA’s past, present and hints of the future, reflecting the trade fair’s innovative and forward-looking theme and intent.

A key part of the night’s tight choreography, our IFA Time Travel trailer, revisited the trade fair’s key moments – from the city’s first ever transmission to landmark speeches by Albert Einstein and Willy Brandt – while several loops, including a sweet & stunning birthday homage with plenty of visual fireworks, accompanied the evening’s dinner and show acts. Not to forget the aftershow party’s surround 360° slide installation, which transformed the venue’s Ehrenhalle into a scenic review and immersive graphic landscape of 50 IFA trade fairs for a high-end, yet emotional translation of IFA’s rich history, innovation and international relevance from 1924 to the present day.

Photos © Christian Plähn for flora&faunavisions