Chapter #2

AI as a creative partner

In this year’s most creative entries, artificial intelligence works as a genuine creative partner — shaping voices, visuals, and entire worlds alongside the human team. Winners are treating AI as a collaborator, and audiences are feeling the difference.

Per-tier prevalence of AI as a creative collaborator across Eventex Awards 2026 entries

The numbers confirm what the work shows:

17.6% of Platinum events demonstrated AI as a creative partner.

Only 3.5% of non-winners did.

Platinum events were 5× more likely to feature this approach — one of the sharpest signals in this year’s analysis.

The gradient holds across every tier, with Gold close behind Platinum at 16.6% and Silver at 14.2%.

Lessons from Eventex Awards 2026

AI works best when it is paired with deep cultural context — humans bring the story, AI helps tell it at scale.

The most powerful uses of AI are transparent, not hidden — audiences accept and even celebrate AI when its role is clear.

A single creative constraint, such as “zero image banks,” can turn AI from a shortcut into a signature.

AI lets small teams build at a scale that traditional production cannot match.

Eventex Awards case studies

When AI appears as a visible voice or character, it changes the relationship between the audience and the story. Instead of hiding the technology, this year’s winners chose to put it on stage, naming it, framing it, and letting audiences experience it openly. The result is a new kind of co-narration, where the artificial and the human share the spotlight.

AI also works powerfully when audiences never see it directly. Behind the curtain, it generates visuals, soundtracks, and assets that would be impossible to produce by hand at scale.

Artwork

A voice across time

The opening of the Maqbool Fida Husain Museum in Qatar was conceived as a single living artwork. Ten years after his passing, the celebrated artist guided audiences through his own museum inauguration. His voice, recreated with AI, became the narrative anchor of the evening, structuring the emotional arc from welcome to gala.

Maqbool Fida Husain Museum Opening by fischerAppelt

Grand Prix Event Finalist + Platinum in Middle Eastern Event (plus Gold across 20 additional categories — including Use of AI, Cultural Event, Use of Technology, Multisensory Experience, Ceremony, Art Event, B2B Event, Brand Experience – Art & Culture, Celebration Event, Corporate Event, Audiovisual Solution, Event Concept, Experiential Event, Interactive Outdoor Experience, Live Show, Outdoor Event, Product Launch, Attendee Journey, and Entertainment Event — alongside 4 Silver and 3 Bronze recognitions)

Projection mapping aligned animated artworks with the museum’s architectural geometry, which had been inspired by Husain’s original sketch. Paintings extended into motion, with animation preserving the rhythm and gesture of the artist’s hand. Surround sound, lasers, lighting, and custom scents — evoking India and Qatar — were released at precise narrative moments.

The opening reached 22 countries, generated approximately 1 billion in estimated total reach, 225 international articles, 36 million online views, and 30.7 million social reach — all for an audience of 250 guests on the night.

The AI-enabled narration became the defining moment of the evening and was widely discussed across media and social platforms — establishing the museum as a permanent fixture of Qatar’s cultural identity from its first night.

Rachel Russell

Assistant Director, Brand, Marketing and Communications, EY, and an Eventex Awards jury president

Amazing job with this event! What an inspiring blend of AI, technology, artistry, and the human connection. Using the artist’s voice with projection mapping and scents created an impactful experience.

Synergy

Scenography built without a single stock image

For Google Cloud Summit Mexico 2025, RED DOOR AGENCY set a bold creative constraint: zero image banks. Every texture, wall design, and floor pattern across the summit’s “El Pueblo Mágico” village was generated using Google’s AI models. Humans provided the cultural context — Mexican folklore, architecture, and colors — while AI handled the visual execution. The result was a hyper-local environment built at a scale traditional design could not reach.

Google Cloud Summit Mexico 2025 by RED DOOR AGENCY

Platinum in Summit

The summit turned activations into live demonstrations of the technology. Guests created their own “vendor shouts” using character voices through Chirp, paired AI with Mariachi and Cumbia to compose original tracks through Lyria, and co-created surreal versions of magical towns through Imagen. A Gemini-powered AI Bar recommended drinks, and an AI Basketball Coach analyzed physical form.

1,551 attendees on Day 1 and 1,470 on Day 2 doubled previous editions and beat registration goals by 123%. Over 23 million people were reached across Latin America, with a 227% ROI compared to previous campaigns, and 0% technical downtime across more than 12 hours of live GenAI activations.

AI earns its place on the credit list when it is paired with clear human intent — a story to tell, a culture to honor, a legacy to carry forward.

Justyna Koziołek

Brand Marketing Director, Board Member, *Bespoke agency, and an Eventex Awards jury member

AI-generated scenography — with strong human touch and clear cultural context? Fantastic. This synergy between tech and human sensibility is compelling, both innovative and emotionally grounded.

Alibaba Cloud × NBA — Cloud On, Game On

Grand Prix Event Finalist, Gold in Sporting Event, Silver in Use of AI, Bronze in Brand Activation, Bronze in Sponsorship Experience

NBA China and Alibaba Cloud built an AI-powered system that turned every fan moment into broadcast-quality content. AI Bullet-Time replays, an AI Avatar generator, an AI voice host, and robotic basketball gameplay ran together as one connected loop, with the cloud orchestrating each interaction in real time. The activation drew 53,848 visitors over five days and generated 1,185,500 digital interactions — a 152.63% lift in brand interactions for Alibaba Cloud.

Mercedes-Benz All-New CLA Launch Event

Gold in Brand Experience – Automotive, Silver in Gala

Mercedes-Benz launched the all-new CLA in Istanbul with a live EEG headset capturing guests' brainwaves and an AI engine merging human emotion with vehicle data into a living digital artwork. The car responded to the audience rather than the other way around, fusing engineering, neuroscience, fashion (a Les Benjamins capsule collection), and a Bosphorus drone show into a single cultural moment.

SAP d-com 2025 — The Developers League

Gold in Use of AI

SAP's year-round developer event used AI as the narrative engine for a five-episode anime series, The Developers League, with AI driving world-building, character generation, visual iteration, and adaptive storytelling. The format reached 50,000+ developers across a hybrid kick-off, virtual deep dives, and 37 local events in 21 countries — with 82% of attendees reporting positive impact on their daily work.

Electrifying Innovation: Dell Technologies World 2025

Silver in Brand Engagement Event, Bronze in Brand Experience – Technology, Bronze in Experiential Event

Dell built its annual conference around the line "AI is the new electricity" — an idea grounded in a single keynote moment where a digital lamppost illuminated as Michael Dell delivered the message. The design then translated that idea into measurable engagement across the event: a +15% rise in Dell booth scans, +60% in Dell booth theater attendance, +9% in hands-on lab participation, and +4% growth in unique breakout attendees.

AI as creative partner

Other standout work

Four more entries made strong cases for AI as a creative collaborator and deserve a mention.