Michael Sorg and Katie Dudas are joined by Sam Eitzen, CEO of Snapbar, for a deep dive into how artificial intelligence is changing experiential marketing, trade shows, conferences, brand activations, and the humble photo booth. Sam explains how Snapbar evolved from physically hauling hundreds of photo booths to events into building a web-based platform that lets brands create interactive experiences accessible from an iPad, touchscreen, QR code, or an attendee’s own phone. What started as a necessary pandemic pivot has developed into AI photo experiences, highly personalized AI Stories, and new ways for brands to combine entertainment with lead generation. The conversation also gets beyond the AI hype. Sam discusses the unpredictability of image models, why prompt engineering still requires humans, how Snapbar tests and switches between different AI models, and why brands need to understand that generative AI is not simply automated Photoshop. Snapbar’s system remains cloud-based, meaning connectivity and third-party model reliability are still real considerations for live events. Topics and products discussed: What experiential marketing actually means: Sam distinguishes traditional broadcast and digital advertising from interactive marketing designed to bring the audience into the experience through participation. Snapbar’s origin story: The company began as a side-gig photo booth business before moving from weddings into conferences, trade shows, sporting events, product launches, festivals, and other B2B activations. The pandemic pivot: When physical events disappeared in 2020, a client asked whether Snapbar could bring its photo experiences online. That request became the foundation of the company’s current web-based platform. World Cup fan activations: Sam describes branded soccer experiences that let attendees transform themselves into stylized or animated fans and players without improperly copying team intellectual property. QR codes instead of long lines: Experiences can run on event iPads while also letting thousands of attendees participate from their own phones by scanning a QR code. Understanding the audience: A soccer activation that works at the World Cup may flop at a legal conference. Sam says cybersecurity audiences, for example, often respond particularly well to gaming, fantasy, and trading-card concepts. Digital experiences as event swag: The group discusses whether personalized digital content can become an alternative to another pile of branded pens, bottles, and promotional giveaways. Snapbar’s planned digital spinner wheel: Sam explains a digital version of the familiar trade-show prize wheel with customizable branding, prize probabilities, inventory management, QR control, redemption codes, and lead capture. The rise of the AI photo booth: Early image generation was unreliable, producing extra arms, heads, and other artifacts. As models improved, AI photo experiences became one of Snapbar’s biggest products. AI Stories: Snapbar adds Mad Libs-like personalization to AI-generated experiences, allowing attendees to influence the resulting scene while brands maintain controls over the experience. Taking event tech into unusual environments: Sam recalls activations at music festivals, on boats, and experiences that attendees could even access while traveling because everything is web-based. Working across AI providers: Rather than building its own image models, Snapbar evaluates available third-party systems and can shift between models depending on prompt adherence, realism, animation style, and client needs. Why testing matters: AI models can regress or behave differently after updates. Snapbar’s team tests experiences ahead of events, attempts to break them, adjusts prompts, and can intervene while an activation is live. Treat AI like a new team member: Sam suggests thinking of AI less like an infallible machine and more like a new employee that needs context, supervision, defined permissions, and an understanding of what it does well. AI is not automated Photoshop: Clients sometimes expect pixel-perfect control, but generative systems still involve prompting, probabilities, and outputs that cannot always be completely dictated. Why AI may not magically fix event networking: Sam pushes back on the idea that feeding hobbies and job titles into an AI matchmaking system automatically creates meaningful human connections. Event attendees ultimately want genuine personal and professional connection. The danger of easy AI startups: AI makes prototypes and products dramatically easier to build, but that also means competitors can build similar products just as quickly. Distribution becomes the advantage: Sam argues that customer relationships, audience access, SEO/AEO, reputation, and reaching the right buyers become even more important when everyone has access to powerful AI tools. Learn more about Snapbar at https://snapbar.com, which Sam specifically shares at the end of the interview.
