AI Trading cards - Brand Activation at its best

AI trading cards for ShareGate: a high-impact brand activation

Client: ShareGate
Partner: Primatix
Events: ESPC24, Stockholm (December 2024) · Microsoft 365 Community Conference, Las Vegas (May 2025) · European Collaboration Summit, Düsseldorf (May 2025)

The challenge

Conference swag is mostly forgettable. ShareGate wanted something different for a run of major tech shows — fun, personal and worth keeping.

The idea

Working with Primatix, ShareGate ran an AI Trading Card activation that turned attendees into ShareGate Heroes. Visitors chose a role — Partner, Cloud Architect or Consultant — and within a minute their face became a branded, custom ShareGate trading card, printed on the spot in a hard-shell sleeve that looked and felt like a genuine collectible. Each card carried profession-specific stats such as "Complaints about slow Wi-Fi: 127" and "Ticket response rate: 99%", plus role-based catchphrases like "Try turning it off and on again" and "My default setting is: Secure".

The engagement

The activation drew over 300 participants a day at every show, tapping into the shared culture of the Microsoft 365 community. Crowds lined up daily, cards were printed on the spot and handed over in sleek hard-shell cases, and the ShareGate booth stayed busy for hours. As one delegate put it: "We thought the AI photo booth was engaging — this was on another level."

Longevity beyond the booth

The real value came after the event. These cards were shared online, then displayed on desks, mantelpieces and monitors across offices. Where most event swag gets binned, the form factor kept these cards in view — a daily reminder of the ShareGate brand and a conversation starter with colleagues for weeks.

Execution at scale

To serve three international events, Primatix deployed teams from its London HQ and Las Vegas base for consistent delivery across time zones and venues. The workflow handled real-time card generation, onsite production at scale, high-speed printing and packaging, and a tone of humour, accuracy and professionalism dialled in for each audience.

Results

• Organic social amplification that built day on day as word spread across each conference
• Longer booth dwell time and more conversations with ShareGate staff
• Lasting brand visibility through a physical asset people kept

Why it worked

Attendees felt seen and celebrated; the roles and stats spoke their language; the tongue-in-cheek tone created real delight; and the collectible format meant the card stayed on the desk rather than in a drawer. The credit sits with a client bold enough to build something genuinely different for an audience that has seen it all — from live-streamed booth interviews on LinkedIn to one-of-a-kind giveaways — and the result was an activation delivering across continents.

ShareGate ran the other format with us too, an AI video booth at Microsoft Ignite. The same AI trading card build turned up at Ondaro's ServiceNow Knowledge booth and on Qlik Connect's leaderboard cards.