To kick off the event, the beer brand hosted a pub crawl. To keep revelers warm and toasty, it handed out Bud Light-branded Snuggies.

Hundreds wandered from bar-to-bar in the "blanket with sleeves." The Snuggies "were the thing to get that night which was really cool," says James Deighan of Highline Sports & Entertainment, the event production company for Vail Snow Daze. "The Bud Light promotion was very well-received."

Participants were also privy to other prizes, including concert tickets, a Rossignol snowboard and a bevy of Vail Snow Daze and Bud Light-branded giveaways. "There were thousands of T-shirts, can coolers, a dozen pairs of skis, hoodies, goggles, glasses, and just massive amounts of different, fun giveaways for everybody to enjoy during the week," says Deighan.

Why load them up with goodies? Because "the event has been around for four years now and Vail marketing decided they really wanted to step it up," he says. "The message was that they wanted to show the love for loyal customers and potential new customers. People ski Vail for so long they call it their home. There is a lot going on in the world with the economy and they wanted to put out the red carpet by providing the best event for any resort ever."

While that was a bold proclamation, the organizers achieved it on some levels – especially when it came to the Barenaked Ladies concert which was held outside in the middle of a blizzard. "It was truly magical. I can’t even describe it. The lead singer said if the fans won’t have heaters, neither will we," says Deighan. "At the end of the night he had three inches of snow on his hat."

What the 8,000 adoring fans did have was plenty of branded items. "Throughout the entire week, whether it was the Bud Light Snuggies to Vail Snow Daze skull caps and hoodies, it became a three-dimensional event vs. just a two-dimensional ad. People could touch and feel the experience of the event and had something to take home with them."

It's not a party without the party favors. Even Microsoft, which is portrayed as an out of touch geek in Apple ads, knows that. In addition to its own splashy advertising campaign, the software giant decided to get a little festive for the launch of Windows 7.

Microsoft hired House Party to create more than 10,000 sampling events across 12 countries during the week of Windows 7's October 22 launch. The end result: More than 800,000 people got the chance to experience the new operating system first hand at a friend's or neighbor's house.

To get people feeling festive, Microsoft sent Windows 7 "party packs" to hosts. They included branded streamers, balloons, napkins, playing cards, posters, puzzles, tabletop centerpieces, tote bags and one copy of Windows 7 Ultimate. Attendees were given the branded giveaways, as well as coupons for the new software.

This hands-on approach was an important tool needed to debunk the software's reputation of being buggy and hard to use through countless "I'm a PC. I'm a Mac." attack ads. "Windows 7 was much awaited. There was lots of press around it for lots of different reasons," says Kitty Kolding, CEO of House Party. "An operating system isn't something people would sit around exploring and discussing in a party environment, but it turns out it was a very powerful event."

One inadvertent offshoot of the events was a viral Internet smash. The "HostingYourParty" online video which was meant only for the eyes of the hosts was viewed by more than a million people – mostly because they found it to be cheesy. It even spawned spoofs. Still, any buzz is good buzz and all of that word-of-mouth led to a 234% boost in sales during the first two weeks of the product's launch compared to Windows Vista, per the NPD Group. Revenue from the product was also up 83%.

Kolding says she couldn't have been happier to have been linked with the successful launch. She says the trick for any sampling event is "to have the product front and center and to have relevant offers to allow attendees to take action. You don't want them to just talk about it afterward. You want to give them action steps. People love to walk out of these parties with things that will make them remember it."

Jamba Juice was fairly confident that consumers would feel good when stopping in for refreshment. But, just to make extra sure, the smoothie giant offered "Feel Good Bucks" to consumers – vouchers worth at least $1 off of a future next purchase, or possibly a branded gift card or even $10,000 cash.

Thirty million Feel Good Bucks were distributed during the three-month promotion, which ended January 4. Consumers had to visit a local Jamba Juice location to redeem the Bucks and find out what exactly they had won.

The vouchers were distributed online and via brand partners, direct mail and street teams which featured Bananaman, the official Jamba Juice "Jambassador." Bananaman made his first appearance in New York on October 6, handing out pre-loaded Metrocards in additional to the Bucks. He then moved on to Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The chain also offered consumers the chance to win their ultimate "Feel Good Moment." The contest, which could be entered in-store or by filling out the information on the back of a Feel Good Buck, offered three winners the chance to fulfill any wishes up to $10,000 in value.

"Feel Good Events" were another way Jamba Juice engaged consumers. These random acts of corporate kindness included happenings such as Free California Flatbreads Day. "Jamba's mission revolves around promoting healthy, active fun and engaging our customers in exciting and unique ways," says James D. White, president and CEO of Jamba Inc. "The Feel Good Moment campaign gives us over 30 million opportunities to engage consumers through multiple channels and in a variety of memorable, positive and lighthearted ways."