Fashion Week Supporting Sponsors: Diet Pepsi, DHL, Maybelline, TRESemmé, & American Express

As official hair and make-up sponsors of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, TRESemmé and Maybelline activated on-site, just outside the runway tents, with plenty of product samples to share with beauty-conscious show goers.

Maybelline's activation area included a comfortable relaxation lounge, while TRESemmé's featured a second story hairsalon. The hair salon gave TRESemmé a film set overlooking the FW scene from which to shoot promotional video segments. For now, hair-related how-to videos are being posted online, but perhaps we'll see a commercial or even a segment for a TV show come out of the activation down the line.

While the beauty brands' connection to Fashion Week is obvious, what does a shipping company like DHL have to gain in such a sponsorship? As it turns out, plenty.

Numerous businesses leverage FW as chance to host clients and vendors, so DHL's presence kept their brand top of mind for the many business men and women in attendance. For their activation, DHL's marketing team enlisted budding designers at LIM's school of fashion to create evening gowns -- that were made entirely of DHL packaging. The fun designs, displayed both on mannequins and live models, definitely caught the attention of passers-by.

Soft drink brand Diet Pepsi faced a similar challenge to DHL, in determining how to link its product to attributes of Fashion Week. Last year, Diet Pepsi took on the challenge indirectly by unveiling a new can design. Slender and sexy, fashionistas throughout the tents sipped Diet Pepsis and kept the brand in the eyesight of everyone present.

This year the brand went for direct alignment - saying, in effect, "we support fashion just like you." Their set, created by Jonathan Adler, featured a display of four outfits by up-and-coming American designers. The full collections had been unveiled at a Diet Pepsi-sponsored fashion show on FW's opening night. Both the show and the support of young designers created a press-worthy narrative for the brand.

Surrounded by the nods to fashion in each of the other sponsorship activations, American Express' lounge simply gave show goers a comfortable place to rest while recharging iPads and cameras between shows. A FW sponsorship reminded show goers of the brand's positioning as the card of the wealthy and well-connected while highlighting the elevated service it provides its customers.

In the end, a visit to Fashion Week isn't just about the scene and the shows. If sponsors have activated effectively, visitors will go forward touting the brands just as much as the looks that flowed down the runway.