Cerkl
How Cerkl turned a conference booth into a warm pipeline of high-intent leads
The HR-tech leader replaced traditional booth swag with a Dreamwave AI photobooth, and built a lead capture mechanism executives actually noticed.
AI headshot
AI headshot
AI headshot
AI headshot
AI headshot
The challenge
Cerkl's growth team faced a question every B2B marketer at a conference faces: how do we stand out, capture qualified leads, and prove ROI when the booth next door is also handing out branded mugs?
The traditional playbook of swag giveaways, business card fishbowls, and QR-code raffles has a well-known ceiling. Most trade show lead forms convert at around 30%. Most of the swag ends up in airport trash cans. And the leads that do come in are rarely qualified enough to move the pipeline.
Cerkl wanted three things at once:
- Booth traffic that didn't depend on caffeine giveaways
- Lead capture that produced verified corporate contacts, not throwaway email addresses
- A premium brand moment that would resonate with executives in their target accounts
The solution
Cerkl deployed Dreamwave's AI photobooth at their conference booth and during their speaking session. It's a turnkey activation that lets attendees take a selfie and receive a studio-quality headshot in exchange for a work email and a few configurable qualification questions.
The setup took zero installation. Cerkl mounted iPads at their booth, opened their branded microsite, and the booth was live. Attendees who scanned the QR code on their conference signage could also generate headshots from their phones, with no app download required.
The activation included:
Custom lead qualification questions
Cerkl configured the signup flow with questions tied directly to their sales motion (team size, role, buying timeline) so every captured lead came pre-qualified.
Branded photo delivery
Every headshot was delivered through a custom email template carrying Cerkl's branding, so the moment of value (receiving a great headshot) was Cerkl-branded by default.
Booth signage and microsite design
Dreamwave's team built the booth signage and microsite to match Cerkl's brand, turning the entire activation into a brand impression rather than a third-party plugin.
Retargeting pixel
Cerkl's ABM pixel was embedded on the microsite, so post-conference campaigns could naturally reach the same firms that queued for headshots.
The results
"Working with Dreamwave has been a fantastic experience. The professional headshots giveaway at our booth and talk created an incredible buzz, so many hands shot up during the giveaway. It served as a highly effective lead capture mechanism, and the feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive. We're very grateful for the work you afforded us and are already planning to do this again at our future conferences!"
What Cerkl saw at the event
- Booth lines that didn't quit. A premium headshot is a gift attendees actually want, so the booth was busy in a way swag giveaways rarely are.
- Lead capture completion at 90-100%, versus the ~30% industry average for trade show lead qualification forms. Because attendees were motivated to finish the form to receive their headshots, drop-off was nearly eliminated.
- Verified corporate emails enriched with custom qualification data, landing in Cerkl's CRM as ready-to-route leads rather than top-of-funnel noise.
- Executive-level attention. The activation drew enough buzz during the talk that it became a talking point with executives, turning a typical conference sponsorship into a moment that resonated up the org chart at target accounts.
- Retargeting continuity. With ABM pixels embedded in the microsite, Cerkl's post-conference campaigns reached the same accounts that interacted with the booth, keeping the headshot moment working long after the conference ended.
Why it worked
Traditional conference booth strategies treat the booth as a one-time interaction: hand out something, get a contact, hope for the follow-up. Dreamwave's photobooth turned the booth into the start of a longer engagement loop.
The moment of value is the moment of lead capture
Guests aren't trading their email for a whitepaper they won't read. They're trading it for a professional headshot they'll actually use, on LinkedIn, on team pages, on Slack avatars. That value exchange is so clear that completion rates stay high even when qualification questions are added.
The brand impression compounds
Every headshot delivered carries Cerkl's branding through the email template, the microsite, and any retargeting that follows. The attendee remembers Cerkl not as "the company that gave me a tote bag" but as "the company that gave me the headshot I've been using ever since."
The leads are sales-ready, not marketing-ready
Custom qualification questions in the signup flow mean every contact arriving in the CRM is pre-segmented by team size, buying intent, or whatever Cerkl's sales motion needs to triage.
The takeaway
Cerkl's results show what changes when a conference activation is engineered around value exchange rather than swag distribution. By replacing branded mugs with a premium experience attendees actually wanted, Cerkl converted their booth line into a pipeline of qualified, verified, retargetable leads, and a brand moment that executives took back to their organizations.
The team is already planning their next deployment.
Ready to turn your next booth into a pipeline?
Join Cerkl in replacing traditional booth swag with a Dreamwave AI photobooth that captures qualified, verified leads at premium completion rates.
or email sales@dreamwave.ai to discuss a custom partnership
