[Photo by Andy Hermawan on Unsplash]
Magic takes place when you’re brought into a truly creative space. From Disneyland to the Warner Bros Studios, from the Cadbury World factory tour to theme parks like LEGOLAND, Thorpe Park, Universal and Chessington, there’s nothing quite like putting yourself into an environment crafted to entertain.
While the aforementioned experiences are large-scale projects, it’s this same magic which brands are looking to bring to their customers – especially within crowded markets. As each company differentiates itself from the next, customer experience becomes a significant part of the buy-in process. And to enhance this, brands have been utilising experiential marketing and immersive experiences – one-off pop-up stores, stands and experiences – to bring the customer in.
These experiences aren’t just a way for people to buy products, but learn about brands, see their creative visions, and allow them to become brand ambassadors by telling people about their own experiences. To hear more about bringing these moments to life and the evolution of this aspect of the advertising industry, LBB’s Nisna Mahtani speaks to the people behind the scenes.
Sean Pruen
Creative and live action director at UNIT9
Early in my career, I realised that you can get a great response from audiences when you make fantastical things happen in real world settings. This approach has been at the heart of all my creative projects over the years as a creative director. Otherworldly yet tangible feasts for the eyes, ears and soul that fuse technical wizardry within a physical space.
In the ever-widening market for experiential activations, technology is being utilised to do more and more amazing things. However, as creatives we must remember that it is not the technology that gets people excited; it’s the exceptional narratives and rewarding moments of surprise and delight we can create with it that stick in people’s minds.
Recently, UNIT9 collaborated with the iconic nightclub Pacha Ibiza. They asked us to create content for the vast amount of LED displays around the club. But instead of opting for looping video content that would soon become dull and repetitive for clubgoers, we designed a bespoke system that utilised real-time rendering to put on an audio-visual spectacle.
This system provides a huge variety of audio-reactive animations driven by live inputs such as the music played by the DJs and the physical movements of the club’s famous podium dancers. Visitors are surrounded with these tailored immersive visuals from the moment they walk in, and everywhere they turn on the dancefloor. What started as a content job was ultimately delivered as an experience – one filled with unique, live moments that will alter every single night.
Variety is the spice of life. With the impressive developments in real time content – and, of course, the emergence of AI – non-linear experience design full of variety will continue to expand, creating more moments for people to discover and unique memories to be gained and shared.
Andy Sexton
Partner and ECD at 2LK
It’s an interesting time, as businesses are evolving and becoming increasingly artificial and automated. In parallel, storytelling effectiveness is diluted by digital saturation fuelling antitrust and apathy.
Perhaps it’s no surprise then, that there’s an ever-growing appetite for moments that engage the senses and spark wonder. Immersive experiences, whether they be interactive art installations, mind-bending funhouses, or multi-sensory theatrical performances, offer an escape from the ordinary and unparalleled chances to connect with brands in culture.
In the live channel, proof eats promise and every moment counts, so creativity needs to be unignorable and the use of technology needs to be both pioneering and appropriate.
At 2LK we’re firm believers that the best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. Our approach is always to start with the story, design for people, think big and innovate at speed. Our ‘5 days, 10 ways’ design sprint is a fast, focussed example of this belief in action, where we look to illustrate and visually prototype work over a short period of time – stretching our thinking and holding back on editing for as long as possible. Convergence comes later, ending in a bold concept – a seed of an idea that is carefully nurtured and expanded upon.
A good example of this in practice is the huge AI-driven ‘Magic Murals’ which we recently created for client Salesforce. A grid of large robotic plotters drew super-size murals with classic whiteboard pens, each composition displaying insights and ideas captured in real time from discussions on nearby round tables. The result was a visually stunning sequence of illustrations which wowed and intrigued delegates. As the roundtable sessions progressed and refreshed, so did the text and graphic content, wiping itself clean and then creating fresh artwork in an 8-hour sequence.
As the experiential market booms, creatives are pushing boundaries and exploring new frontiers. The prevalence of new technology and the emergence of AI has opened up many possibilities. But following covid, we’re also seeing a renaissance of primal, physical experiences that can’t be digitised.
Whether utilising cutting-edge technology or primal storytelling, one truth persists – the most compelling immersive experiences evoke emotion which is what makes them unforgettable.
Sarah May Bates
VP and creative director at RPA
Working on a brand known for innovation requires you walk the walk of innovation with your creative messaging. For us, it’s exciting to tell stories in new, non-traditional mediums. It also means we are pushing ourselves to think of new ways to use traditional mediums that reach large audiences. Audiences are so fractured that we really have to think of ways to engage that immerse and reward them on multiple levels.
Working in experiential mediums like AR is exciting because of the ways we can interact with the viewer. Instead of a linear narrative, we are able to immerse viewers and engage with their physical presence within a space. Storytelling is not just about a narrative, but also what we can surround the viewer with, and how we can take over the space they’re standing in — with something that amazes them.
I love sky segmentation technology for this reason: we’re able to create visuals that mesmerise because of the contrast in scale. We are using the viewer’s natural environment to give them a new, visceral experience in 3D. In our case, we had a full-size eVTOL hover in front of buildings at major city intersections (activated by our OOH boards) and then take off into a now-starry sky. With music and inspiring messaging to complement this, it was a totally new way to experience a brand message.
Michael Boszko
Creative director at Iris
Today, people get bored more quickly and are more vocal than ever before. So, it makes sense that they’d expect better from brand experiences. The thing is, many will take part in an experience as long as it talks to them, the barriers aren’t high and there’s an emotional, social, or physical reward. So, it’s our job to not create what the brand thinks people want, but to find insights and create experiences that answer real wants.
That’s why when Samsung was looking to launch its Skateboard GB partnership, we started by asking what the UK skate community wanted.
We created the ‘Drop in with Samsung’ platform in collaboration with Skateboard GB. This allowed us to connect into the skate community and really understand what was important to them. We produced a mini-documentary, interviewing skaters across the nation. From those interviews, we learned that there had never been a skate park in Shoreditch or one that was covered to allow skating in the December drizzle.
So, we built ‘Flip Park’: a content studio for skateboarders rigged with Galaxy devices to share and capture everything. It was totally free and open every day for two weeks. But what really kept the community coming back (40,000 of them) was that we put on a line-up worth sharing that tapped into different parts of skate culture: a Hypebeast fashion show, girls-only skate lessons, Rinse FM gigs, and workshops with known creators.
So yes, there’s more pressure on agencies to create engaging experiences, but what’s wrong with that? As long as we keep listening, people will participate.
Andrew Walker
Executive creative director at Collaborate
The new wave of genuinely immersive experiences and the technical architecture that supports them, such as the Vegas Sphere, give us emerging language to deliver large format and sensorially amazing moments. For brand storytelling and emotional impact, these huge canvases are uniquely powerful, capturing valuable attention for far longer than a three second TikTok doom scroll.
Despite these tech innovations though, audience experience and engagement principles really haven’t changed. We still endeavour to create a journey linked to a narrative arc that starts with expectation and ends with memory.
The challenge for creative strategy and immersion is not to get blinded by huge scale worldbuilding and make sure we weave in detail and subplotting. A stunning show should have a resonant impact but unless it has phases of engagement, discovery, and insight, it will be yet another mechanism for passive media consumption. Consumer experiences like Punch Drunk and Secret Cinema do this brilliantly, but most brands have yet to tap into longer form storytelling this way.
The vast array of digital tools from XR to AI-powered innovations in the live space give us the chance to be much more focussed on unique product stories, technological communication and customer insights to make the experience a meaningful interaction. Our design mantra in the Collaborate studio is that our visitors must feel they are in collaboration with the brand and their opinion and contributions are helping to forge a lasting relationship rather than a fleeting interaction.
We see live experiences as the new playground for immersive digital design, and brand growth. It is expressive, artistic and uniquely powerful for connecting visitors with ideas, emotions and a common cause. Whether it is used for wonder, imagination or provocation, it is a new way of communicating in shared, real life human spaces. Our aim is to make sure it is never passive. Let’s go beyond the screen, no matter how large that screen may be.
Tiffany Tse
Executive producer at Makers
In its most traditional form, experiential marketing aims to engage end customers through in-person experiences rather than relying solely on traditional advertising tactics. However, as consumer expectations have evolved over time, simply having brand ambassadors hand out samples and pose for photos is no longer sufficient. Today’s consumers crave deeper, more immersive brand experiences.
At Makers, we prioritise several key factors when conceptualising and executing experiential programs to foster genuine connections with consumers.
Immersion: Our goal is to authentically engage customers through interactive and multi-sensory experiences that transport them away from their everyday lives, even if only for a few minutes to create a lasting impression on consumers.
Integration: We strategically integrate the brand’s products and/or services into the experiential journey without overwhelming or inundating customers. Rather than forcefully pushing the brand, we provide the tools for customers to organically connect the experience back to the brand, allowing them to engage with it on their own terms.
Relevance: Experiential marketing often takes place in a specific location for a limited time. To extend the impact beyond these physical boundaries, we aim to be part of larger conversations that resonate with the lifestyle and social circles of our target audience. By leveraging customers as authentic brand champions, we empower them to share their experiences with their peers, amplifying the brand’s reach in a meaningful way.
Sensitivities: We carefully vet our concepts against real-world cultural, social, and political sensitivities to ensure that our experiences are inclusive and respectful. When implementing concepts across multiple markets, we adapt and localise the core ideas to resonate with each audience while remaining mindful of the resources available in each market.
By prioritising immersion, integration, relevance, and sensitivities, we strive to create experiential marketing campaigns that not only captivate audiences but also foster genuine connections between brands and consumers.
Danilo Boer
Global creative partner at FCB
The best experiential work should push the boundaries of what’s possible for brands.
Speaking from experience, our team at FCB New York has spent the last five years developing innovative ways to provide immersive live sports experiences in collaboration with AB InBev’s Michelob ULTRA. From surrounding NBC courts with digital fans during the covid-19 lockdowns, orchestrating a one-hour tennis match on ESPN where John McEnroe played against himself, and enabling a blind fan to live-commentate on an NBC play-off game, to, most recently, creating one of the most legendary Formula1 races of all time, we’ve aimed to deliver future-forward experiences that surprise and delight consumers.
Our process begins with analysing the current conversations in sports each year to identify a relevant, timely insight that resonates with our audience. We then align this insight with our brand’s timely idea: ‘It’s only worth it if you enjoy it.’ The aim is to integrate our work with compelling sports entertainment narratives that attract major TV networks like ESPN, BBC, or Roku, which ensures that it performs exceptionally well both in real life and across TV broadcasts and streaming platforms.
The secret to our success? Well, I can’t give that away, but I can say that we never take shortcuts. We often spend over a year developing the technology that can astonish consumers and bring joy to beer drinkers everywhere. It’s all about combining storytelling, technology, and true entertainment, all driven by a relentless spirit to make the impossible possible.
Jonathan Bates
Creative director at Seen Presents
At the heart of creating imaginative, delightful experiences is a highly collaborative process in which iteration and challenge are the foundations for innovation – nothing great in design happens in isolation and the only route to disruptive ideas is a journey past the obvious (simply answering the brief) to reach an innovative territory where new solutions are imagined.
This is not an easy process. It demands discipline, curious teams and collective bravery whilst keeping the client’s challenge front of mind. Brands win in experiential by partnering with agencies willing to shake up the snow globe and think differently whilst staying true to the intersection of values between brand and audience.
The experience landscape in which we design has become increasingly fractious. We are all dealing with supply chain challenges and increased material costs due to socio-political upheaval across the world, as well as the emotional toll this takes on communities. Closer to home, the cost-of-living crisis has put pressure on employees and brands, the result being tighter budgets and timelines, both of which bring creative challenges. Brands, rightfully, are interrogating their spend and bang-for-buck, this in turn increases our responsibility as the agency to drive measurement opportunities to prove ROI.
The landscape is also rapidly becoming a bigger playground for live experiences with what five or 10 years ago was talked of as ‘emerging technology’, now a fraction of the cost and time in development. AR is now super accessible; we made our AR filter for the Volvo EX30 launch through TikTok in a matter of days – just a few years ago this would have needed specialists, six weeks and a five-figure budget.
The transition of emerging tech into the everyday deeply excites me and offers more opportunities for differentiation in the brand experience space, despite the challenges we’re currently faced with, so long live the experience era!
John Martinelli
Head of production and co-founder at Solarflare Studio
Immersive experiences that push the boundaries of innovation effectively combine sophisticated technology with compelling storytelling. These creations are meticulously crafted to ensure that every technical element serves a narrative purpose, enhancing the connection between the experience and its audience. To truly be cutting edge, these experiences must go beyond aesthetic appeal, offering a deeper purpose that strikes an emotional chord with participants, be it through art, brand activations, or interactive engagements.
When crafting these experiences, the technology integrated is purposeful, avoiding the pitfall of using advanced tools merely for spectacle. The core of these projects lies in their ability to weave compelling stories that resonate with the target audience. That’s why creators always begin by outlining clear KPIs and objectives that align with the overarching goals of the experience. This planning phase is critical for sculpting content that not only draws attendees in but also encourages them to naturally interact and share their experiences. Such engagement is engineered through thoughtfully designed moments that are worthy of discussion and visually captivating, particularly in projects that lean towards artistic expression.
To stay at the forefront of industry trends, developers of these experiences continuously explore new methodologies and technologies that can bring their vivid imaginations to life. This often involves a dynamic blend of art and science, where technological innovations are harmoniously integrated with creative narratives to create experiential environments that are both engaging and transformative.
Each element, from the storyline to the user interface, is developed to ensure the experience is both memorable and meaningful, encouraging a deeper connection and reflection among its participants.
The Mind Race project is a prime example of this philosophy in action. It integrates biofeedback technology with an intriguing narrative that encourages both personal reflection and group dialogue. Participants wear headsets that monitor brain activity, with their cognitive and emotional responses translated into real-time visual outputs (data visualisations). This fusion of neurotechnology with artistic expression not only highlights the capabilities of merging science with art but also opens up conversations about mental health and the importance of emotional awareness.
Through this careful blending of technology and narrative, the Mind Race project captivated and deeply engaged its audience, encouraging them to explore personal insights and share these experiences, thereby enriching the communal journey.
James Barnes
Founder at Backlash
Experiential marketing started out as a hybrid of PR companies developing physical experiences for influencer events, or for consumer events. Four years ago, these two merged and the first day of the experience is influencer based and then the following are for consumers.
Some brands can be tempted – it’s almost the death of the brief – to shoehorn everything in and make a tick box of things the brand wants to include. Rather, you have to put a singular focus on the product or service you are promoting and celebrate it in all its glory. Avoid adding the full product ranges or products that need love as this dilutes the experience
For brands who haven’t done something like this before, it’s a bit of a baptism of fire because they don’t have a playbook for it. It’s really important for a brand to engage with a creative agency that will fight for the customer-first approach. Ask questions like, ‘Why should I attend?’, ‘What am I going to tell people about?’, ‘Why did I enjoy it?’
Creativity is the most important factor, then location and innovation, coupled with insight. Those are the three core principles.
