The Future is Interactive
INTRODUCTION
Today’s experience seekers are, quite frankly, spoilt for choice when it comes to opting for a ticket that comes with an invitation to participate. From esports tournaments to immersive escape rooms, through to VR experiences and even experiential dining options, interactive experiences are fusing the latest technology with deep consumer behaviour insights to create a rich opportunity to create memories.
Since the launch of On Sale Group nearly 18 months ago, founder Dawn Farrow has seen both a rise and a shift in the questions coming from the community around interactive experiences. She explains: “Early on it was mostly curiosity. What's working, what's not, who's doing it well. Now the questions are more operational. That tells me the sector has moved past the novelty conversation. Operators are building these formats seriously and the commercial questions are following.”
Beyond the gimmicks
Indeed, building interactive formats intentionally, avoiding gimmickry and creating an environment where the audience feels comfortable to play and connect are crucial to succeeding in today’s challenging battle for attention. Zane Rambaran, CEO and founder of Sing Eat Retreat, described the company’s experiential holidays, which combine singing workshops and the chance to perform with professionals from London’s West End Theatre with great food and locations, as the “antidote to tech”. According to Rambaran, “other than two mics and speaker, it’s all about that in-person moment.”
But for many experiences, tech is where it all begins, said Joe Lovelace, director of communications at Blast. Describing the rapid rise of esports, he shared that technology remains at the heart of the offering, with the digital experience being the key gateway for the audience to experience their passion. It does therefore mean the value of the final live moment is augmented: “While just 20% of what we do is IRL, that’s the crescendo, it’s the highlight. The in-person experience cannot be replaced – that arena moment is super important for us.”
Bimala Meeuws, head of marketing at Little Lion Entertainment, the live entertainment specialists that run everything from live video game experiences to immersive theatrical productions such as The Crystal Maze Experience, believes that experience creators need to be cognisant of everyday tech and the overwhelm that people experience. “We are living in a world where we’re having a tech overwhelm from constant daily use of apps, chat groups and emails. Tech needs to be about augmenting the experience, to make it as fantastical as possible. The physical is where the full senses experience happens. There’s something about taking you physically to an environment to take a moment in time that’s really finite and then you can be tuned on.”
It’s a view shared by Rambaran, who praised the role technology now plays in deepening online communities yet added that “by being present and feeling real energy in the room, people are buying memories. They get that by investing in an emotional reset.”
Participation and community
When it comes to marketing these interactive experiences, Yellow Pelican Partners director Alex Coulson warned that passive communications can often be forgettable, with marketers needing to effectively ‘sell the emotion’.
“You need to bring that experience to life through your marketing and be consistent across your touchpoints,” according to Little Lion Entertainment’s Meeuws, who suggested thinking of initial communications as ‘the warm-up act’. “And then post-event, you want to make sure that when they want to share their memories, you’re still there.”
The panel agreed that to some, particularly generations more habituated to communicating online than in person, the participation aspect could be daunting. At Sing Eat Retreat, the aim of the marketing is to reinforce that it is open to all, to counteract any feelings of fear. Rambaran feels “we’re creating a bucket list for people, from Austria for The Sound of Music to Greece for Mamma Mia, we’re letting people be someone they’ve always wanted to be.”
Understanding those individual needs is often determined in evaluating how comfortable audience members are to be fully immersed in participating versus spectating. The Crystal Maze Experience hires actors to be ‘maze masters’ and their role is to get to know everyone in the group so that they can gauge each participant and make sure everyone is involved without forcing anyone.
And as experiences become ever more interactive, the opportunity to grow a community which fuels advocacy is there for those willing to invest in the time, ensuring that each participant had the experience that they craved. As Meeuws stated: “if you’re here to give people an experience, then you will get advocacy and word of mouth referrals, if you’re just here to make money, then you won’t.”
Future gazing
The panel concluded with a glimpse to the future, where tech continues to be an enabler rather than a distraction. On Sale Group’s founder Dawn Farrow explained: “Technology earns its place when it removes friction, deepens immersion, or gives the audience something they genuinely couldn't have had without it. The experiences that get it right tend to share one thing. The tech is invisible. That way I think you feel the effect of it.”
Citing immersive dining as an example, with early-adopters Gingerline and current purveyors FEAST, Farrow finds the sensory nature of food to be grounding, with the interactivity coming from the people themselves: real performers, real service, real human contact.
Other growth areas mentioned included travel-based experiences while Blast’s Lovelace feels that as digital and physical increasingly converge, there’s an opportunity to foster more pre- and post-event moments. For Rambaran, the opportunities are limited by imagination only as “whatever you can do online, people will want to recreate IRL.” The question is no longer whether people will attend, but whether the experience invites them to participate.
Stay connected with the experience economy
On Sale Live is the annual confex for marketing, sales, ticketing and communications professionals across the experience economy. Details and tickets at onsale.live.
If you are looking for structured professional development alongside events, the GIEM masterclass covers the commercial frameworks, on sale strategy and digital skills that experience marketers actually need. Find out more at theGIEM.com.
For strategic consultancy on immersive experience ticketing, commercial strategy and audience development: dawnfarrow.com.