"In my view, experiential consultancies of the near future will evolve into something resembling an architectural practice. Some 70% of the world’s population will be urbanized by 2050. City planning could fall to people that are used to building customer experiences, to look at the design of city architecture as a user journey. From there an experiential architect could work with local government to ergonomically build cities around their citizens to improve the experience of living in large urbanised regions with huge populations."
Michael Brown, managing director, MKTG
"I like the thought of experiences being like live adverts – so it would be good to do more with them and potentially make them longer. And another area to explore more would be brand experience retail, so rather than an experience being a marketing spend, it becomes a revenue generator as well. Bars are a natural area for that, but we could think wider – change the face of retail and make it about experience." Jim Robinson, managing director, Frukt
"Agencies need to deliver an experience that isn’t just cool for the sake of being cool. I’ve seen that a lot with virtual reality, where it’s just chucked in. Our starting point is thinking about what would add value to the consumer’s day, and that may or may not be virtual reality – it’s not a default setting. We’ve just launched a permanent retail store for Guinness. It has a tasting experience at its heart, and there’s a beer ambassador who can talk people through the products. It’s using experience to drive traditional retail, which is something we work a lot with." Patrick Hammond, founder and director, Hot Pickle
"In essence, they will remain the same because at the heart of a great campaign is a great idea, action-led with a great purpose. If the creative isn't right, it is just wallpaper. When we get a good idea and it flies, the channel becomes irrelevant." Dom Robertson, managing director, RPM
"Tech and digital will be at the core of everything we do, there will always be a physical touch point but tech will have to help that physical activation and accelerate it. Already everything we do is about creating shareable content and this will become more commonplace as tech also provides innovative interactions for more consumers to create and share their own content." Will Mould, managing director, XYZ
"Socially-activated systems are here to stay and we continue to see a huge demand for social-activated vending machines. Social can power anything, from billboards to doors, from cocktail makers to arcade games and socially-powered activations are becoming a staple within the industry, allowing for samples and products to be provided in a unique way while gaining valuable social interaction and reach. Systems can now work with Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram and this, alongside vending via emojis, is something we expect to see more of. Emotion analysis provides the perfect way to distribute product and samples in a fun and novel way. If you’re feeling sad, a machine in Topshop automatically detects this and provides a brightly patterned t-shirt, or if you’re feeling excited on a hot day, a machine vends you an on-trend festival-style hat. Another example could be giving away gig tickets. If you’re feeling a bit gloomy, here are some Elton John tickets for two. Or if you’re feeling sexy, you get two tickets for Rhianna." Chris Russell, managing director, Tribe Marketing
View the full Brand Experience Report 2017 here, plus the top 45 agencies list.
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