It's not always about the venue, it's what you do with it

Scouting unique venues

Event professionals are going to great lengths to break out of traditional venues and formats.
Two out-of-the-ordinary test drive events put on for Denza and Ducati by Pico underline how quickly things are changing.

With the stunning scenery of Tibet and Zhangjiajie’s Tianzi Mountain as the backdrop, participants braved challenging roads and conditions to try out both car brands’ new offerings.

These scenic landscapes and stunning roads were worlds away from the usual test drive routes and proved an unforgettable experience for everyone who took part.

Breathing new life into familiar places

While using new venues is a great way of injecting novelty into the traditional, this is not always possible, especially when events are regularly scheduled or have budgetary restrictions. How can we deliver originality within the same four walls? By unleashing the creative power of multimedia to make participants feel like they are in a completely different environment.

The Foresta Lumina experience.

Creative studios like Moment Factory explore innovative storytelling through multimedia activations. One of their most talked-about projects is the Lumina experience, which repurposes existing outdoor destinations and spaces like zoos, valleys, forests and even islands. They do this by engaging people’s emotions through interactive tech, special lighting, projections and scenography.

The Foresta Lumina experience activated the Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook in Canada – turning a traditional hiking trail into a magical forest night walk and creating a significant boost in visitors to the area, improving F&B, hospitality and leisure businesses around the park.

Tech goes beyond venues

For every event, there are countless creative possibilities on how to drive engagement. Today’s technology is helping more and more of these inventive ideas come to life. A recent Samsung product event demonstrated how to create a memorable brand-product-audience connection through tech.

Samsung's Let's Gold event in Taipei fused tech with gourmet food. 

The event used Michelin-starred dining as an incentive for participants to explore the new phone's capabilities – unlocking interactive augmented reality (AR) elements for example. Dishes were ‘served’ using virtual reality (VR) before the real food was presented to them. All engagements were designed to give participants a brand-new impression of what future product testing events could look like.

Now, before you rush off into the nearest park with strings of lights in hand or start designing elaborate VR meals, remember that no matter how you unleash your creativity, the rule of thumb is to create ‘the right kind of memories’ – of the brand and its messages – not of the place or the special effects used to land those messages.