Digital Experiences: Drawing Inspiration from Gaming
03.16.2021
By John Emmaneel, SVP, General Manager, Chicago and Kat Tischler,
Senior Creative Director
Digital Experiences: Drawing Inspiration from Gaming
Over the past year, we’ve seen companies and agencies transform from digital tourists into digital natives. Things are moving fast, but during this unprecedented period of innovation, InVision has already started to look towards the next evolution of digital. We’re drawing a lot of inspiration from our experience working in the gaming industry and look to cultivate connectedness in creative new ways. I sat down with InVision’s Senior Creative Director, Kat Tischler, to talk through the big question… what is next for digital engagements?
John: Since the pandemic hit, digital agencies and progressive companies are starting to expand their R&D budgets to test and explore new ways to engage with consumers online. Yet, at the same time, consumers have all felt the effects of “screen fatigue.” This is the nature of our reality; we have to engage screen-to-screen. What trends are you seeing to overcome the monotony of video conferencing?
Kat: It’s great that companies are expanding their digital offerings because it’s time to rethink everything and reframe how we innovate. When it comes to everyday information, we’ve seen that some people are using the game Animal Crossing to add interactivity to marketing outreach. Brands are creating their own islands in-game where you can visit to interact with them and learn more. While it might not be the most efficient place to do business, it’s something different, and that’s refreshing. It speaks to our unmet need for satisfaction and engagement in this digital space.
John: Why is it that people are looking to the gaming industry to inspire, up-level and enhance their everyday meetings and engagements?
Kat: We are looking to gaming to replicate the fun and entertainment value of gamified gatherings. From our everyday meetings, to how we celebrate milestones, we’re seeing people reframe innovation through digital experiences. Last spring, UC Berkeley students created a replica of their university campus within the game Minecraft. Attendees logged in and made their way to the virtual stadium for the ceremony. Simultaneously, a Twitch feed broadcasted all commencement speakers. Since they couldn’t physically be together, they were innovating around the unmet need of what people miss most—"the hang.” They were able to cultivate connectedness on a deeper level in this virtual hub of the game.
John: You’ve shared examples of how individuals and smaller entities like universities are leading the evolution of what’s next in digital experiences. What about large-scale engagements? How are they taking gamified content to the next level?
Kat: In the fall, Devolverland Digital Expo completely reframed their canceled event. In a very meta move, they turned it into a game on Steam, set within an abandoned convention center. It was designed as a first-person shooter and surpassing the advanced security systems—gamifying the way attendees retrieved trailers, demos, and other secrets. They turned a COVID-cancelation into a storytelling opportunity by creating an interactive and immersive environment that successfully delivered their content and message. The Expo attracted over 500,000 registrants just on the opening weekend alone and signifies the level of engagement we want to start producing for our clients.
John: We’re already starting to see the return of smaller, in-person engagements mixed with these digital experiences. We all hope this is a trend that can safely continue. How can we “think like a gamer” as we explore these integrated experiences of both online and offline engagements?
Kat: That’s the next step. While we’ve always applied some level of digital integration to events over the years, we expect this this trend to expand further. This intermixed layering of online and offline experiences will be crucial in moving audiences to action. As restrictions begin to lift for smaller studio sets and crews, we’re seeing this hybrid, or multi-layered approach become more prominent across the industry like the Emmys or the Golden Globes. No more of the “welcome to my living room” production staging that we saw earlier during the pandemic. These award shows were able to reframe innovation and film celebrities in the studio setting, while leveraging XR staging technology to create different scenes. In the same way that gaming immerses you in other worlds, these events took the viewer beyond the stage and transported us to both real and imaginary places, without us ever having to leave our couch.
John: Let’s bring it back to this idea of cultivating connectedness. In terms of integrated online/offline experiences, what trends are you seeing used where brands are successfully creating opportunities to help audiences make connections with each other and with the brand?
Kat: We saw an increase in popularity with drive-in experiences. It came about from our unmet need to have shared celebrations. For a moment in time, it was all the rage to celebrate birthdays with a parade of cars, because that was the only way to connect safely. This led to a renewed interest in drive-in movies, which progressed into the hybrid drive-in activations we’re seeing now. Digital can enhance these experiences with ideas like QR codes, 2nd screen applications, curated audio over radio stations, AR, or even green screen photo ops for you in your car.
The seamless integration of digital woven into physical activations puts the control into the hands of your participants’ and capitalizes on the highly interactive nature of a “choose your own adventure” experience. Making your audience part of the story not only helps immerse them in your brand but provides the FOMO factor of missing an exclusive shared experience.
John: So, what’s the secret? How do we predict the future? What is the next trend in digital experiences that will “wow” remote attendees and solve for the challenges we’ve seen in 2020 and will continue to see in 2021?
Kat: I think the next trend is reframing all engagements as a combination of bingeable tv shows mixed with immersive and addictive video games. It’s creating that can’t miss out, can’t switch off entertainment that puts users directly into the action with killer graphics and gives the viewer a chance to control it all. Tomorrowland is an example of heading in that direction. They reframed their approach to what was an electronic dance music festival in Belgium, attracting around 400,000 people, to a digital music festival of 1 million.
They invented a 3D game-like environment taking place on a virtual island named Pāpiliōnem where attendees could navigate and explore to view musical performances. The digital island was full of easter eggs, virtual stages, and scenic builds that essentially became the festival. Although it didn’t serve as a replacement, they succeeded at creating an exclusive and immersive world with its own story. The result was an audience 2.5x the original size which came without all of the associated in-person transportation and production costs. This level of digital engagement is the direction I believe we should all aspire to be heading towards.
The next evolution of digital is sure to include even more creative and inspirational ways to cultivate engagement. With the all-digital E3 and GDC programs set to launch in the summer, look for gaming to provide further ideation around how to best operate in a virtual space.