Immersive Experiences: How Innovation Centers are Shaping the Next Wave of Business Storytelling
01.04.24
Annie-Lee Taylor
Senior Strategist
Immersive Experiences: How Innovation Centers are Shaping the Next Wave of Business Storytelling
In business, leaders can now engage in hands-on collaboration with researchers and solutions partners to solve real-time problems through Innovation Centers. Once known as Executive Briefing Centers, these hubs have been transformed into storytelling platforms, where innovation is not just about presenting products, but also narrating the journey behind them. They have become immersive environments where stories and products come to life, fostering deep emotional brand connections through memorable experiences.
Today, Innovation Centers serve a multitude of purposes. They create opportunities for product depth, specificity, and relevance, and allow brands to connect with and engage their audiences in unique ways. The benefits are plentiful:
Meeting the audience where they are
With an increasing Innovation Center global presence, accessibility to diverse audiences is simplified, reaching them where they are. Adding digital and virtual centers further expands the possibilities for always-on and limitless connection opportunities, where customers can engage with intricate product details on their own time and at their own pace.
Expansive view of products and services
Innovation Centers serve as customer-driven spaces, featuring interactive displays and presentations. Humanizing the brand and adopting a personalized approach to its content provides companies with an opportunity to foster transparency and create meaningful connections. They allow audiences to dig deeper into products, customer stories, and the company's values and vision.
These centers offer businesses additional context by delving into the technical aspects of the product, raising awareness and providing education in an engaging and hands-on way. Trust is built through the information shared in these collaborative spaces, and when visitors feel involved and connected, their emotional investment grows.
Accelerating inspiration to action
Immersed in the brand, audiences are surrounded by possibility. These spaces generate excitement about the future, deepen understanding of the brand and its products, and convey stories through real-time simulations and advanced technology.
Many centers, like IBM’s Innovation Center for SAB Solutions, feature dedicated spaces for collaborative think tanks and partnership incubator programs, enabling customer-centric, personalized conversations to address specific business problems, with both teams designing a roadmap for the future. PwC collaborates closely with companies at its Experience Center to inspire and drive transformative change and innovate new experiences for both customers and employees.
Recruiting top talent
For some, these centers serve as a platform to connect with people on a deeper level and attract top talent. They provide a place to introduce potential employees to an immersive experience, inspiring them to envision their future and how they can contribute to the larger story. Industrials brand leader Siemens Energy asserts that they leverage their Innovation Center as an “important recruiting role for the U.S. as a world leader in developing the transformational energy technologies of the future.”
Innovation Center Success Stories
DuPont
DuPont’s Silicon Valley Innovation Center, in partnership with InVision, showcases interactive media, materials samples, and product prototypes, demonstrating its materials and expertise in areas like smart clothing and space exploration. The center encourages open innovation with partners, manufacturers and product designers through events and meetups. Additionally, DuPont offers tours of its materials testing labs.
MxD
During in-person business closures during the pandemic, InVision partnered with industrial leader MxD to design a virtual tour of its Chicago factory floor through an immersive, 360-degree digital experience. In digitizing their center, information was made accessible to audiences and customers anywhere, anytime. The virtual experience continues to this day, complementing in-person visits.
Through participatory and immersive experiences in Innovation Centers, storytelling not only forges a deeper connection with the brand but also enables businesses to envision the future, both for their company and partnerships. Serving as an always-on experiential space, these centers enable brands to connect with people throughout the sales journey, tailoring conversations, sharing stories, and fostering emotional connections, both in the present and for the future.
Interested in exploring how to transform your business through a cutting-edge Innovation Center? Contact your InVision Account Director or info@iv.com to learn how we can tailor a unique and impactful design for your brand's journey into the future.