5 Minutes with… Pablo Vio

Adobe Firefly is a proud supporter of LBB. As part of the sponsorship of the ‘5 Minutes with…’ channel, we spend time with some of the most innovative and creative minds in the industry.

For today’s edition, we chatted to Pablio Vio, the chief creative officer of Experience.Monks. He’s also one of the three founders of Jam3, the design and experience agency which pioneered creative experiences in both the physical and digital worlds. His innovative approach to storytelling, complex programming, and high-concept design has led to numerous acclaimed interactive projects for the likes of Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Ford, The UN, the National Film Board and more besides. 

Pablo’s central ethos - and that of Experience.Monks - is that experience is everything. It’s the defining force that makes sense of a brand in a media environment that is noisy and chaotic by nature, allowing it to be understood and recognised. Here, Pablo reflects on his own early and defining experiences, and unpicks the factors which drive the expectations of the next generation - and which will define the future of culture…

LBB> Pablo, let’s dial the clock right back - what kind of a kid were you growing up, and at what point did you come to consider yourself as a ‘creative’ person?

Pablo> I’ve got my family to thank for creativity being a part of my life. My mom would throw birthday parties for me and make hand-drawn Superman posters to adorn the walls. And my grandfather carved art from wood, and I spent time with him as a kid drawing characters. 

I was a pretty shy kid. In my early days - aged four or five - I’d build LEGO by myself in the kitchen, using my imagination to build these alternative worlds and spaceships to travel to them. I’d daydream a lot - I was a bit of a space cadet in that area. 

And I always enjoyed art. So much so, in fact, that I decided to go to art school where I experimented with sculpting, painting, illustration, and animation. It wasn’t until much later, when I was working as a graphic designer, that I made a change and went back to school to study a postgraduate degree in interactive multimedia. 

LBB> Fast-forward to today and Experience.Monks is helping brands to meet the expectations of “a new generation of digital natives”. Can you tell us a little more about what’s important to this new generation? 

Pablo> Absolutely. Perhaps the most important thing to understand is that this is a generation that’s never known life without the internet. So it’s a demographic that puts a high value on both instant information and context about a topic. They’ve grown up with social media, intrinsically seeing the value in making connections within micro-communities and content with high levels of personalisation. They’re also concerned about privacy and cybersecurity, rightfully cautious about where they put their information online. 

And they’re also very comfortable with the idea of being someone else within a digital realm. We often hear people talking about how younger people are more courageous online and willing to experiment or try things that they might not do in the physical world. But that’s not a personality flaw - it stems from a really innate, and I think quite healthy, understanding that the digital world isn’t quite the same thing as the real world. And that there are different rules because of that. 

LBB> So how do you help brands meet this generation where they are?

Pablo> One of my favourite quotes about the industry is “never trust an idea from someone who doesn’t know how to build it”. The advantage of being part of Media.Monks is that we’re a network of fully digitally-first people, all of whom are thinkers and makers. We ideate from start to finish into all sorts of mediums on all sorts of spectrums. That’s true to the diversity of potential that is out there in the digital world. And it’s an understanding that helps us to disrupt, differentiate, and innovate in all those spaces where consumers are interacting with brands. 

Fundamentally, we believe that experience is everything. It builds trust, earns attention, and informs culture. Every touchpoint that a brand has - an email, a social media post, an IRL activation, whatever it may be - is an opportunity for a quality experience that will build that brand up. 

This is particularly crucial given how the demographic that we’re talking to is almost allergic to traditional advertising tactics. So it’s more about looking at the entire customer journey in a holistic sense, and we’re uniquely positioned to help brands communicate clearly in a multi-channel ecosystem. 

LBB> Looking specifically through the lens of experience, are there any brands who you feel have truly nailed what you’re talking about here? 

Pablo> Yeah. To be clear, ‘experience’ isn’t defined by a single ad, activation, or even one idea. It’s about delivering on a connected narrative that’s specific to a brand. Campaigns are great, but when a brand is launching so many throughout a year the broader context can get lost. You risk losing the value of consistency. 

So with that in mind, Apple is a brand that stands out. When I think about Apple it feels like they’ve truly nailed the brand experience in all aspects. For example, as you walk into the store you’re greeted by super positive and knowledgeable people. That’s part of the experience. It all adds up to building an audience that sort of hangs on the company’s every word. 

And another one is Disney. I’ve got two young kids, so I’m getting some firsthand experience of all their brand touchpoints right now! Stepping into a Disney theme park really is like going to another world. It’s magical. And their fans really engage with the brand’s own attention to detail. There’s a level of innovation and craft that caters not only to kids but to the nostalgic viewpoints of parents. 

LBB> Your earlier point about the younger generation’s aversion to traditional marketing tactics is an interesting one. Would you say they’re more cynical than previous cohorts? 

Pablo> I don’t know if ‘cynical’ is the right word. ‘Sceptical’ is better. Because trust needs to be earned rather than assumed, and experience is the best - maybe the only - way to earn that trust. 

LBB> Going back to your point about digital identities, ComplexLand is a project which appeals to users’ desire to create and experiment with them. Where did that idea originate? 

Pablo> ComplexLand was an idea which originally came out of the Covid era. ComplexCon, a client of ours, was looking to pivot to a digital event during that time. We’d just done an experience for them the year before with Adidas, ‘Unlock the Drop’, which played around with the typical expectations and conventions of a physical event as well. 

So of course during the pandemic they faced the universal challenge of bringing IRL into URL. So we created ComplexLand, which was a virtual event that people could attend. We did stuff like looking at the food trucks which were at the original event and replicating them in the virtual world, allowing users to order from them and have that food delivered to their homes. It was neat, and it ended up being quite a case study in the direction things were headed. 

LBB> I notice that we haven’t used the word ‘metaverse’ yet. Would you use that word to describe the work you do? 

Pablo> The promise of the metaverse was always about merging the virtual and physical worlds. In the context of ComplexLand that really was happening which was great, but to be frank there were a lot of other things from that time which didn’t live up to that promise in the same way. 

A lot of what we saw didn’t look like virtual worlds which were on the cutting edge of technology. They looked tacky and very often felt rushed or forced, certainly not aligned with this hyperbolic discourse that suggested a kind of second-reality where we could essentially live and happily spend all our time. Does that mean that the metaverse is ‘dead’, or we should never talk about it again? I don’t think so, no. But it does mean that the term itself has become tied up with ideas that I think aren’t particularly appealing to people. 

LBB> Before we wrap up, I wanted to take a moment to look back. If you had access to a time machine and the ability to give your past self one piece of advice, what would it be and why? 

Pablo> When I started up Jam3 I was only 26 - so I certainly have some advice to share! I’d tell him that you’re only as good as your last piece of work. And secondly, when you’re building a company and a brand, focus for the first five years on your craft and having the best client service. Because that consistency and word of mouth is your best friend. 

In other words, it’s your brand experience.