Cheil Launches Latest Research with Curated Experience

On Wednesday 13th November Cheil held its latest DRIVE event, launching its research project ‘Perfecting The Echo Chamber: Putting Creativity Into Data-Driven Marketing’ while creating a unique curated experience where marketers could completely immerse themselves in the research, in an environment that was designed to show how creativity is needed to perfect the echo chamber. The research investigates consumer expectations around the collection and use of their data, and what they expect in return for sharing valuable information.

On arrival, the white room was unveiled, with white ‘personalised’ place settings. Each setting was different, with unique cutlery, chairs and glassware depending on the person sitting in that chair. Dinner was served, with David Coombs, head of strategic services at Cheil setting the scene by discussing some of the findings from the research. David then unveiled the personalised room, switching off the lights to reveal the mural surrounding guests.

The concept was imagined and executed by the creative department at Cheil, allowing them to deliver a truly unique experience for their guests. The team were clear on what they wanted to deliver, an evening where senior marketers could see personalisation coming to life. After a recent visit to the Tate Modern, the team came up with an interesting idea, to find a way to highlight the creativity needed, allowing the artwork to surround guests during an appropriate part of the presentation. The images depicted the examples in David’s presentation, including Easyjet and Netflix. In addition to this, there were some examples of bad marketing practices, including retargeting, that reflected David’s example of people feeling like they were ‘being chased around the internet’ after searching for a particular product, like a shed.

The team converted an area within the Cheil office into a blank canvas, painting the room white, and then working with local artist Marc Craig to bring the space to life using UV paint. This is a challenging medium, and meant that all painting had to be done in a dark room, purely under UV light.

The night was a success, with more than 20 attendees including a number of senior brand marketers from recognised brands including Vodafone, Dishoom and Samsung. For more information on DRIVE events, or to explore the research, you can find more information here.