Future of Digital Experiences: The Power of Converging Tech for Brands
With new digital channels and platforms launching every year, and the continuous evolution of technologies such as the metaverse, web3 and AI, how can brands craft winning digital experiences across their experiences?
In this interview with LBB’s Sunna Coleman, George P. Johnson’s senior creative technology director Zara Kerwood explains how to navigate emerging tech and shares best practice for great brand experiences in the digital realm.
LBB> Briefly tell us about your career history and how you got into the experience sector.
Zara> I always wanted to go into events and I started off working in the music and festival industry around the time where we were seeing a shift to music streaming. The industry was trying to work out what its digital transformation and revenue models would now look like. I worked in an innovation studio trialling lots of different technology approaches at events to help solve the challenges that record labels were facing. This was my introduction to the events and experiences space before I moved into the agency world.
I’ve been at George P. Johnson for eight years now working mostly with big tech and automotive brands on how we infuse technology within their events and experiences. I joined as a digital project manager before moving into the creative department to grow our creative technology offering, which included the launch of our innovation practice, GPJ Lab in which we explore the application of technology for experiences. That can be anything from immersive technology like virtual and augmented realities through to physical computing, data visualisation and technology infused architectural pieces. I love getting to know new technologies as they’re released and exploring different applications and creative uses of them.
LBB> The events world has so many digital potential touchpoints, what are some of the elements to consider when planning these?
Zara> We place great importance on every touch point along a customer journey and our experience design process ensures we view this holistically, integrating technology to create greater convenience for our audiences whilst focusing on driving them to take action.
We consider things like how we can minimise the steps our audience need to go through to get the right information but more importantly how we create moments of excitement or differentiation, that’s where our creative technology team comes into play, they work to bring new innovations to experiences which will surprise and engage people. That could be something like integrating new web technologies as part of the drive to campaign, to make the invitation three dimensional or creating a digital storytelling activation as part of the in person experience.
LBB> What do you think currently prevents some brands from giving their customers great digital experiences?
Zara> Having the right insights and locked down objectives is crucial to develop experiences that will suit the audience. Many clients come to us wanting to craft a ‘wow’ moment but it’s got to be linked to an objective and what you’re trying to achieve. That will help us navigate creating the right ‘wow’ moment that lands for your audience.
Brands often get quite caught up in the hype around new technology rather than thinking about the problem that they want to solve and whether that technology is right for their objectives. Brands can take advantage of a press worthy innovation story but should look to integrate new technology for the right reasons because there can be a tendency to feel quite gimmicky if you get it wrong. That's definitely something that we're seeing a lot.
Adoption of new technologies is great but you must question the underlying reason behind why you are doing what you’re doing. It’s got to be purposeful.
LBB> Can you tell us about a couple of your best projects where you helped a client improve/overhaul their digital experience?
Zara> My personal favourite project was a creative technology experience for Cisco, that helped them showcase their goal of positively impacting one billion people by 2025.That’s a huge number to quantify so we used raindrops as a metaphor to bring it to life. We created a 360 physical rainwall on which we projected the number of people impacted to date, counting up to one billion people. It showed how every three seconds, they positively impact one person.
The best part of the project was developing smart umbrellas as a way to tell the stories of the people impacted Animations were triggered and projected onto the umbrella canvas as you were immersed within the rain wall space. It was just a really incredible project to work on and incorporated different combinations of technologies in a really simple way, all connecting to the central idea. It was such an amazing creative territory to work with.
Another project which we’ve just completed for The Weather Company at Cannes Lions was a gallery space which depicted different 'catalytic moments' in human history, raising the intriguing question: 'What would have happened if the weather had been different?' We worked with international AI artists and our in-house GPJ talent to create an AI art and sculpture gallery spanning across two floors, with OOH digital activations.
At a time where organisations are just starting to explore how they can use generative AI within marketing, we found a brilliant, purposeful use which felt right for a brand that has AI at the core of its product. The team’s research around the ‘art of the prompt’ was fascinating, working on this project helped us uncover the potential, but also the limitations of using generative AI today.
LBB> The metaverse was supposed to be the next big frontier for brands’ digital evolution but it has recently taken somewhat of a backseat. What kind of metaverse conversations are you having with clients and how do you see it evolving?
Zara> Absolutely. We think it's highly relevant, especially in the events space because it's so intrinsically linked to environments and connection with people. It’s the next iteration of what we do now. The technology is still evolving rapidly and converging with other emerging technologies like web3 and AI. I see it more as a long-term tool but we do encourage brands to get hands-on and keep experimenting as it’s going to change the way we create in-person and virtual experiences for the better. I’m not talking about getting rid of human connection but enhancing or enabling it.
LBB> What’s next for the future of digital experiences, what can brands look out for?
Zara> I’d be looking out for how new technologies like immersive technologies and AI can help us with workflow and process to speed up and enhance the creation of experiences. I would also encourage looking at how all these technologies can be used together rather than in isolation to help solve big challenges our industry faces rather in specific ‘of the moment’ brand activations. That’s where we will find the solutions that give brands the biggest advantage.
