Why Your Next Event Needs to be an Immersive Experience

The use of interactive set design, story actors and Secret Cinema-esque experiences for events has been increasingly popular through 2016. 2017 is likely to see this continue. If you want to make your next luxury event spectacular and enviable, an immersive experience is how you’ll do it.

Snapdragon are at the forefront of creating amazing events and pride ourselves of thinking outside of the box. These four ideas prove why your next event needs to be an immersive experience by offering some truly unique ideas.

The time travel experience

The concept of a narrative and tangible touchpoints has become increasingly important for brands that want to make a lasting impression.

Brand and product launches can benefit hugely from a well-structured narrative, whether you’re painting a scene of how your product or service fits your customer’s lifestyle needs or taking your guests on a virtual tour of your company’s history.

This summer, Stella Artois brought The Time Portal to Wimbledon season, inviting guests to step back in time to experience the beginning of the Stella Artois brand. Creating a unique and immersive way to enjoy a story not only makes the event more engaging, but the overall brand experience becomes more memorable because it is temporary, exclusive, and limited.

The New Murder Mystery experience

We’ve all heard of murder mystery parties and the latest trend in escape games, but enabling participation can be as simple as inviting guests to dress according to the occasion or asking them to move through a space to visit a range of choice stalls or touchpoints.

At the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed, organizers used a live social media feed to gather together comments and photos from all over the festival from hundreds of attendees.

You could even make a twist on the murder mystery theme and create an interactive event where guests are asked to tweet their murderer guesses. Using hashtags and set Twitter handles, you can stream the guesses on screens and media walls throughout the evening. The game will progress, creating a talking point and all leading to a dramatic finale where you can reward correct guessers with prizes.

A multi-sensory dining experience

Literally consuming an experience makes it all the more memorable. There’s no need to go as all-out as Heston Blumenthal’s outrageous feasts, but themed food can be as simple as taking inspiration for your cuisine, colour or presentation to create a menu that suits your event.

At the Brooklyn Brewery Beer Mansion, for example, chefs will prepare a speciality menu to compliment your choice of beer.

Cocktail menus are another opportunity to really hone your immersive experience. Go for a tropical theme, a space-age concept or take it back in time to the prohibition era. How about a Mad Men-inspired Old Fashioned or a historical menu featuring medieval mead?

The reality warping experience

At this year’s Edinburgh Festival, a spectacular digital light show called Deep Time saw a geological-inspired 3D animation beamed on to Edinburgh Castle and Castle Rock—the remnant of a volcano that erupted 350m years ago. Festival-goers were left in awe.

It seems to be drinks brands leading the pack from a technical perspective, leveraging virtual reality to create a completely unique event experience. Jim Beam launched their Devil’s Cut bourbon using the Gear VR head-mounted display with a virtual rollercoaster ride that followed the drink through its production process from barrel to a glass. Patrón has also offered a 360 degree virtual tour of its distillery.

Tech is certainly allowing businesses and brands to engage with consumers in a dynamic and impactful way like never before.