BIG Ideas for the week of 6/8
Creative inspiration for a new (virtual) reality
We’re loaded with great links this week, but before we get rolling there’s one piece of housekeeping to cover: This blog is getting the second name change of its short life, as “Killer,” even in reference to ideas, just seems a bit tone-deaf to me right now. With that said, welcome to Big Ideas for a Post-COVID World.
- Augmented Possibilities As I’ve noted previously, VR might get all the press, but for my money, AR has just as much potential to add value to live and virtual events. While this AR app wasn’t created for an event, it shows you just how beautiful and engaging a great AR experience can be. Be sure to check out this page for more info on the entire project.
- You Are Here (and Then Some) Sticking with the AR theme, here’s a great example of how it can be used to create a richer, more engaging location-based experience for event attendees.
- Notes of Berries and Augmentation With 19 Crimes wines, what’s on the outside of the bottles is much more interesting than what’s on the inside (believe me, I’ve tasted it,) thanks to AR labels that bring the labels to life. I think there are some really nice ways we could leverage this tech for our events. Imagine, for instance, a virtual event keynote presenter instructing her audience to point their phones at custom-labeled wine bottles (delivered to attendees prior to the event) to reveal a hidden message. (I believe one of you reading this might have already done this…? Warren G?)
- Tweets That Are Actually Worth Reading I found this thread by the CEO of Master Class insightful, especially in terms of how to effectively frame presentations in the virtual realm. Another reminder that going from live to virtual is not an apples-to-apples exercise.
- Sign(s) of the Times / 1 As our retail partners work through the logistics of getting back to business, signage, and wayfinding will help to establish new social norms and expectations.
- Sign of the Times? / 2 In case you missed it, CES announced it is still planning for a live event in January. We’ll see…
- Signs of the Times / 3 The Times surveyed 511 epidemiologists regarding when they’d feel comfortable doing different activities. The results provide some interesting insight into when certain activities might come back to more “normal” levels.
- Live Music, Virtually Another entry in the “Re-imagined for our new reality” app category is BeApp, which gives music fans a way to enjoy concerts and festivals from anywhere. The interesting thing to me about these types of apps is how they are not only creating new and unique ways for fans to engage with their passions but that they might very well survive a return to normal post-vaccine life, as users come to expect the deeper personal experiences they provide.
- Even Selfies are getting in on the act. Actually, this happened to remind me of a much more interesting idea from Skype’s agency Pereira O’Dell back in 2015: The Impossible Family Portrait.
- The Super Bowl of Virtual Events (so far) By now you’ve probably heard about everything the NFL did to bring off their first-ever virtual draft in April, which involved bringing together a team of partners to send special equipment to over 600 potential draftees, coaches, and others. This article gives a nice rundown of how they pulled it off and certainly provides some insight into the level of production value clients are going to expect more and more with their streamed events.
- #WorkThatMakesMeJealous This, this, THIS is the kind of work I hope we’re able to deliver for our clients when in-person meetings are back in fashion. Incidentally, we have proposed something very similar for AAN called BrainWaves and are still holding out hope we’ll be able to execute it for 2021.
I’d now like to introduce a new feature: Jorge’s Creative Content Corner, a selection of links to interesting, beautiful, or engaging content from around the world, curated by the leader of The Creative Content Studio @ PSAV, Jorge Urdiain.
Over the past few months, a plethora of pandemic-themed branded content has debuted across the web and TV, and while most of it is awful, cliché-filled tripe, Jorge’s got some examples of work about the pandemic that’s actually quite good.
From Google:
From Adidas:
From Hamilton:
From Disney:
Thanks to Jorge for those links, and thanks to all of you for reading. Seen some Big Ideas you’d like to share? Hit me up! Until next week, keep thinking BIG about, well, everything.
