Killer Ideas for the week of 6/1

Creative inspiration for a new (virtual) reality

It’s been quite a week, focused on issues much bigger than digital transformation and attendee experience. If you need a small break from serious concerns and general uncertainty, I present the following items as a bit of creative inspiration:

• Quarantine Hair Let’s kick off with a bit o’ funny from Dove because when you go a couple of months without a trip to the stylist, things can go awry quickly. I know–my attempts to help my wife color her hair ended with a loud pink ‘do.
• Art Virtual Count Art Basel, one of the preeminent art festivals in the world, as another event that’s going virtual. That’s not really news these days, right? Except Art Basel is an event based on intimately connecting attendees to works of art. The visual is critical, and it will be interesting to see how the lack of actual face-to-art contact affects sales and attendance.
• Back to the Past, Adjusted for the Future A quick take on how our industry can get back to meeting in-person from Agency AE, complete with a succinct infographic for download.
• Netflix, WiFi, and Chill This app, which is interestingly unaffiliated with Netflix, is yet another entry in a category I suppose you could call “virtual group activity.” It is also one more reminder that people want more ways to engage online beyond simply watching something. Virtual means something is, to put it simply, distributed via the internet. And the internet is essentially an interactive two-way medium. Successful virtual events are and will be the ones that provide more than one-way video, and instead offer attendees reciprocal interactions that keep them engaged; otherwise, attendees will most likely find that interaction somewhere else.

• Virtual Disobedience When oppressive regimes carefully regulate the distribution of information they deem dangerous, it doesn’t just deprive their citizens of access to ideas, it deprives them of a real-world communal gathering place for learning, questioning, and debating. Two ad agencies realized last that the virtual world could provide an alternative, and so came together to create The Uncensored Library, built in Minecraft, the free online game available globally. It provides access to thousands of censored texts and won the agencies a Titanium Cannes Lion, pretty much the Stanley Cup of the biz.
• Have It Your Way (But Have It 6’ Apart) Fun with social distancing.
• This Week in Stuff Your Kids Know About, But You Don’t Animal Crossing is quietly (at least to me…) turning into a vibrant, bustling online community where people engage with each other–and with marketers, whose presence (along with the advertising $$$ they bring) perhaps proves that there is more to this whole virtual thing than pandemic-necessity. If the link doesn’t work for you (paywall) here’s a PDF.
• Bathroom Talk Recently, I recalled a company I ran across at PCMA in January, Les Cabinets, a Montreal-based firm that turns something nobody likes thinking about — public bathrooms — into something amazing. I thought back then that what they’re doing is valuable, as it helps to create a unique experience for event attendees, but now, in the age of COVID, the restroom experience is going to become even more critical. Details like cleanliness and neatness suddenly are huge and should be focused on as we get back to face-to-face engagements.
• Lots of Numbers and Stuff Finally, if you want to geek out on some data (who doesn’t, am I right?), here’s an interesting report on Customer/Computational Experience from noted technologist John Madea. It’s a bit marketing-focused, but also provide some context as we all consider where the live events industry might be headed in the coming years.

There you have it for the week of June (JUNE??? Seriously?) 1st, 2020. Please like, share, and comment on as you see fit, and, as always, send any cool stuff you see my way.