Brian Schultz
Chief experience officer/founder
We’re Magnetic

1) In today’s cultural climate, consumers connect to brands with values that align with their own. They also look to see that a brand’s actions back up its messaging. Combine this with consumers’ expectations for meaningful interactions and experiences from brands, and you understand how experiential marketing is now at the forefront of brand building.

As the importance of experiential has grown, so has its integration across media channels and technology platforms. Just look at publisher Refinery 29’s “29 Rooms” and how it became a media property hit and helped define a new revenue source for publishers. Another example is how advertising platforms like Facebook integrated tools in their Chatbot platforms allowing marketers to create engaging, digital experiential consumer encounters. There has also been considerable growth in platforms like Color Lab, MeowWolf, Complex Con and Brunch Con.

2) As more and more brands are working directly with experiential specialists like We’re Magnetic (as opposed to general agency partners), we’ve worked to ensure that we can deliver against all of our clients’ experiential related opportunities without relying on outside partners. This year, we’ve invested in a broad array of talent ranging from architects to engineers and lighting designers, and in the process also expanded our services and capabilities to include a wider range of specialties including motion graphics, video and digital production.

3) We produced a number of projects in 2017 that I’m extremely proud of. One highlight was working with Netflix on our “FYSee” experience with the goal of rethinking the courting of Emmy voters, as well as highlighting Netflix’s strengths as a network. As a true disruptor in its category, it was fitting for Netflix to show up and highlight its broad range of content in an unusual way, and disrupt the “For Your Consideration” screening approach in the process. We built a 24,000 square-foot experiential playground, including interactive sets, larger-than-life props, 21 live panels and unique installations which generated a ton of social buzz among fans and voters. Netflix stood out during the Emmy’s voting period as a forward-thinking brand and garnered 91 Emmy nominations for 2017, up from 54 in the previous year.

Another project I’m particularly proud of was for our client Sony around their new high-end Bravia TV product. By integrating the product to create a mind-bending installation, we created an event that not only attracted the right audience, but gave them an unparalleled product encounter during Freeze in NYC. Over the course of four days, hundreds of guests witnessed this cutting-edge technology and immersive art experience.

4) As marketers continue to ask themselves, “what is the most impactful and effective team of partners that I can enlist to reach my goals?”, I think the entire formula of partnerships and roster agencies is going to change significantly in 2018. There’s great opportunity for companies that are set up to partner differently and that are adaptable from a strategic, talent and compensation model standpoint, to meet their clients’ changing needs. Most importantly, the companies that are true specialists in their fields and able to create real results and lasting connections to consumers will become the most valued partners.

Separately, as the digital landscape continues to flourish, consumer content creation and consumption appetites will continue to grow too. We’ll see more properties like the Color Lab, Samsung’s 837, and Netflix’s FYSee dominating the attention of consumers. And more brands transition from the traditional consumer model to a more experience-based engagement focus, as Toy-r-Us, Lululemon, Airbnb and Cadillac have done recently.

5) The biggest resolution we have as a company is to continue to foster the growth and advancement of our employees, and to create an environment where they can truly flourish as ambassadors for experiential marketing. Together, we are leading a charge across the industry to help better educate all brands on how to best design and execute experiential. We believe that the more we can educate and lead the industry in how to properly integrate experiential, the more it will help us do the same and unlock new opportunities for brands.

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