utive director, and Eddie Newquist, GES creative executive, who discussed ways creative professionals can turn experiential design into new profit centers. Lowe focused on EDPA’s mission of promoting connection and collaboration in the industry with an eye to helping design professionals deliver an elevated product to clients. “Our job is no longer about selling, it’s about how to connect a client’s brand with an experience,” he said. “Consumers want deeper relationships with brands, and they want to connect in more personal ways.” By linking the word “experiential” with concepts like holistic, real-time, memorable and non-traditional, Lowe demonstrated that there are no limits on what designers can imagine and create with clients. He presented a series of case studies that illustrated ways in which brands have successfully connected with consumers through experience. Among them, the SC John-
son Museum of Feelings, a temporary exhibit set up in 2015 just two blocks from the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, that allowed people to experience the company’s Glade candles in a whole new way. Visitors entered a fully immersive sensory exhibition with rooms themed to scent-induced emotions like “Optimistic,” “Joyful” and “Calm.” A video of the event, available on YouTube, poses the question, “Can a $4 candle inspire people’s feelings?” The answer is yes, since visitors waited in line for more than four hours to enter, millions shared their experiences on social media, and the museum earned nearly one billion media impressions. See the video at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=t6_TllTf7-A. Lowe ended with Maya Angelou’s famous quote: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget
how you made them feel.” “Creating a memorable experience fits every area of the marketing funnel, including awareness, interest, desire and action,” he said. “We need to understand what problem a business is trying to solve, and become indispensable partners in helping them connect with consumers.” Newquist is a globally recognized creator in the film, entertainment and exhibitor industries, and his clients are among the world’s most innovative companies, including Disney and Universal. He urged designers to perfect the art storytelling. “Become a better storyteller. What we’re trying to do is help brands tell a story, and the best companies can tell their story in under a minute.” According to Newquist, there are two books that are required reading for creative professionals who want to hone their storytelling skills: The Experience Economy, by James H. Gilmore and B.
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EXECUTION The moment you find inspiration, the soul of your show starts to become real. Your next challenge is to identify and source the right elements and the right supplier. Choose one with a huge range of designs, deep quantities and the ability to handle all those little bumps that happen on the way to “show ready.” Choose CORT.
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