You have received a brief for a product launch, you need to; reach thousands of people – yet don’t have a venue or budget big enough, you also need to build excitement about your product, stay true to brand messages and really engage your audiences – what’s the solution? You have received a brief for a product launch, you need to; reach thousands of people – yet don’t have a venue or budget big enough, you also need to build excitement about your product, stay true to brand messages and really engage your audiences – what’s the solution? Creativity in technical and multimedia techniques using light, sound, vision and the event environment to spark all of the physical senses, integrating these into an event experience and then simultaneously translating that experience online is the only solution. This is exactly what Staging Connections’ recently created when engaged by PRISM Intelligent Activation to launch the Nissan Altima V8 Supercar. Using leading edge integrated event services the team at Staging Connections’ stayed true to the brand message ‘innovation that excites’ for this watershed moment. Using video streaming to gain access to a greater audience geographically and demographically more than 3,000 people viewed the launch online via a live stream to Nissan’s YouTube channel with 150 media attending the physical event. How was the event translated? The supercar was positioned on a podium hidden behind a circular truss with drop-down white drapes. These drapes were used as the canvas for a projected multimedia presentation so the attention was focussed on the car for the reveal. Using the drapes as the projected surface created a dynamic solution for the event that was designed to enthral and engage physical and online audiences. At the end of the Nissan historical video presentation the Staging Connections’ multimedia team used the fluid projection surface to create a dramatic visual build, integrating hints of a storm brewing. Using strobe lighting the room began to grow darker and hints of lightning came into the room from behind the audience. Through the use of a powerful audio storm sound track, dry-ice machines, moving lights and storm imagery on the canvas screen, Staging Connections’ created a suspenseful sensory anticipation until a final crash of lighting ‘blinds’ the audience and the white drapes drop to reveal the V8 Supercar shrouded in a fog, for both the live and online audience.
Bringing together the audio, lighting, visual, multimedia projections within a physical launch translated to view online created a new globally accessible experience.
A product launch commonly attended by hundreds is now available to thousands.
But how do you make the physical event as effective as the virtual one?
The challenge is to impress the attending audience while being able to translate the physical event onto the web without diluting the message and experience.
Commenting about Staging Connections’ involvement, Nissan Motorsport General Manager, Jeff Fisher said, ‘working in the digital space and offering such extensive experience in integrated events, the Staging Connections’ team made the reveal dynamic and exciting for the race fans, Nissan customers and motorsport industry watching throughout Australia and across the globe’. Written by Katie McDonald
Katie McDonald is Digital Brand Manager and resident Brit at Staging Connections. Armed with post-graduate qualifications in Marketing and specialist skills in Digital Strategy, she is passionate about management, execution, and measurement of all digital efforts that enhance and humanize brands online. … Read More
Avoiding Risky Business
Mar 19 2018
How many people at the moment are talking about having an epiphany? A dinner with friends doesn’t seem to go by without someone talking about their latest intense moment of realisation, deep spiritual experience, light bulb moment or philosophical awakening - just as they tuck into their second bottle of red. How many people at the moment are talking about having an epiphany? A dinner with friends doesn’t seem to go by without someone talking about their latest intense moment of realisation, deep spiritual experience, light bulb moment or philosophical awakening - just as they tuck into their second bottle of red. Then they proceed to tell you about how this sudden bolt of lucidity changed their lives, despite the fact that their lives look remarkably similar to the last time that you saw them. One shouldn’t judge. This stuff is real.
A tough, tattooed rigger with a potty mouth once told me that he experienced his epiphany when he dropped a length of truss on his foot. “It hurt like hell,” he said, or words to that effect, “but it got me thinking. This rock n’ roll business is a mug’s game. I’m going to move to corporate!” For those that aren’t in the know, “corporate” is an AV industry term for any show or event that isn’t rock n’ roll. This was a big decision for him - he knew what he was giving up – from now on he’d have to shave before work, remove his nose ring, cover his tattoos with a nicely pressed long sleeve black shirt, not to mention clean up his language. Like everyone who’s worked in rock n roll will tell you “when you cross the River Styx to the world of corporate, there’s no going back.” But corporate is not without risk - you can still drop a length of truss on your foot if you’re clumsy enough. The difference is that when you do drop it, it doesn’t hurt. The cursing and swearing of your days in rock n’ roll have been replaced with a chuckle as the truss rings like a tuning fork. Why? Because it struck your shiny black steel-toe boot. That’s risk management in a nutshell – think about what might go wrong and come up with a solution to manage it. Like a famous New York banker once said, “risk is just a part of life, so make it your friend, or you’ll have a nervous breakdown.” Despite the fact that he’s now serving a jail sentence for getting a little bit too cosy with risk, he was kind of right. Kind of.
However, if the possibility of dropping truss on your foot was the only risk in our industry, I wouldn’t have a job. Ninety five percent of Staging Connections’ business is done in the public arena, which brings with it enormous risk and equally enormous levels of responsibility. We do flip chart and projector meetings in Sydney or Perth, right through to major global conferences in Kuala Lumpur or Paris, and everything in between. Our shows must not only be stylish, technically brilliant and commercially savvy, but they also have to be safe. Clients and members of the public who come to our events shouldn’t have to worry about whether that length of truss suspended above their heads is going to stay there. Embedding risk management into your brand takes commitment. This year Staging Connections began implementing its Stagesafe system along with its logo and mantra, “Stagesafe, every show, every event.” Whenever Managing Director Tony Chamberlain speaks to us, he begins with a message on the importance of safety, not just because he wants to, but because he understands that without safety, your brand is nothing. Author: Luke Sullivan Picture: Unless stated are owned by Staging Connections ... Read More