Why experiences are the future of brand marketing.

Experiences offer a brand the opportunity to elevate themselves beyond two-dimensional entities, allowing them to articulate personality and emotion in different ways. Through experience design, brands can take their visitors on an immersive experience that reflects their values, mission, history and so on.

Sarah Clarke, Managing Director at Mather & Co shares some insights into how Mather & Co have helped brands hoist their offline presence and overtaken their competitors, by creating experiences that showcase a unique brand story. Mather & Co, also known as the ‘experience makers’, are best known for designing leading experiences for commercial brands across the globe. The company was established back in 1995, by Chris Mather – their work includes the Gretna Green Experience, Downton Abbey: The Exhibition, Silverstone Interactive Museum, The R&A World Golf Museum and The Royal Mint Experience.

MAKING A GRAND STATEMENT

Projection-mapping technology can transform any irregular surface, such as the face of a building, into a canvas for breath-taking audiovisual experiences that extend the brand reach. Through next-level design and production any surface may be augmented and transformed into an exciting and immersive display to communicate a story or showcase a product. Our recent work with The R&A saw us produce the ‘Celebration of Light’ projection-mapping show across the famous Royal & Ancient Clubhouse building. This extension of the experience allowed the iconic golfing brand to reach millions of people worldwide with an incredible narrated 150 years of golfing history to mark the occasion of the 150^th Open.

CONNECTING WITH YOUR HERITAGE

Sometimes it is the history and heritage behind a brand that steers the type of experience you need to develop. The Famous Blacksmiths Shop in Gretna Green is legendary for runaway marriages stretching back hundreds of years, but the legend is in danger of being forgotten altogether with the ageing demographic of visitors. So the team recognised the need to reinvigorate the brand in new ways to connect with younger audiences – creating a new experience on site telling the story of romance, rebellion, and unstoppable love since 1754. The Famous Blacksmiths Shop has been transformed into an immersive, storytelling experience at the heart of the iconic Gretna Green destination. The experience takes visitors on emotional love story and highlights the business as a whole – a family run business. It is a modern and contemporary take on a two-hundred-year-old history.

CREATING INTERACTIVE MOMENTS

The way people interact in experiences, and what they want from them, has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. With technology at everyone’s fingertips people are now looking for more participatory and physical interactivity that they cannot do at home. Creating immersive and interactive experiences allows brands to connect with their audiences in different and more memorable ways. At the home of British motor racing, the new Silverstone Interactive Museum tells the brand story of the circuit and its place in British motorsport in a fully interactive way. From taking part in tyre changes and sitting in an iconic historic F1 car, to getting involved in the Tech Lab and designing your own vehicle, making the visitor part of the experience not only enhances their understanding of the brand but makes them a vital part of it.