The true value, and power, of creative technology is the ability to engage audiences and restore a sense of wonder through environment, scale, and experience.
We are so routinely presented with the impossible, it no longer registers. Delivered within the confines of a screen, we ride along as passengers through the furthest reaches of space and time in general acceptance, or indifference, to the limitless possibilities of our new reality. Shown the greatest wonders of the universe, real or imagined, we toss a like and keep swiping. What else ya got?
The answer is more. Always more. An estimated 34 gigabytes of information, roughly the equivalent of 100,000 words, consumed each day. 85,000 hours of original programming created. 6,000 hours of videos uploaded to YouTube. All delivered through the same 4.7” viewport, through the same platforms, and surrounded by similar content that makes even the extraordinary mundane in a matter of seconds. The law of diminishing returns driving us deeper and deeper in a search for the next.
The antidote to the onslaught of more is not just better, but different. Novelty in all its dopamine-inducing glory. Great content is a great starting point, but as content creators we must also be continuously developing, redefining and reinventing our methods for delivering it. Creating alternate routes for reaching our audience that bypass the swirling masses to create moments that disarm and surprise and break through the membrane that separates our digital lives from our real ones.
This pursuit is at the heart of creative technology, a field built on continuous evolution in the in-between spaces of design and development, innovation and emotion, physical and digital space. Beyond the different disciplines and mediums that it uses to deliver its outputs — experiences — what makes creative technology such a powerful and important piece of the modern brand’s ecosystem is its ability to step outside the traditional boundaries of engagement. And whether using virtual and augmented reality, beacon and sensor technology, large format displays or interactive screens and surfaces, the common thread in these experiences is the creation of new methods for making the audience participants rather than passengers.
In this sense creative technology shares as much with the world of theater as software and hardware, drawing greater impact from the performance and narrative aspects of experiences than through function or technology, though it needs and utilizes both. Perhaps the closest corollary to what it is and should be is the realm of magic, where the mechanism for how an effect is achieved — the trick — is shrouded in a layer of mystery built through storytelling, timing and misdirection — the illusion. And while the illusion is only made possible by the existence of the trick, the trick alone falls flat without the performance to engage the audience. The magicians of the modern age use technology in place of sleight of hand, separating the capabilities of the digital universe from the devices we understand and experience them through to create a new context for what’s possible. Conjuring worlds, defying the laws of physics, bestowing upon the audience powers beyond their imagination.
The resulting effect subverts expectations to create a moment for the audience in which skepticism and indifference are replaced by a genuine sense of wonder. A visceral, emotional reaction. The primer for a Pavlovian response, that self-fulfilling surge of dopamine each time a customer sees a manifestation of your brand.
These moments are magic for a brand, the tipping point where value transcends the functional and connects to the emotional. Where the attachments are formed that inspire loyalty. This is why creative technology should not be seen as an execution or activation based discipline, but as the leading arm of your brand experience. It’s role, to reinvent the way you interact with your customers and, more importantly, how they interact with you. How you bring them into your world and make them an agent of your brand rather than an ambassador. The hero of their story, enabled by your brand.
The additional benefit of investing in creative technology is that it provides the same benefit internally as it does to your target audience, taking the familiar and presenting it in a new light. Exploring what your brand or product or service can be, what that means to those who live it every day as well as how your customers react to those possibilities. In that sense it helps reshape the perception of who you are, showcasing a vision for the future that, even if it never comes to fruition, demonstrates a commitment to progress, innovation, improvement.
These are powerful forces, even if they may not be clearly visible in your bottom line. And that’s the biggest knock on the field to date, clear metrics for measuring success and value. In that respect, the traditional methods of tracking digital ROI are insufficient because while technically a digital medium these experience don’t follow the typical rules of engagement. They exist outside the controls and constraints of our devices and encourage a different style of sharing, one perhaps more familiar to those who experienced the true golden age of magic — word of mouth.
That spark of astonishment, the suspension of disbelief, are in short supply. When it occurs, when the initial audiences find and experience it, we all know. For all of the challenges of the device-driven culture, the one thing it excels at is sharing the novelty. Exceptionalism is our greatest social currency. And if we don’t have it, we’ll settle for an association with it.
Create magic and they will share.
Creating Magic in the Post-Reality Universe was originally published in accpl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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