Hello Marketers,
Greetings from rainy Austin! Last night, the bleary-eyed Adweek team previewed the HBO and Giant Spoon’s much-anticipated Game of Thrones experience. If you’ve been up since 4 a.m., as I had from traveling into Austin, it’s jarring and a bit overwhelming to have an actress whisper, “The lord of the light has a purpose for you, for all of us.”
Maybe it was the distinct smell of incense like that of a church at the experience or the 27-minute original score, but hearing you have a purpose from a woman who is gently touching your shoulder after intense eye-contact will do something to you.
Opening today, festivalgoers will certainly compare it to the team’s sprawling Westworld work but comparing and contrasting is rather fruitless. If you didn’t already know what they had pulled off to create Sweetwater, this experience would be (and still might be, because GoT) the talk of the festival. That said, we still haven’t seen the Netflix or Amazon Prime experiences, both of which have actors to make the experiences come to life—a trend! (The GoT actors ask you if you’re ready to “Bleed for the Throne” and want you to shout and chant with them.)
If you have questions for the Giant Spoon team or want to hear more, check out a session I’m moderating today with them (more info here).
A number of activations at the festival kick off today. This morning, Adweek got a chance to check out Land O’Lakes The Copernicus Experience. The brand is looking to start a dialogue with consumers about where humans fit in the food system. It’s the third time the brand has put on an activation or experience at the festival. Spoiler alert: There’s a slide into an avocado ball pit.
“I don’t think the power of experiential can be understated with today’s consumers,” Tim Scott CMO Land O’Lakes, told Adweek. “Getting to understand and know the brand on an intimate basis is the way of the future.”
Thanks for reading!
Kristina Monllos
Brands Editor
Adweek
