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You’re sitting in your living room, watching a Sharknado movie, when one of the characters is killed. It’s nothing unexpected, per se, except for what happens next.
“Your living room gets bathed in red light,” said Matthew Chiavelli, senior vice president of SyFy Digital.
Throughout the film the lights flicker, brighten, dim and change color in sync with what’s happening on screen. Attendees at PromaxBDA: The Conference 2016 will be able to see the activation first hand at the new ‘State of Our Art Pavilion,’ sponsored by SyFy Labs and Create Advertising Group, that provides an immersive look at technologies driving today’s media innovation and tomorrow’s evolution.
The living room setup by SyFy Labs features Philips Hue lightbulbs that are connected to the internet, and uses SyFy’s ‘Sync’ app to display lighting tracks manually customized for SyFy’s series. Anyone with the bulbs can download the app, flip to the network, and bask in phosphorescent programming.
“It definitely adds another layer of immersion to the viewing experience,” Chiavelli said.
This is just one activation that will be on display at State of Our Art Pavilion. Located in Rhinelander on the second floor of the New York Hilton, Midtown during the Conference from June 14 to 16, the pavilion was designed by LeadDog Marketing Group, which specializes in bringing experiential marketing events to life.
The State of Our Art Pavilion represents PromaxBDA’s push to expand engagement opportunities and interactivity at the Conference, said Stephen Earley, VP strategic partnerships at PromaxBDA.
“This is what we hope will be the beginning of a growing activation,” Earley said.
With that in mind, SyFy Labs will also display an Amazon Echo linked to all the network’s shows as another example of how technology intersects with creativity in the television and digital marketing world.
SyFy is the first television network to launch a skill on the voice command device, allowing people to ask the Alexa computer questions about a show for some surprising answers designed to delight super fans.
“We buried some Easter eggs in there,” Chiavelli said. The technology is reminiscent of the Star Trek: The Next Generation computer, and is a perfect match for SyFy’s audience of early-technology adapters.
“It’s about giving the fans new ways to experience our content,” Chiavelli said. It’s also about demonstrating some creative ways for television and digital marketers to incorporate new technology into their programing.
SyFy Labs launched in January 2016 as a “think tank devoted to creating immersive, multi-platform content and experiences for existing and emerging platforms,” and showcasing the different ideas they’ve cooked up in the State of Our Art Pavilion is a way to inspire other marketers, Chiavelli said.
Also on display will be two 3D printers by MakerBot and Conference attendees can watch as they slowly form models of spaceships and space stations from the series The Expanse, Dark Matter, and Killjoys, along with the time machine from 12 Monkeys and a life-sized alien skull from Hunters.
Then, there’s virtual reality. SyFy Labs will have Samsung Gear VR headsets that Conference goers can use to get up close and personal with the spaceships and space stations from The Expanse.
And SyFy Labs is not the only one bringing a VR experience to State of Our Art.
Create Advertising will encourage people to walk along a cable strung between the World Trade Center towers (set in 1974) as part of a virtual reality promotion that launched in 2015 for The Walk.
“We get a lot of big reactions,” said Create Creative Director Jake Black. “It helps people understand what the medium is capable of.”
The activation includes a mock wire and wind machines for a truly immersive feeling. Black estimates around 20 percent of the people who try it are afraid to take a single step. He’s seen people respond with shaky legs and shallow breathing.
“I’ve had people scream,” Black said.
Black touts The Walk VR experience as a way to pull of something simple but powerful through the VR medium.
“You don’t have to spend $1 million for it to be effective,” Black said. “We’re hoping marketers see the value in that, and the wheels start to turn.”
Black also points to VR as a platform that has taken off this year as headsets become more readily available for people to try at home, and he sees potential in creating content designed to be consumed while sitting on the couch.
“We really think this is going to be the future,” Black said. “Whether it’s in one year or 10 years, who’s to say? But it’s going to be huge. It’s going to be another [marketing] pillar.”
Indeed, SyFy Labs is exploring VR, as well as the other activations featured at State of Our Art, as a means to drive innovation in television and digital marketing.
“We’re marrying new and emerging technology with storytelling to inform what we do down the line,” Chiavelli said. “We learn from and use it to build new experiences as time goes on.”
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