Geometry UK’s Head of Experiential, Global Business Partner Andy Dougan joins the conversation at The Drum’s Digital Transformation Festival – a new kind of festival for a rapidly changing world.
The digital festival is playing host to a vast array of panel sessions, talks and roundtables, bringing insights from the world’s biggest brands and brightest thinkers.
Invited to share Geometry’s experiential experience in building brands through the lens of our end -to-end Creative Commerce agency, Andy joined Mumford & Sons musician, Ben Lovett, also chief executive of Venue Group, James Kirkham, chief business officer at Defected Records, and, The Drum’s Associate Editor, Sonoo Singh.
“Music has proven to be the single greatest connector between people for as long as we've been a species,” said Ben Lovett. “It’s amazing that we continue to find ways to innovate around that out of a pure want to communicate with one another."
Andy observed that in 2017, a study by AEG found that 83% of millennials leave with a great trust for brands that support a live music experience.
The partnership between brands and music promises to become stronger as younger acts find ways to connect their audiences via brands. Ben noted that the drinks and music industry are inextricably linked, “finding those that speak to who you are as artist is important and it’s interesting to see how more nuanced those conversations are now.”
The current climate, the panel agreed, brings opportunity to reimagine experiential and re-evaluate how the industry thinks beyond mass gatherings.
Andy believes that live music experiences will transform – with tech enabling brands different ways to interact and deliver richer experiences to wider audiences. For example, live streaming into devices, remote interaction, multiple camera angles, changing playlists, merging different artists who could be performing at different times. The use of second screens and voice activation to enable people to participate with ‘live’ events in new, highly interactive ways, opens up a new world for brands to engage with people, even if delivered remotely.
“You don’t have to recreate a real-life experience – the biggest opportunity for brands is to look at how you can extend and enhance the experience.” concluded Andy.
Hear more from Andy alongside Ben, James and Sonoo through the article on the discussion.