It Pays to Get Locked Up! Escape Rooms: The Marketing Experts' New Play Area
One might assume that being secured is a point of problems, well currently it's the new cool. Sweeping en-vogue industry events such as the South By Southwest (SXSW) Meeting, the Escape Space is the tourist attraction getting every person talking. And also it's not simply the participants, because this contemporary love of immersive experience is opening a door to innovative advertising and marketing chances, too.
What exactly is an Escape Area? Photo this - you are in a locked area. You may think this is simply another story from one of the Saw movie franchises however it is in fact the ingredients of an Escape Room experience.
Obviously this is not a brand-new concept yet after years of virtual reality parading as the amazing big brother in the world of immersive experiences, escape rooms have actually been confidently resolving the experiential ranks to take the title of properly 'wow'. Not surprisingly, sharp marketing professionals have tracked this as well as are now discovering innovative methods to maximize the direct exposure to the experience. The 'tie-in' design of advertising and marketing agreement seems to be the ruling formula for this.
Famous examples to date include Disney organizing a pop-up escape experience related to Rogue One: A Celebrity Wars Story. The Escape Game in Austin Texas (America's most prominent escape experience) being taken over by FOX in time for the launch of a new series of Prison Break, and HBO setting up a multi-room installation themed around Game of Thrones, Veep, and Silicon Valley. Smart.
Although this style of marketing is also absolutely nothing new by itself, what makes it effective is that the products marry flawlessly with the experience, and we know that customers are, more than ever, forced to invest their money on 'doing' rather than through standard advertising and marketing approaches, i.e. simply 'enjoying'.
This fad can be connected back to the globe of computer game and also eSports. Marketers would release games after that host 'real life' experiences: events, competitions and also interactions that complimented the gameplay and also made it substantial. This is where clever partnering and also partnership can be found in. The excellent partnership right here would be founded on an equally valuable business partnership where the escape space company and the IP (or copyright) owners interact to amass maximum exposure and also increase the customer base, prompting a 'win: win' arrangement.
Escape 60 in Brazil drew off a blinding example of this in 2015 when they connected up with Ubisoft, the designers of dream behemoth Assassin's Creed, to get ahead of the game and develop an escape area coordinated around the launch of Assassin's Creed Distribute. Alex Reece, CEO of America's Escape Game, commented in a meeting at the time (October 2016), "We see an extremely intense future of integrating escape rooms powered by America's Escape Game in numerous Vistana locations in the coming months and also years.
Fast-forward to 2017, and that very same love of immersion drives a number of the elaborate advertising activations we see today in escape rooms. "I think the immersion enables it to be extra personal and also customized," Joanna Scholl, vice head of state of marketing at HBO stated when quoted in a meeting at this year's SXSW conference. When asked about HBO: The Escape she said, "Each person seems like they themselves belong to that experience, and it leaves far more of a remarkable note for them."
Ryan Coan founder of firm Creative Riff, the experiential advertising specialists that were the makers of the Prison Break escape space requisition also commented at the exact same occasion: "Experiential marketing is special due to the fact that it's an involvement. It's something fans are choosing to do. Followers are so compulsive over this content, they're so in love with these personalities and also their stories, that by enabling them to tip inside that tale and feel like they belong of it - also for a moment - is a really unique experience."
Design as well as technology is at the leading edge of this wise advertising and marketing pattern as each area may have a various style or difficulty level where the hints will additionally be themed around the subject matter of each area. The quality of the area needs to be superb and the immersion element at the fore. The more the participants seem like they are 'part of that room' the even more of a lasting effect the experience will certainly have. This indicates competitors is tough and also marketers have to be sharper than ever to discover that best 'hook'. That claimed, it doesn't look like this marketing technique is slowing up, so watch out for the following immersive escape room experience leaping off a display near you quickly!
Of program this is not a brand-new principle but after years of virtual reality parading as the cool big bro in the world Escape games NYC of immersive experiences, escape rooms have actually been with confidence functioning via the experiential rankings to take the title of legitimately 'wow'. The Escape Game in Austin Texas (America's most popular escape experience) being taken over by FOX in time for the launch of a new series of Jail Break, and also HBO establishing up a multi-room installment themed around Game of Thrones, Veep, and also Silicon Valley. Escape 60 in Brazil pulled off a blinding example of this in 2015 when they linked up with Ubisoft, the developers of dream leviathan Assassin's Creed, to obtain ahead of the game and develop an escape space managed around the release of Assassin's Creed Organization. Alex Reece, Chief Executive Officer of America's Escape Game, commented in a meeting at the time (October 2016), "We see an extremely bright future of incorporating escape rooms powered by America's Escape Game in multiple Vistana locations in the coming months and also years. That stated, it doesn't look like this marketing approach is slowing down up, so look out for the next immersive escape room experience jumping off a display near you soon!