Project: Autostadt, Wolfsburg
Client: The Volkswagen Group
Designer: In house team and architect Gunter Henn
Year: 2000
Autostadt is Volkswagen Group's answer to corporate branding, marketing, public relations and family entertainment. This giant 'brandland' integrates state-of-the-art media technology and computer-generated imagery with imaginative museum displays to entertain guests physically, emotionally and intellectually.
The unique 62 acre complex features pavilions, waterways, bridges, lakes, parks, marketplaces, a train station, streets and lanes, entertainment, world restaurants and an events centre. The experience takes guests on a journey of discovery in a world forum dedicated to the automobile and more than 12 million people have visited the £215 million attraction since its June 2000 opening.
Project: Guinness Storehouse, Dublin
Client: Diageo
Designer: Imagination
Year: 2001
In 1998, Imagination was invited to create a new visitor attraction to replace the Guinness Hopstore, the brewers' popular tourist attraction in Dublin. Containing a paid-for visitor experience as well as conference and learning facilities, the company archive, public bars, restaurants and exhibition space, the Guinness Storehouse truly brings to life 'the ultimate experience of the character of Guinness'.
In 2003, Guinness launched the Choice exhibition within Storehouse, dedicated to the thought-provoking subject of responsible drinking. Various multi-media interactive exhibits give visitors an opportunity to test their knowledge on how alcohol affects them mentally and physically.
Choice was recently honoured with winning best Live Event at the prestigious IVCA Clarion Corporate Social Responsibility Awards and today the multi award-winning Storehouse is Ireland's number one tourist attraction, attracting one million visitors in its first two years.
Project: Walt Disney World, Florida
Client: Disney
Designer: Walt Disney Imagineering
Year: 1971 onwards
Walt Disney World represented Disney's vision of an immersing entertainment experience capable of going beyond motion pictures. An experience that would build upon Walt Disney's belief that: 'There is a little adult in every child, but... a lot of child in every adult.'
Walt Disney World is now more than 30 years old. But through constant innovation, redevelopment and expansion has maintained its status as one of the world's leading brand experiences and continues to welcome more than 30 million visitors a year.
Project: The Apple Centre, New York
Client: Apple
Designer: In house team and architects Ronnette Riley and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Year: 2001 onwards
Since May 2001, Apple has dedicated more than $200 million to revamping its US stores - a bold gamble, considering that the Mac user base hasn't grown in ten years and that for the last five, Apple's market share has become stagnant at about 3%. The sleek bi-level space in New York's Soho is essentially a hands-on experience. Customers are encouraged to try before they buy, with all major Apple hardware, applications and accessories on show.
A multi-lingual customer service team is on hand for assistance and shoppers can receive advice or product maintenance at the 'Genius Bar', a help desk populated by Apple experts. The space also houses a lecture theatre where visitors can to attend free daily workshops and instructional lectures about Apple products. According to industry sources, the stores are performing impressively, generating approximately 10% of the company's revenue.
Project: Prada Epicentre, New York
Client Name: Prada
Designer: Rem Koolhaas
Year: 2002
In the late 1990s, Prada began to rethink its retail strategy, breaking away from the traditional model to build Prada 'epicentres' to reflect the house's cutting-edge products. The mission was to reinvent the retail experience by introducing all that recent technical innovations had to offer, housed in breathtaking design. Prada commissioned Dutch design guru Rem Koolhaas to build its New York store in 2002.
The defining feature of the store is the 'wave', a huge curving floor that swoops from street level to basement. Shoppers are also struck by the wallpaper, featuring blown-up floral silhouettes and a pixellated colour scheme that changes every eight months.
Project: Ian Schrager Hotels, Worldwide
Client: Ian Schrager
Designer: In house team and collaborators such as Philippe Starck
Year: 1984 onwards
Ian Schrager, originally famous for starting the legendary 1970s New York nightclub Studio 54, has succeeded in creating a new genre in hotel experience. He says: 'My philosophy of what a hotel should be is based on a series of simple concepts. They have been regarded in the industry as groundbreaking but for me they are timeless.
'I had the luxury of coming into this business as an outsider with no preconceived notions. This allowed me to rethink and reinvent things every step of the way. I got to be a bit subversive and create hotels the way I wanted, without being constrained by convention. I'm still passionate about what I do. I still want my hotels to provoke and entertain.
'I want the experience of visiting one of my hotels to be more like seeing a great movie, reading a wonderful book, or watching a memorable play not just as a place to sleep. But a place where you feel an honest, emotional connection. Where you feel like you are an integral part of the magical story that is unfolding around you - because you are.'
Project: Third Space, London
Client: Nick Jones
Designer: Collen H and Hamp
Year: 2001
The Third Space in London's Soho opened in June 2001 to deliver an alternative space dedicated to healthy hedonism. It is a deluxe, state-of-the-art club for physical and mental well-being, spanning more than 40,000 square feet over four floors and with facilities ranging from an indoor climbing wall to a holistic medicine consultation centre, dance classes, a boxing ring and an in-house DJ. It's a place to: 'Work out and unwind before facing the challenges of metropolitan life or heading off for a night out. A unique one-stop-shop for health and fitness which balances energy and action with tranquillity and wellbeing.'
The luxurious offering of Third Space raises the bar for traditional health clubs, presenting a unique bespoke experience that combines the facilities of a fitness centre and relaxation spa with calm, spacious design and the comfort of a boutique hotel.
Project: friendsreunited.com
Client: Friends Reunited
Designer: In house team of Steve and Julie Pankhurst and Jason Porter
Year: 2000
Friends Reunited represents a highly successful virtual brand experience as the essential communication tool for anyone looking to reconnect with the experiences of their schooldays. Joint creator Steve Pankhurst points out: 'While the British are generally reserved, we are also very nosy. Everyone wants to know what old classmates are doing.' By directly tapping into people's curiosity about their old friends (and enemies), the Friends Reunited experience also provides an opportunity to explore our own 'personal brand'.
Creating something of a revolution online, Friends Reunited rocketed from zero to 8.6 million registered users in a period of just over three years, and continues to grow with hundreds of thousands of new members joining every year.
Project: Topshop flagship store, London
Client: Arcadia Group
Designer: In house
Year: Rebranded 1998
Topshop owns the world's largest fashion store at London's Oxford Circus. Selling affordable and trend-led British high street fashion, Topshop was recently named Fashion Retailer of the Year for two years running. One of the key ingredients in Topshop's success is its vision of shopping as entertainment and the unique Topshop experience includes a café, radio station, nail bar, a vintage range, Topshop TV channel, VIP changing rooms and personal style advisors.
Former brand director Jane Shepherdson comments: 'Topshop works because it is totally accessible and unpretentious, and we aren't scared of reinventing ourselves. We know that our customers want to see something new every time they visit, so we plan to have hundreds of new styles hitting the stores every week.' In keeping with this, the flagship Oxford Circus store introduces, on average, 300 new lines and attracts 180,000 visitors each week.
Project: Selfridges, London
Client: Selfridges & Co
Designer: In house plus collaborators
Year: Rebranded 1994
Selfridges is one of the most famous names on the British high street, its Oxford Street branch welcomes around 15.2 million shoppers a year. Selfridges is fundamentally a 'house of brands' - more than 3,000 are currently on offer - and also has in-store restaurants, bars and cafés as well as acting as a host to cutting-edge promotions such as 2003's 'Body Craze' promotion.
The last few years have seen Selfridges transform itself through a series of planned experiential programmes. In the summer of 2001 they adopted the theme of 'Tokyo Life', and in summer 2002 they embraced the films, colours and music of Bollywood. By staging exciting experiences to refresh and invigorate the customer experience, they attracted new customers and encouraged repeat visits.
Project: The Microsoft Home
Client: Microsoft
Designer: In house team
Year: 1994
Situated on the company's Redmond campus, Microsoft's high-tech 'house of the future' is a showcase of future technologies set to transform our everyday lives. The six rooms of the home contain 'scenarios' that could become commonplace in the next five to ten years, with technicians on hand to demonstrate their use. Visitors are treated to demonstrations of everything from the latest in interactive entertainment systems to a wardrobe that keeps you updated on which of your outfits are clean and a fridge that orders your milk for you.
Woven into the displays are subtle messages about business models that are possible if consumers embrace Microsoft technology, with the latest remodelling of the home, completed in 2004, emphasising Microsoft's vision of 'seamless computing.' The home is not open to the public, but more than 10,000 Microsoft customers, business partners and journalists, as well as government officials from nearly every country, have visited since its opening.
Project: The Samsung Experience - New York
Client: Samsung
Designer: Imagination (US) Inc
Year: 2004
The Samsung Experience is a sleek 10,000-square-foot permanent venue, situated on the third floor of the stunning Time Warner Center, in the heart of Manhattan, New York. The Samsung Experience offers a unique, interactive and creative environment that allows consumers to experience Samsung technology and demonstrates how technology can enhance their lives, work and home environment.
Visitors are encouraged to use state-of-the-art interactive kiosks, to create their own film media and play with any of the consumer electronics in a low-pressure environment. Unlike other technology retail outlets, the Samsung Experience is an 'UnStore', which means there are no cash registers, no payment plans and nothing is for sale.
The ground-breaking interactive brand experience has already won rave reviews from young New Yorkers and press. This is the first major space that the leading Korean Technology Company has built in the US and it is already considering opening similar showcase stores in other cities.
Project: The Weather Project
Client: Tate Modern/Sponsored by Unilever
Designer: Olafur Eliasson
Year: 2004
The Weather Project was the fourth in a series of Unilever-sponsored exhibitions for the impressive Turbine Hall area of the Tate Modern art gallery. Created by artist Olafur Eliasson, the hall was transformed from a huge exhibition space into an interactive experience. At one end of the hall, a vast, glowing orange semi-circle seemed to hover in a hazy mist. The half-circle form was reflected in mirrors, which were suspended across the entire ceiling and which transformed the semi-circle into a huge sun-like sphere.
As well as reflecting the glowing sphere the mirrors also gave the optical illusion of a never-ending space. For this popular exhibition, the boundary of the normal exhibition space had been transformed. Visitors weren't just viewing the installation but actually living and interacting within it.