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Stephen Van Elst and Anthony Hickson are guests on the Event Tech podcast

31 March 2020
podcast set up with microphone and headsets

Global Creative Innovation Director, Stephen Van Elst, and Immersive Studio Director, Anthony Hickson, are guests on the Event Tech Podcast!

The Event Tech Podcast is the premier place for event professionals to stay up-to-date on the latest and most innovative technology in the event industry. Hosted by Brandt Krueger and Will Curran, the podcast takes listeners on a thought-provoking journey through the role of technology in events.

In this episode, Stephen and Anthony share their thoughts on how Imagination infuses technology into storytelling to create immersive and memorable brand experiences.

Anthony states, “We’re focused on how we use digital technology and content in physical spaces to engage audiences in new and innovative ways”. Stephen adds, “We don’t just take a piece of technology and redeploy it. We want to hack it together and mesh it with other things, to create something that’s really unique and ‘sticky’ that people want to go and experience”.

The pair also speak about the importance of measurement, upcoming trends in the immersive technology space and some of their favourite projects at Imagination.

Click here to listen to the episode.

Stephen Van Elst, Global Creative Innovation Director

Stephen Van Elst is an international award-winning Experience Director with extensive industry experience, including appointments with Fitch Worldwide, Spinifex Group and Imagination. Having cut his teeth in Imagination’s London office in the early 2000s, Stephen returned to his native Australia where he led Iloura (now Method Studios) in reshaping the company’s creative offering, as well as building Boffswana, the award-winning experiential technology division.

Stephen moved to Los Angeles in 2013 as ECD of Spinifex Group and was promoted to Chief Creative Officer in 2017. Stephen returned to Melbourne in 2019 and rejoined Imagination as Global Creative Innovation Director, where he now leads global teams working at the frontier of experiential digital media.

Anthony Hickson, Immersive Studio Director

Anthony is a creative business leader with over 15 years' experience in experiential marketing, media production and live events. Anthony has worked in some of the most innovative creative agencies in Australia, the UK and the USA, including a long term stint with Spinifex Group, where he led the company’s media and live event offering. 

In 2019 Anthony joined Imagination as the Director of Imagination's U.S. Immersive Studio - a creative innovation practice designed to push the boundaries of brand experience through immersive digital storytelling.