What happens when brands stop chasing digital attention and start building worlds that people actively choose to enter?
In this episode of FYI (For Your Imagination), we sit down with Secret Cinema’s former Creative Director, Matthew Bennett, and Abi Evans, Experiential Business Lead at Outernet London, to unpack why the future of both brand engagement and commercial success is rooted in interaction, emotion, and, importantly, play.
From understanding the version of ourselves that we bring to live experiences, to the psychological drivers that make us crave shared spaces, the conversation unpacks what happens when experiences shift from being passive and transactional to something people actively participate in.
In this session, we explore
- Why the demand for shared experiences is stronger than ever
- How participation is driving measurable results for brands
- From Novelty Hunters to Escapists, the five distinct archetypes of experience-goers and what motivates them
- How brands can lean on the power of play to design authentic, immersive worlds
- The delicate balance between new immersive tech and the irreplaceable energy of human presence
When people pay for or actively seek out an experience, their mindset shifts. They arrive differently, engage differently, and remember differently. Every sensory detail, from spatial audio to a perfectly placed character, shapes brand perception and loyalty in real time.
Listen to the full conversation to dive deeper into the Participation Pivot, the commercial realities it spells for the experience economy, and how to seamlessly integrate brands into existing narratives without breaking authenticity.
FYI is where big ideas meet bold experiences. In this ongoing series, we bring together curious minds across the worlds of creativity, business, science, and technology to explore what happens when tech, culture, and human behaviour collide – helping brands challenge assumptions, provoke new thinking, and imagine what comes next.
To explore any of the topics discussed, or to speak with our strategy and experience design teams about how immersive experiences could shape your brand, contact newbusiness@imagination.com
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