Norwalk, WE HAVE A PROBLEM
My Connecticut agency was a short 40-minute train ride to the greatest source of non-stop inspiration imaginable: New York City. But everyone seemed too busy to…well, notice. In fact, many of us were just stuck in “routine ruts.” Wake up. Get dressed. Commute to the office. Work some magic. Commute home… and repeat. Why not change up the norm in a quest for some fresh, creative stimulus, connections, and a great time with great people?
LATE NIGHT IDEAS ARE ALWAYS THE BEST
My friend and co-worker Amanda Santos and I are always looking for an excuse to wander the streets of NYC on a hunt for inspiration. We made regular trips to the city to check out different brands’ pop-up experiences, explore new store openings, and gain wisdom from diverse panel talks.
Afterwards, we loved to dream up crazy ideas on our late night Metro North rides back to Connecticut. So, it was on one of these nights that we mapped out an idea to get three different departments at our agency OOTO together for an evening field trip a la “Night of Discovery.”
A week later we pitched the idea to senior leadership, received overwhelming approval, and were off to planning the entire evening in just under two months. We make a solid creative and account duo!
I strongly believe that nothing is more powerful than experiencing things IRL. Reading about a cutting-edge piece of technology just isn’t the same as using it yourself, right? So, we crafted an event that would get our Account, Creative, and Communications teams OOTO and into the Big Apple for a night filled with experiences at a store that is truly disrupting retail as we know it — Showfields. The night was multidimensional with layers of inspiration to take back to the office.
SHARING A LAYER DEEPER
Wearing Our Intentions
To kick off the night, we wanted to try and get everyone away from typical “office chatter” and connect a bit deeper. Since we’re all on a first name basis anyways, we decided to reimagine the concept of name tags and have everyone declare and wear their 2020 intentions for the night. Between all of us, the exchanges that followed uncovered dialogue that expanded beyond the four walls of our office. It was refreshing to have permission to just be imperfect, honest and raw. Sometimes, the small things are actually the big things.
A Self-Guided Tour Around Showfields
Exploring With All Of Our Senses
Showfields, self-dubbed “most interesting store in the world,” is an immersive retail experience known for shattering tradition. We spent 90 minutes wandering the three floors, touching, feeling, even tasting our way through all of the different brand spaces. We designed a short prompt for everyone to complete during or after their tour to encourage thinking on a deeper level about what they had discovered. This card also served as a way to bring back some of our learnings to the greater agency.
CLOSING THE EVENING WITH A
FIRESIDE CHAT WITH Showfields
Co-Founder and CRO, Katie Hunt
Possibly my favorite part of the night was leading a Q&A between Showfields Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer, Katie Hunt and my co-workers. The conversation took us from how her business partner and Co-Founder Tal Zvi Nathanel’s upbringing in Israel brought a different cultural perspective and influence on what Showfields is today, to designing experiences for consumers that will resonate with them regardless of where their lifecycle is with the brand.
REFLECTION
The biggest takeaway for me was the ripple effect the evening had on elevating our brainstorm thinking, the types of vendors we connected with, and the insights we shared with our clients and even within the agency. I believe there’s something really powerful in collective, group experiences that enable us to unearth nuggets of inspiration that could not have been discovered alone.