Leaders in Experience

When it comes to design, Tokyo is an inspiration and indication of what the future will hold for consumer experience. From individual interiors like the Bapexclusive store in Aoyama to placemaking exteriors like Roppongi Hills, the creativity and calculated innovation that governs this cityscape are unparalleled.

Living hoarding just behind Buckingham Palace... the possibilities are endless!

E2 and Place Associates Reinvent Punt Road

Held as part of the annual State of Design festival, the Reinvention of Punt Road workshop brought together prominent players who define the urban design direction of Melbourne.

In the four-hour session, six separate groups tackled specific sections of the notorious eye-saw. The resulting design directions were as varied as the experience of the participants. Naturally, some groups proposed a cut-and-cover approach to concealment. While others confidently re-diverted traffic creating human-scale develop. All of the six groups created thought-provoking suggestions to improve the visual aesthetic and design function of this much maligned stretch of road. With government and development stakeholders present it is hoped that the workshop will led to a deliberate and planned approached to reinvigorate Punt Road.

We might even see a Punt Paradise in the near future – watch this space!

Tis not the season

For those of you that attended our christmas in July party last Thursday (8th July) thanks for making it such a great evening. There were a few sore heads the next day but everybody seemed to enjoy themselves (some a little too much!) and it was all worth while.

It was a huge success, and due to the combined efforts of the entire team, the studio looked great decked out with our typographic christmas light installation and even a snow machine, the neighbours looked slightly confused especially when santa arrived!

For those of you that couldn't make it this selection of images gives a small snap shot of the evening.

Australian Creative Article: Emotional intelligence

There are some people you meet in life who may amuse, entertain, even keep you on your toes, but there are few that truly delight, both intellectually and creatively.

Robbie Robertson, managing director of experiential design consultancy E2, is one of them. We all know them. They have that extra something that makes us sit up and take notice, manage to keep our (otherwise waning) attention and make us miss them when they are gone.

Fortunately, you don’t just have to take my word for it. The long list of brands that have come to E2 in the last two years of the company’s short existence is testimony to its ability to not just offer, but to deliver something rather different.

E2 has completed over 178 projects in the last two years and is currently working on another 40, for brands both here and abroad, including Qantas, Commonwealth Bank, St George, Sony, Kodak, Westfield, Herman Miller, Virgin Mobile and News Ltd.

It is not hard to see how clients are engaged by E2. Reeling clients in with a fancy sales pitch is the easy part: retaining them and nurturing them so that they become a part of the fabric of the place itself and wouldn’t even consider going anywhere else is another question. This is where E2 excels.

Read further... http://www.australiancreative.com.au/yaf-news/emotional-intelligence

Arnold Schwartzman visits E2

Last week saw Academy Award winning filmmaker, noted graphic designer and general legend Arnold Schwartzman visit the E2 studio as part of the AGDA open studio events.

It was a great evening and we watched in awe as Arnold gave a presentation of his incredible career, spanning his early days as an illustrator for the Sunday Times to his mentorship and later directorship for Saul Bass & Associates. He talked about highlights such as becoming the director of design for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and directing the feature documentary 'Genocide' which garnered him an Oscar in 1982.

Since reverting to his own design consultancy, his commissions include a number of commemorative posters, book covers for Len Daighton's war stories, print collateral and cinema trailers for the Annual Academy Awards.


As if all that wasn't enough he is also the author/photographer of a score of books, the recipient of numerous film and design awards including three D&AD Silver awards, elected to Alliance Graphique Internationale 1974, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2002.

We were all amazed by the cultural icons he has worked with and helped to create in a career that really has defined Arnold as one of the great designers of our time.

Thanks Arnold.

Experience What?

Amongst the gamut of creative, digital, media and integrated marketing agencies, E2 can confidently own the sensory engagement approach. And as more and more communications with consumers are all about changing human behaviour, and building brand preference, it is likely that this sensory approach to communications will become more prevalent in the future.

With this perspective in mind, E2 have come up with a series of talks which do exactly that, they talk about how we can develop in depth conversations with consumers, across a multitude of experiences by engaging the 5 senses.

Experience Corner will be running as part of State of Design Festival in Melbourne (14-25th July) and Sydney Design Week (31st July - 15th August). These talks come of the back of E2 winning B&T Experiential Agency of the year. The talks will challenge opinions and current customs about, mainly experiential design. By bringing the design and communications worlds together we think we could be defining a new category.

I can't reveal the speakers just yet, but they are all authorities on how experiences can change how we respond to brands, be it design, digital, retail, sensory, etc, you get the picture?

Watch this space over the forthcoming weeks for further info.

E2, fusing brands with neurons since 2008.

Christmas Bogan Mexican

After the accolade of winning B&T Experiential Agency of the year, E2's christmas party this year was full of bogan cheer. The whole team gathered together at Bronte, where tequila and mexican hats were the order of the day. As resident photographer of E2, I managed to capture some of the more spontaneous moments of the day, using 35 mm b&w film.

Enjoy the highlights and have a festive new year.

E2 Team

Pop Culture

It seems that 'pop-up' spaces are increasingly - well - popping up everywhere. Whether it be a retail store, bar or restaurant, creating a temporary space is fast becoming the best way to get people through the door and increase brand awareness.

The latest of these pop-up venues to hit Sydney is The Pond, a three month bar and restaurant nestled in a heritage cottage space in Burton Street's new bar triangle, between Pocket bar and the equally European feeling Dr. Pong. Having been starved of small, interesting independent bars for so long - and with a jealous eye on rival city Melbourne's thriving bar culture - it comes as no surprise to find that Sydneysiders are flocking to the latest venue openings in their droves.

The Pond is also a clever piece of experiential marketing created by Pure Blonde, building around their campaign, 'A place much more pure than yours'. We love the interactive website, which fuses venue information with campaign elements such as the TV advert.

http://www.findthepond.com.au

This week's post was brought to you by Joel Todd

Blowup

If ever you've wanted to learn about how to make a building from air and plastic, E2's creative director, Alex Ritchie, will be talking about the sensibilities of transient structures in a public talk at Corporate Culture in a couple of weeks time.

Alex will draw on a gamut of inspirational inflatable spaces and express his views on the renaissance of impermanent structures in recent years. In what promises to be an informative and entertaining evening, the discussion will then move to cover the place of inflatable architecture in the commercial design world and lessons that can be applied to the design of exhibition, event and built environments. We promise you this talk wont be full of hot air!!

Inflatable Architecture

Corporate Culture

21-23 Levey Street,

Chippendale

Thursday 3rd December 6.30pm

RSVP Hettie Dearn

hettie@e-2.com.au