TIPS & TRICKS

In the event world, experience is King. Over the last few years there has been a concentrated focus in the industry to move toward a full brand experience, rather than simply hosting a event or gathering for a target audience. Full immersion, sensory activation and user experience are considered when planning and executing events.

With that in mind, this is a fantastic behind the scenes look at a BMW advertisement and screening. Here, they are taking an advertisement and have gone beyond the experiential aspect. They have included a physiological effect called an afterimage. Towards the end of the ad, they flash a projection of the letters BMW and ask the audience to close their eyes. The image will float in front of you when you close your eyes.

Look for more and more companies and clients moving toward tactics that elicit a physiological response. And look for some to begin to push the line. In reading the comments for the video and other blogs, some people already think this goes too far for an advertisement. I personally can t wait to see where this trend goes.

How it s Done: Afterimages

In the video above they don t include the flash, so I have included a quick example below from a University of Toledo Web site. Stare at the dot over the eye in AFTERiMAGE in the diagram below for 10-20 seconds. Then shift your vision over to the black dot on the plain gray part of the diagram. You should see a negative version of the square and word. It doesn t show up instantaneously, but emerges after a second or so. More detail on this and other examples can be found here.