The value of experiential – House of Experience meet the Change-Makers

Forget flashmobs. Done right, a stunt is a formidable weapon in your brand’s arsenal – a high-impact, cost efficient way to condense your message to its simplest form and share it with the world.

That’s the message from Hilary Bradley, from specialist agency House of Experience. In their relatively short history, they’ve produced stunts for brands like Transferwise, Pandora and EE. Hilary is here to tell us how they did it – and how they then converted the stunts into videos seen by millions worldwide.

Over the next hour, she talks us through a few of her favourites. Like flooding Liverpool Street station with 13 million+ bubbles, producing Europe’s first 360° gig livestream from a mobile phone, or organising a giant paint fight for students in Manchester.

Each experience could hardly have been more different. But as Hilary explained, they all focused on delivering a single, clear message, whether that involved sending flowers to a loved one or assaulting an unlucky participant with a giant dead fish.

Because, while a good stunt can be seen by thousands, its potential online audience is far bigger. And in a digital environment filled with distractions, you have one brief moment to get your message across.

Hilary had some more advice to financial services brands that are considering adding experiences to their strategy.

Firstly, consider timing. In House of Experience’s work with Transferwise, they planned their calendar far in advance. They might not know what they were doing on a specific date, but they knew they were doing something. Which meant every decision could feed into that wider plan.

Secondly, work the system. Learn how the algorithm operates, and create content that caters to it. At the same time, consider trends and your ability to respond quickly to a developing theme.

Finally, be efficient. Shoot your stunt in as many ways as possible, so you can adapt it later. She gave the example of Transferwise Shock Roulette (source of the smelly fish incident mentioned above). It started life as a social video, but was so successful it became the basis of an OOH campaign. Luckily, House of Experience thought to shoot the stunt as it happened, and had the photos on hand when they were needed.

Above all, Hilary’s advice was to be creative. Something the House of Experience excels in.

You can find out more about their work here.