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Brand Experience TicketsHow to create meaningful and engagingexperiences for brands and people.

Mario Gamper @ideaswilltravel

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Everyone agrees that “experiences” win clients.But how do you create them?

Branded experiences are gaining an ever-greater share of consumer attention. But writing them isn’t easy.

I’ve been a Creative Director for more than 15 years. During that time, I saw many tools that teach Creatives how to write copy, or a TV-script. I did’t find any that helped you write an experience.

So I interviewed more than 25 experience creators. The Brand Experience Tickets are the result of what I learned. They are also the basis of a class I teach at the Miami Ad School in Berlin.

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These 7 Tickets will help you create branded experiences that are meaningful to people.

1. The Mountain

2. The Rebellion

3. The Barnraising

4. The Temple

5. The Game

6. The Wonderland

7. The Campfire

Copyright © 2014 Mario Gamper

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What these Tickets are, and what they are not.

The 7 Tickets create storylines for your brand experience. Stories are how we understand whether something is meaningful, whether it‘s a movie, a life, or a branded experience. Each Ticket is based on a simple, time-tested experience-story.

The 7 Tickets are open to change. I tested them for myself, I tested them at the Miami Ad School. But you‘re free to modify them and elements that inspire you.

The 7 Tickets are a heuristic tool, not the truth.Heuristic tools are like great guesses. They work fast, for most people, in most situations. They are never the only way to do things.

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Every Experience Ticket is defined by 4 elements.

MotivationWhy do people find this experience meaningful?

Motivation is the most important element of any experience. It’s why people join it. That’s why every Ticket has a subtitle that tells you the motivation behind it. There is also a quick explanation of the motivation before the three elements that you have to create: Goal, Action, and Reward.

GoalWhat do you promise to make people engage with the experience?

ActionWhat kind of events do you need combine for the experience?

RewardWhat validation do you have to give people at the end of the experience?

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Expand your experience story by asking: What would X be?

Explore the Ticket story:If you are looking to add elements to your experience, don‘t be afraid to dive deeper into the story that’s behind each Ticket. To kickstart this process, you‘ll find a list of items under the name of „What would X be?“ at the end of each Ticket.

Experiment and expand:Feel free to create your own personal list, if you find new elements that inspire you.

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The MountainOvercoming Resistance

“Is this the summit, crowning the day? How cool and quiet! We're not exultant; but delighted, joyful; soberly astonished. Have we vanquished an enemy? None but ourselves.”

George Mallory: Climbing Everest. 1923

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Overcoming resistanceThe Motivation behind the Mountain Ticket

Goal Action Reward

The Mountain-Top Overcoming Challenges Signs of Effort

Define a clear mountain-top.

Show people how to get there. Tell them it won't be easy.

Define whether the mountain has to be climbed solo, or whether teams can be build.

Develop segments or levels of increasing difficulty.

Ensure that potential of failure is always present, but also make sure enough get through.

Make sure you show respect to those who begin to climb the mountain. Validate their effort.

Treat the ones that reach the top like an elite. Honor their resilience.

The Mountain Experience reaffirms our sense of self. Passing challenges of ever-increasing difficulty proves our resilience. Therefore, practical reasons for taking on those challenges aren‘t really needed.

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What would X be?Expanding the Mountain Experience.

Example: „What would yodeling be in my experience?“

Climbing solo

Great Views

Yodeling

Mountain height

Basecamp

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The RebellionCausing Change

“Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.”

Oscar Wilde: The Soul of Man under Socialism, 1891

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Causing ChangeThe Motivation behind the Rebellion Ticket

Goal Action Reward

The Defeated Empire Breaking the Rules Signs of Bravery

Explain why the status quo needs to change.

Define an enemy, an evil empire.

Create a battle to be won.

A rebel wants to be brave.

Offer opportunities to do something difficult or risky. Something normal people would never dare.

Once heroes achieve victory, offer them a parade.

But rebels don't want to look like they were in it for financial rewards. Instead, let them carry the head of the enemy on a pike.

We all want to change the world for the better. By giving us a clearly defined evil enemy, the Rebellion Experience grants us certainty that we are on the right side. And let‘s not forget that breaking rules is great fun.

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What would X be?Expanding the Mountain Experience.

Example: „What would a revolutionary manifesto be in my experience?“

Enemy castle

Revolutionary manifesto

Hideouts

Secret meetings

Traitors

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The TempleFinding Purity

“A particular piece of ground is specially reserved, and marked off from the remainder of the land. It is not used, is withdrawn from all merely utilitarian ends.”

Josef Pieper: Leisure. The Basis of Culture, 2009

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Finding PurityThe Motivation behind the Temple Ticket

Goal Action Reward

The Spiritual Journey Reducing Distractions Signs of Enlightenment

Define a journey that people can join you on.

Invite them to discover the joy of focus and purity.

Leading people to focus needs careful orchestration.

Reduce distractions, reduce noise, reduce advertising.

Don't ever rush them. But offer guidance when they need it.

Those who have been enlightened form a society of the chosen few.

Offer participants something that feels rare, but simple.

The world is a hectic place, and we often become too hectic in it. The Temple Experience reconnects us with a sense of spirituality and unburdens us. It’s a place of simplicity that gives us the gift of calmness and clarity.

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What would X be?Expanding the Temple Experience.

Example: „What would priests be in my experience?“

Secret knowledge

Holy book

Prayer

Incense

Bells, gongs

Chants

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The GameBeing Childlike

“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950

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Being ChildlikeThe Motivation behind the Game Ticket

Goal Action Reward

Winning The Game Alternative World Signs of Victory

This one is simple. Define how people can win the game.

Offer a trophy to the winner.

Develop rules that constrain people's options, make it difficult, and require attention.

Start the game. Let people play. Be the referee. Count fairly.

The winner of a game deserves a trophy. Give them one.

Playing is a complex activity. The Game Experience demands that we treat it seriously, and non-seriously at the same time. It’s giving us back the ability of children to lose ourselves in an alternative reality, for a limited time. Tackle your boss, but don’t talk about later.

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What would X be?Expanding the Game Experience.

Example: „What would the score be in my experience?“

Playing field

Foul/Penalty

Rackets

Referee

Half-time

Score

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The WonderlandGaining powers

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future, 1973

Copyright © 2014 Mario Gamper

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Being ChildlikeThe Motivation behind the Wonderland Ticket

Goal Action Reward

Magical Powers Being Amazing Signs of Unusual Power

Define a wonderful world of magical opportunities.

Promise that it offers both excitement and great power - with no effort.

Begin by amazing participants, but quickly offer them an easy way to use the magical powers.

Make it clear that those magical powers have to be used for the good of everyone.

Once you’ve been to wonderland, you have gained magical powers.

Give people an object that shows all others that they have special powers now.

Humans are limited creatures. Adding additional skills not only takes time, it's often difficult, and sometimes impossible. The Wonderland Experience presents us with an opportunity to magically expand our experiences and powers.

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What would X be?Expanding the Wonderland Experience.

Example: „What would a wizard be in my experience?“

Magic wands

Black magic

Potions

Spells

Wizard

Robes

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The BarnraisingHelping others

“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”

John Donne, English Poet, 1624

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Helping OthersThe Motivation behind the Barnraising Ticket

Goal Action Reward

The Common Good Joining EffortsSigns of Common Success

Define a common good which cannot be achieved alone.

While a significant amount contributions is needed to succeed, the individual effort required does not have to be heroic.

Give people well defined easy tasks.

Tell them they did well.

Show everyone how well work is progressing.

Ensure working together is fun.

Individually, participants of a barnraising don’t need much: A piece of cake. A smile. Any small token of appreciation.

But make sure that the world can see what they achieved by working together.

As a species, we are able of astounding egotism as well as altruism. The Barnraising Experience offers satisfaction by making us part of something bigger than ourselves. In return for our efforts, we need to see a celebration of community - not personal benefits

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What would X be?Expanding the Brainraising Experience.

Example: „What would building materials be in my experience?“

Building materials

Lazy bystanders

Cake

New barn owner

Hammer, Saw

Sweating

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The CampfireSharing stories

“Man alone is the story-telling animal. Stories are how we create belonging, how we define ourselves, our families, our societies.”

Salman Rushdie, 2011

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Sharing StoriesThe Motivation behind the Campfire Ticket

Goal Action Reward

Community respect Being AmazingSigns of Social Relevance

Define the core values of the community.

Show how important the issue is.

Tell people their voice needs to be heard by others.

Build a space that is inviting, comfortable. Invite people who want to be heard.

To keep the conversation going, ad a little provocation every now and then.

Throw out anyone who scares away others or breaks campfire rules.

People like being influential.

Offer signs that signify how much people contribute to the values of the community.

We create our identities by telling stories. In a lively community, people take turns to tell who, what and why the community is. Not all of the stories of the Campfire Experience have to be smart, or polite. It's more important that the buzz of voices never stops.

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What would X be?Expanding the Campfire Experience.

Example: „What would stoking the fire be in my experience?“

Getting wood

Last sparks

Children

Old storytellers

Stoking the fire

Dusk

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Copyright © 2014 Mario Gamper

Permission granted to reproduce for personal and educational use only. Commercial copying, hiring, lending is prohibited. In all cases this notice must remain intact.

I am currently thinking about expanding this presentation into a little booklet with examples and exercises. If you are interested in this, drop me a note at ideaswilltravel@gmail.com.

Your feedback is welcome.

Visuals in this presentation designed by eat, sleep + design Berlin.