Studio 5x5

We work in a big, bold industry called experiential, and it’s only getting bigger and bolder. By 2031, the experience economy will drive $3.6T in revenue (that’s a CAGR of 13.5% for you numbers types) and employ tens of millions of people. And if those stats don’t mean anything to you, consider this: Experiential is already 4x larger than the global film industry and is expected to be 8x larger in just five years. But while the numbers show that experiential has indeed arrived, we can’t “roll the credits” when our masterpiece is finished. Most of us work in the shadows. Who were the thousands who came together to pull off Kendrick Lamar's Halftime Show? Who are the thousands heading to Austin to bring SXSW to life IRL? Many times, when agencies or individuals are working on behalf of a brand or IP owner, they're forbidden to share what their teams achieved. Legalese prevents us from shining a light on who came up with the idea. Created a strategy. Developed the creative vision. Got the word out. Got the right people in the room (or stadium!). And orchestrated the magic, often unveiled LIVE with very high stakes. A few people have started to give a shout-out on social (thank you, Billie Eilish) or acknowledge people via a program (thank you, Roc Nation and Book of Hov). But, we need to do more. We need to lift each other up with recognition. It will take all of us. So here are a few things we can do: ? Give credit where credit is due. Again and again. Publish credits for every project. Somewhere / anywhere. ? Reject the legal clauses that keep you shrouded in secrecy, or at least push your clients to be more lenient. And tell them why. ? Check out Lisa Simpson's Easol for a truly intuitive UX designed to sell experiences, not things. ? Hop on a flight to London for James Wallman's WXO Experiential Week. ? Listen to Noah Nelson's No Proscenium podcast, subscribe to his newsletter and come see him at LA's Next Stage Summit. ? Follow Julius Solaris here and via his newsletter for action-packed advice, and check out the Boldpush platform. ? Check out Michael Goldberg’s Luna Luna at The Shed (NY), and watch what he’s up to next — for brands like SKIMS and Nike or on his own IP. ? Peep (literally) Shannon Jones and Yadira Harrison’s recent first-ever food-porn-inspired peep show for CookUnity. And keep peeping to see what VERB is up to next. ? Nominate yourself and some trailblazing colleagues to the XP Land XLIST. And challenge them to do the same. (You can go here: https://lnkd.in/gEdkC8hG and use my personal discount code XLISTERICA50 for 50% off) I’m nominating EVERYONE above and challenging them to keep the ball rolling. So: Lisa Simpson James Wallman Julius Solaris Noah Nelson Shannon Jones Yadira Harrison Tag, you’re it. We’d love to see you on the XLIST. #itwilltakeallofus ? #tagyouareit? #experiential? #xpland

Planning events for the C-Suite? We all have the same challenges: → Does it have to be another steak dinner or a suite at the game? → How do you make the invitations stand out? → And how do you get them to show up? We talked about this last week in our Club Ichi Sounding Board and heard that many times the REALLY creative ideas get shut down internally because the execs are afraid it will alienate the mass customer base. So if you HAVE to do a dinner, here's a few of the top tips we heard: → Choose a unique venue: ?? A private wine cellar ?? Dinner on the stage of an auditorium ?? Dinner with a sports team chef or sports nutritionist Basically, make it story-worthy, not just dinner. → Make it an experience ?? Brisket/BBQ lessons ?? A knife skills class → New take: breakfasts are the new dinners ?? Are less likely to cancel ?? Have better conversations ?? Attendees have more energy ?? And you don't have to buy alcohol! Maybe the turn-key option that you favor is a suite at a sporting event. So how do you jazz that up? → Go beyond the game: ?? Purchase access to walk onto the field ?? Run through the player tunnel ?? Meet the mascot → Did you know you can purchase... ?? Try to kick a goal? ?? Ride on the Zamboni? ?? The chance to take a free throw? → Leverage corporate sponsorships to... ?? Host exclusive dinners with players ?? Visit the practice facilities ?? Do Q&A with referees Okay, so let's say you get permission to do something REALLY cool... What can you do? → Private concerts with up-and-coming artists in unexpected venues. → Olympic Park adventures like bobsledding or luge with the national team. → Group podcast recordings in professional studios for fun and usable content. → Hands-on workshops like graffiti art on hoodies or a classic car session with Jay Leno. → EXPERIENCES like sailing, VIP areas at festivals (with private musician add-ons), playing an instrument at a famous recording studio - access to things that "money can't buy." Now about that audience acquisition... → Use your Executive Sponsors to extend personal invites. → Partner with executive assistants (they’re the real MVPs of event attendance) to have your execs send personal invitations. → Communicate, communicate, communicate, then remind! It doesn't *have* to be another steak dinner... ------------------- Wanna brainstorm some more C-Suite event ideas? Jump, into the Club Ichi Slack channel to keep the conversation going! Get in here → www.weareichi.com

Quick take from #NRF * plethora of POS designs * many ways to measure in store traffic, notably STRATACACHE Walkbase, T-Mobile, and SOLUM * "Retail Media" and "AI" buzzwords used judiciously * water refill stations on expo floor and one water kiosk with optional flavor add-ins * Javits has decent amount of sitting, eating space * hat tip to Retail Tech, Inc. for the fun, analog pull tab promo game * bring back the quality conference pen! My ClickAction (patent pending) conference pen quest was a bust #experiential #retail #media #eventprofs #loudandclear Studio 5x5

I bought 240 acres for $110k and built a sci fi landscape hotel called OutPostX in the middle of nowhere leveraging my experience with film sets and viral media. Here’s the stats after being open 9 months: -Sold year’s worth of bookings before opening -2 influencers with over 20M views each. 3 with over 2M views -115k followers on Instagram and over 5M organic views -23 press features, front page Salt Lake Tribune, prime time special KSL news, guest on 7 podcasts. -90% occupancy -60%+ inventory booked 6 months in advance ongoing -80k emails (40k sms) -Avg daily new bookings exceeds daily inventory since opening OutPostX is now a brand We did this in the middle nowhere. We’re not within an hour of any major destination. (1.5 hrs from Zion) There’s really only one conclusion here. There’s demand for immersive movie scene hotels. We’ve figured out how to make a hotel a destination. I can only imagine what happens when we take our newly acquired experience with the right capital, a good builder, 20+ unit volume, and experienced team in a destination area. Here are my next steps in scaling OutPostX into a multi location experiential hospitality brand. 1: Add 5 more units at OutPostX 2: Replace current high interest bridge loan 3: Raise $500k to complete OutPostX Puerto Rico in Rincon (60% complete) 4: Raise and build viking village