In December 2022, blooloop held its first-ever Festival of Innovation. This was a virtual event exploring the latest trends from across the attractions industry and celebrating the spirit of creativity that runs through it. Several of the sessions looked at innovations in attractions tech, including a discussion on the future of creative technology hosted by Chad Kunimoto of Panasonic Connect.
During this session, Kunimoto was joined by Mark Stutzsman of AREA15 and Thomas Hale of Spatial. Panasonic was also the sponsor for the Creative Technology Innovation Award category at the blooloop Innovation Awards 2022. These were announced over the course of the three-day event.
In her role as global business development for LBE & Immersive UX at Panasonic Connect, Kunimoto takes care of global business development for the firm. Panasonic Connect provides visual products and solutions for themed entertainment and immersive experiences.
Stutzman is the chief technology officer of AREA15, an immersive experiential venue in the heart of Las Vegas. Hale is VP of creative at Spatial, an object-driven audio platform that renders realistic, believable soundscapes in real time.
Doing something new at AREA15
AREA15 certainly entered the retailtainment sector with a bang. Starting with a conversation about the key requirements for impactful attractions technology, Stutzman said:
“Speaking as someone who is running the technology infrastructure and the applications that make something like AREA15 possible, there is a lot of what we call invisible technology. That’s all of the systems and infrastructure that keep things running day to day. From the network and the security cameras to everything transactional.
“Then there are all of the visible technologies. That includes all of the audio-visual and the things that create an amazing experience when a customer enters our venue.
“We actually treat AREA15 as if it’s a digital business. We were lucky in that we got to invent what this business model looks like, including what the technology stack looks like. I had this blue sky world where I could start inventing the tools and systems and platforms. So, we really thought a lot about things like the customer journey and how we track guests before they ever engage with AREA15, and how we integrate best-of-breed applications that all act together as one to create the best experience for the guest.
“It’s been a pretty exciting journey for us. It’s super exciting for me because a lot of what we get to do every day has never been done. We’re really designing the blueprint for what an immersive venue like AREA15, which brings together all of these amazing experiences under one roof, can be.”
Spatial at SXSW
Hale then explained more about Spatial, looking at the project that the company entered into the Creative Technology Innovation Award category.
“This year at SXSW in Austin, Texas, we rolled out Spatial’s award-winning immersive audio platform to a wider audience. We had a space there called the Sunset Room, right across from the conference centre and we built this immersive experience around the sonic impact audio can have on people, brands and spaces.
“We wanted to create this experience that was completely driven by Spatial, controlling every element of the activation. It had integration into Unreal and disguise, and all of this was in real time. We designed the project in collaboration with our partners Meow Wolf and Nat Geo. All of it was powered by Spatial.”
Reflecting on this, the panellists agreed that audio is one of the crucial parts of the immersive experience. But operators need to model it into the attraction plan from the early stages to ensure a seamless blend with the other tech aspects, like visuals.
“Technology is just a tool to make narrative storytelling come to life. It’s like a kind of magic to bring the story to life,” said Kunimoto, expanding on this need for seamless integration.
Trends to watch in creative technology
Moving on to look at future trends in creative technology, Stutzman began by talking about the importance of choosing the right technology partner, who is able to innovate alongside you:
“We’re grateful that [the Panasonic team] continues to innovate. Panasonic is a great partner and powers a lot of cool stuff at AREA15, including our Portal. This is a 360-degree projection-mapped room and floor. It’s a very cool experience which we can change from moment to moment. We can have a corporate event and then have a DJ series in there an hour later and it feels and seems like a completely different room.”
In terms of the technology that he is most excited about, he added:
“When everyone else was excited about VR and the metaverse, I’ve been saying let’s really think about AR. It’s so much more accessible for everyone and it’s not dependent on devices.
“Now, as we get into Web AR, I’m excited about things like the 8th Wall acquisition by Niantic. I think that combination of technologies could really open the world to multi-layered experiences.
“Just like you can change the Portal with projection mapping, you can very easily change an event with multiple layers of AR. It can also be gamification of an entire venue. That’s one of the things that I think about a lot because our gig is immersion and participation. The more we can get guests to participate in their visit and gamify that visit and make them want to come back to continue the game, the more powerful the venue is for our guests.”
Multisensory is key
For Hale, emerging technologies that add to the multisensory element of attractions are the ones to watch:
“One of the things that we think about a lot is multisensory immersion. There is a lot of talk about VR and the metaverse, which has been around for some time now and actually, there are some pretty good ones out there, but really the things that we’re interested in are multisensory. Even like a wellness area, too, that’s something that we’re we’re thinking a lot about and we’re doing business in as well.”
Thomas HaleWe believe sound has a huge impact on how we as humans feel and interact within a space. So our focus is on building experiences that make everyone feel a part of the action.
“We believe sound has a huge impact on how we as humans feel and interact within a space. So our focus is on building experiences that make everyone feel a part of the action.
“With AR…we’re looking at how we can integrate into that with audio. How is that experience without headphones? And how can we incorporate sensors and integrations that can interact with that space and sound in that space? So, we are definitely looking toward more AR integrations, and focusing more on that than VR.”
Creative technology and sustainability
For her take on future trends in creative technology, Kunimoto added:
“Multisensory, as Tom mentioned, is very important. With new tech, you’ll be able to create completely new experiences, for example, combining holograms and real-time tracking technology to create illusions. The use of sound is very important as well in enhancing guest engagement.”
“Secondly, I think as all of us are seriously facing environmental energy and also economic issues, high sustainability with high ROI products and solutions are required. Environmentally friendly and low energy consumption are important factors.” Plus, operators need technology or solutions which can help to maintain the show quality or keep the equipment running efficiently in the long run.
Personalised experiences
She is also interested in technology that allows for seamless and continuous experiences “by delivering the story to the guest from the attraction venue to their homes, through a phone app or magic wristband.” This encourages guests to stay connected and to come back for return visits.
“That personalised, follow-me multisensory experience – it’s what we’re all chasing,” agreed Stutzman. “I think about what Tom and his team are doing at Spatial and what you guys are doing at Panasonic. There is also a company that has been doing a prototype with one of the airlines to personalise its displays. They can basically display different content for thousands of people looking at that display, so they’re all seeing different things.”
“We can do the tracking to the individual today, we can provide a unique kind of follow-me experience with the audio and we can certainly do that with the technology, and we can do that in interesting ways visually. If we think about the panacea of an immersive experience, it’s totally personalised. That’s the dream, right?
“And then, how do you continue to engage them after they leave the physical venue? And how do you engage them before they get there? How do you continue to engage them at the same level through digital channels after they leave the venue?”
Creative technology allows for individual experiences
Hale continued on this theme:
“It’s like what we created at SXSW, which we call the holodeck. We basically supply 50% of the holodeck, so we’re waiting for everything else to catch up. But the reality is that if you were able to track individuals even through different immersive venues, how you enter into that space and the data that you carry interacting with the other people who are there, that could add this whole new dimension to that experience. So, you entering that room versus me entering that room could be a part of an equation that could be completely different.”
“These are things that I find really interesting. There are a lot of different issues with setting up spaces to be able to handle this. Those are things that we’re all still working on, making that as easy as possible. But it is something that I think is really exciting. To me, doing that in the real world is more exciting than in a metaverse.”
What’s next?
Finally, Kunimoto asked both panellists, if they could wish for some big advance to drive forward creative technology, what would it be?
“I’ve been a tech nerd all my life,” said Stutzman. “So, I do envision things like Star Trek, like the Holodeck. I’ve been at this for 30 years and when you think about the technological advances that we’ve all seen in our careers so far, it’s pretty crazy. I remember watching the iPhone announcement live and it blew me away.”
“The fact that Elon Musk is working on embeddable systems into people’s bodies right now is pretty shocking. But I do think there are some amazing use cases. And, I hate to say it, but there are probably some cool use cases for immersive technology.
“I also continue to patiently wait to see what Apple is going to do with its glasses. I think they’re going to have the highest penetration of any sort of actual AR that’s going to enter the common person’s life, versus holding up a phone and walking around. We all want to get rid of that. That doesn’t feel participatory to me, it doesn’t feel immersive. It feels like a roadblock to real penetration. So that’s certainly what I’m I’m excited about.”
Developments in creative technology
Hale added:
“It’s funny because I think a lot of the stuff we’re talking about, it’s right there. We can just taste it a little bit. It’s just about to happen. And then there are these things that we wish were a little bit closer.
“So for me, on our side, there’s a lot of challenges. We can talk about immersive 3D sound all day and its importance, and everyone’s in on it. But then it’s like, oh wait, we have to install how many speakers, and where? My wish for this would be zero latency wireless multichannel audio that’s invisible, that is built into speakers that are invisible and easy to set up everywhere.”
“We’ve been thinking about this a lot. We just recently announced this first, all-in-one immersive audio solution that’s deployable in any space. It is called the Spatial Space Kit, and we’ll have some more information on that coming soon. But it’s really cool. We want to make it as easy as possible for people to just put up this system, which are these towers you just put in the corners of your space, everything you need out of the box. And then boom, you’re up and going.
“That is something that we’re releasing very soon coming into the new year, so we’re pretty excited about that. But my next thing is, I’m always thinking about things like easy little speakers that you can just stick on the wall and they blend in with the colour of the wall, and you don’t have to worry about it, you can place however many you want for that experience. That’s my crazy ask!”
The importance of collaboration
To finish, Kunimoto talked about where she sees the next big thing coming from:
“In my opinion, the next innovation will come from great collaboration among operators, attraction designers and technology innovators. That’s the reason why we are very close to our customers and partners. We have this communication with them to precisely understand the requirements and expectations for our new technology innovation.”
“By having a good trade-off between creativity and reality, engineer teams can precisely understand the concept, propose the most appropriate tech solutions to bring a story to life as closely as possible, and then take tech innovation in the direction imagined.”
Watch the full session here:
