In today’s increasingly digital world where traditional advertising is failing, people are craving immersive, out-of-this-world, in-person experiences.
That’s where David Korins comes in.
As a creative director and award-winning set designer, David Korins knows just how important it is to create an experience that reaches and influences the right customers. And if anyone knows how to create a fully immersive, out-of-this-world experience, it would be the guy responsible for setting the stage for Broadway mega-hit Hamilton (ever heard of it?), Kanye West, Tony Award Winner Dear Evan Hansen, and more.
All he needs is a chair, a couch, and enough conversation to pinpoint just how his clients want their audience to feel.
No matter who hires him -- from Kanye West or Lady Gaga to sushi restaurants or Bonnaroo Music Festival -- Korins begins his creative process the exact same way: like a therapist.
A therapist tries to understand the problem and then figures out a way to work through it. In events, the problem that needs to be solved is how you want your audience to feel, think, and experience your brand -- whether it's leaving your event feeling smarter, challenged, stimulated, happy, comfortable, or inspired.
The old traditional way of advertising doesn’t work. 60-second, 30-second spots, full page ads in the New York Times... they work but not as much as getting the 12 influencers to see what you made and talk about it. My job is to take that conversation and figure what people want their clients and consumers to feel. Then I Jedi Mind Trick them into feeling and thinking that way.
Kanye West found his seat on Korins’ couch after his infamous VMA gaffe with Taylor Swift, sending Korins 50 images (think the four furies: earth, water, air, fire). From those, Korins immediately understood what Kanye wanted: deification. So Korins designed a huge artifact and used monolithic objects to invoke feelings of worship.
For Hamilton, Korins received a whopping 25,000-word, 51-song manuscript spanning 30 years and countless locations. Like a therapist, he worked with his clients from a blank slate, designing a space that evoked an atmosphere of aspiration, ongoing change, and progress.
For Hamilton, the set was not just visually appealing -- it was a plot device. He built the famous turntable stage, which earned him a Tony Award nomination, to represent America’s swirling political storm. He and his team tested 33 variations of brick to get the perfect color tone to match the complexions of a 99% minority cast. And during intermission, while unsuspecting audience members flipped through playbills and bought drinks, the set expands and grows, representing America’s ongoing development.
While he knows most people don’t consciously notice the change, Korins believes it affects them subconsciously and that they can FEEL it. Sure enough, his meticulous design choices earned him another Tony Award nomination in 2017 for his set design in War Paint.
A lot of times, the person who is throwing an event or constructing an experience THINKS that the audience is just going to get it. They assume that whatever they created will translate perfectly.
David Korins calls this the "Audience Barometer."
Event marketers often fail at this. An example of a wonky Audience Barometer: an architecture firm, hired by a restaurant, that doesn’t pay attention to lighting or angles, and eventually causes the restaurant to shut down (this really happened). Yikes. What went wrong? The architecture firm glossed over the actual patron experience.
To keep his own Audience Barometer sharp, David Korins iterates on the 5 senses. A self-proclaimed “science guy,” he knows there’s something real behind the art of design and fengshui. Engaging senses and bringing life to events emotionally attaches people to brands and experiences, a powerful tool in today’s marketing climate.
Uncover his secrets for designing out-of-this-world experiences from his talk at Mastermind, our yearly, full-day, immersive workshop. Check it out:
You know what it takes to build a great experience. Now, you need to measure it. Learn from Jon Miller, CEO & Co-founder of Engagio, on how to measure your account-based events.
