Sony

Challenge

For the 8th year running, Sony Mobile partnered with us for Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019 to build and deliver an immersive, interactive and highly engaging booth – which also played host to their press launch announcing their new Xperia smartphone.

Our objective was to engage a larger audience of media and business people than ever before – with the product at the heart of every conversation – using an initial display area to facilitate more in-depth meetings.

More specifically, increase footfall, media dwell time and press conference livestream, and provide a platform for greater awards recognition.

Insight

With an unprecedented range of new technologies on display at MWC 2019, the potential for information overload is all too real. And although Sony is not best known for their smartphone devices, their capabilities in photographic, cinematic and audio technologies are world-class.

We had an opportunity to shortcut the learning curve for MWC guests. Rather than deliver a traditional product demonstration, we set out to deliver a series of immersive experiences, grounded in real-world scenarios, clearly demonstrating how Sony’s products and technologies are built to solve guests’ everyday challenges.

Idea

Sony’s technologies have been improving our daily lives for generations. When you consider Sony’s rich heritage in the likes of screen, cinema, camera and audio technology, you realize that mobile technology is only a relative newcomer to the arsenal.

Our idea: Use what guests know about Sony’s technological prowess in related fields, and show how Sony Mobile brings all of that power to their daily lives – right from the palm of their hand.

Experience

With camera and screen technology sitting at the heart of Sony Mobile’s proposition, our booth served as home to a suite of experiences that focused on Sony’s rich cinematic heritage – and how it could be applied to real life.

These immersive experiences took place in related settings like a film studio and a cinema, cueing the fact that the very same technology inside a Sony camera or screen is inside a Sony mobile device.

And with audio and gaming technology playing a secondary but important role, we created augmented experiences to show how these broader areas of expertise also influence the development of Sony’s mobile devices.

Other technology stories, like the integration of 5G, were woven seamlessly throughout – always with a single-minded focus on how Sony Mobile can help guests apply them in real life.

For guests with more time or a specific interest, more traditional ‘Touch and Try’ counters offered them the opportunity to get even closer to the products. They could sample all of the features and have a one-to-one interaction with a Sony employee to learn more.

The immersion was delivered in 40% of the space, allowing 60% of the booth to serve as space for meetings and presentations. This layout enabled Sony to engage media, buyers and partners in more intimate, private conversation. We intentionally designed the space in this way to accommodate up to 400 media guests and a live streaming setup, and for the immersion portion to facilitate and inspire the conversations held in the 60%.

Telling the technology story

Sony Mobile redefined its smartphone vision at MWC 2019 with three new Xperia™ smartphones featuring unique 21:9 displays that offer widescreen entertainment experiences.

The technologies in Sony’s new smartphones – Xperia 1, Xperia 10 and Xperia 10 Plus – were brought to life primarily through immersive real-world scenarios.

Café and Street Scene film studio

The flagship Xperia 1 smartphone incorporates the best of Sony’s consumer and professional imaging expertise, and enables users to enjoy content as their creators intended. We brought this to life at the show with a ‘Café’ and ‘Street Scene’ film studio experience where guests could get hands-on with the camera technology, in both bright and low-lit environments – creating and recording their own content.

The Xperia 1 also features immersive Dolby Atmos® sound quality, which we demonstrated by recreating a cinema environment, allowing guests to compare the sound quality of a feature film with the sound quality on a Sony mobile device. (Hint: it’s the same).