Innovative ideas, entertainment, films and culture. SXSW is the hub of influencers as well as entertainers, and this year, Austin Texas hosted the event between March 10th and 19th. From bands to celebrity impersonators, we saw it all, but this year, HARMAN Litehouse brought something to the event as well.
While the event was an experience by itself, Litehouse showcased how businesses can orchestrate experiences for their customers. From across a range of companies and participants at the event, here are some of the key takeaways that we learnt.
Ushering in the era of Experience as a Service:
From AR/VR to Mixed Reality to companies that sold Smart Toys for Pets, the common pattern observed was the transition of product as a protagonist to experience as a protagonist. The core USP of every exhibitor seemed to be “Experience as a Service”. With as many options as the market provides you today, providing customers with top notch experiences is the key towards maintaining a sustainable and long term relationship.
DIGICAL (Digital + Physical) Strategy:
The lines between digital and physical worlds are blurring and the fusion of the two worlds are creating newer opportunities for innovation. From defining disjointed strategies, organizations have moved to a seamless experience enablement. Organizations were deeply engaged in identifying how they can transition the customer seamlessly across the physical and digital world, allowing them to enjoy the same experiences across both channels.
The Power of Together: Enabling a Partner Ecosystem for Time to Market Acceleration
Killer showcases that spanned from Telebeauty apps to Mixed Reality that caters to all 5 Senses demonstrated that the key to innovation is a vision powered by very strong partner ecosystem.
A well-defined partner ecosystem can help augment complimentary skills to accelerate time to market. The right partner not only help elevate your product or offering, but help you identify how you can be most relevant to the customer, even post the point of sale.
Experiential Storytelling:
In a business world which is keenly focused on delivering meaningful experiences to the end customer, nothing beats the potential of storytelling. While storytelling is not the only way to engage people, it’s certainly a critical part of the process. Several experts outlined experiential storytelling techniques, trends and success stories which proposed to drive empathy as a common denominator to deliver personalized experiences to end users. A personal connect is just as strong a seller as a relevant product.
Several of these trends we saw at SXSW reinforced our belief that experience is truly among the kings in a connected world. Great experiences drive great customers engagements, and great engagements build great products.
Litehouse orchestrates experiences for businesses and helps them understand their users’ journey better, enabling them with the insights and aesthetics to build a product that is relevant and a delight to use.
If you missed us at SXSW, we’d still love to talk to you, drop us a note and we’ll be in touch shortly.
