Are you using the latest hot tool for hype, or are you using it to enhance an already sound product?
Last month, the internet was buzzing about a couple of live events that left audiences in tears. One is a masterclass on how to use new technology to improve real-world experiences. The other is a cautionary tale.
I’m obsessed with both for different reasons. Let’s start with what made the kids cry.
In Glasgow, Scotland, a group recently sold an immersive pop-up experience inside a warehouse called “Willy’s Chocolate Experience.” Promotional images showed a lollipop field, a magic tunnel, live performances, and a room made of chocolate.
Willy’s Chocolate Experience promotional site
And…the children left crying. Because while the advertising promised fun and magic, the reality was:
Photo from participant Stuart Sinclair, who brought his family to the event.
Around the same time, a musical with an unusual setting was previewed on Broadway in New York. Audiences were promised something even stranger. It’s a story about a kid who witnesses a horrific trauma in the backdrop of laser beams, becomes mute, becomes good at pinball, and becomes something of a savior.
In theory, this seems more likely to make you cry than a room full of candy.
But the audience that went to see the show cried every night, in a good way. Speaking of musicals, TommyIt’s a re-imagining of the ’90s musical (and 1969 rock opera) by the band’s guitarist. WHO.
One of the participants who saw it said to me: I think pinball is stupid. And I was incredibly moved many times during the show. The high-tech production design makes the immersion highly effective. ”
The Who’s Tommy revival uses virtual presentation and laser beams to bring stories to the stage
I feel the same way about pinball and rock opera. But I had no choice but to participate as a co-producer. Tommy Last fall, along with Rob O’Neil of Paramount Global and Broadway Cares, the creators used technology to break down barriers for people and enhance an already engaging experience for that special reason.
Compare this to Willy’s Chocolate Experience. Willy’s Chocolate Experience promised a surprise, but buyer’s remorse, as he was literally allocated two jelly beans per participant.
Two actors make the most of their grueling gig at Willy’s Chocolate Experience
As someone who studies leadership and, increasingly, how leaders should deal with AI, what’s interesting about this juxtaposition is that it’s not just an element of over-promising and under-delivering. willy Under-promise and over-delivery factors Tommy. (However, that in itself is a lesson we can all remember from time to time.) Both of these live productions introduced cutting-edge technology, but the way they integrated new technology made them fundamentally different. different results were produced.
As you look closer at Willy’s Chocolate Experience, you start to notice something suspicious. The promotional images have some weird misspellings all over them. It looks like AI is trying to show us what it thinks a great chocolate experience should be like. And when we dissected it (and many people, like myself, dissected it just as diligently), it turned out that it was all generated by AI. From top to bottom:
Suspicious misspelling indicates AI was instrumental in promoting this event
The website copy, marketing materials, and even the scripts given to the hired actors (to play Willy, the Oompa Loompas, and the villain “Unknown”) were generated by AI. “It didn’t make any sense,” the actor who plays Willy told Wired.
The use of this AI technology has clearly saved event creators a lot of time and effort. However, when trying to turn that vision into reality in a live performance setting, the execution proved impossible and sad.
In other words, willy’s Creators used new technology as a shortcut to marketing intangible products.
vice versa, Tommy uses new technology for projection mapping and virtual production (a staple of the “immersive experience” industry) in ways that level up an already tangible experience.
Tommy from The Who
Previous iterations of this story were already powerful, but this modern technology simply takes it to a new level. Unlike many theatrical shows and “immersive” experiences, the buzzy technology isn’t installed to add buzz to the show’s marketing. Used as an extension of the core product.
The lesson for leaders, especially those considering integrating AI into their businesses, can be summed up in what Rajanma Krishnamurthy, head of Microsoft’s AI Center of Excellence, recently told me: “New technologies are best used as facilitators of already robust technologies” strategy — not as a strategy in itself.
“Always think, ‘Are we doing AI because it’s AI? Or is it part of our business strategy?'” Krishnamurthy said.
Shane Snow is a leadership speaker, business author, and CEO of video technology company SHOWRUNNER.
disclosure: I’m a co-producer Tommy from The Who.
