We hear it all the time. The client wants something amazing. Jaw-dropping. More impressive than what so-and-so did.
Don't get me wrong, I love doing cool shows. I spent the entire early part of my career producing music festivals. For a music festival, where the product is the experience, cool is everything. But for a company? Cool isn't a business goal.
When we work with companies we want our audience to leave with a clear understanding of the new product's groundbreaking technical specs. We want to raise purchase intent and see direct impact on subscriber numbers. We want to raise brand awareness among a specific demographic.
Those are business goals. And cool can be a tool for hitting them. Or it can be a distraction from them.
The events that fall flat aren't the ones with small budgets. They're the ones where every production decision was made in service of the spectacle and nobody asked what the spectacle was supposed to do.
We've seen it both ways. The multi-million dollar show that generated nothing but applause. And the stripped-down keynote that delivered impact because every element from the room layout to the opening video to the pacing of the script was engineered around the audience outcome.
Before we launch into production design or scout venues, we ask: what does success for this show look like? If the answer is "people were wowed," we go back to the brief. The goal comes first. Always.
Cool follows clarity. Not the other way around.