Untitled Project’s collaboration with Meta Conversations 2023 earned the Marketing Excellence Award for Customer Engagement, a testament to their innovative use of interactive design in crafting high-impact brand experiences. Meta Conversations, held in Mumbai, was a significant event aimed at showcasing how Meta's messaging platforms—WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram Direct—drive conversational commerce for businesses of all sizes, from global enterprises to small and medium businesses (SMBs). Untitled Project was tasked with creating the hero activation for the event, combining immersive technology and interactive experiences to engage attendees and illustrate Meta’s capabilities in customer relationship marketing.

The Core Concept: Conversational Commerce

The premise of the event was built around the idea that businesses can and should communicate with their customers in real-time, much like friends and family interact through messaging apps. Meta Conversations sought to demonstrate how businesses can use Meta’s messaging platforms to maintain ongoing interactions with customers, build deeper relationships, and drive conversions through personalized, conversation-led commerce. The key goal was to show how Meta’s tools—especially WhatsApp Business, Messenger, and Instagram Direct—could help businesses increase customer engagement, simplify transactions, and enhance overall customer experiences.

The challenge was to create an activation that would bring this concept to life in a memorable, engaging way, while effectively communicating the benefits of Meta’s messaging platforms to businesses. Untitled Project tackled this challenge by designing a life-size Chat Bubble Arena, a centerpiece of the event that was both visually striking and functionally engaging. This arena became an interactive playground where attendees could experience Meta’s messaging platforms in action.

Interactive Design and Immersive Experience

At the heart of Meta Conversations was the Chat Bubble Arena, an immersive installation designed to encourage playful interaction and deeper engagement. The arena, shaped like a life-size chat icon, was equipped with several engagement zones that represented Meta’s core messaging apps—Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Each zone offered a different level of interaction, from light-touch engagement to high-touch gameplay, ensuring that all attendees could participate in a way that suited their level of interest.

1. Light Touch Engagement: Attendees could sit comfortably within the chat bubble and, with simple gestures, add reactions and icons to the ongoing conversation. This passive interaction allowed users to engage with the installation without directly participating in the gameplay, creating a low-pressure environment where anyone could contribute.
2. Medium Touch Engagement: A swing installed within the structure added a playful element to the experience. When attendees sat on the swing, their motion triggered animations, such as paper planes and chat bubbles, which entered the central gameplay area. This medium-touch engagement encouraged physical interaction with the installation, while reinforcing the messaging theme through the use of familiar icons and elements from Meta’s platforms.
3. High Touch Engagement: The core of the activation was an interactive 2-player cooperative game. Using motion sensing technology and LIDAR sensors, players could control paddles within a chat-inspired game, keeping a conversation going by sending virtual messages back and forth. The game was designed to be simple but engaging, highlighting the seamless, instant interactions that Meta’s messaging apps enable for businesses and customers alike.

Immersive Technology Integration

To create a truly immersive experience, Untitled Project integrated several advanced technologies into the Chat Bubble Arena. Projection mapping, combined with a high-lumen 4K display, brought the arena to life with dynamic visuals that shifted in response to player interactions. The installation also featured a custom LED Halo Ring, which displayed anamorphic 3D visuals that represented the different Meta platforms. These visual elements were designed to be captivating from afar, drawing attendees into the arena and encouraging them to engage with the experience.

Motion sensing technology played a key role in the interactive elements of the installation. A single LIDAR sensor was discreetly placed at the outer edge of the arena, creating a 9-meter motion-sensing region that accommodated all three levels of gameplay. This allowed for seamless interaction between the players and the installation, ensuring that every movement had a direct impact on the gameplay and visual effects.

Results and Impact

The Meta Conversations activation was a resounding success, achieving a 43% engagement rate with 654 participants out of 1,500 attendees engaging directly with the installation. Over the course of the event, attendees played a total of 327 games, contributing to 8.5 hours of active gameplay. The interactive design encouraged repeat play, with 92% of participants making it past the first round of gameplay, and 57% advancing to the second round. These engagement metrics demonstrate the effectiveness of the activation in capturing and maintaining the attention of event attendees, while also conveying the value of Meta’s messaging tools.

The gameplay not only provided entertainment but also served as a practical demonstration of how businesses can use Meta’s messaging platforms to maintain ongoing conversations with customers. The highest recorded score of the day was 194 connections—symbolic of the potential reach and network effect that Meta’s platforms can offer businesses.

Beyond the event itself, the activation had a significant impact on Meta’s business objectives. Within a month of the event, 2,500 new accounts were created on Meta’s platforms, with 25 new strategic partnerships formed as a direct result of the event. Additionally, 50,000 social media mentions of the #MetaConversations hashtag were recorded, helping to amplify the reach of the event and create a lasting impression among both attendees and online audiences.

One of the key outcomes of the event was the launch of WhatsApp Flows, a new in-app purchase feature available in India, Brazil, and Singapore. This feature allows businesses to integrate payment gateways directly into their WhatsApp chats, streamlining the customer journey from inquiry to purchase. By showcasing this new feature at Meta Conversations, the activation helped drive adoption of WhatsApp Business API and demonstrated the tangible benefits of Meta’s evolving suite of business tools.

Award-Winning Engagement

The success of the Meta Conversations activation was further validated by its recognition at the Marketing Excellence Awards, where it won the Customer Engagement category. This award highlights the effectiveness of Untitled Project’s interactive design in driving meaningful engagement and delivering tangible business results. The use of immersive technology, combined with creative gameplay mechanics, created an experience that resonated deeply with both attendees and Meta’s business partners.

The award also underscores the importance of creating customer engagement strategies that go beyond traditional advertising. By leveraging experiential design and interactive technology, Meta Conversations was able to deliver a highly personalized and memorable experience that not only entertained but also educated attendees about the value of Meta’s messaging platforms for businesses.

Key Takeaways

1. Immersive Technology Drives Engagement: The integration of motion sensing, projection mapping, and real-time gameplay created an interactive environment that kept attendees engaged for hours. The 43% engagement rate and 8.5 hours of gameplay demonstrate the power of immersive technology in capturing and maintaining audience attention.
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2. Interactive Design Enhances Customer Relationships: By designing an experience that mirrored the way businesses and customers interact on Meta’s messaging platforms, the activation effectively communicated the benefits of conversational commerce. Attendees were able to experience firsthand how Meta’s tools can help businesses build and maintain relationships with their customers through ongoing, real-time interactions.
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3. ‍Award-Winning Customer Engagement: The Marketing Excellence Award for Customer Engagement is a testament to the success of the Meta Conversations activation in creating meaningful interactions between businesses and their customers. The recognition highlights the value of experiential design in creating memorable, impactful experiences that resonate with audiences and drive real-world results.

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