IBM Think Exhibit.

Translating a complex technology into an easy and entertaining story

OVERVIEW

In celebration of the 50th anniversary, IBM Korea prepared the very first exhibition for the public - Think Exhibit. The objective of the campaign was to showcase IBM KR's 50 years of progress to a wide range of people.
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As a project owner, I led the campaign in collaboration with other marketers, designers, developers, partners, and other employees to make this happen. I also led the design process for all contents & user flow development, and prototypes for event booth.

You can learn more about the event here. (and find me on the photo. 📸)
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Duration

Jan - May 2017

My role

Event Specialist
(Project co-owner)
Project Management
Research
Contents Development
User Flow & Scenario

Event Info

April 24 - May 07 2017
@ IFC Mall Seoul
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Although its long history and contribution to Korea society, IBM Korea is not well known to the public who are not in IT industry.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary, IBM Korea had prepared the first exhibition for the public- Think Exhibit.
The goal was to showcase IBM KR's 50 years of progress to the public.

I was assigned as a co-owner of this project with
3 marketers, collaborated with designers, developers, partners, and many other employees to make this happen.
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I also had participated in design process for contents & user journey development, and prototypes.

Goal

The IFC mall where the event held has +1K average daily visitors.
Since IBM Korea hadn't done public event for a while, we wanted to leverage this chance to showcase our stories not just celebrating the anniversary.

1 Strengthen
The Brand

Highlight the market presence of IBM as a leader for innovative technology.

2 Share Stories
of IBM & Tech

Highlight the market presence of IBM as a leader for innovative technology.

3 Maximize User Engagement

Encourage visitors' engagement to entertain the contents and learn stories about the company and technology.

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How can we engage public audience and
better deliver difficult technology?

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How we approached

We first started to gather the data for the past 50 years and created a storyboard that aligned with the concept. At the same time we conducted a mini-survey to employees and loyal clients to find out what comes to their mind when when they think of IBM.

The Storyboard

Then we found the common thoughts that our clients and employees and wanted to develop this as a part of the theme. But how can we shape unfamiliar technology into a story and convey well so that anyone can easily understand and enjoy? We came up with the way that can empathize with users as below.

Interactive Learning

Provide interactive experience to maximize user engagement and help their understanding

Relevant Story

Develop and deliver a user-relevant story combined with the digital technology in our daily life

Concept

We decided to deliver a story about how IBM's technology contributed on progression of human life and society from past and present, and tell the future initiatives.

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Then, Now, and Future: 50 Years of Progress

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Exhibition booth

The below are the final feature of the 3 exhibition booths that we decided to go with. What considered the most when we deciding the booth was that the way of presenting the contents should be easy, interactive and also learnable. I led all aspect of each booth from the concept to development.

You with IBM

Motion interactive booth helps users learn about IBM’s story and
contribution aligned with human history via 3D motion games.

World with Watson

Demo Zone where users experience Watson technology through participating in demo.

Photo Booth

Chroma key photo booth that users select desired backgrounds and take consecutive shots.

Users can pick the topic to by moving a hand gesture (Click to Enlarge)

You with IBM is a zone where the audience can learn about IBM's past and technology that has contributed to our society.

In order to make users learning experience more entertaining, we came up with a motion game. Users can find the content by easy motion gesture(See Left Side) such as using a flashlight to see the hidden contents, using an iron to unfold a crumpled screen. In this way, we expected that users can perceive the information more effectively. See how it works.
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How it works

I designed a screen layout in which content will be shown. After several discussion with the team, we came to choose grid style-layout that would be helpful for users to see all the content at a glance and move it directly.

Also by creating a user scenario, I wanted to illustrate each step in more detail on how the user starts the game and interact with the screen. This scenario was also used as a key materials for staff enablement during the exhibition.

User Scenario

A World with Watson is to demonstrate IBM's cognitive solutions. We decided to show 2 real cases in the retail and communications industry that the audience would be familiar with. In this zone, users can try a demo where they can shop a flower with Watson Personal Shopper solution and can try out personality test with Watson Personality Insights.
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I collaborated with designers to design booths and created a user guide to provide on how they can start the demo and what task they can solve.

Photo Booth was an idea initiated for social marketing. It is a zone where user can take a gif photo through chroma key technique. Once users choose a background and take four consecutive shots, they can get a photo via mobile phone and post it on their social media with hashtags. The backgrounds were all related to IBM's brand and contents that users could discover at the exhibition.

At that time, IBM Korea just had launched its official facebook page, we could not only promote the page but also gain number of followers through this social event.

branding

It was IBM Korea's official first event for the public, so we wanted to give a meaning into our holistic communication. To do that, in collaboration with the global design team, we developed a branding asset only for this campaign.

final outcome

highlights

impact

11,876

Total User Engagement

1.4K

Average Daily Visitors

130%

Facebook Follower Increased

901

Hashtags Created

The motion game was very fun and entertaining. It was great to know IBM has lots of contributions to Korean ICT improvement. Very surprised.

I didn't know IBM Korea is 50 years old. It was fun to get access to IBM's technologies through various interesting booths.

I've been with IBM for 18 years, but I don't think I've ever been as proud of IBM as I am today.
My kids loved it, too.

WITH THE TEAM💙

What I Learned

Power of synergy

Owning a campaign from A to Z was challenging, but I learned project management and was able to tightly work with several stakeholders from marketers, designers, engineers, and leadership team. It was amazing to see how positive energy that a great teamwork could bringin and lead to a real impact.

Impact of Design

This event allowed me got to know User Experience for the first time. I was thrilled to participate in the design process and see how design could empower the value of the technology and convey messages better. A well-delivered product leads to better results, I was sure that design could make IBM's technology easier and meaningful to the people.

IBM Think Exhibit.

1

Strengthen The Brand

2

Share Storiesof IBM & Tech

3

Maximize User Engagement

Strengthen
The Brand

Share Stories
of IBM & Tech