How is an immersive experience born? How do you find the first idea that will give life to an entire world?
When we decided to showcase, through a unique and totally original event, the four universes around which we have built an entire range of immersive experiences, we soon had a problem: how would we gather four radically different universes in a place as modern as a parisian hotel room? What story could lead cowboys to chat with Queen Marie-Antoinette, or set up a conversation between a Prohibition-era mobster and circus freaks from the turn of the century? A unique problem required a unique story.
Our company specializes in historical experiences. Our characters come from various centuries and backgrounds; some are famous, others stayed in the shadows. But one thing unites them all: whether it is Marie-Antoinette, a modern woman in an antiquated society, or Priscilla Kayes, a lion tamer championing animal rights, all of them are original, striking personalities born ahead of their times.
How then could this modernity, these anachronistics desires be explained? Maybe they had met before? Marie-Antoinette might well take her fierce independence from a fortuitous meeting with Mae West, the scandalous Broadway star. And Legs Diamond, a little-known gangster, could benefit from the gift of gab of a Wild West legend such as Wild Bill Hickok.
This meant that an external force, able to manipulate time, was behind these meetings, and maybe these destinies.
And this is how we created “The Originals, Image Fixers,” the first image consulting agency to operate out of time, sifting through the centuries to find people of potential and insure their mark on History.
The name itself was born from a clear desire to create a strong link between our experience and the place in which it would be held, an atypical hotel in the north of Paris, The Originals Maison Montmartre. Our experiences are meant to make a brand, or a place, shine; the “originals” of History would therefore blend seamlessly with The Originals. From a simple place, the hotel thus becomes an integral part of the story, showcased along with our characters.
Immersive is all about building complete, detailed universes. We therefore created the main documents any agency would need: a logo, a flier listing their services, and the profiles of their most famous clients.
But immersive experiences are also based on the five senses. Colored lights, incense and perfume, ambient music, everything was set up to transport our participants to the various eras our characters came from. The cherry on the cake? Fine delicacies (financiers, corn bread…) and hearty drinks (tea, whiskey sour…) to delight our participants’ tastebuds!
Finally, we needed to create the structure that would guide the participants into our world, from their invitation to their leaving the experience. How would we help them step into the universe we had just created? By turning them into their own historical characters looking for advice! We let them choose who they wanted to become: Mata Hari, Alexandre Dumas or even Scott Fitzgerald. Moreover, upon their arrival, we gave them a tangible object, a bracelet which enabled them to enter the out-of-time bubble in which the Monthly Meeting organized by the agency took place. Once inside the experience, they were able to discover our most prestigious clients and exchange with them; the boldest among them tried their hand at the lasso, or got their future read in the cards!