In this series, features and series developer Heather Nicholls takes you behind the scenes of some of the most compelling brand activations and events.
This week, we meet DRPG, the agency behind PPC Commercial Conference in Athens.
The Brief:
Following the success earlier this year of DRPG’s PPC Power of Energy immersive experience the client was keen to harness immersive storytelling techniques to bring this audience together.
It was the first time these 1200 leaders from across the Group’s Retail businesses had got together in one place, following a number of acquisitions by PPC, so they really wanted to focus on building a shared purpose and vision for the future, calling the event “One Vision”
DRPG’s response was to harness creativity and immersive storytelling on a grand scale. The centrepiece was an awe-inspiring 86 meter-wide and 6m high screen delivering cinematic magic, all created in-house by our brilliant team.
The Execution:
The development process started with an idea from DRPG’s creative director to scale up the PPC Power fo Energy immersive experience. However, DRPG had to work closely with technical teams to make sure it was feasible.
From there, DRPG’s production manager transformed the early layout sketches into fully fledged technical drawings, which were then passed to our design team, who bough the concept to life in Unreal Engine. These blueprints became the blueprint for everything that followed.
At the same time, DRPG’s creative director partnered closely with the agency’s 2D designers and film team to develop the first wave of content ideas, setting the creative direction for the whole event.
Once the agency pitched the concept and the client gave the green light, the agency developed the event identity, pushed R&D on motion graphics, ran extensive screen testing, evolved the 2D design system and began crafting film and content assets. After eight months of development, collaboration and refinement, DRPG delivered the final event.
The narrative was an extremely important part of the event. Attendees started their journey in the expo-style World Gallery – a stunning exhibition-style space featuring 12 films that told the story of the different business units, including businesses new to the Group, and started building momentum toward the main show.
The main auditorium with the huge screen was then revealed, it was unknowingly behind a curtain, a real wow moment. The screen showed murmurating starlings in flight, drawing gasps from the audience and motivating them to get their phones out and film it. The symbolism of the birds was clear for everyone to see.
The main show then kicked off with an extraordinary ten minute long cinematic brand film that took the viewer on a journey around all of the key businesses, through the eyes of a little girl.
Then the event moved into powerful and stylish film and photography sequences that made brilliant use of the scale of the screen. The feeling was like an Apple Launch – and the audience got into that spirit too, whooping and cheering as the content unfolded. At the end of the session the screen receded, to reveal another hidden space, this time filled with food stalls, bar areas and a DJ. There was also a surprise headline band.
The Result:
DRPG came up with three meticulously designed zones that immersed attendees in PPC’s stories while continually bringing them together as one collective, reinforcing the core message of One Vision at every step. Delegates didn’t just attend the conference, they were taken on a dynamic, memorable journey
The event received incredible feedback fron the delegates and scored 4.6 out of 5 for its content and presentations and 4.7/5 for audiovisuals. DRPG also created a lot of social content that has been very widely viewed, and has been boosted considerably by Greek media.
The client said: “Our people absolutely loveit, it delivered all the messages we wanted to convey and it really was an absolutely memorable experience for all.”
Trends and learnings:
One thing that DRPG learn is the importance of test days, which became the heartbeat of the entire project. Over five action‑packed sessions, DRPG’s studios buzzed with producers, art directors, 2D and motion designers, the film team, and our creative directors all huddled together, experimenting, refining, and pushing every boundary we could find. That hands‑on collaboration transformed the project.
By the time everyone arrived on site, we knew every detail was dialled in, from the speed of each animation to the crystal clarity of every image. It meant the agency could hit the ground running with total confidence and a whole lot of creative momentum.
On a broader note, it is crystal clear that when you frame large scale events as an unfolding story and use seriously good creative throughout, backed by world class production, you can create magic.
In terms of trends a DRPG spokesperson said: “The world is awash with great entertainment, and our audiences today see unbelievably good shows on streaming channels every day. And they’re engaging with thumb-stoppingly good social content all the time. So, you really need to earn the attention of the audience – if it’s not as good as what they see in their spare time then why would they give it any attention – or think or behave differently after experiencing it? You have to earn peoples’ attention through narrative, emotion and spectacle. That’s exactly what we did here.”
They added: “Secondly, the physical journey matters as much as the content. People talk about “immersive” a lot, but for us it means designing the whole experience as an unfolding story. Third, production values have to be genuinely world-class. Audiences are saturated with high-quality content every day. If your corporate event looks and feels “corporate”, you’ve already lost them.”