“Customers don’t want efficiency, they want experience,” says Raymond. “They want surprise, they want shock—those are things that engineers can’t build into a system.”
Immersive experiences are now
essential tools for a brand operating in the physical space, amplifying its values away from the screen. Rapha sells the majority of its product online but is still opening physical spaces across the world. These ‘clubhouses’ epitomise the essence of the brand and afford opportunities to engage customers in new and creative ways, treating the store as a meeting point for rides. In one store even allowing customers to try out winter gear in a weather chamber set inside an old bank vault. At Anyways we really obsess about the elements of an experience that an audience will come into direct contact with—the ambient sound as you enter a space, the texture of packaging in your hand or even something as primal as scent.