{"id":12635,"date":"2023-08-08T08:06:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T12:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=12635"},"modified":"2023-08-03T21:18:54","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T01:18:54","slug":"immersive-worlds-of-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2023\/08\/08\/immersive-worlds-of-wonder\/","title":{"rendered":"Immersive Worlds of Wonder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Robert Drury\u2019s experiential event company invites people into real moments of the shows they love. 
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In the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown, Robert Drury \u201999 started an in-person experiential event company. While he acknowledges this \u201cmay not have seemed like the most logical step,\u201d it was actually a calculated move for the marketing professional. Drury anticipated that as the world emerged from the pandemic, people would be hungry for connection and live events, and he had 20 years of experience to back it up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As managing director of TV and media at CSM, a global integrated marketing agency, Drury developed and spearheaded major experiential events for shows like Stranger Things<\/em>, The Walking Dead<\/em>, and The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em>. Now, he\u2019s bringing this combination of innovation and experience to his own company, Cartwheel and Co. Marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a real backlog of ideas and pent-up energy, and it exploded; 2022 saw a massive boom in events.<\/p>Robert Drury \u201999<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Working at AOL after graduating as an economics major at Colgate, Drury first learned about event marketing, which has since become experiential marketing. \u201cIt combines everything I\u2019m interested in,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout two decades at CSM, he led the growth and evolution of this burgeoning industry \u2014 which screeched to a halt when COVID-19 hit in 2020 and the pandemic decimated live events companies. While many shuttered, Drury anticipated that experiential marketing would bounce back. \u201cThe pandemic felt like a blip in its growth, as opposed to being earth shattering,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was just a matter of time\u201d until people would be eager for a return to in-person events. \u201cIt was a really good time to lay the foundation for Cartwheel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drury created a website, informed his CSM clients that he was striking out on his own, established the company infrastructure, and devised a sustainable, scalable agency model that capitalized on the flexible work options and gig economy normalized by the pandemic. He started with a lean team of two and hired freelancers to tailor the company to specific projects. \u201cWe use the term \u2018accordion style\u2019; our team compresses, expands, and contracts along with our projects, which gives us a much lower overhead and takes a lot of risk out of any given quarter,\u201d Drury says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His preparation paid off. Developing the company during the pandemic meant that as soon as people were ready for in-person events, Cartwheel was ready for people. \u201cThere was a real backlog of ideas and pent-up energy, and it exploded; 2022 saw a massive boom in events,\u201d he says. \u201cIf I had been just one month in at that point, I don\u2019t think I would have been able to handle the volume of requests we got.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cartwheel was inundated with opportunities to pitch campaign ideas for major TV and film clients. \u201cEverything is a creative best-idea-wins grudge match. It can be extremely competitive, but also very rewarding,\u201d Drury says. \u201cA lot of what I do all day is come up with new ideas to engage people in TV shows, which is a ton of fun.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first project he and his team took on was an experiential event for the Netflix hit The Queen\u2019s Gambit<\/em> \u2026 they created a life-sized chessboard \u2026 complete with a 15-foot pink queen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Queen\u2019s Gambit<\/em>, for which Cartwheel won a bid to create an immersive experience to draw people into the world of the show. During Emmy season, they created a life-sized chessboard at the Grove in Los Angeles, complete with a 15-foot pink queen, open-play chess tables, and a match between two women: a 12-year-old prodigy and a 19-year-old master. The installation drew 7,000 people in three days. \u201cIt was a good calling card,\u201d Drury says. \u201cWe were able to say we just worked on a really big show for a big network \u2014 and we were off to the races.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The success of that event led to more campaigns, for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel<\/em>, WrestleMania<\/em>, and Outlander<\/em>, among many others, and Cartwheel\u2019s client roster expanded to include some of the industry\u2019s heaviest hitters like Prime Video, NBCUniversal, Lionsgate, and STARZ. With just $7,500 in start-up costs, the company generated $6.28 million in revenue in 2022 and was named Newcomer Agency of the Year by Ad Age<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what\u2019s the draw for these immersive events? Why do they attract crowds who wait for hours just to get in? Drury understands the allure: \u201cWhen I was a kid, you\u2019d like a TV show and that was it. Now, there are so many opportunities for fans. Experiential events give fans the chance to see and feel the worlds of the shows they love.\u201d The motivation for attending \u2014 and developing \u2014 such events goes beyond fandom, he says: \u201cIt\u2019s about creating moments for people, from grandparents to kids, to experience together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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