Bringing Large Venue Experiences To Intimate Spaces

Leonard Brody of the Anschutz Group sat down with moderator David Rowan of WIRED Magazine for a talk about digital innovations in the area of large-scale spectator experiences. 

Anschutz powers more than 10,000 live events each year across more than 100 venues around the world, including sports events, concerts, festivals, and much more.

As the head of the group’s digital arm, Brody is in charge of keeping up with new trends in the industry, including how to engage with an audience that wants the best of both worlds; massive live experiences and a much more intimate personal mode of engagement. 

This is no easy task. The Anschutz Group has developed live events that have come to define cities like the O2 concerts in London, and bringing this spectacle to digital users requires a sound strategy as well as a solid portion of innovation. 

In the words of Brody, “live experiences are incredible hard to replace.”

The answer may lie in a combination of providing quality content while engaging audiences. 

Brody used the example of a recent project in which spectators of a football games are prompted to influence the ingame actions via mobile devices. Controversial in nature perhaps, it is indeed innovative.

Brody is aware of the possibilities. According to him, “2011 was the kickoff of the small-room era on the Internet.” Users increasingly look towards a simpler, more restricted approach to online and live experiences.

Another project, Examiner.com, also serves as an example. Through collecting user created quality content around local communities, Examiner.com empowers editors as navigators and pushes local information.

There are possibilities. But Brody is aware: “Good content and good experiences will win. The real winners will be those who produce real experience and cool content.”