visible wireless: #phonetopia
ever wanted to literally step inside the wonderfully weird world of your beloved phone?
enter #phonetopia, an immersive experiential pop-up by visible mobile. we transformed a boring denver warehouse into a playful world dedicated to all things phones and smartphone culture. after all, there’s nothing truly more meta than capturing content—on your phone—about phones. phones!
on this project, i was responsible for conceptualizing/executing tacitile activation moments, event signage copy, UI interfaces, and actor + brand ambassador guidebooks. and yes, many phone puns were involved.
as if we hadn’t already gone overboard with the whole “phone” thing, guests entered via a giant smartphone-sized door.
remember calling cards from yesteryear?
well, we brought them back—except this time as stylish RFID cards where guests can easily tap to snap photos and record videos.
welcome to the notification gauntlet, where legends of the hidden temple meets annoying phone notifications/pop-ups.
here, your notification mastery is put to the ultimate test… can you avoid them all?
physically dodge notification trip wires
swing over a pit of red balls in THE ALERTS JUNGLE
outrun meeting invites in THE INFINITE SCROLL conveyor belt
slide into DMs by actually sliding into a pool of Ds and Ms (yep, we *really* went there)
text your way to the top of the leaderboard at the sms arcade.
here, phonephiles and gamers alike can duke it out through retro-inspired classics like:
LEFT ON READ: see how quickly you can ignore texts by (literally) shooting ‘em down
TEXT TEXT REVOLUTION: a text version of dance dance revolution where players race to type out messages on a giant keyboard
SKEELOL: a modern skeeball game where each text response ranges from a low scoring “lol” to a high scoring “lmfaoooooo”
EMOJI-FISHING CLAW MACHINE: picking the right emoji ain’t easy, so we filled a claw machine with adorable emoji plushies up for grabs (honorable mention to the peach emoji, of course)
we designed the contentorium specifically for our clout chasers.
imagine a social media content playground where guests explore the strange and wondrous artifacts guaranteed to give 100,000+ likes. (ok fine that’s an exaggeration but you get the idea) just don’t forget to charge your phone so you can capture all of this quality #content:
#CONTENT neon signs… because federal law requires that every insta-worthy pop-up feature neon signs
a bathtub full of rubber duckies… to honor those vintage duck face selfies from 2007
a literal giant banana… for scale!
on behalf of the flight crew, we welcome you aboard the airplane (mode) lounge. feel free to relax and recharge your phone. for the best optimum experience, we suggest switching your mobile devices to airplane mode and kicking back with a beverage (or two).
as you can tell, we truly geeked out on the whole airplane aesthetic. every seat came with its own safety card, flight safety instructional video, and a copy of CloudMall magazine—our parody on the dearly beloved SkyMall.
and swag. one must never forget the quintessential pop-up swag.
to wrap-up the experience, guests exited through the gif(t) shop, 50% merch shop and 50% GIF history museum.
press
AdWeek: You Can Literally Slide Into DMs at Visible’s Phone-Themed Experience
Yahoo News: Step Inside Your Smartphone at Visible’s #Phonetopia Installation
Thrillist: Here’s Everything You Missed At Denver’s #Phonetopia Pop-Up
Digiday: Why digital-only phone carrier Visible is leaning into experiential marketing
Muse by Clio: Visible’s Crazy Activation in Denver Is Like Stepping Inside Your Phone