In the rapidly evolving landscape of experiential marketing, companies that harness the power of digital storytelling are the ones leaving enduring impressions. Studies show that facts presented as a story are 22 times more memorable to the human mind, while brands that use storytelling in their marketing outperform their competitors. But what is digital storytelling? This winning combination of narrative and digital innovation allows brands to craft experiences rather than just disseminate information, meeting and often exceeding consumers' rising expectations. This modern medium paves the way for brands to resonate emotionally, inspire engagement, and foster unshakeable loyalty.
The best digital storytellers understand that synchronizing technology with the primal allure of a well-spun tale can summon a powerful response. This isn't just about relaying a sequence of events; it's about enveloping your audience in an experience they'll long to relive and share. Whether through interactive media installations or cutting-edge mixed reality experiences, these 12 companies offer the experience, expertise, and creativity to sweep marketing leaders and audiences off their feet. Below we’ll dive deeper into the art of digital storytelling and share the top companies making waves in this space.
What is Digital Storytelling?
Digital storytelling is the modern offspring of traditional storytelling, breaking free from the confines of printed words and static visuals. It's an engaging blend of narratives delivered through dynamic digital media – think multimedia graphics, immersive audio, and compelling video content. This isn't your typical bedtime story. It's interactive, purposeful, environmentally immersive, and demands your attention. Brands and organizations use it as a secret weapon to cut through the noise, connect with guests on a raw, emotional level, and leave an indelible imprint in the minds of their audience. It can be used anywhere that story, audience, and built environments intersect.
Digital Storytelling: 12 Companies Raising the Bar
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Location: Washington, D.C.
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Year Established: Founded in 2011
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What Makes Them Exceptional: A full-service certified minority and woman-owned company, Black Robin Media is a multifaceted digital storytelling company handling all types of multimedia productions from television to digital media production to media for live events.
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Notable Project: National Museum of African American History and Culture Exhibit Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures. This exhibit helps visitors expand their view of black identity through the work of African American artists, thought leaders, and intellectuals who lean into futurism to tell their stories.
- What Makes Them Exceptional: This highly experienced and award-winning firm specializes in immersive multimedia environments and interactives from museum exhibitions to prestigious live events.
- Notable Project: Carnival Cruise Line’s The Gateway which helps immerse guests in a time-traveling experience with 10 12-foot-tall virtual LED screen window walls and a nearly 100-foot LED ceiling overhead. This brand storytelling experience engages and delights guests while conveying the brand’s commitment to exploring new frontiers.
- Location: New York and Orlando
- What Makes Them Exceptional: This woman-owned firm is known for its commitment to inclusivity and representation as well as a commitment to finding the best ways to leverage technology in service of the story. They specialize in creative digital experiences for museums, brands and events.
- Notable Project: Miami International Airport’s Just Plane Fun Digital Photobooth for Kids. This interactive selfie station engages kids (of all ages) with a choice of animated backgrounds and stickers featuring iconic South Florida landmarks helping convey the story of place and provide families with customized souvenirs.
- What Makes Them Exceptional: A fully integrated strategy, design, and production company, Bridgewater offers comprehensive services from ideation to installation and beyond. Bridgewater partners with brands, museums, cultural and educational institutions, and location-based entertainment venues to bring their stories to life.
- Notable Project: Adler Planetarium's The Universe Exhibit. Bridgewater’s Media and Technology division immersively conveys the story of the Big Bang through light, sound, and movement. Using LED wall panels, bass shakers, interactive lights, and coordinated sound effects, guests are given a front-row seat to the moment the universe is born.
- What Makes Them Exceptional: As longtime leaders in the space, Cortina Productions designs and produces award-winning multimedia experiences for museums. They blend artistry, content, and technology to bring stories to life using the latest media technologies.
- Notable Project: The National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco, Texas is the first museum to leverage facial recognition to personalize the guest experience. Through multiple digital interfaces, guests can build their dream team, design their own MLS kits, create a scarf that can be printed on-site, and test their soccer skills through virtual reality.
- What Makes Them Exceptional: Highly experienced, multiple award-winning digital storyteller Donna Lawrence Productions works across digital mediums to help brands, museums, artists, and others create immersive environments that engage, inform, and inspire audiences.
- Notable Project: The Witte Museum’s The People of the Pecos immersive film experience introduces visitors to the history of the people who lived in the lower Pecos canyonlands nearly 14,000 years ago. Featuring sweeping panoramas, historic petroglyphs and artifacts, and an original soundtrack, the exhibit tells the history of the place and its people.
- Location: Chicago, IL and beyond
- What Makes Them Exceptional: Freckled Sky uniquely embraces digital storytelling by mixing human interaction with projection mapping and virtual experiences. This award-winning team produces events and experiences globally that engage audiences in real-time. They work with location-based entertainment venues, musicians, museums, brands, and more.
- Notable Project: James Arthur’s “Falling Like the Stars” performance on Britain’s Got Talent. Freckled Sky made James a holographic character in this lyrical love song, using holographic images of an unfolding love story in a projected sea of stars as the musician performed the song before a live audience.
- Location: Reykjavik, Iceland
- What Makes Them Exceptional: This award-winning experience design studio inspires engagement and discovery through the seamless integration of technology. They help organizations, museums, and cultural institutions create immersive storytelling experiences.
- Notable Project: Thingvillir National Park’s Find the Past, mixed reality archeological exhibit. This historical area is home to countless archeological sites, however, much of the storied past has been lost to time and weather. This exhibit uses augmented and virtual reality to help bring the history of this important cultural landmark to life.
- Location: Montreal, New York, Singapore, Paris, Toyko
- What Makes Them Exceptional: Moment Factory approaches each project from three pillars: content, interactive, and scenography. Their global team of multidisciplinary media creatives helps brands, institutions, and destinations create inspiring collective human experiences.
- Notable Project: Lumina Night Walks – Multiple locations, worldwide. This immersive outdoor interactive lighting and projection mapping experience helps tell the story of a place and gives traditionally daylight-only destinations a nighttime attraction. The night walks have taken place in parks, zoos, and other natural environments around the world.
- Location: Burbank, California
- What Makes Them Exceptional: An award-winning media design and production studio specializing in complex architectural digital projection mapping and other immersive media experiences, Mousetrappe creates and produces cinematic real-world engagements and experiential entertainment.
- Notable Project: Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter Opening Celebration. Mousetrappe created a mapped video projected onto the surface of Hogwarts Castle, featuring iconic scenes from the films and accompanied by pyrotechnics, synchro lights, and a live orchestral performance immersing guests in the magical world of Harry Potter.
- What Makes Them Exceptional: teamLab is an international art collective of creators from myriad disciplines merging art, science, technology, and the natural world. Their work seeks to transcend boundaries and transcend time. They are known for creating immersive, multi-sensory experiences (link to 2.2) in destinations across the globe.
- Notable Project: Borderless, Mori Building Digital Art Museum, Tokyo. This fully immersive digital art installation leads visitors on a journey exploring the concept of borderlessness – different themes and works occupy multiple rooms but there is no beginning or end to each, they move and intersect throughout the exhibit transporting the audience into a borderless existence.
- Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- What Makes Them Exceptional: Backed by parent company Thinkwell Group, Thinkwell Studio Montreal develops and delivers extraordinary interactive digital experiences that seamlessly blend content and technology. Their experienced R&D teams can prototype, invent, and perfect new technologies, bringing digital stories to life in innovative ways.
- Notable Project: Parc Omega, Omega La Nuit, is a multimedia immersion in an outdoor safari park, designed to engage and educate visitors at night. Using technological, theatrical, and interactive experiences, guests are treated to a nighttime wilderness experience complete with native sounds recorded within the park.
Digital storytelling gives brand managers and CEOs a means to creatively connect with audiences, boost brand awareness, and create lasting impressions by leveraging the power of story in a fully modern way. Since customer expectations evolve as quickly as new technology emerges, brands and institutions must continually innovate when it comes to how and where they reach their customers. These 12 companies are industry leaders in how they approach both spatial storytelling and creating immersive media experiences providing clients with technological know-how, experiential design prowess, and strategic insight to help bring digital stories to life.
Here at Bridgewater Studio, we help our clients tell their stories in myriad ways from complex museum exhibitions to interactive retail activations to digitally-driven immersive experiences. Our comprehensive approach includes strategy, design, and production, allowing our clients to work with one team from inception to installation. Discover more by booking a no-obligation strategy session with Bridgewater today.