The best way to tell a product's story? Make it an experience.
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Every holiday season, brands are fighting for the same thing: a coveted spot on gift guides, shopping lists and, ideally, under the tree.
But when seemingly every brand is pitching the “must-have gift of the season,” even a great email subject line can only get you so far. Sometimes, the best pitch is getting people in a room with the product and letting it do the talking.
That’s exactly what we set out to do with Nex Playground, the active play system built to get families off the couch and moving together.
On October 13, our Orchestra Tech and Consumer teams helped Nex Playground take over New York City’s Seaport Lawn Club, turning it into a sports-themed playground for media and creators. We welcomed 80 guests, including attendees from TIME, Good Housekeeping, Good Morning America, NBC Select, Parents, The Wall Street Journal’s Buy Side and Tom’s Guide, for an afternoon of friendly competition, hands-on gaming and just enough holiday spirit for mid-October.
The goal was simple: with holiday shopping season around the corner and Nex Playground’s game library getting bigger, we wanted people to see, play and experience for themselves what makes the system so much fun — and how we are promoting active, healthy screentime in an increasingly sedentary screen world.
Less pitching, more playing
Nex Playground uses motion tracking to turn everyday movement into gameplay, no controllers required. Its growing library includes familiar favorites like PAC-MAN and Sonic the Hedgehog, plus sports-inspired titles featuring NFL Flag, NHL and Dude Perfect.
Guests also got an exclusive first look at NBA Versus, a new basketball game developed in partnership with the NBA, ahead of its release to Play Pass holders later that month.
Naturally, we leaned all the way into the sports theme. There was competition. There were adults taking games intended for the whole family perhaps a little too seriously. (Exactly what we wanted.)
But what stood out most was how naturally the product brought everyone together. Kids jumped in. Adults jumped in. Media and creators who came to “check out the product” suddenly wanted another turn.
And that’s the kind of product story you can’t always capture in a press release.
For a system built around getting families moving, playing and spending time together, seeing that dynamic happen in real life made the value proposition pretty hard to miss.
The best events keep working after everyone goes home
Of course, a fun event is only a successful PR event if it gives people something to talk about afterward. The afternoon opened the door to more conversations around product testing, upcoming game launches and holiday shopping coverage — exactly the kind of momentum we wanted heading into the biggest shopping season of the year.
Events like this are some of my favorite projects because they bring together so many parts of what makes communications fun: finding the story, figuring out how people can actually experience it and getting the right people in the room to see it for themselves.
Because sometimes the smartest thing you can do for a product is stop talking about how fun it is — and let people have fun with it.
And if a few grown adults get overly competitive playing a kids’ game along the way? Even better.
