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Xperience Local Conference

Interactive storytelling: �Creating a perfect formula �to increase engagement

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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A little intro…

Hannah Springett

Founder & CEO

September 2023

What is interactive storytelling?

The perfect formula with proven results

Further experiments

What’s in this talk?

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

Let’s jump straight into it.

I’m Han. I am CEO and founder of HLabs.

I started the business in 2020 and now have over 40 creatives to help our clients make interactive storytelling experiences.

We are a full service design agency, but websites, design and build is our thing.

We use illustration, animation, 3D, social and editorial to help our clients tell their stories better.

We work with a huge amount of publishers, like Conde Nast Traveller, Atlas Obscura, The Telegraph

but also work directly with brands from local photographers,

to nonprofit charities like WWF and

corporate travel entities like Hilton to work on their brand efforts to share employee initiatives.

Today I’m going to talk about

‘What is interactive storytelling and why you need it’

The perfect formula we’ve found for success and prove how it works with relevant examples

And then I’m going to share some untested experiments and current work we are doing to follow trends we are spotting.

Let’s go!

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What is interactive storytelling?

What’s this all about?

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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What is interactive storytelling?

Enhanced digital content that directly engages �your audience

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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What is interactive storytelling?

Let’s start with the basics…

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September 2023

+

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What’s the winning formula?

Story + Visuals + Interactivity = Engagement

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

At Hlabs we are a collective of problem solvers and wanted to identify what makes a good project.

So all of our projects must have 3 things for success.

Story - This isn’t just text. Information should be woven into a story to make it more memorable.

Visuals - Elevating beyond JUST images, we try to use a mix of visual variety to include imagery, iconography, typography, colour, and illustration.

Next comes the digital bit. The interactivity.

Interactivity - This will be the relevant actions a user can take to explore more. It could be click to flip cards, a quiz, a carousel, a timeline, a map.

Once we’ve added all these things together we then use analytics to track its success.

Unlike print, digital can track EVERYTHING. This means you can change the variables until you get the result you are after. Then repeat what works.

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What’s the winning formula?

Story + Visuals + Interactivity = Engagement

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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Proven results

Every good formula needs…

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www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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Client: Royal Commision for AlUla

Publisher: The Independent

What’s the story?

AlUla: Showcase travel �‘Beyond the Desert’

Created 6 chapters to attract different personas
Interviewed a range of experts, locals and influencers
Showcased local initiatives and community projects

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www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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What visuals worked?

Edge to edge visuals
Big quotes from locals
Cinematic gradients

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www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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September 2023

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Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

What interactivity?

Interactive maps
Audio sound bites
Recirculation articles

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www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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What were the results?

+650,000

Views of full campaign just across The Independent’s website

5.1x

Dwell time compared to existing static articles

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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Client: KIWI�

What’s the story?

Create a competition to generate viral content

Capture authentic stories
How to use KIWI to stretch budgets further
Showcase off the beaten track

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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September 2023

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What visuals worked?

Gen Z vibes
Luminous colours
Animated tickers

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September 2023

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September 2023

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What interactivity?

Sticky CTA
Animated tickers
HubSpot form

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www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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What were the results?

16 million

Digital impressions across the website and social channels

600x

Competition entries all supplying public facing video content

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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Client: World Wildlife Federation�

What’s the story?

Take action to protect the secret power of coastal ecosystems

Inform users of the threat
Support local conservation
Instruct how to get involved

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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What visuals worked?

Full bleed imagery
Bespoke illustrations
Use of infographics

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www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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September 2023

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What interactivity?

Parallax animated videos
Interactive tabs
Data capture form
Sticky ‘donate’ button

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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What results do HLabs achieve?

+567%

uplift on environmental & nonprofit �campaign engagement

+435%

increase to dwell times compared to �static article pages

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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September 2023

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Experimenting with experiential

What’s next for storytelling?

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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Experimenting with…

Expanding into the metaverse

Client: Red Bull

Technology: Spatial.io

September 2023

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www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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Experimenting with…

Live APIs & geolocations

Client: Time Out Magazine

Technology: Mapbox integrated in Webflow

September 2023

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www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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Experimenting with…

Artificial intelligence �& augmented

reality together!

September 2023

Client: Xperience Local Conference

Technology: MidJourney, Blockades, Spark AR

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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What to remember

Key takeaways

Story	Create authentic, emotive and personal stories
Visuals	Add visual variety to grab attention that users retain
Interactivity	Use easy to use, relevant interactions
= Engagement	Track analytics against benchmarks

Always keep experimenting!

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

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Thanks!

hannah@hlabs.co.uk�or visit www.hlabs.co.uk

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023

Hannah@hlabs.co.uk

www.hlabs.co.uk

September 2023