Made by Google • Turning a Product Launch into a Living Experience

Google, a global leader in technology, recognized that the traditional product launch playbook had grown tired and saw an opportunity to connect new technology with people's everyday lives in a more meaningful way. For its Made by Google 2025 event, Google established a new vision for the launch centered on a human-centric, entertainment-driven format. To bring the product demonstration component of this strategy to life, Google engaged us as their experiential partner to fundamentally reimagine the event’s demo area. Our solution was to design and build an immersive sandbox, a collection of interactive stations that allowed guests to experience the new products in authentic, real-world scenarios.

In just six weeks, our team delivered a fully-realized, immersive product sandbox. Our scope included managing all front-of-house operations, graphics, and staffing, but the centerpiece of our work was the concepting, design, and fabrication of five unique interactive demos. We moved away from placing products on pedestals, instead building distinct “mini-scenes” that mirrored real-world environments. For instance, we created an intimate New York café to demonstrate the Pixel phone’s low-light camera capabilities and a record store to highlight a new music discovery feature. This strategy made the technology feel approachable and intuitive, inviting guests to discover its features through hands-on, playful exploration.

The interactive design of the sandbox also served as a powerful content engine. The immersive, real-world scenes provided the perfect backdrop for the A-list talent and creators attending the event to produce authentic, engaging content chronicling their experiences. This generated a steady stream of user-generated content that extended the hands-on experience to millions of their followers at home, transforming a physical installation into a global digital moment.

The success of this strategy was immediately evident in audience engagement. Where attendees at past events might have spent just a few minutes in a demo hall, they were now staying for extended periods to interact with the products. This dramatic increase in dwell time, combined with the influential voices sharing their genuine experiences, had a powerful ripple effect. The authentic, hands-on stories from talent and press gave coverage of the products far more narrative impact. Our work proved that by designing experiences where people can discover what a product can do for them, a launch moment can be transformed into sustained brand equity.