The American Express Escape the Office experience capitalized on the popular global escape room phenomenon to create a first-of-its-kind B2B interactive, immersive environment where attendees would connect with each other, instead of product demos. CES attendees were challenged to work together as coworkers inside of two fictional tech companies we created. To escape, they needed to solve a series of business challenges before time expired.

A light-touch digital game helped players warm-up their problem-solving brains before being locked inside the office. For playing, they received special clue cards to help them escape.

From January 5 to January 8, 2017 our space inside the Las Vegas Convention Center was transformed into a modern-day office park, containing the offices of two fictional companies, Robot & Sons and WearNext Wearables.

Each company had its own backstory, visual identity, website and challenge. Attendees assumed the role of employees locked inside the office. They had to work together to solve a sequence of business-related challenges under intense time pressure in order to escape.

Within each office, players discovered American Express products and services through strategically placed clues, showcasing how the brand helps businesses. If they solved all the puzzles before time expired, the door unlocked and they escaped.

All participants received branded oversized tote bags with catchy tech-inspired taglines. They also took part in a fun, shareable digital photo op where teams could playfully flaunt their success or lament their less-than-desirable outcome on social media.

The American Express Escape the Office experience was an overwhelming success at CES, with non-stop lines for the full four days of CES. Qualitative feedback proved attendees were excited by the new brand image and that we provided a truly interactive experience.

Highlights:

1. Over 3,500 on-site engagements

2. 258,236 social impressions

3. 57,641 earned social impressions

4. Achieved 120% of card acquisition goal—29% YOY growth from 2016

5. Light-touch digital hidden object game outside the offices helped generated qualified leads for business consultants and earn clues for attendees.

6. Named as one of six “Steal-Worthy” ideas by Event Marketer magazine

7. Event Marketer’s “Top 10 Experiences at CES”

The success at CES enabled us to bring a modified version of the Escape the Office experience to the ConEx/ConAg tradeshow, where we also beat all our sales/show goals, and we’re prepped to bring it to future shows as well.