DIA, is a fund offered by State Street Global Advisors that tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It’s a highly liquid fund, which means that investors can get into and out of it quickly. Liquidity is especially valuable in volatile markets, like the ones the world has seen over the last two years. With liquidity being more valuable than ever before, we wanted investors to experience it like never before.

Objectives were to drive brand awareness of and client engagement with State Street’s DIA fund and ensure that attendees know State Street’s DIA and other ETFs (exchange-traded funds) can help them succeed.

Some stocks are easy to buy, but not easy to sell. That’s why investors need stocks with high liquidity—the ability to buy and sell at just the right moment.

DIA, an exchange-traded fund from State Street Global Advisors, is all about liquidity. Building on DIA’s latest campaign and its refrain, “Whatever you get into, make sure you can get out,” the Liquidity Maze brought liquidity to life in a fun, surprising way that investors could feel.

Because liquidity is inherently about the speed and ease with which you can get in and out of an investment, maze participants were timed based on how quickly they could achieve liquidity and find their way out. A leaderboard ranked the top 10 times for each day of the conference.

Investors often ignore liquidity risk when markets are calm. But when volatility inevitably strikes, liquidity can dry up in an instant. Investors know mitigating liquidity risk is important but too few are taking action to ensure they’re prepared when their clients start frantically calling.

With Exchange: An ETF Experience, the first large industry conference in two years, we saw an opportunity for State Street Global Advisors to reassert the value of liquidity and help their clients prepare for liquidity risk. State Street’s DIA fund—the only exchange-

traded fund to track the Dow, is an ETF (exchange-traded fund) that gives investors the liquidity they need.

With the Liquidity Maze, we demonstrated with a unique experience that preparing for liquidity risk now avoids getting stuck in volatile markets. We game-ified the search for liquidity and challenged investors, “Whatever you get into, make sure you can get out.”

The first thing attendees at the conference saw was the mysterious structure—rippling, reflective, liquid-like sides emanating blue. A sign at the entrance told people they were entering The Liquidity Maze and advised them, “Whatever you get into, make sure you can get out.”

Tucked inside were six VR stations illuminated by tubular neon lighting. Attendees were greeted by a maze ambassador, who gave them an overview of the concept, fitted them with VR goggles and guided them on their journey.

Once within the immersive audiovisual experience, users found themselves within a maze of five distinct game levels. When users needed help finding their way, a State Street Global Advisors-branded “liquidity orb” would help them find liquidity.

We designed the game and the physical structure at the conference to match. Neon accents lit the way in both worlds, as a subtle nod to Miami, the host city of the conference.

How do you reach an extremely focused target audience? You go where they go.

This year, they went to Exchange: An ETF Experience, the first big industry conference in two years. Hosted in Miami from April 11–14, the show gave State Street Global Advisors and its DIA fund the opportunity to engage a captive, niche audience of more than 2200 people.

The Liquidity Maze generated buzz even before the event. State Street’s pre-event email drove awareness and anticipation with a 42.58% open rate, significantly above State Stret’s 18.32% bm.

While final data on booth traffic and sales is still forthcoming, the Liquidity Maze surpassed State Street’s goal of 200 maze visitors and drove more than 1,000 visits to our sales booth.

On social, the Maze extended State Strest’s presence beyond the event, sparking nearly 40,000 impressions from attendee shares and driving 413,000 impressions among its broader Advisor audience.