Engineering Desire^®

READY UP As of this writing, we are heading into 18 months under COVID-19 conditions. With so many people keeping at home through waves of lockdowns, it’s no surprise that gaming is still on the rise as quarantines have created new fans. There have been multiple, well-documented success stories in the industry.  Animal Crossing: New … Continued

Featuring Evan Strange (Left) and Kelly Olson (Right) 2020 has been a crazy year for everyone, and for parents and caregivers, the added stresses of a toddler barging in on work calls and the time needed to care for loved ones has made this a year that will never be forgotten (read: good riddance 2020!). … Continued

Featuring Cody Eastman and Liya Hoshi It’s wild to think that it’s only been two years since the inception of our first Employee Resource Group (ERG), and what’s been accomplished in such a short time. From heartfelt dialogues around becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable to creating a full fledged Pride experience across 7 agencies and … Continued

Featuring Penny Davis, Senior Manager The GPJ Contact Center based in Austin, TX, provides registration, housing and technology support to thousands of event attendees via telephone, email and chat technology. Supporting events like Dreamforce, Workday Rising and Adobe Max, it is a world class customer service center and our customer service representatives (CSRs) are some … Continued

When the first GPJ Employee Resource Group (ERG) was launched in 2018, no one knew just how vital a role they would play in the evolution of our agency culture, and how these groups would grow to include perspectives and deepen relationships with each other, with clients and also our communities at large.   The groups … Continued

The final chapter in our journey alongside the development of IBM’s digital-first brand activations showcases the work of IBM’s Think City. (You can view the previous posts here and here.)  Think City was originally planned as a large-scale physical activation to debut at IBM’s Think 2020 flagship conference, but quickly evolved to digital-first as IBM’s … Continued

The global pandemic may have put a temporary halt to creating the physical brand experiences we all know and love, but there is still plenty of creative work to recognize and celebrate.  The fundamental nature of experiences is that they know no physical or digital boundaries, and we’ve seen incredible creativity, collaboration, and resilience in … Continued

GPJ’s Martyn Clarkson, SVP, Strategy and Planning spoke with PR Week about virtual events. Below is a re-print of the article.  August 05, 2020 by Natasha Bach There’s enough to stress out about when making a real-world event a virtual event. From concerts on Instagram and YouTube to webinars on Zoom, the show must go … Continued

The future is full of things we can’t predict or imagine, however, the need for physical connection and proximity is certain to endure. The desire to be together in space and time; to be in the presence of something other-than and bigger than ourselves, can’t be tamed or extinguished. A new world and future of … Continued

Continuing our journey alongside the development of IBM’s digital first-activations, we share with you today the next installment in our 3-part blog series ‘ReTHINKing Brand Activations,’ featuring the debut of IBM Quantum.  Let’s get you up to speed as to where we left off. IBM and experiential partner GPJ were faced with a new and … Continued

By Brendan Brown, Senior Director, Strategy and Planning Last year a street vendor in San Francisco told my wife and I that the difference between fine art and commercial art is that with fine art you see nothing up close and everything from far away. For commercial art the opposite is true. Chaos in that … Continued

    By Ken Madden, SVP, Head of Digital Engagement at George P. Johnson   This won’t be the first (or last) piece you read about how COVID-19 has devastated an industry. The road ahead for live events certainly appears daunting. When its customer base instantly vanishes, what can an industry do? The answer, short … Continued

  Auburn Hills, MI, April 26, 2020 — George P. Johnson Experience Marketing (GPJ) has partnered with Freeman to unite live events leaders from across the United States to announce the formation of Go LIVE Together, a coalition of 80 founding partners—representing over 4,000 companies with U.S. operations—who have joined forces to support legislative actions that will aid … Continued

The LiveForLife coalition was created by a small handful of events agencies, companies who are normally competitors, but who saw a growing need for temporary structures, PPE, and testing centers to fight COVID-19, and wanted to combine their expertise for the common good. As designers, fabricators, project managers and logistics experts, our industry and agencies … Continued

GPJ has been IBM’s experiential agency of record for over 20 years – during which we’ve created award-winning experiences and overcome unexpected storms. What has remained consistent has been GPJ’s unwavering resilience in continuing to strengthen the IBM brand – no matter the situation – by creating dynamic brand experiences that deliver on their business … Continued

GPJ is no stranger to challenges. During this unprecedented time of quarantine and shelter initiatives, our teams continue to lead with what we do best: thrive in complexity. GPJ remains steadfast and hopeful for a strong recovery, and we are doing our best to help. Efforts with Universities GPJ is partnering with several universities on a … Continued