Bentley Motors tasked experimental production partner, UNIT9, with creating a three-week experiential installation, to mark the luxury car brand’s Centenary by giving thousands of people a sense of Bentley’s vision of the future.
Launched on the 10th July, The Future of Extraordinary Journeys takes place at the brand’s flagship showroom, CW1 House, in Crewe. Visitors encounter a fully immersive and highly unconventional car launch: a multisensory spatial experience that allows guests to ‘feel’ Bentley’s proposed car design for the year 2035.
The event reveals the new concept car in one-hour sessions that let visitors interact with spatial, playful and atmospheric experiences that stimulate the senses. Each element creatively signals the human experiences curated by the future car: Air for health and enjoyment, simulating open top driving; Light for wellbeing; and Earth for the connection with driving dynamics and cocooned autonomous driving.
The Light area conveys the physicality of light by projecting animations over hundreds of suspended strings to create the effect of sunlight rays that people can touch. The Air section is a temporary scent-saturated forest, made from real vegetation that will be replanted at the end of the installation, enhanced with floating screens that augment the natural environment. The Earth installation features giant tubes with LED lights firing towards guests at varying speeds to create the exhilaration of speed and dynamic driving.
Once the sensory journey is complete, a hidden door opens within the giant curved screen that surrounds the space to reveal a physical model of Bentley’s 2035 car. 4D effects and artistic screen content are then used to contextualise the car’s features and the brand’s 100-year heritage.
In addition to creating the three-week event, UNIT9 also developed a supporting microsite, social content and an ‘AR Travel Pack’ which allows the event to travel around the globe and be accessed by students and the wider public, so continuing Bentley’s conversation around sustainability, craftsmanship and luxury.
Louise Burns, Head of Strategic Marketing Projects at Bentley Motors’, said: “Bentley stands for craft and craftsmanship so UNIT9, with their own exceptionally high standards, were the perfect partner for this project, which lets us communicate Bentley’s extraordinary journey into the future to people all over the world.”
Stephan Bischof, Creative Director at UNIT9, added: “It’s difficult to convey a car that’s 16 years ahead of its time, so we relied on emotion to help guests feel Bentley’s futuristic vision. To achieve this, we approached the event from a non-automotive point-of-view, focusing on reliving the emotions that are tied to a journey’s extraordinary moments. Visitors consequently get a better understanding of Bentley’s 2035 concept car, while building a deeper emotional connection to the brand.”
The experience ends on Thursday 25th July at 6pm
