Elevating Visitor Engagement Through an Innovative Digital Experience

THE CLIENT

The Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

WHAT WE DID

Stakeholder consultation & engagement
Audience research & engagement
Storytelling & placemaking strategy
Experience & interpretive design
Implementation & data collection

PIP’s Trail at The Esplanade

Since its inception in 2002, the Esplanade has hosted over 53,000 performances and activities, attracting more than 116 million visitors. However, the Esplanade is more than just an arts venue; its indoor and outdoor spaces are beloved by families and school children alike. To further engage these key audience groups and accommodate the venue’s growing popularity, the Esplanade sought to enhance its engagement strategies in the most effective and sustainable way.

HOL proposed a digital trail as the solution, tailored to meet the unique needs of families and school groups. This intuitive experience allowed visitors to explore the Esplanade’s offerings at their own pace while ensuring the approach was sustainable and adaptable.

IMPACT

Participants till date

0 >

10 Mins

Average online dwell time compared to the industry benchmark of of 2 to 4 minutes

8%

Membership conversion rate compared to the industry benchmark of of 2 to 5%

The impact of the digital trail has been significant. Designed with sustainability in mind, the digital trail enabled easy content updates and provided valuable insights into visitor interactions, helping to tailor future engagements. The trail proved highly effective, with an average dwell time of 10 minutes—well above the industry benchmark of 2 to 4 minutes for similar web applications. To date, more than 1,300 participants have completed the trail, and the initiative achieved a membership conversion rate of 8%, significantly surpassing the industry average of 2 to 5%. These results not only demonstrate the success of the digital trail in enhancing visitor engagement but also reinforce the Esplanade’s role as a leading destination for enjoying the arts and fostering community connection.

SUMMARY

Effective, sustainable and scalable

The digital trail was very well-received by families and children and the programme was extended from one month to one year.

ABOUT THE CLIENT

The Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

The Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay is Singapore’s national performing arts centre. Affectionately nicknamed “The Durian” by visitors and fans, the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay is an iconic performing arts centre located in the Marine Bay area

CHALLENGE

Creating fun and flexible engagement

The Esplanade wanted to offer young visitors an engaging trail experience of their community art spaces. But it was challenging for guides to engage large school groups that often included hundreds of students. Meanwhile, families with young children often have unpredictable schedules, so they tend to give fixed-time programmes and tours a miss. How could the Esplanade provide added flexibility and better engagement for their visitors? In addition, could it offer a solution that was both paperless and sustainable?

INSIGHTS AND STRATEGY

Fun and Flexible

The previous trail comprised a series of standalone activities, which could have led some visitors to miss parts of the trail. Through a rigorous problem-solving process, HOL’s team determined that the most cost-effective, flexible, labour-efficient, and experiential way to enhance the Esplanade’s outreach programmes was to create a self-guided digital trail. This would allow large school groups to visit the Esplanade without the need for guides. Furthermore, family groups would be able to enjoy the flexibility of visiting the venue at their convenience instead of trying to join fixed-time programmes.

Solution

Creating a fun-filled quest

Let the games begin

To create an engaging digital trail, we proposed a strong storytelling approach aimed at providing visitors with the right mindset to explore the venue on their own. The entire experience was designed to be completed in approximately 45 minutes. To enable the Esplanade to achieve a bigger outreach, we added the element of a quest to delight the young ones and ensure they enjoy a ‘complete’ trail experience. By including a mini-game at each station, young visitors could play and learn at the same time. Each game was carefully designed to ensure that the content would be digestible and memorable for all users. Aside from making the games fun, we also designed for ease-of-play, accessibility, and safety.

The games included a simple jigsaw puzzle, a word game, as well as a ‘piano’ game that gave visitors a 360-degree view of the Esplanade’s concert hall. To explain how the Esplanade maintains the cleanliness of its unique ‘spikey’ roof, we also created an amusing bird poop game. We also designed a simple quiz that incorporated augmented reality (AR). Visitors could also customise selfies taken at the venue with stickers and share their experiences on social media to create greater awareness of digital trail, thus leading to stronger outreach.

Mindful of the rising danger of QR code fraud, our UX specialists produced a simple yet elegant solution to keep visitors safe. While visitor responsibility is still key to the success of this safety measure, the unique QR code design and application process was secure enough, easy to implement, and cost effective.

“Our goal is to allow more visitors to explore Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay on their own, and get to know Singapore’s national performing arts centre better. Leveraging new technology, the HOL team worked with us methodically to create a digital trail, targeting young learners to explore and learn about our amazing architecture, spaces, and a treasure trove of stories in a fun and engaging manner. Through a rigorous problem-solving process, Angeline and her team of UX specialists, Aloysius and Terence, helped us conceptualised and developed this user-centric PIP’s (our friendly mascot) digital trail to engage families and school groups through story-telling and games at their own pace. The team was professional, and we look forward to future innovative partnerships with them!”