
Impactainment Inspiring and Motivating the Next Generation
It is great to see the themed entertainment industry moving towards more sustainability. However, we believe this is not enough. With the vast reach of our sector, we owe it to humanity to leverage our access to raise awareness for, and engagement, in critical environmental causes. The next Leonardo da Vinci might come through one of our experiences. We need to motivate and inspire the genius of the next generation to find solutions to problems. That is the true mission of impactainment.
The term impactainment is new. Thus we are looking forward to showcasing what we mean not just with the written word, such as in our blog posts, but also via the experience itself. We want to demonstrate how impactainment can inspire even the most skeptical among us to care more about our earth.
We know how frustrating it can be to distrust corporate claims in the age of greenwashing. If you’d like to read more about our position on greenwashing and transparency, you can do so here.
So how do we approach impact? And how do we ensure that we deliver on our claims?
Impactainment in practice: leading by example
At Hidden Worlds, impactainment is infused in everything we do. We avoid plastics wherever possible, utilize recycled material where we can’t avoid the material, and build everything for re-use. We provide free tickets to those less fortunate and champion inclusivity. We spent months researching and developing the first Ocean Positive menu, where consumption focuses on creating a net positive rather than doing less harm. We also generate revenue for our conservation partners. As a matter of fact, we go even further for our immersive experience in Miami. Any profits left at the end of the run will be donated to our conservation partners. We intend to conduct experiments, learn and improve our ability to generate impact before scaling rather than maximizing the return on investment of a pop-up.
Researching, experimenting, learning, and refining also form the basis of the more advanced levels of impactainment. This approach has won us accreditation as an official United Nations Ocean Decade Activity.
We are obsessed with behavioral science and are continuously studying the space. Our impactainment model is built on extensive research in the space, which is summarized well in two World Experience Organization articles here and here.
However, we don’t just study others’ work. We have contributed to the scientific body as well. For example, in our joint study with the University of Southern California, we analyzed the impact of Persuasive Frames in Conservation Messaging. All this research and laboratory studies have enabled us to build a theoretical foundation for our first pop-up.
For this experience, we study impact across different experience models. Hidden Worlds Miami features a 40-minute journey through our beautiful ocean during the daytime, a three-hour dining extravaganza featuring a Prix-Fixe menu, interactivity, and a dash of magic.
We also work with volunteers, providing free tickets and gift-card incentives to measure the neurochemical response of our guests and how this, in turn, impacts recall and conservation engagement. Lastly, we aim to capture every guest’s feedback via an elaborately designed post-experience campaign to understand the impact we are creating and how we can maximize this impact further before scaling our attraction.
We invite everyone to reach out and discuss. We hope we could provide a tiny glimpse into our approach and instill confidence on the side of our peers that creating impact via the utilization of experiences for good is possible and scientifically sound. Any feedback, questions, or suggestions are welcome, and we love to learn so we can become better at bettering the world.
Let’s go beyond mere sustainability and provide the next genius’s awareness, hope, and motivation to focus on the right things.
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