To create a stand for the Design Indaba brand at the annual Design Indaba Expo. To illustrate the brand’s core belief that through creativity comes upliftment. To convince South Africans that by thinking creatively, we can create a brighter future. To create a culminating piece of communication for a through-the-line campaign for the Design Indaba brand.

It was the most talked about campaign Design Indaba has ever run. During the campaign period, hits to the website increased 207% in comparison with the same period of the previous year. Expo visitors tweeted and blogged enthusiastically to such a degree, Expo attendance tripled on day two. Our stand was accessible to 38,000 people, and crowds of onlookers surrounded the stand at any given time. Ultimately, we successfully achieved a 12% visitor increase to the Expo compared with the previous year’s attendance figures.

Imagine a future where creative thinking has created mass consumer products that shape our world positively, rather than destroying it. We wanted to make these products and their benefits seem real. We created a fictitious company DIXIV (Design Indaba 14), and conceptualised its product range. How could we present non-existent products to consumers? At Design Indaba Expo, among 260 conventional stands selling physical wares, we turned an ordinary stand into a store of the future. Through augmented reality consumers could tangibly engage with our future products and benefits. The takeout: use creativity to create the future you want to live.

Expos are an opportunity for traders to showcase their wares. Visitors to an Expo can enquire about, touch and test the products. We wanted to captivate children and adults with the concept behind our ‘products’. As our products didn’t yet exist, we needed to create a way for consumers to engage with them. Using augmented reality, we brought our future products to the present allowing for physical interaction so that their benefits became apparent.