Kichler’s Lighting the Way Forward event was an interactive virtual event made possible with technology from Surreal Events, a gaming technology platform.

Kichler Lighting LLC recently delivered its inaugural virtual event and showroom: Lighting the Way Forward. The event was held on November 18-19, 2020, including a welcome ceremony and scheduled presentations for select customers, dealers and distributors. In addition, the virtual showroom offered expanded open days for shopping and exploring December 1-11, 2020

Developed as an immersive, best-in-class experience, Kichler Lighting created this groundbreaking interactive experience to better connect, educate and inspire while engaging with key customers. The innovative platform also served as a way to launch Kichler Lighting products and strengthen customer relationships in a safe, immersive virtual space, as in-person connection is still limited by the coronavirus pandemic.

The impact of the global pandemic accelerated the brand’s need to innovate in a virtual way, and the online format allowed Kichler to meaningfully connect while reaching a broader audience.

“These unprecedented times required us to reimagine how we do business, and at Kichler Lighting, with change comes innovation,” said Irene Tasi, President of the company. “We’re meeting our consumers where they are, and this opportunity has reignited the passion of our dedicated team.”

Attendance was strong with an abundance of positive feedback about the technology, content and new product, according to the company and planning is underway for the future use of the Virtual Showroom for additional events and extended opportunities.

To bring Lighting the Way Forward to life, Kichler Lighting partnered with Surreal Events, a virtual Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) company, to design a custom, unconventional and inventive virtual space and experience. Designed with gaming engine technology, this web-based platform served as a bridge between physical and virtual realties — allowing participants the opportunity to “choose their own adventure” in a multi-player networked environment that mirrors an in-person trade show. The three-dimensional photo-realistic rendered environment, coupled with the ability to meet and talk to Kichler Lighting personnel and other attendees, created an experience that was as close to real life as possible. Surreal’s proprietary world-class software is deemed scalable and multi-faceted, yet simple and intuitive, making it user-friendly for all attendees.

For Kichler, it was equally important that the Lighting the Way Forward virtual event offered attendees a comprehensive experience to interact with Kichler Lighting products as it was to engage with subject matter and sales experts and select influencers. The event space consisted of a main hub where participants’ avatars began their virtual experience. From there, they had the ability to meet at a table with other participants and have a one-on-one conversation with voice or video options. Features also included a general session space, breakout session rooms with influencer presentations that included live Q & A, meeting rooms for one-on-one or group appointments with Kichler Lighting personnel, the club room that hosted social hours and events, the food court that included real-time ordering via Grubhub, and the product demo rooms and showroom spaces—Bedroom, Bathroom, Kitchen, Dining and Exterior—where the latest innovations were unveiled.

The immersive and interactive showrooms featured life-like aesthetics and Retro, Industrial, Modern, and Traditional product displays. Visitors had the opportunity to click through to swap products and select finishes within each setup, add products to their wish lists and share selections via email and directly with a Kichler® representative to purchase.

In addition, Kichler Lighting offered inspiring printed and digital guides including designer quotes, tips, and content ideas, as well as experiences on the Kichler.com website allowing customers to interact with product by turning on/off light layers, explore product details and review design options. Links to curated content, speaker presentations and innovation are also available in real time via Kichler.com.