Beyond the screen: How immersive experiences capture our craving for connection
With TV audiences fractured and attention spans falling, how can you capture hearts, minds and affection in 2026? Cat Botibol, Business Development Director at Studio Secret Cinema, argues that immersive experiences and nostalgic recollections is the way forward.
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Once written off as a passing fad, immersive experiences are now the hottest ticket in marketing.
Walk around any capital city and you’ll see the word 'immersive' on every second poster or screen. We’ve talked about the power of live experience for nearly two decades, and despite the huge shifts in innovation when it comes to how you immerse someone, it's emotional connection which still remains at the heart, not technology.
Hot on the heels of connection, being immersed in a previous time - in nostalgia - has proven to be hugely popular with audiences of all ages and demographics. For some younger audiences, it even extends to anemoia, a yearning for being immersed in a past that was never actually experienced first-time around.
Walk around any capital city and you’ll see the word 'immersive' on every second poster or screen.
You only have to look to the ever-popular ABBA Voyage, or our summer hit show, Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, which saw multi generations attending Rydell High in Battersea Park. Grease was one of the top five attended Secret Cinema events of all time, with over 80% of that audience attending their first ever Secret Cinema experience. A classic film, repackaged as a thrilling, immersive experience for a new audience.
These IP’s are being brought back to life in ways that feel fresh, interactive, memorable… and familiar.
Above: Secret Cinema's Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical was one of the top five attended Secret Cinema events of all time.
Why immersive nostalgia is so powerful
Nostalgia and anemoia aren't just about looking back, they're about re-experiencing emotions that define who we are. Think about how a single song, or even a smell, can transport you back to a memory instantly. That’s powerful stuff. Immersive experiences tap into this better than any traditional form of media because they don’t just remind you of a memory or feeling, they let you step into it and feel it.
In a culture where brands are competing for shorter attention spans, being remembered isn’t enough; you need to be unforgettable.
In a culture where brands are competing for shorter attention spans, being remembered isn’t enough; you need to be unforgettable. We recently hosted leading neuroscientist and author Baroness Susan Greenfield to talk about five factors that contribute to making a long-lasting memory in our brains. One of the key factors, being completely present and focused on the ‘now’, requires certain chemicals to be released into our brains. It’s a biological fact that when we are teenagers these chemicals are released more easily and readily, hence why memories from then can seem so intense.
The way that immersive experiences stimulate multi-senses beyond just sight and sound, the way they capture your attention via storytelling and performance and thrill you with the unexpected, stimulates these chemicals. Bringing immersive and nostalgia together is a biologically powerful combination.
Above: This year's Oasis reunion shows weren't just filled with adults reliving the 90s, but with those adults' kids, who grew up on their parents' playlists.
Why the past feels good right now
Our research shows that audiences crave time-transcending moments. For many, modern life feels flat and repetitive, with people looking for ways to pause, escape and reconnect with times that felt simpler and more joyful. Were they simpler and more joyful? Probably not. But that’s the beauty of nostalgia, it makes you feel that way. This is why events that channel these strong emotions work so well, because they ignite feelings in people that they don’t feel much anymore.
The real challenge is how you reimagine beloved IP in a way that feels exciting for new audiences, to build new fans as well as exciting existing fans.
They seek to inspire and encourage people to wonder and feel ‘collective awe.’ It’s why people still talk to us about the highs of Secret Cinema experiences they went to years ago, like Moulin Rouge or Bladerunner. Good or bad, nostalgia has the power to tip things into the unforgettable category. It’s no surprise, then, that so much of today’s culture is leaning on reimagined favourites. Whether in film, TV or immersive experiences,
Hand-me-down fandom
Audiences can spot a lazy reboot a mile away. The real challenge is how you reimagine beloved IP in a way that feels exciting for new audiences, to build new fans as well as exciting existing fans.
That was the thinking behind choosing Grease as Secret Cinema’s London comeback production. It tapped into people’s desire to see something warm and familiar, but brought to life in a way that didn’t rely on you knowing the film in advance. While the film was played on screens for those who wanted to watch it from start to finish, actors and dancers took over different stages with modern choreography to perform every song live. All against a backdrop of a real-life diner and fairground, including a functioning ferris wheel and burger, hot dog and sundae stands.
Above: Saiorse Ronan starred in a new video to promote Talking Heads' 50th Anniversary.
Reimagining something works when it’s both familiar and surprising. Look at Talking Heads' 50th Anniversary campaign. Warner Music and DE-YAN revived Psycho Killer with 'Fa Fa Fa Fa' street art across NYC, and recorded a new video with Saiorse Ronan. For older fans, it reignited a sense of belonging to an era that shaped them. For younger audiences, it offered a glimpse into a past era and a way to feel part of it, even decades later.
You can see that same cross-generational pull in live music, too. At the recent Oasis shows, the crowds weren’t just people who grew up in the nineties, but kids who grew up on their parents’ playlists. They weren’t there the first-time round, but the music still shaped them. Call them 'hand-me-down fans' or 'inheritance fans' - a generation emotionally invested in something they’ve only experienced second hand.
Owning the present
The rise of reimagined IP tells us that audiences don’t just want familiar stories re-told exactly how they were, they want to see them re-imagined, re-interpreted and brought to life in new mediums.
For brands, the challenge now is to think less about revival and more about growth.
For brands, the challenge now is to think less about revival and more about growth. It’s not about replaying the past, but about using it to create new fans, new communities and new moments that become unforgettable. The ones who do that will not just borrow from culture, they will push it forward.
