Photo: Courtesy of Elle Chan
How she got her start: In the mid-1990s, Chan was part of a core group of creatives working at Industrial Light + Magic (ILM), producing events like project wrap parties and trade shows.
"Realizing that the ILM blueprint of merging technology, craft, and entertainment could be leveraged to transform brands into awe-inspiring live events, we seized an extraordinary opportunity to develop an experiential marketing playbook that would allow us to leave our own mark in the event space," she recalls. "This was the beginning of Trademark Event Productions in 1997, where I still serve as a co-CEO with co-founder Jon Forst."
Over the past 25 years, Chan adds, the team has "pushed every creative boundary, embraced every physical and virtual space, and told stories with art, video, audio, digital spaces, music, stagecraft, lights and sound, and physical mediums from busses to buildings to paper and paint to laser light and now, even the metaverse. We leverage our experiential DNA in everything we do—it serves as the magic behind launching the live event experience into exciting, uncharted territories."
What innovation means to her: To Chan, innovation is all about trying everything. "If a client has a story or an emotion or an experience that they want to share with their audience, we can bring it to life," she says.
Chan adds that digital storytelling is now a part of every event the team creates—as are broadcast-quality production techniques, which "allow us to capture environments and experiences virtually anywhere in the world and weave them into a compelling brand story for our clients. In recent years, as companies have leveraged digital spaces, we’ve found new ways to create global communities that literally feel like they’re in the same room, sharing the same vibe, being inspired by the same experiences," she says.
How she stays inspired: "Every time I believe that we’ve done all we can with a medium, our clients push us a little harder to discover new angles, new perspectives, and new multimedia ideas and to cross boundaries and even blur lines between the physical and digital world," she says. "Clients inspire me."
Memorable moments: Chan cites a few standout activations that come to mind, including a tech-forward project for Webflow's No Code Conference. "We designed a meta-layer of storytelling beyond the keynote stage in the form of NCC-TV," she remembers. "For this broadcast desk, Trademark tapped Webflow’s own evangelists and luminaries to become the hosts for NCC-TV. They provided inspired and knowledgeable commentary on the live keynote and breakout sessions and gave the virtual conference and broadcast the voice and style that was clearly on brand for Webflow." 
For another project, Adobe Art Walks, the Trademark team tapped hosts from cities all over the world who could take attendees beyond their home offices and "give them a taste of travel that they were so hungry for," Chan says. "The voice and personality of the hosts helped build a sense of Adobe’s vast global community of artists."Photo: Courtesy of Trademark
Meanwhile, for ZEISS Vision Care, Chan and her team were tasked with creating a fun, memorable sales meeting—within a pandemic-safe bubble. Since the event was located in the Coachella Valley, the team played off the famous music festival with a "ZEISS-chella" closing party. Aiming to mimic the Coachella experience, the multisensory event featured a variety of bars, a photo booth located inside a VW bus, fire performers, entertainment by a professional saxophonist and DJ Club Mesh, and even a silent disco.
Her favorite thing about the experiential industry: "Experiences are how human beings learn, connect to feelings, find inspiration, and expand their world size and their view of what’s possible," Chan says. "Helping brands create experiences that engage and inspire their audiences to take action, try a product, participate in a community, or adopt a new perspective is fun. I get an amazing amount of inspiration from our clients and the creative powerhouses that I’m surrounded by every day."
Back to the full list: 20 Experiential Experts Changing the Future of Consumer Events
