Photo: Courtesy of Damien Baines
How he got his start: Baines kicked off his event career in the nonprofit sector, and eventually transitioned to retail banking and apparel. This was before the term "experiential" existed, he explains. "Before experiential, there were simply 'events,' or traditional programs involving people coming together via a staged environment like a concert, performance, or conference," Baines says. "Experiential arose from events where we create multisensory, immersive experiences around products or brands, which could take place in traditional event environments or more novel spaces."
Eventually, in 2015, he joined the Instagram team, which has expanded into a bigger role at Meta where he's responsible for the look and feel of the brand's activations at tentpole events like Cannes Lions and CES.
What innovation means to him: "For me, innovation means looking at anything from an essentialist POV, asking, 'What is this in and of itself?' 'What are its building blocks?' and 'Who does this serve?'" he says. "These questions are asked with the intention of finding more effective or efficient ways of making or creating. It is essentially the tenets of design thinking."
He continues, "But all of this means nothing without the will to implement these newly discovered pathways. To be truly innovative, you must have the courage to 'do the thing'—whatever it is—and test whether your design thinking actually has any merit."
How he stays inspired: Baines believes that inspiration can be found anywhere if you keep your eyes and mind open to it. "The real question is, are you in the space, moment by moment, to be inspired? Early in my career, I read [Herman Miller design director] George Nelson’s How to See: Visual Adventures in a World God Never Made, and that manifesto about the need for visual literacy had a great impact of my understanding of inspiration," he explains, referring to Nelson as the "designer of modern design." 
"To be truly innovative, you must have the courage to 'do the thing'—whatever it is—and test whether your design thinking actually has any merit," says Baines.Photo: Courtesy of Damien Baines
Career highlights: "Hands down, it would be the collective work that I’ve done for Instagram initially, and then Meta holistically, at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity," he says. "I have had the opportunity to forge collaborative partnerships with some of the world’s most prolific designers and creators like Es Devlin, Germans Ermičs, Alexa Meade, Andrés Reisinger, Wolvesmouth Den, Felipe Pantone, Bompas & Parr (and so many more!) in a variety of capacities, from experiential activations and dinners to thought leadership sessions. And all to create experiences for some of the world’s best creative minds. What else could one ask for?"
His vision for the future: "The future of experiential is happening now," he says. "Because experiential is all about designing for the senses, all the tools that are amplifying our senses—augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality—will continue to become even more important. The new frontier is collapsing the space between the digital and the physical. Experiential will become even more important in commerce—and not just in marketing. If brick-and-mortar retail is to survive, it will need to become less transactional and more experiential."
This feature is sponsored by Spiro, the global brand experience agency for the new now. Spiro delivers culture-bending, out-of-this-world live brand experiences that give all your stakeholders a chance to experience your brand long after your event ends.
