Global launch event for tech company Pocket Bard's tavern music collection.

A Manhattan tavern transformed into an enchanted realm; featuring immersive story, team building puzzles, and a boisterous group adventure: the Quest of the Crimson Crows.

The Challenge:

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​Pocket Bard's (immersive audio for table top gaming) most requested music & ambiance collection was 'Tavern'.​ With multiple years in production, the new collection represented an entirely new level of offering, with bold new features and exciting surprises. With they eyes of their community keenly on the launch of this new product, Pocket Bard decided to host their first ever in-person launch event.

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The launch would require venue scouting in Manhattan to find an authentic old world tavern, writing an immersive fantasy story that highlighted Pocket Bard's profound journey of music creation, the design of a team-building puzzle journey, and the design & management of a robust (mixed media) advertising campaign.

Our Solution:

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Research began into the ancient music traditions of the world, including indigenous tribal and cultural practices. This laid the groundwork for an immersive story that featured the real-world-magic of how native peoples learned to hear the 'soul' of their lands, and then turn it into music. As Pocket Bard attempted to find the 'secret music of the Tavern', it would require all guests present at the launch event to embark on the Quest of the Crimson Crows to successfully activate this same ancient magic, and bring their new collection to the world.

4 original escape-room-style puzzles were designed to bring 12 groups of 6 strangers together through fun team-building. Each puzzle solved would progress the story of the evening, culminating in all 12 teams finding & assembling the secret sheet music (and soul) of the tavern. This patchwork sheet music would be given to the house band - the studio musicians for the Pocket Bard App - and played (to boisterous sing-along) for the final spell of the night to release the new music collection into the world. 

In Numbers:

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• 66 guests

• 4 custom 'escape room style' puzzles

• 1 two-minute tarot nook

• 1 coloring corner (for introverts)

• 2 contributor partners (Seed Collective Documentary Crew, Brazen Tavern NYC,)​

• 5 original scripts