Secret Location is an Emmy® Award-winning interactive agency that launches products and solves problems through storytelling for brands, broadcasters and producers. Just five years old, Secret Location employs 25 full time people and 10 to 20 specialists on contract at any given time. “To create successful interactive experiences, we believe our company needs to strike a balance between three industries: working to build and extend our clients’ brands, creating entertaining experiences and developing our own original technology to build on the skill set we provide to clients”. The way Secret Location works everyday is in direct response to the fragmented media landscape and the fundamental strategic business needs of our partners and clients.
Storytelling is the process they use to solve content problems. “We approach all projects by first considering and strengthening story, which involves distributing the concept, design and develop all within one team. Ultimately, this is critical to success when responding to the fast-moving behavior of audiences and customers. In addition to the story being fundamental to success, we also consider the medium and its interactivity as fundamental to the story. Our philosophy is to lead with the idea, find and extend the story and then choose the right platform, technique or technology, based on the strategic problem we’re trying to solve”. Working regularly in several different industries, Secret Location has grown quickly, gaining lots of experience in varied markets. As a result, their portfolio is diversified and the clients aren’t industry-specific. “If the project goal is to extend a narrative or story, then we want to be a part of it”.
THE SEVENS is a multi-layered narrative experience from Secret Location that can be enjoyed on a number of levels: as a short film, an interactive game, or a fully immersive mystery in which users can participate. ‘The Sevens’ begins with a phone call and contains three puzzles for viewers to solve. In a suburban home, a young girl named Julie is confronted with a series of mysterious symbols that, once arranged in a particular order, unlock a phone number and passcode. If users solve the puzzles and dial the number, they are taken deeper into the story’s narrative by being given a chance to solve one final puzzle that reveals an alternative ending. The immersive experience is the centerpiece of Toronto-based interactive agency Secret Location’s relaunched website and is designed to surprise and entertain while showcasing the extent of the company’s skills. Just watch the video bellow and then pay a visit to the link after.