continuing your thought about real world interaction with narrative or brand, we’ve been working on a project that aims to stretch story as far into the physical realm as possible, less Disney, more DaDa.

I think the point you make (in your presentation) about leaving room for individual interpretation is spot on. Storytelling applied to a real world interaction or experience often results in a Disney-like attraction where you are shepherded from one place to the next. To me this is even more evidence that this kind of thinking lies way beyond the realm of current marketing thinking.

(You’re familiar with Blue Moon, I’m assuming – their success has been driven largely by using orange slices, and of course Magners succeeded by adding ice.)

In another part of the lake, I’ve been pondering about how brands can teach certain behaviours around consumption, drinking beer from the bottle or serving with a slice of lime in the neck

Try find the gesture/behaviour/ritual in this launch I did last year….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoZvPD3H0_M

Is this the kind of thing you mean?

I agree with @windo, even basic stuff is beyond most brands’ capabilities but I think things move forward faster than we imagine. It will only take one really smart company to embed movement into their brand experience for everyone else to start doing it. I think the likely culprits are the companies we always talk about – Apple et al.

In a similar vein, I find that when giving any business presentation, classroom lecture or professional seminar, the act of moving around the room is extremely powerful.

By integrating myself into/beside/behind/around the audience, I’ve always thought it makes for a much more collaborative process. Generally it promotes more dialogue and a better experience for everyone.

It may be that there is some psychological effect for the audience generated by my wandering that breaks down the walls you mentioned.

When I would venture off stage and enter the crowd, sitting at audience members’ tables, walking around among them . . .the invisible wall was broken, and the rules of interaction were shifted. Sometimes I’d give them the microphone, or share it with them and the degree of bonding between my “brand” and my “consumers” was perceptibly altered. For the *much* better.

Don’t know that I’ve added much to your idea, but it performer/audience scenario seems an interesting metaphor for what’s possible, and the potential outcomes, of brands changing the rules of engagement with people.