Judge of the Day: Why Barry Muldowney says unforgettable experiences begin with connection

Brands under pressure to prove short-term ROI often miss the deeper story of impact. “The real story of an experience is written in what happens afterwards,” he says. Return, recommendation and emotional closeness to the brand are the metrics that matter. The best work meets both needs, with tangible outcomes you can measure in the short term and a layer of memory and loyalty that compounds over time. One drives immediate numbers, the other builds long-term value.

His advice for brands trying to create memorable and shareable experiences is simple: meaning first. “The experiences that last are not the ones with the most moving parts, they are the ones with the clearest idea executed with care,” he says. People share moments that make them feel proud, surprised, moved or seen. For him, craft and emotional truth carry more weight than spectacle.

If he could create only one kind of experience in 2025 he would choose formats rooted in community. Festivals, cultural spaces and environments where people recognise themselves in the atmosphere. “That is when an event stops being something you attend and becomes something you belong to,” he says. He points to the Smirnoff Collective stage, where the resonance came from connection rather than scale. Belonging, he argues, has become the new benchmark for modern brand experience.

The most underused tool in experiential right now is silence. “Daily life is noisy enough,” he says. Brands often respond by adding more noise, more layers, more stimulation. Yet the moments people remember tend to be the opposite: a pause, a breath, a sense of presence. Designing calm takes confidence, but he believes those pockets of stillness can become the most powerful signal in a world overwhelmed by content.

The next generation of experiential producers will stand out through curiosity, courage and empathy. Tools and technologies will keep evolving, but mindset will matter most. “Technology can model journeys or automate processes, but it cannot sense the energy of a room,” he says. The leaders who thrive will be the ones who design for human emotion and understand how experiences make people feel long after the event ends.

The hardest part of delivering experiences today is aligning ambition with reality. Clients want impact, audiences want meaning and teams want to deliver flawlessly, while budgets and timelines rarely match the vision. “That is where creativity lives,” he says. The best work turns constraints into energy. Holding onto the spark of an idea while navigating real-world limitations is what separates an event from an experience people never forget. Constraints give ideas their edge.

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The Drum Awards Festival celebrates the experiential creatives who turn ideas into moments that move people. Follow jurors like Barry Muldowney as they define what meaningful experiential work looks like in 2025.