How do I use an innovation centre to move buyers beyond our old reputation?

Use an innovation centre to make broader capabilities concrete, relevant and credible for the people evaluating them. Build the visit around real business challenges, clear demonstrations of expertise and follow-up experiences that help the wider buying group understand the proposition. Judge success through changed perceptions and measurable commercial progression, not visual impact alone.

Make the new proposition tangible

An innovation centre can help buyers look beyond a legacy reputation when it makes the organisation's current capabilities easy to understand in a relevant context. Maersk faced an established perception as a marine transport and ship-operating company, despite its technology-enabled digital supply chain capabilities and new Innovation Center. Its response started with stakeholder research into current perceptions, then put projects, case studies and examples at the centre of a digital experience.

The experience should therefore show what has changed, why it matters to the visitor's business and how the organisation applies its expertise in practice. For Maersk, this meant highlighting innovation areas including autonomous vehicles, computer vision, machine learning, predictive data analytics, education and robotics. A distinct identity can support that story, but the buyer needs to leave with a clearer understanding of capability, not simply a stronger impression of the environment.

Sources: Maersk Innovation Center: A Vision of Innovation

Turn the visit into evidence, not theatre

A persuasive innovation-centre experience connects an immersive format to specific proof of how the organisation solves a customer problem. The IBM Garage campaign presented a co-creation space where IBM experts and client leaders use design techniques and technology to solve defined business challenges. Its campaign extended the experience through an interactive physical book and browser-based virtual reality, giving prospective clients a way to encounter the environment before an in-person engagement.

Interactive storytelling is most useful when it reveals the substance behind a complex proposition. At GITEX GLOBAL, Khazna used an interactive experience to explain the layers involved in designing and building AI infrastructure, from location and grid connection to sustainability and intelligence. The format made technical work more tangible by linking each stage to a clear explanation. Use interaction to help buyers explore relevant evidence and questions, rather than adding novelty without a commercial or technical purpose.

Sources: IBM Garage: Account-Based Marketing Campaign, Khazna: Putting the Invisible Centre Stage, Designing an authentic emotional connection

Design for the people who must carry the case forward

A visit should support more than the individual who enters the innovation centre. Maersk designed its Innovation Center experience for startups and venture capital funds, vendors and suppliers, supply chain research and innovation bodies, government agencies and customers. That breadth required an experience that could communicate both the centre's purpose and its practical relevance to different audiences.

Plan the visit around the questions each participant needs answered, then give them material they can share with colleagues who were not present. IBM's campaign combined physical and virtual components, allowing the Garage proposition to reach new and existing audiences beyond the space itself. For technical and commercial stakeholders alike, the strongest takeaway is a concise account of the problem, the relevant capability, the evidence behind it and the practical next conversation. This makes the experience easier to carry into internal evaluation.

Sources: Maersk Innovation Center: A Vision of Innovation, IBM Garage: Account-Based Marketing Campaign

FAQs

What makes an innovation centre visit feel like proof instead of theatre?

An innovation centre visit feels like proof when it shows how expertise is applied to a specific customer challenge, rather than relying on atmosphere alone. IBM Garage was framed as a place where IBM experts and client leaders use modern design techniques and technology to solve business challenges. Khazna similarly used interactive storytelling to reveal the practical layers behind AI infrastructure.

What should an innovation centre demonstration prove to buyers?

An innovation centre demonstration should prove that the organisation can connect its capabilities to a relevant business outcome. Maersk's Innovation Center experience put projects, case studies and examples at the centre of its story, helping show its technology-enabled supply chain capabilities beyond shipping. A demonstration should make the underlying work, expertise and application understandable to the audience.

How do I involve the rest of the buying group after an innovation centre visit?

Give visitors clear, shareable materials that explain the challenge, capability and supporting examples for colleagues who did not attend. IBM used both an interactive physical book and browser-based virtual reality to extend the Garage experience to prospective clients. Maersk also built its Innovation Center experience for a broad audience that included customers, suppliers, government agencies, research bodies and investors.

When should an innovation centre visit use working prototypes?

Use working prototypes when they help answer a buyer's real question about how a capability works or what it can achieve. The available examples show the value of making complex work tangible through interactive explanations, case studies and specific innovation areas. A prototype should clarify the proposition and its application, not become an isolated attraction.

How do I design an innovation centre visit around buyer questions?

Structure the experience around the buyer's challenge, the proof they need and the next conversation they must take back to colleagues.

  1. Start with the perception gap

    Identify the outdated assumption buyers hold about the organisation and the capability they need to understand instead. Use audience research and stakeholder conversations to establish the questions, concerns and business context that the visit must address. Build the narrative around changing that specific understanding.

  2. Show capability in context

    Organise demonstrations around real challenges, applications, projects and examples that show how the organisation works. Use interactive content only where it helps visitors explore complex information or make a relevant connection. Keep the explanation clear enough for both technical and commercial participants.

  3. Prepare the onward conversation

    Give visitors concise material they can share internally after the visit. Make the next step explicit, whether that is a further discussion, a co-creation session or a review of relevant evidence. Record what questions were answered and what still needs to be addressed for other participants.

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