Project:
Smart Trailer Fleet Retrofit & Trade Show Activation
Client:
Amazon / Star Waggons
Role:
Creative Technology Director
Amazon tasked us with a unique challenge: prove that their Fire TV and Echo ecosystem could function reliably in the high-stress environment of active movie sets while delivering a premium, intuitive experience for the A-list talent living in them. The objective was to retrofit a fleet of 20 luxury Star Waggons trailers into fully voice-activated smart environments. This required a seamless fusion of hardcore engineering and high-touch experience design.
I served as the Creative Technology Director, bridging the gap between the technical and the creative. On the technical side, I architected a custom infrastructure using industrial-grade “ambulance modems” to solve connectivity issues caused by the trailers’ metal shells acting as Faraday cages. Simultaneously, I led the creative vision, directing a designer to craft a cohesive visual system—including custom stickers, wayfinding, and printed user guides—that made the complex tech feel approachable. I also designed the voice user interface (VUI), scripting custom Alexa utterances (e.g., “Alexa, I’m home”) that triggered orchestrated lighting and entertainment sequences.
The initial deployment of 20 trailers to active productions (including Disney’s corporate HQ) was so successful that the client commissioned us to scale the concept for a major industry trade show. I led the expansion of the experience for this new venue, overseeing the creation of updated creative assets and programming new custom voice interactions tailored for a live event audience.
Results
- Successfully deployed 20 Smart Home trailers to active film sets and expanded the activation to a major trade show.
- Engineered a robust connectivity solution while directing the full suite of visual and physical creative assets.
- Proved the viability of Amazon’s ecosystem in industrial environments through a user-centric design approach.
