Opportunity: WarnerMedia came to ESI Design with a unique challenge for its new head office: Unite its world-class portfolio of brands (Warner Bros., HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, TNT, etc.) for the first time both physically under one roof and symbolically under one brand.

Solution: ESI integrated digital media across the company’s 27 floors – from the main ground floor lobby to the sky lobby, screening floors, C-suite and workspaces. We created a unified design language of screens wrapped around corners to give a sense of dimensionality, and identified media content to highlight from the company’s vast universe of networks. ESI also designed two interactive touchscreens, taken from WarnerMedia data sources, to include the audience in the brand experience.

The showpiece is a 65-foot digital sculpture for the spiral staircase in the building’s glass “prow.” The sculpture’s seemingly random patterns of color and light are actually algorithmically-generated abstractions of WarnerMedia content. Tablets at the top and bottom of the staircase explain the content sources.

ESI also developed a custom Content Management System (CMS) that provides visual assets, scheduling and other operational logic for the WarnerMedia team to run the screens, including the ability to create “takeover” moments for big events like movie premieres.

Result: The WarnerMedia brand experience is not only dynamic, but also adaptable and scalable. It engages and surprises employees and visitors, and shows WarnerMedia’s dedication to empowering the best talent to do their best work.