Sharon Yu-Ong began her journey in tech with an idea originating from her thesis. Now, she heads Waveplay Interactive, a pioneer in interactive events.
In the era of the pandemic, we’ve never relied on technology more. Online platforms allowed us to continuously collaborate at work, attend weddings remotely, play games with friends, and even stay in touch with loved ones from far away—for almost three years now.
However, although the digital industry’s impact on our lives is felt more than ever, interactive technology has been around since 2011, when Waveplay Interactive was founded by its CEO Sharon Yu Ong.
One of the Philippine pioneers in interactive event experiences, Waveplay has hosted wide-scale virtual gatherings, produced high-tech on ground executions, and launched “instagrammable” concepts. Interestingly, the idea for their first technology that aimed to turn audiences into human joysticks, originated from Yu-Ong’s college at De La Salle University.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t get Best Thesis. But I continued to believe in the idea so much that I applied for SM Cinema and showed the concept to my bosses. They loved it!” she tells Lifestyle Asia. Yu-Ong describes seeing audiences waving their hands to play SM Cinema’s Winema, the first interactive cinema in Asia, as a “pinch-me” moment.
This was about a decade ago, in what would become the start of a market tech evolution.
Two-way experiences
“Waveplay Interactive was founded at a time when the world was adjusting to the use of smartphones, so technology was still somewhat novel to the general public,” Yu-Ong narrates. “Being in the advertising industry, we saw that most campaigns then were one-way. In other words, consumers viewed ads passively. [By utilizing] never-before-seen innovations, our goal at Waveplay was to pioneer two-way experiences between brand and consumers that are memorable and fun.”
In collaboration with brands and agencies, they’ve developed various in-person executions like the Globe x Star Wars Motion Game, Anytime Fitness’ Interactive Bike the Korean Tourism Organization’s Red Light Green Light Game, the British Embassy of Manila Wall Alive, and E! Holo Foto to name a few.
The process of pivoting
While many of Waveplay Interactive’s notable events were held in-person (they were an on-ground company first), that, of course, had to change once the pandemic hit in March 2020 and canceled all their physical events. During this time, the company’s management team brainstormed every day to help the local event industry thrive during lockdown restrictions.
Although online wasn’t Waveplay’s original expertise, they were determined to translate physical events digitally, beyond the typical Zoom webinars and Facebook live streams.
“When the direction to develop Waveplay’s own virtual event platform was clear, everyone was required to learn hard and learn fast, as I would jokingly tell the team—’become overnight experts’,” Yu-Ong shares.
They aimed to merge a fully digital platform with their “signature elements” such as immersive, interactive, hyper-customized, and user-friendly across all demographics and devices.
By May 2020, “Webplay” was presented to industry partners, becoming the first virtual event platform in the country. “Their hope, excitement, and amazement after trying our fully working demo were incredibly motivating to the team,” Yu-Ong looks back. “And seemingly overnight, we went from sleepless nights thinking of our next steps to sleepless nights creating interactive online venues. Thank God for that good problem.”
Memorable events
Less than a month after their launch, Waveplay was tapped to convert one of the Philippines’ largest medical conventions to a virtual event.
“At the time, it was our first project of that magnitude. Our team worked with esteemed doctors who, understandably, were also adjusting to the virtual set-up. Over 15,000 medical professionals were expected to attend, with more than a hundred sessions and an extremely tight lead time,” the 2021 Campaign Asia-Pacific Women Leading Change awardee recalls.
According to Yu-Ong, despite the odds being against them, the virtual venue worked “seamlessly,” the doctors navigated the platform easily, and it was the first local medical convention to launch a fully immersive virtual event. Yu-Ong recalls, “taking on such a huge requirement forced us to stretch our capabilities early, and since then, we have been able to take on bigger projects with ease.”
Thinking big
And she shares that it’s been uphill from there with Waveplay being the sole Philippine company garnering recognitions in the Event Technology Awards UK and Global Eventex Awards. The Webplay platform has likewise powered some of the country’s biggest virtual events such as PH Digicon, and the Philippine Medical Association Convention, to name a few.
As an entrepreneur that values being consistent with her work, Yu-Ong takes pride in her practice to continually surpass the previous event, especially when working with repeat clients—from drawing up fresh ideas, developing new features, to their quick abilities to execute the plans.
Looking ahead, she sees brands and event organizers not turning a blind eye to the scalability and accessibility of virtual events—even when in-person ones become a norm again. But in anticipation for the “next normal”, the Waveplay team has been busy cooking up “phygital” technologies, which are hybrid, contactless, and integrated events.
“Think big. Execute bigger,” is written on Yu-Ong’s office wall. As a woman in the technology field, a male-dominated industry, she cites her company’s “breakthroughs” as a result of being intentional about user experience, and their unceasing drive to outdo themselves.
All photos courtesy of Sharon Yu-Ong
