Sydney startup Orbits celebrates the launch of its new digital headquarters and rebrand, showcasing its ability to connect people in virtual venues that evoke the physical world. Recognizing the new normal is hybrid, Orbits revamped its platform to meet the surge in post-pandemic demands for more immersive, interactive and intimate virtual collaboration and connection.
Virtual venue startup Orbits revealed a new brand identity, website, and digital HQ to appeal to event organizers and professionals across all industries. Despite the return of in-person events, organisations have seen the indisputable benefits of hosting a virtual counterpart to stay relevant and reach a wider audience. Foreseeing the demands of an inevitable hybrid future, Orbits’ spaces are thoughtfully designed to give context and meaning to digitally fragmented lives.
“At the heart of Orbits is a mission to humanize the web. Virtual events are currently a mess of robotic links, emails, and reminders. We set out to change the way people meet online by creating digital spaces that feel like home. We’ve all felt the excitement of showing up at a beautiful venue, the pride of being part of a dynamic office, or the quiet sense of purpose from entering a charming space surrounded by like-minded people. Places create purpose, and Orbits is about bringing that sense of purpose and home into our digital lives,” says Lachlan Phillips, Co-Founder and CEO, Orbits.
Orbits now offers bespoke virtual venues in all sizes and types, from global conferences, immense expositions and large-scale symposiums to intimate fireside chats and hybrid workplaces. The website redesign aims to showcase the depth and breadth of Orbits’ offerings and memorable virtual experiences, including one-time, long-term or recurring events. Orbits’ operates at the highest flexibility, customization and efficiency to enable businesses to incorporate hybrid venues as both a universal solution and sustainable model.
“Orbits’ rebrand has been an opportunity to crystalize everything the team has created since 2020, and signal our intent to be the leading platform to embrace the needs of 2022 and beyond: our new hybrid lives. The stacked rings of our new marque logo evoke the different layers of our realities, physical and virtual, coming together elegantly on Orbits. With this new identity we wanted to create a vision of warm futurism, channelling the excitement of The Jetsons, and manifesting the optimism of the Machine Age and the Space Age,” says Nena Salobir, Co-Founder and CCO, Orbits.
Born in the early days of the pandemic, Orbits launched in the midst of 2020 lockdowns to address the urgent need to bring people together virtually with joy, excitement and delight. In addition, Orbits provided a solution for businesses to salvage cancelled physical events and deliver greater value online. In two years, the startup has hosted bespoke virtual events for bluechip companies (Microsoft, ASUS, Sothys), organizations (UN Women Australia, Brisbane Powerhouse) and universities (University of Colorado, York University) to name a few.
Orbits transported guests from around the world to digital realms created in close partnership with the event organizers. Clients with various needs ranging from workplace replicas to digital twins of conferences and festivals have chosen Orbits for its compelling rendered maps, impressive suite of tech features and free-roaming, interactive capabilities.
For example, to house a global team summit for the legacy skincare brand Sothys, Orbits created a digital twin of the sprawling botanical gardens at the company’s headquarters in Auriac, France. The summit left no employees behind, as Sothys practitioners from over 120 countries were able to fully participate from their homes and engage in an extensive program of almost 24 hours of live workshops and presentations.
In comparison to existing tools, Orbits’ advanced technical features were designed and built with compassion in mind: intuitive, isometric maps, which are easily navigated, gives agency back to the user to choose where they want to arrive, who they want to meet or how they want to interact. Meanwhile, the ability to create highly customizable venues gives power to the clients, who are left driven by imagination and unencumbered by practicalities. From immersive landscapes supplemented by custom soundscapes to creative interactions and thoughtful details, the digital world is limitless—a blimp can serve as a social hang-out or a unique audio can play as users enter.
As the metaverse continues to evolve while the world acclimates to hybrid living and working, Orbits remains at the forefront of creating virtual environments that prioritize the user’s well-being, comfort and digital experience. Alongside advancing its technical capabilities, Orbits’ ever-optimizing virtual venues remain grounded in context, familiarity and belonging.
