Joe Gilliver, from Manchester’s Chameleon Agency, predicts the performance of the industry in the New Year.
Live events and experimental marketing can be viewed as a luxury within a marketing budget. However, there are unquestionable commercial benefits that brands who embrace face-toface events will see in terms of employee retention and profitability. Live events increase brand awareness, foster relationships and produce tangible results. What event trends can we expect to see in 2025?
Virtual events will not go away
CVent revealed that while 24% of European event organizers maintain their virtual event offering, 41% plan hybrid formats. This is an 8% increase from 2022.
We have produced hybrid events at Chameleon since our founding with great success. Paramount UK invited us to launch their Peak Sustainability strategy. We set up a 10-day takeover of their UK headquarters and a broadcasting studio where we interviewed celebrities about their environmental credentials. Live event content from the London team was streamed to international offices through a Sustainability Town Hall. The 10-day event proved to be a great success. We have created virtual events that were successful for IAG, Convatec and other companies this year. Convatec has a pop-up studio at their UK headquarters, where we work with the internal communications agency The Surgery to produce hybrid events. These include a two-way, interactive broadcast, complete with language translations and multiple simulations. Virtual events are becoming more popular as clients appreciate how immersive and engaging they can be. This allows employees to feel like they belong to an organisation, no matter where they are located.
Hyperpersonalisation
AI enhances events by creating unique experiences for all attendees. Personalised communication ensures that attendees get the most from their event experience. This is done by encouraging delegates to attend sessions and talks they will find interesting based on their roles, interests and profiles. In 2025, this will accelerate to ensure people make the most out of their time off their desk.
Attention to detail and service
Service levels dropped as the event industry struggled to recover from the pandemic. The industry has lost many skilled professionals, who are now gone forever. This leaves a gap in the industry that is difficult to fill for those new to the field. Now, I sense that the tide is changing and we’re returning to full-service. Event attendees in 2025 can expect the same service levels as we enjoyed before the pandemic. The future of events will focus on attention to detail.
A savage attack on the senses
Live events are superior to virtual events because they can engage all of the senses. Marketing experiments can be exciting through multi-sensory engagement and shared experiences. Event managers should make live events memorable by 2025. We must create events that emotionally connect your audience to the brand they represent. We helped Three celebrate their commercial successes with an immersive event. We created a day-long event around the theme ‘Anything but Ordinary.’ This included bespoke animations that celebrated the success of each department, as well as panel discussions and presentations. The celebrations culminated with an interactive evening, including Bandeoke. Anyone can join a band.
Storytelling
The term storytelling has been used in marketing for some time, but it is really about revealing your brand’s or organisation’s purpose and connecting with your audience. Be authentic in revealing your organisation’s ‘why’ on all of your communication channels. Bring this to life through your events, whether they are hybrid, virtual or live. You can take your audience on an adventure by using a narrative structure with a traditional story line, with exposition and rising action, followed by a resolution. In 2025, brand managers should align their events to their brand strategy and consider the story behind their organization.
HR News published the first version of this article What will corporate events look like in 2025.
