The unexpected delights of digital events and activations (and why you should be thinking about running them) has been front of mind at Brandwave HQ.
Like it or not, global attitudes towards digital communication are currently going through a systemic shift. Necessity is the mother of digital invention…
In this blog, Brandwave founder Dan looks at the new and evolving opportunities around turning events that were previously physical into digital equivalents. Think you can’t do it with your events? Think again. Not only might it be possible, it might even be a more successful event for it…
Over the past weeks, the Brandwave Team have been working round the clock with our clients around the world to take some of our most successful physical events and activations and take them into previously uncharted digital realms. From large-scale webinars and digital activations to international coffee bars, we’ve been exploring new formats that were previously bypassed pre-Covid-19.
The demand for digital events has never been greater and the benefits come in more ways than you might think. Here are a few of my favourite upsides of the digital delights:
- Borderless – No matter how great a venue you secure for a physical event, it’s always going to be limited by geography, transport links, and availability of accommodation. Digital events can be completely borderless.
- Family friendly – Bring your international athlete team, ambassadors and influencer family all together, potentially alongside brand fans under one digital roof. A rare opportunity usually reserved for a few days a year.
- Better speakers – Guest speakers from all over the world are a possibility. What speakers have you always wanted at one of your events? It seems everyone is more receptive to having conversations these days, now might be the time to give them a buzz.
- Enhanced accessibility – Before potential attendees have even considered the cost of attending your event, they must consider the additional costs of transport and accommodation. Digital events completely eliminate this. They are all about inclusion. Accessible any time, anywhere and on any device.
- Increased convenience – The Covid-19 crisis has left many of us in the tricky situation of trying to juggle family and work at home. The dip in / dip out nature of digital events means attendees can partake in all from the comfort of their pyjamas, and with event recordings, at a time thats convenient to them.
- Decreased cost – Accommodation, conference centres, food, transport, AV, licences… the costs for physical events can rack up quickly and they tend to increase proportionately to the headcount. With digital events, those costs never enter the equation. Fixed costs can be spread far further over increased numbers of attendees resulting in much great returns on investment and economies of scale.
- Bespoke experiences – As the functionality of platforms like Zoom continues to improve, attendees of digital events can quickly be split out into smaller groups according to their preferences. This allows for round table discussions and coffee bars where attendees may prefer face to face discussions to presentations.
- Increased database – With the acceleration of attitudinal change towards digital events, the perceived barriers to attend are dropping quickly. For organic word of mouth to influencer campaigns and paid advertising, there are a plethora of easy ways to increase both awareness and attendance at digital events while exponentially increasing GRPR compliant databases.
