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Take your event one stage further…

Your brand strategy may be working perfectly.
But when it comes to a live event, these elements take second stage. Because the physical environment takes centre stage over the digital environment.
You may have done the hard work in attracting your audiences. But now they’re at your event, how do you captivate them? Look at your brand environment.

What does that mean?

Your surroundings
Where will your brand be positioned? Near the entrance? By a social/break-out area? Will you be near a competitor? How will you differentiate?

Gillette are one of the many brands we have created brand environments for

Will you be using a platform for product demos or giving speeches? Will that create a sense of importance? Or distance?

You also need to build trust in your environment. Research suggests up to 90% of consumers don’t trust brands. This makes it all the more important to look at options such as…

…experiential marketing. This is an ideal way to build your brand environment, as a multi-sensory brand-experience concept. Delivering an immersive, sensory environment will leave a big impression on your audience.

Guide to creating a branding environment

Understand your audience
Find out where they are. Linkedin? Twitter? Get a sense of their needs and reflect them in your brand environment, to make it easy to connect with them. For example, being aware of the hashtags they use, or the LinkedIn groups they could join.

• Use technology
  Use real-time tools to engage visitors. For example, display live tweets on a digital display, or provide tablets for people to interact with your brand.
• Control the surroundings
  Think about how you want to project your brand. What types of lighting do you want? How do you want to arrange your stand? Exclusive, or inclusive?
• Nurture leads
  Measure the success of your approach with targeted follow-up emails, to gauge reactions, measure engagement, and plan for an even more successful event next time.
• Unsure of the possibilities?
  We have delivered brand environments for global clients such as Google, Mobil, and O2. We can offer you advice, expertise, and the benefit of our 15+ years’ experience.

Virtual Reality is here, and it’s going to revolutionise the event experience.

Brands and events companies are starting to explore the technology’s potential, and the rewards are immense. It enables you to build your brand and engage your audience in unprecedented ways. Here’s why.

Complete immersion
What happens the second one of your prospects puts on a headset? You instantly have their undivided attention. They’re not going to be looking over your shoulder to see who else is around. They’re not going to be exposed to competing brand messaging. You have the ideal opportunity to connect with them in an intense multi-sensory environment.

More accessible than ever before
You no longer need specialist equipment to experience the magical world of VR. It’s now possible to pick up a generic plastic (or cardboard) headset for a few pounds. Combine this with a mobile device (there are plenty of VR apps available on app stores) and you’re all set. Lowering the “entry point” for the technology means VR can be easily incorporated into event budgets.

Reach anyone, at anytime
You can have – literally – no limits to the reach of your campaign. Give delegates a preview of what to expect via an app, building interest and momentum ahead of the big day. If they can’t make the event, you could offer the chance to experience your event from anywhere. Or offer follow-ups, to remind delegates of your offering, and to show others what they missed out on. Here’s how Paul McCartney appeared in a concert, with footage filmed as a “cinematic VR experience”.

Make your first impressions last
Media coverage is still relatively “niche”, with in-depth articles usually limited to the tech sections of mainstream publications. That’s all going to change by late-summer/early autumn, when HTC, Oculus Rift and Sony bring out their consumer headsets. That’s when VR will truly hit the mainstream. And it’s all the more reason to familarise yourself with the technology now. Those that succeed will ensure their brand is automatically ahead of most of their competitors.

Post-event promotion
It can be difficult to take in everything at an event. You may have a packed schedule of engaging speakers lined up – but will your delegates be able to stay all day? You could record the highlights as a VR showreel and distribute afterwards – perhaps as paid-for content. That way you ensure repeated exposure for your brand.

It’s often said that the best way to predict the future is to create it. Harnessing the magic of VR in your event is one surefire way to create a successful future for your brand. And you know what else is great about it? We’re just at the very start of something amazing.

Look at how apps like Periscope are being used to transmit live footage of events. It won’t be long before it’ll be possible to do something similar with Virtual Reality. When that happens… there really will be no limits to your event’s reach. How does that sound? Talk to us to find out how we can make VR happen for you.

Irrespective of which market sector you’re in, creating a live event is a fantastic way to get the attention of clients and potential prospects.

This could just be a social Summer & Christmas party or structured around business development such as the launch of a new product or promotion.
Holding a live event gives you valuable ‘face time’ with potential customers and offers the opportunity for them to experience the look, feel and personality of your brand. Maybe, adopt a theme to create additional interest, such as a 1920s cocktail evening or a vintage tea party.

Why not also consider raising funds for a chosen charity at your event – it’s the perfect way to give back as you increase brand loyalty? One i3 client hosted a Corporate Annual Touch Rugby Competition at Twickenham for invited corporate teams & organisations who all come together to raise funds for the various charities they support. The day was always filled with loads of energy, with so much positivity coming from the teams and supporters!

Live events are an opportunity to create customer satisfaction, putting your brand top of mind and allowing consumers to not only engage but create their own story that incorporates your brand.

Creating a brand experience that consumers can capture and share not only extends the reach of your brand, it also creates a lot of dialogue in participant’s social media posts. Research has indicated that consumers attending a live event have an increased intent to maintain brand loyalty.

Events are more impactful than they have ever been. Not only is a brand amplified through attendee’s social media channels, an event or an experience, but it also provides a host of content that can be promoted widely long after the event has finished. A live event provides a great opportunity to create effective and engaging video content that can be shared across multiple channels.

Consider if there is an opportunity for you to introduce more impactful events into your marketing plan to further engage consumers!

The Outside-In strategy focusses on delivering all aspects of marketing from a customers’ perspective.

Companies using this approach first seek to immerse themselves in the mind of their clients to fully understand their needs before designing their marketing strategy.

How can this be achieved?

Remind yourself of your market
By taking the time to carry out research, you can identify and act on a range of opportunities and threats to your business.

Through taking the important step in getting to know your market correctly, it is possible to build stronger plans for the coming months with context as well as fresh ideas. It also lessens the risk of being caught out by market changes due to not having information at the ready.

Market research can help with;

• Identifying gaps for business opportunities (e.g. new services or products, or even just rearranging existing business features)
• Anticipating and acting on trends or changes (e.g. technology, or customer habits)
• Evaluating and understanding customers’ needs
• Customer satisfaction – are your customers happy? If not, why?
• Choosing which method of advertising works best for you
• Keeping ahead of the competition

Get to know your customers
One of the biggest errors companies make is trying to attract everyone. By precisely defining your Target Audience to a distinct set of customers, you can get into the shoes of those you are focusing on. This allows you to tailor your marketing strategy to your target customer, which should ultimately increase your marketing and businesses effectiveness.

Get out a crystal ball
You’ve reviewed your market, analysed your client base and now you need to use that data to look forward. How can you pull this information together to keep your company one step ahead?

Keeping up with trends allows you to stay in touch with your target customers wants, their buying habits and all the new technologies which can improve your business for customers.

Schedule some meetings
With the rise of technology, face to face meetings with customers is starting to become a rarity. This is because technologies such as phone calls or video communications allow for easy and often cheaper alternatives to face to face meetings.

However, face to face contact with customers is vital as it helps to trust, understanding and a feeling of a shared goal. This can be hard to replicate through online communication.

From experience, it is generally also more productive as face-to-face meetings can generate greater ideas in the initial stages via brainstorming.

Attend industry events
Finally, on the theme of real-time interaction look ahead at the events, awards and gatherings scheduled for the next year. Ideally, you will also be exhibiting at a few of these well-chosen events.

That different perspective, maybe even attending as an individual rather than your organisation, can allow you to review your position, have different conversations with competitors, partners and clients in a new environment.

Think too of creating your own events and create a unique/memorable spin. Lasting Impressions…