Experiential Event Marketing Trends in 2021

The secret is out; digital fatigue is a serious problem for marketing.  People are tired of being spammed and are looking for more experiences IRL. This means that Event Marketing is going to be even more relevant in 2021.

The question is: how do you spend your budget to get the most effective marketing results?

The following trends may give you some inspiration for your marketing plans.

1. Sustainable Events:

This has to be number one on many people’s lists. With Greta Thunberg recently being named TIME Person of the Year, it is clear that sustainability is very much on the minds of Millennials, Gen Z, and almost everyone else. A recent article by Social Tables suggests: “Sustainable event planning is slowly becoming a must for all kinds of events. But it’s now an imperative for large-scale events — especially those that set the tone for the industry.” What does this mean for event marketers? When it comes to creating a footprint for a brand, “building big and custom fabrications that later become landfill will become a thing of the past,” according to The Vendry. Marketing Insider Group also writes in a recent article: “As consumers demand brands to develop more sustainable practices, they will also expect events to be planned in a way that will have a minimal environmental impact.”

2. Personalized Events:

The future is tailored. With all of the data brands accumulate about their demographics, event marketing will become more targeted in 2021. This means some brands will want smaller, more intimate experiential programs that will leave a bigger impact on individuals. This is partly due to the rise of the Influencer and strategic ways to encourage user-generated marketing. One interesting outcome of this shift will be seen in global campaigns where local knowledge will be essential to effectively create events that really engage the people who attend them.

3. Experimental Experiential:

While all event marketing is experimental in some ways, the push for new ways to engage with consumers means that creativity will be even more important in 2021. As we experienced at the end of 2019 with our involvement in The Aeronauts’ promotion using hot air balloon rides to simulate the experience of the movie, the sky is the limit.

Contact us to see how we can help you create green, authentic, and creative events using experiential event marketing trends in 2021.