1. Let digital lead the way
Events of all kinds are increasing their reliance on digital technology to do everything from increasing their reach and widening their audience, to personalising and enhancing certain aspects of brand experiences. Digital tech also enables audiences to interact with brands and build brand communities in new ways, and for marketers and event professionals to learn more about audience behaviours.

With all that, it makes sense to take a digital-first approach. Even live, in-person events can be designed and planned around maximising attendees’ digital engagement far beyond the time and place of the actual event.

2. The personal(ised) touch
People have always responded well when they are being noticed and catered to as individuals. Now, technology has enabled brands and event organisers to achieve a degree of personalisation that makes attendees feel that events have been created for them, or on their behalf.

The actual degree of personalisation need only be slight, but if it is applied in the right place in the right way, its impact can run deep. For example, at a Hewlett-Packard (HP) Malaysia Partners Event, each attendee received an AR invitation card with a unique personalised video.

3. Integrate those channels
Whether you call it omnichannel or integrated channel, the essence of this approach is to ensure that all the event’s working parts – digital as well as in-person, online and offline – mesh together seamlessly, offering an experience of equal value throughout.

A recent example was HP’s presence at the Coachella music festival this year. Inside the HP Antarctic Dome, the brand underlined the festival’s and its own commitment to sustainability by presenting REGEN, an immersive 360-degree sensory journey combining tech, art and music. The experience transcended the Dome itself, with a dedicated social media campaign taking it to a worldwide audience. Participants could even create their own sustainable sounds and upload them to social media platforms.

In all, more than 80,000 people visited the HP Antarctic Dome during Coachella, while total impressions – including from social media, the metaverse, and physical site – reached a record-breaking 12 billion.

4. Follow the data
The more audiences digitally engage at events, the easier it is to gather data on their behaviour. But more data does not necessarily mean better knowledge; it is important to analyse appropriately so that useable conclusions can be reached on what worked, what did not, why and with whom.

Some new products are leading the way to make such analyses faster, easier and more scientific. Among those offerings is Pico ExQ Experience Analytics, which uses a proprietary algorithm to measure event performance against real first-party data, yielding clear and actionable answers to business-critical questions.

5. Sustainability lends purpose
More and more consumers are translating their serious concern for the environment to a demand that brands and companies take sustainability to heart.
As events comprise a major brand-audience interface, it is through them that commitments to facets of sustainability such as recycling, responsible sourcing and resource efficiency can be demonstrated.

Sustainability made a big splash in Hong Kong when Articoin, a dedicated digital art platform, collaborated with HSBC to promote 11 exclusive NFT art pieces on display at K11 Museum. The 11 works were ‘previewed’ by projecting them onto the façade of the HSBC headquarters, with the bank also giving away 1,000 non-tradable NFTs as eco-friendly gifts to customers.