How Will Be The Future Of Experiential Marketing in Post COVID World?

Something is better than nothing that is what we are seeing the Virtual events are taking the centre stage during this pandemic. Many are feeling that going forward Hybrid events are going to happen since Digital events cannot be compared to physical events. Moreover, it is an opportunity for the technology companies to showcase their innovations. An expert says, these are the innovative approaches to sell the products, solutions and services during the pandemic, which was a dream for many to do experiential marketing and they have never felt that the opportunity to arrive so fast. Hence, many businesses are not sure they're ready to invest in the trend of experiential marketing as yet.

While experiential marketing has been consistently hyped as the "next big thing to showcase the digital experience, which has created a sustainable, flexible work model, where one needs to thrive in a time of change being innovated by the Global tech companies. This is not going to replace the physical events completely, after the situation of social distancing being the new normal. Experiential marketing will continue to be a priority for building relationships and delivering on thought leadership. But businesses are adapting fast to virtual conferences, and the savings are significant (costs, emissions, waste). To play well as experiential marketing, virtual events are going to include moderated group breakouts, gamified agendas and in-app click-to-share social content at a minimum.

Secondly, experiential marketing is more digital. People are spending more time online and using connected devices as they are mandated to stay inside. Going forward, there will be an opportunity for corporates to support the speakers/presenters to interactions to be powered with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) .

There is no deny in the fact that, each industry including the events and experiential industry is going through uncertain times. Many questions are arising as the brand spends on event marketing on hold, everyone in the sector is asking how soon will the activity return to normal? Will it return to the pre-COVID time? Will brands continue to spend on event marketing in a world headed towards social distancing and zero touch? It is early to answer. However, experts feel that, social distancing is likely to remain as the new normal for some time after we get through the COVID-19 crisis. Experiential marketers will need to consider how to use new technologies with social spacing to connect with consumers in an engaging manner.

Future of work is going to be hybrid, and the future will not be 100% remote. The future will have hybrid models of work and "will definitely be more flexible. Experiential marketing will continue to evolve and will be an essential tool for helping brands stand out from the noise. Come 2021, we expect to see more virtual conferences and activations that will give a whole new perspective to the space of experiential marketing. As we navigate through this pandemic, brands are challenged to pivot to provide a utility, adopt new technologies and continue to provide value and insight to consumers. At the same time, many feel that, industry players should stay positive in these tough times and called the ongoing crisis a temporary pause and hardly there is any revenue. But this will be another 2-3 month phenomena and many feel that from November onwards, some of the physical events may come back.