Will face to face marketing continue to be as effective in 2021 (especially in the Gen Z and student market)?

As more of the country comes out of full lockdown I can safely say I'm not the only one excited about the thought of getting back to live events.

This excitement should certainly be good news for event organisers, as we are already seeing another huge surge in requests for tickets to our events from our student audience. 

But with potential changes in the structure of events, from brands’ perspective, will events continue to be a strong marketing option?

As a long time advocate of the power of experiential and live marketing, you'll be surprised to hear from me that the answer is yes and no!

From a marketing perspective, Freshers Festival Group has missed the opportunity to engage deeply with our audience face-to-face and we are relishing the chance to return to live events. When it comes to building long-lasting brand loyalty, in our opinion, there is no better channel than live events.

We have numerous examples on our website of large global brands seeing significant positive results from our events, including one drinks brand who, in a survey, saw 56% of their brand awareness in the student market come from our events which only made up 0.3% of their total marketing spend.

Data also shows:

? 98% of people feel more inclined to purchase a product attending a face-to-face activation.

? 90% of consumers have more positive feelings towards a brand after attending an event.

? 71% of consumers share information about their experience of event marketing with their friends/family.

There is no doubt, especially within the Gen Z and student audience, that all of the above will continue to hold true in 2021.

On the other hand, a lot will be changing this year when it comes to event marketing. The demand for tickets shows that there are many who will be desperate to return to live events, however there will be many who are unable or unwilling to travel to events after our lengthy lockdowns. 

In addition, venue capacities may be reduced with social distancing still a real prospect for exhibitions and other events.

My fear is most clients will go back to their pre-COVID approaches to face to face marketing. While for many savvy and established players in the youth market, this may still work, for others a strong marketing ROI will not be achieved unless change is made. So how are Freshers Festival developing its approach to our events to help attendees and our clients make the most of the experiences?

?? In 2021, our Freshers Festival Tour will be fully digital as well as live, allowing students the chance to access our events in a way in which they are comfortable.

?? All of our live event content will carry a digital element (think behind the scenes content from our Main Stage, in-event Tik Tok challenges which our audience can also participate in from home).

?? Not only will freebies be available at our events but those attending digitally can request goody bags be delivered directly to their homes

?? An exciting tech platform (soon to be announced) will allow the attendees from both the live and digital events feel part of the same tour, keeping them connected with brands and organisations and most importantly each other.

So whilst event marketing is still top of our list at Freshers Festival Group as our favourite marketing channel we understand we will have to approach it slightly differently. 

That being said it gives the opportunity to be creative, build enhanced experiences for everyone involved and most importantly keep our audience engaged and safe at all times.

I would love to hear your thoughts on how you will be approaching live events in 2021.