As we begin a new year amid another pandemic surge, the industry is focused on in-person experiences that offer ease of interaction and prioritize the wellbeing of audiences. Indeed, brands have had almost two years to test and evaluate different types of programming while restrictions tightened and loosened. Here we examine a few event trends around in-car experiences, mobile, hybrid and the metaverse that are not only pandemic-proof, but also redefining what it means to activate an “event.”
Interactive Ticket Adventures Continue
Once thought of as a temporary pivot strategy for the age of social distancing, in-car experiences, known now as “drive-into” adventures, are now a bona fide tactic in the experiential marketer’s toolkit.
Inspired by the classic drive-in movie experience, drive-into events often involve live actors playing beloved characters, jaw-dropping a/v and special effects and sets that transport audiences to another world—while they sit safely in their vehicles with windows up.
In fact, Netflix is extending its ticketed ($59 per vehicle) “Stranger Things” drive-through experience into a third year in 2022, with iterations planned to take place this spring in New York and San Francisco. The program, which initially launched in 2020 and was extended into 2021 in Los Angeles and quickly sold out, covered 400,000 square feet at LA’s mixed-use historic district Skylight ROW DTLA.
Not only can ticketed experiences help offset budgets impacted by inflation and other pandemic factors, they can result in premium experiences and an attendee list of motivated superfans. And in pandemic times, having a contingency plan that ensures a paid audience makes these types of experiences priceless.
Mobile Add-Ons for Partnerships
Hybrid is here to stay and while streaming may have cut it in the early days of the pandemic, in 2022, audiences are expecting a unique blend of digital engagements that can be integrated into, and better, their lives.
Take inspiration from Whole Foods Market, which with wellness and mindfulness top of mind, teamed up with Headspace meditation app for a mobile device-optimized original video series, “Food for Mood,” and guided meditations to inspire consumers with new ways to improve physical and mental well-being. Educating consumers on how cooking and dietary choices impact mental wellbeing, the brands’ four-part series premiered on the Whole Foods channel on Instagram’s IGTV video streaming platform to promote mindful shopping, cooking and eating.
All three original guided meditations created by Headspace—“Joyful shopping,” “Cooking with gratitude” and “Mindful eating”—were also made available on the brand’s website, expanding reach and engagement for Whole Foods. Headspace also offered a free, one-month trial to keep the wellness conversation going.
Empowering your attendees during uncertain times with a brand partnership that not only addresses the mind and body, but that has the potential for live, in-person extensions? That’s wholesome.
Seek and Find Experiences
Escape rooms all but fizzled out in the pandemic when businesses closed doors. Scavenger hunts, on the other hand, are one of the event trends thriving in the digital world. And speaking of mobile, some are even being powered by QR codes to offer consumers pandemic-safe experiences, be it as an individual or in a group of family and friends that participants feel safe gathering with.
Sephora at Kohls launched a mobile-first event strategylast year that was inspired by a study that revealed nearly half of consumers in the COVID era prefer the option to navigate events from their smart phones. So the brands launched an outdoor, mobile-led beauty maze that attendees navigated hands-free via QR codes. The effort placed the brands’ new partnership center stage and also offered consumers more authentic beauty experiences.
Verizon with its 5G capabilities is also a key player in the scavenger hunt arena. The brand recently leveraged the Super Bowl at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium for Super Bowl LV through app extensions to offer the gaming community a virtual 5G stadium built in Fortnite Creative Mode. Before and during the event, fans connected through mobile viewing within the NFL app, a co-viewing experience in the Yahoo Sports mobile app and inside the virtual 5G stadium in Fortnite.
Verizon’s virtual stadium allowed players to create content, try out football-themed games and embark on scavenger hunts.
Operating in a Metaverse World
A combination of cryptocurrency and NFTs, metaverse is a new frontier for most brands. Samsung is leading the way this year with the launch of its new Samsung 837X metaverse fan experience adapted from the brand’s New York City flagship store. Fans can enter the mystical space centered around technology, art, fashion, music, sustainability and culture, and take a journey to discover exclusive NFTs. There is even a live, mixed reality dance party for kicks.
Even fast fashion retailers are thinking forward. Take Forever 21 (Authentic Brands Group)’s partnership with Roblox gaming platform that invites fans to “own and operate” stores in the digital Forever 21 Shop City for the chance to be named “top shop.” From designing the retail space, to building a surrounding community, fashion and gaming fans are becoming the latest unlikely pairing, offering the brands a powerful new demographic. And in a world where online shopping rules, the retailer is meeting consumers where they spend their time, with a whole new type of retail therapy.
By Andrea Zarczynski
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