The Brand Experience 2021… and Beyond

2020 was a turbulent period for brand experience, with many brands having to turn their focus to keeping up with supply & demand or developing their online presence to ensure they remained relevant & sought after during these unprecedented times.

As we start to consider brand experiences once again for 2021, i2i have conducted a piece of research to establish how key brand owners have been affected by the pandemic as well as their attitudes and appetite for re-establishing brand experience within their plans for 2021 and beyond.

Respondents were in the food and drink, health and beauty, technology, alcohol, entertainment and kids and financial services markets.

• 56% of brands reported that the pandemic had adversely affected their performance
• 44% of businesses continued thriving.
• 53% reallocated their experiential spend to alternative marketing disciplines, whilst only
• 28% re-directed this to remote or hybrid consumer sampling
• 88% of brands believe it important to reconnect with consumers in a live physical setting
• 44% agreed that they are considering reaching out to their consumers within a live environment later in 2021

Although online events are a great way to amplify campaigns it has become increasingly apparent the importance of connecting with consumers face to face cannot be replaced when looking to form long-term loyalty & everlasting consumer impressions.

The online market has become saturated over the past year with the increased noise & more than ever brands & consumers are ready to embrace the real-life emotional connections that can be formed in a live environment. Previous research reinforces this in that 90% of consumers will remember a brand experience they engaged with.

There is still a lot of reticence amongst brand owners if people will be able and happy to meet in larger numbers in the Summer. So agencies will need to illustrate there is a huge range of experiential opportunities that can still be delivered from roadshows at smaller scale events, mobile sampling teams, grocery tours & immersive pop-up experiences. 

These can all be utilised to showcase brands in an engaging and memorable way.  All experiential campaigns developed by i2i Marketing are agile & versatile to minimise the impact of any unforeseen circumstances.

The summer of 2021 will be booming in the UK as people switch holidays which would have been overseas to booking staycations.

This presents a great opportunity for brands to re-build an emotional connection with their consumers in positive mindset holiday settings and build a more memorable and deeper relationship with consumers. By focusing on creating real-world physical experiences which can be amplified by digital will maximise rich on-line content, reach & WOM.

In 2021 & beyond brands will adapt to the ‘new normal’:

• 50% of brands expect to maintain their current experiential budget
• 34% are anticipating an increase in spend
• 64% believe creating awareness is the most popular benefit of live experiences, closely followed by
• 55% who believe building a more personal relationship with consumers

This illustrates that, as consumers seek out more meaningful connections, this is a fantastic time for brands to re-connect and ensure they remain relevant and front of mind.

If you would like to find out more information about i2i please call 01285 655500