Live Events are on Pause, So Let’s Press PLAY.
HOW TO USE VISUAL CONTENT (AND THE TYPES OF CONTENT TO CREATE) TO CONTINUE ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS DESPITE THE TEMPORARY BARRIERS WITHIN THE EXPERIENTIAL INDUSTRY
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What we’re going through right now is unprecedented - everyone is experiencing the impact of this virus whether personally or professionally. Of the utmost importance is the community’s health, and each doing our part to contribute in whatever way we can.
We crafted this guide because the live events and experiential industries are experiencing immediate repercussions and times are challenging, for all of us.
SO WHAT DO WE DO WHEN TIMES GET HARD?
We BRAINSTORM ways to make it better.
We hope this blog inspires you and helps facilitate some great ideas of your own!
Setting the Scene:
Here are a few ways we’re seeing/reading about how live events are shifting.
Complete cancellation
Postponement
Remote attendance through livestream
Smaller, regional gatherings
These are important because they are the trends that currently define our temporary shift. These trends build the foundation from which we can all start to brainstorm on how to pivot and support our clients. Most importantly as we brainstorm is coming up with solutions on how to address a need or solve a pain point.
THINK: Have you brainstormed or seen other ways in which live events are shifting their strategy? How can you support these trends?
EACH OF THE SECTIONS IN THIS GUIDE ADDRESS ONE OR MORE OF THE TRENDS AND SOLVE FOR ONE OR MORE OF THE STATED CHALLENGES.
USE CASE #1 : Fuel the momentum
Current Trend:
Postponement
Using Visual Content Solves for the Challenges of:
Effectively communicating with your audience
Creating jobs for newly unemployed staff
VISUAL CONTENT WILL:
Create a hunger for what’s to come!
Build excitement for those planning to attend
Create enthusiasm for those who may convert into attendees
Enable both audiences to visualize themselves in the moment
Keep the emotional juices behind the brand flowing!
Foster positivity, joy and happiness as attendees look forward to the live experience
Position the brand as an advocate to generate loyalty and trust
Build an emotional connection before your attendees even show up on site
Establish a sense of security
Create an opportunity to consistently communicate ahead of time
Allow for balanced and sensitive correspondence to mitigate fear
Spread awareness & information regarding your intended safety measures and sanitary tactics
THINK: What tactics are you employing to communicate the action plan for your live events outside of traditional email? Have you seen any other methods of communication?
TYPES OF CONTENT TO FUEL MOMENTUM
Time is now on your side! Use it to build more excitement, establish brand loyalty before they even arrive on site and communicate your plans to keep your attendees safe.
Create new content to stay relevant & engage your audience
Leverage event staff, brand ambassadors, influencers, speakers and even performers who no longer have work and partner with local photographers and/or videographers to capture it
Solve for the Challenges of Quarantine
BAs host online happy hours and share recipes or products that will be featured at your event
Influencers lead virtual workouts wearing/using the fitness gear you plan to spotlight on site
Get them excited to make new memories
Sneak peaks of booked bands
Snippets from speaker presentations
Teaser videos on what’s to come
Create a Sense of Security in Uncertain Times
Capture still imagery of staff demonstrating health & wellness measures that will be implemented to ensure safety
Light-hearted videos showing how event staff are preparing for the upcoming activation during down time
Rework content to drive awareness & buzz
Take old photos & unedited video footage to create a new sizzle reel
Recut an existing sizzle reel with new messaging
Craft promo videos through engaging stock footage & brand assets
Relive the moments & foster positive emotions
Share old content through #throwbackthursday on social media
USE CASE #2: Communicate your message intended for the live experience through video
Current Trend:
Cancellation
Remote attendance
Smaller, regional events that don’t require travel and fewer people in attendance
Using Visual Content Solves for the Challenges of:
Effectively communicating with your audience
Making use of unused resources
Broadening your reach
COMMUNICATING YOUR MESSAGE THROUGH VIDEO ENABLES YOU TO:
Convey Emotion with Intentionality
Craft thoughtful messaging with all of the important talking points you intended to convey face to face
Ensure that no messaging is lost on the individual through missed interaction with a brand ambassador
Allow the end user to digest the content on their own time
Turn an Exclusive Experience into an Inclusive One
Extend your message to those who were not physically there to hear or understand it through the live experience
Automatically Open up your communication to a larger audience thus creating a more inclusive opportunity and broadening your reach
TYPES OF CONTENT TO COMMUNICATE YOUR MESSAGE INTENDED FOR THE LIVE EXPERIENCE:
So your event got canceled. Now you have the chance to communicate your message thoughtfully, and to a larger, more inclusive audience who may not have been present at the live experience.
Go guerrilla!
Create mini versions of your brand experience on the street to surprise and delight (while being cognizant of social distancing and adhering to CDC guidelines)
Utilize resources you’ve already set aside for your on-site experience such as:
Staff
Premium Items
Products
Innovative consumer touchpoints
Broaden your reach by filming & distributing the content on the right channels
Have speakers, local brand ambassadors, and influencers record themselves for an authentic feel, or work with a local videographer to capture:
One-on-one interviews
Full-length presentations
Product demonstrations
Create & distribute
Digital content for social
Instagram stories
Polished recap videos
Share the content with your intended audience
Create a VR or AR experience
Do you have an interactive consumer experience and/or build that’s sitting in a warehouse somewhere? Film your staff interacting with it and create a VR “tour” or AR experience that people can interact with at home.
USE CASE #3: RECAP FOR REMOTE ATTENDANCE
Current Trend:
Remote attendance through livestream
Using Visual Content Solves for the Challenges of:
Broadening your reach
VISUAL CONTENT WIDENS YOUR NET:
One purpose of utilizing authentic visual content from a live event is to extend the experience you created beyond the moment and into the hands of those who may have not been there in person.
Should a program you’re working on decide to shift towards a remote or live stream, you can still create innovative and engaging content to cast a wider net, like a recap video, with a different spin.
HOW TO RECAP FOR REMOTE ATTENDANCE:
From live to livestream? Now you have the opportunity to get creative and engage your audience in a way that they’ve never experienced before. Then, spread the love.
Step 1: Make it Engaging
Build interactive elements into the “event”
Encourage contributions by gamifying/incentivizing participation
Inspire ideas with a shot list!
Track the content submissions through an event #hashtag it
Step 2: Capture it all
Film the remote event including behind the scenes production
Screen record the livestream and capture Q&A, chats and attendee faces
Step 3: Spread the love
Stitch it all together to create a recap video and fun takeaway
CREATING A RECAP FROM A REMOTE EXPERIENCE WILL:
Allow attendees who participated to see their contributions and digest the content again should they wish to revisit it
Broaden the reach of the experience beyond those who were present to experience this, thus maximizing your reach
LET’S BAND TOGETHER
If you’re an agency, bring these ideas to your brands and help them execute upon them. Encourage them to stay relevant during this time in an effective and authentic way and to support YOU. These are really difficult times for all of us. It starts at the agency level and has a trickle down effect on the industry partners, like us here at O Hello Media and through to the BAs, event staff, labor workers, welders, craftsmen, photographers, videographers...the list goes on. Advocate for yourselves and encourage your clients to keep moving forward - to press play even though live events are on pause.