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Levelling up the Fan Experience
2024 is heralding an age of hyper-personalisation, and transformative technology, to create profound connections at scale. We call this the ‘New Gen’ Experience.
Where do fans truly find their tribe? Traditionally, live events such as sporting activities and music festivals offer a unique opportunity for the formation of highly passionate communities. But, how fans engage with each other, as well as live events, is undergoing a huge change.
Gen Z’s meagre 8-second attention span is as a result of an ever-saturated social media landscape, and so fans are craving a digital detox by turning to the IRL
Read on to find out 5 ways you can increase your return on experience (ROE), by turning your fans from passive viewers into active participants.
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1. SUPERCHARGE FAN ZONE INTERACTIVITY
Build an experience that encourages your fans to create collective core memories through immersive engagements.
A Journey On The FIFA Express
We took 1,500 prestigious FIFA guests on an immersive journey through Russia at the landmark Gostiny Dvor. They ‘climbed’ aboard the FIFA World Cup Express, stopping at each host city, experiencing and delighting in the local culture, customs and gastronomy.
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2. PROVIDE A TRUE SERVICE TO YOUR FANS
In the 7 years we worked with Glastonbury, we noticed a recurring theme – fans are losing interest in standardised brand activations at festivals, and respond more positively when presented with a service directly useful to them.
LUSH provided festival-goers the opportunity to shower with LUSH products at Blue Dot Festival.
Directly speaking to their immediate needs and capitalising on this branding opportunity all the while. There’s no better way to conjure authentic brand love.
Don’t just sit atop the festival experience, as a brand you should immerse yourself within it. By understanding your audience, you can provide your fans with a service which keeps them coming back for more.
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3. UNLEASH YOUR FANS COMPETITIVE SIDE
The Competitive Socialising industry has grown 400% since 2021, making it clear that fans want to feel challenged, seek rewards within social communities, and engage with brands in unique ways.
Allow your fans to unleash their competitive side by offering them the chance to create shared experiences that form memorable, inter-fan connectivity.
Our installation of “Top Drone” at the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas provided a unique blend of the physical and digital to fully engage the players’ senses.
With 93% of Gen Z participating in competitive socialising activities in the past year, we’re moving into a phase of entertainment that supersedes your average brand activation, and favours new-found immersion.
Brands, you can’t miss this boat!
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4. INSPIRE A CULT-LIKE FOLLOWING: IRL STORYTELLING
The birth of social media rewrote the very concept of fandom, with people across the globe forming lifelong bonds via shared mutual interests. And as social media evolved, fan support has only intensified. With sports stars sharing behind the scenes training snippets, and musicians vlogging their creative process, celebrities are offering a new level of access to their lives that build personal connections with fans.
A vulnerability that keeps people interested and entertained.
Ticketed immersive storytelling experiences based around celebrities and artists, is a compelling way to answer your fans desires.
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5. MAKE YOUR FAN THE PROTAGONIST
Making your fan feel a part of the experience can be as simple as receiving personalised merchandise and a message from their favourite act. Or, it can be as jaw-dropping as placing them at the heart of an immersive theatrical experience…
For the launch of the Toyota C-HR, our interactive storytelling experience ‘The Night That Flows’, immersed 100 lifestyle journalists, across five European cities, in a theatrical display like no other.
Despite our obsession with being plugged in, 2024 will see Gen Z and Alpha further ditching the digital deluge for mindful immersion.
Introduce your fans to a new age of uninterrupted, hyper-personalised engagement.