People crave real engagement and this is a feeling clever brands and their marketing teams are tuning in to. Success is no longer measured by who can shout the loudest, or who has the biggest ad spend, but by who can create the most meaningful connections with consumers and experiences for their customers.

Storytelling is at the heart of all marketing but where experiential events trump traditional methods such as PR and advertising is their powerful ability to immerse, engage and involve real people in those brand stories. An experience has more impact than exposure.

Let’s Face Facts: Like Shakira’s hips, the stats don’t lie.

In its recent report, Content Marketing in the UK 2015: Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends, the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) found that In-person events were considered the most effective marketing tactic, topping the poll with 72% of the vote.

To put that in context, events were considered more effective than nine other key marketing tactics including video, e-newsletters, case studies, and even the golden child of 21st century marketing: social media.

People retain more information when multiple senses are engaged. This isn’t new news. In 2005, Martin Lindstrom’s book, BRANDsense put forward the idea that the more senses a brand can engage, the more loyal its customers will be. In the past decade, brands big and small have been vying for a larger slice of consumers’ ever-decreasing attention spans through the use of multisensory experiences.

The CMI’s trends report also shows that creating engaging content is the top challenge for marketers, with over half (51%) citing content creation as their main challenge.

Content is king in an age where six in ten UK adults now use a smartphone and 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. When facing the content creation conundrum, marketers are increasingly turning to events, as they create a platform to create great and engaging content, both during and after an event.

Depending on its scale, an event may only host around 100 – 1000 people but with the advent of social media, the potential reach is much, much higher. When executed well, experiential events turn attendees into virtual megaphones, helping to amplify a brand’s message through sharing of content on social media.

Striking visuals and engaging entertainment at events create desirable photo opportunities, which can transform a physical event audience of thousands into a virtual audience of millions. When people are engaged at events, they become brand advocates, sharing positive messages amongst their social networks and creating valuable word of mouth endorsements that often, money just can’t buy.

Events aren’t just about boosting profile, awareness and engagement (though that’s a massive part of it, for sure). They also provide a chance to engage with customers and capture the real currency for 21st century brands: data.

Live events help generate lots of quality intel; helping brands to get to know their customers much more intimately. Sampling opinions from attendees helps brands gain a real insight into the attitudes, views and needs of their customers. Long after the event is over, brands can reap the rewards, creating sales and marketing strategies and customised activations and activity based on real-life people, not imagined and faceless demographics.

When it comes to internal communications, live events really are priceless, helping to excite and engage your employees; embedding and instilling the company culture in a relaxed and informal setting away from the office, where people feel at ease.

If you’re interested in finding out more on how Internal Communications events can improve employee motivation, read our ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ blog post here.