Brands need to make better use of technology, data science, and behavioural science to truly understand people’s behaviour and create events that foster a culture of belonging, according to experts at a recent event held by Strata.

The brand experience agency gathered event and marcomms specialists for an exclusive insights event at The Hoxton, Holborn, earlier this month.

Titled “Reimagining Global Event Programmes”, the event examined how brands can creatively reinvent event experiences that not only resonate with diverse audiences but also transcend global markets and create moments that matter.

Strata invited Behave, the human insights agency, to deliver a presentation called “When global EX meets CX: Revamping the value of connection through meaningful moments”. The presentation was given by Dr. Alexandra Dobra-Kiel, Behave’s innovation and strategy director, and Lea Karam, consulting director. The presentation analysed micro and macro behavioural changes in marketing and communications.

Karam said: “We feel that some brand marketers are currently falling short in creating meaningful moments. It’s all about deploying the understanding and capabilities that shed light on the real drivers of consumer-brand connection.”

According to Behave, the marketing landscape now requires a blend of capabilities to truly understand people’s behaviour and how it can be influenced to achieve superior business performance. Technology, data science, and behavioural science are just some of the tools at the disposal of event professionals and savvy marketers.

“Consistency is key and so is creative messaging,” added Karam. “Words flow through employees and customers. It’s important to create better moments and better engagement but to do that teams need better data. The good thing is that there are billions of data points out there but it’s about using them in the right way to really understand the customer experience.”

Simon Hambley, CEO of Strata, said: “The pandemic has meant consumers, and employees, experience an overwhelming amount of information, which can lead to a reduced attention span. Therefore, brand marketers need to adapt their strategies to foster a culture of belonging and meet a range of cultural and individual needs.”

Hambley added: “The global event space has been transformed over the past few years. The disruption of the pandemic has shifted how audiences are interacting with brands and organisations and there are growing expectations to shift seamlessly across formats. Combine these changing expectations with a global recession, and brands need to reimagine what a high-performing event programme looks like.

“Brands can’t achieve true engagement without experiences that connect and captivate. Within these experiences, every brand moment is an opportunity for positive reinforcement, a chance for your brand message to have clarity and relevance.”

Giles Cattle, director of Creative, Strategy and Business Development continued: “We’re all in the business of distinction. Distinction is what differentiates us. Being seen to be different is powerful because distinction requires you to continuously challenge and elevate your service and by elevating, you become better for your customers.”

Clare Merton, executive director, global head of enterprise events at S&P Global, Ali Phillips, group head of internal communications at BAT, and Liz Meade, head of EMEA at Global Event Marketing, also took part in the event and joined a Strata panel discussion that debated global event frameworks, brand loyalty, and growth opportunities.

Hambley concluded: “Our first Reimagining Global Event Programmes session allowed our audience to hear the most inspirational views from some of the most brilliant minds in our industry. I am certain that they appreciated this exclusive opportunity to listen, network, and debate the ideas that were raised by Lea, Alexandra, Clare, Ali, and Liz, and I am certain that future sessions will provide our guests with even more opportunities to discover new ideas and the latest insight.”