Why Your Event Needs Creative Direction
An event’s success is equally measurable by logistics and innovation. We want marketing teams to know that engaging creatives is 100% appropriate as it’s vital to have a right-brainer on board to create that lasting emotional connection, regardless of what scale the event is. Otherwise, your event is unfortunately a significant missed opportunity to enhance and re-establish relationships with your brand.
In short, creativity is the spark that run-of-the-mill events need to flourish into something new and entirely unique. Seeing the value of incorporating a creative team within your event or activation can’t be overlooked. It’s imperative that in order for a successful collaborative process between an art department and client, that the creative team are engaged from the beginning or as early as possible. This ensures that the full potential of the campaign is reached. Not convinced yet? We’ve complied a few reasons below to support this idea.
1. Creatives LOVE the freedom of expression
The creative teams are in a unique position when it comes to events as, unlike traditional advertising campaigns, these are live and are engaging real people. Results can be seen in real time once everything goes live which is a rush in itself. There’s no ‘pressing the button’ and waiting for results to drip feed in. Nearly all media platforms are at a studios disposal; video, audio, print, lighting and even performance. The possibilities are endless (ish). This gives studios free reign during the brainstorming stages and ultimately this boundless approach results in something that will be truly unique to your event. What we’re trying to say here is: never feel like your small event isn’t important enough to engage some creative thinking, something as simple as a logo identity to your event can make a world of difference. Creatives always work best with no restrictions so even the smallest job can result in something that could spark off something much, much bigger.
2. A well-designed event ALWAYS gains more traction
C’mon now we’re all a bit superficial! If it’s social media traction you’re after, you’re going to need to need some creative juices in the event execution mix. Visually appeasing branding throughout is a good place to start. Art Direction of an environment can truly have a profound effect on an atmosphere once people are added to the mix. Do not underestimate the capacity of your attendees to notice a well-designed event. And vice versa, it will be painfully obvious if your event lacked any art direction. It will feel disjointed, rushed and perhaps even cheap. If your clients/attendees get a sense you are blasé towards your event, they’re hardly going to find themselves in a position to trust and believe your brand. Trust us when we say, a poor impression lasts just as long as any positive one!
Try to have some focal standout pieces that really catch the eye. Installations are really the best way to achieve the ‘I must take a photo of this’ reaction. These can be an interpretation of your campaign message, your brand purpose or even something totally random (sometimes these work the best!). See Pluto's Junk Kouture case study for some excellent examples of engaging installations.
3. A designer can tell your brand story in a new way
Is your campaign or brand message starting to dull? Has it been seen in the same way by your employees and target audiences for too long? A fresh pair of eyes will make all the difference and provide a unique vantage point of how to best tell the story of your brand. A new interpretation can give life to something that may have been considered overdone and ready to be retired. Put to the task, good designers will be adept to thinking outside the box, fuelled in the background by predicted trends. It could be AR, VR or even a totally bespoke digital activity using technologies you had never even considered. If your company is future orientated and places an importance on innovation, then it’s imperative that your events need to stay fresh while still having an identifiable message. Storytelling is at the heart of good event design.
The best experiences are always the memorable ones. And to be memorable, brands must find a way of integrating themselves into people’s lives. Events should be designed as such, to marry their stories into those of the participants. Your brand’s story can evolve to play with the senses and utilise the fact that this is a tactile, physical experience that will linger in people’s minds longer than any digital campaign.
4. Events and Advertising are equally essential building blocks of a solid marketing campaign
A lot of marketeers would see creative input for an event as an afterthought, as something to be brought in towards the final moment of preparation when printed collateral is needed to be designed. In today’s world however, events and activations need to be viewed as part of a complete marketing package along with traditional advertising. Therefore, it’s vital that creative teams are on board from the get-go. How bad would it look if you had a fantastically engaging, thought-provoking and results driven advertising campaign accompanied with very disjointed, messy events and activations? Engaging with your audience is the same no matter what platform. Perhaps it’s even MORE crucial when engaging in person as these memories and impressions will be much stronger and could really make or break a relationship with your brand.
Art departments are at the core of any good advertising agency and the same should be said of any good events agency. There’s honestly not much of a difference in how these agencies work day-to-day. You would never engage an advertising agency without having the creative team as the first point of call, so why should events and activations be any different?