2 January 2024 | The Event & Experience Industries, Marketing & Communication
Say goodbye to 2023 and hello to 2024! Yes, with a new year ahead of us, it's time to look forward. In this blog post, we highlight five trends that we believe will grow and shape the event and experience industry further during the year. The trends concern both the industry in question and the marketing of the events, arenas and destinations. Exciting? Oh yes, let's go – towards 2024!
First of all: What is meant by short-lived content? Well, we mean such content that is available only for a limited time. Examples are photos, videos and chats on Snapchat – which disappear after you've opened them – and time-limited stories on Instagram. Also advertisements can be seen as a form of vanishing content. The content type has even been given its own term: Ephemeral Content.
There are several reasons why time-limited and disappearing format is so popular. Some of these are:
• Spontaneous and trustworthy: The format usually invites more spontaneous stories, photos and videos, where followers get to see a less polished surface and a more reality-based image. It creates greater credibility for the sender.
• High engagement: Vanishing content creates a sense of urgency and encourages the user to engage with the content. Knowing that the content will disappear soon, viewers choose to quickly view and interact with the content posted, driving higher engagement levels.
• Personal connection between sender and follower: Vanishing content is usually posted in real time. This creates a feeling that the follower is closer to the sender than through traditional content that does not disappear. As the possibility to like, react and comment on the vanishing content exists, the personal connection is further strengthened.
• "FOMO": The disappearing content can create a feeling of FOMO (fear of missing out). The users who are afraid of missing new stories and posts, then choose to check the apps often to keep up to date.
• Creative and experimental: Vanishing content allows users to experiment more. As the content will soon disappear anyway, the sender can test and play around with different types of content – without the fear of it being saved permanently.
It-s said that we humans are exposed to up to 20,000 messages every day. 20,000 messages – every day! This includes, for example, social media, news, advertising and conversations with other people. This endless stream of messages can create two sides: one that wants to protect itself from all messages and be more "here and now", and one that consumes even more content in all forms to constantly stay updated.
Regardless of which side you're on, we believe there is a need for more genuineness, credibility and personality in our fast-moving world. And here we see that the short-lived, vanishing content promotes authenticity. With the format, users – both companies and individuals – can share moments with followers and viewers. Moments that create a stronger personal connection and higher commitment.
We also see that platforms like TikTok have increased in popularity in recent years. In addition, we see, for example, more time-limited campaigns, limited editions and creative examples from the music industry where songs are available to listen to for only certain days (see the example from Håkan Hellström). Yes, in summary, we strongly believe that the trend will increase in popularity during 2024.
In 2024, we believe that companies will understand the importance of being relevant. We even think that hyper-personalization will strike – for real.
• Hyper-personalization is a data-driven approach to delivering tailored experiences to individual customers. Here, data from several different sources is combined to create a greater, more complete understanding of customers.
• Hyper-personalization can help companies meet customer expectations and increase revenue. It can also increase customer engagement, build trust and loyalty, and be used to achieve a competitive advantage.
• To implement hyper-personalization, the company must invest time and money in, among other things, the right technology and data analyses.
Today, personalized communication is used in both social media, e-mail and SMS – to name a few examples. We receive personalized offers from e.g. grocers and event organizers, where target group selections can be made based on demographics, geography, purchasing behaviors, unique orders and opening rates, for example.
At MarketHype, we believe the personalization trend has only just begun. In 2024, more and more companies in the event and experience industry will realize how important it is to be relevant and personal. We believe that the industry will focus on the customer in a larger, more comprehensive way. Here, marketing is one part, but the range of food options, shows and optional products are other parts that are at least as important – if not more important.
Let's also talk a little about the advancement of AI. Could AI and hyper-personalization have something to do with each other? Absolutely! We believe that AI will form a large part in how personalization and hyper-personalization develop in 2024. We believe that AI will be helpful when it comes to, for example, segmentation and content in e-mails, where the content will be able to adapt to the recipient's preferences in an easier way .
Collaborations of various kinds are not new in themselves. For several years, we have seen companies that sponsor various types of events, influencers that collaborate with companies and artists that are guests at each other's concerts. In short, the trend is a fact – and we are sure that it will continue in 2024. But more than that, because we believe that the collaborations will become more creative and interesting. Customers who like one thing will open their eyes to new things and vice versa.
• Concert: In autumn 2022, we got to see the pop artist Benjamin Ingrosso create magic together with the symphony orchestra the Royal Philharmonic at the Concert Hall.
• Trail race: In September 2023, the spa and ski resort Fýri Resort organized the race Fýri Trail by Salomon together with the sports company Salomon. In addition, they collaborated with the influencer Joanna Swica, who filled her own team with running enthusiasts.
• Lectures: What happens if you pair a communication agency with a world-leading school in communication? Yes, a series of interesting lectures! That's exactly what Paraply Produktion AB and Berghs School of Communication thought when they started a collaboration in 2023.
We live in a world where the pace moves at breakneck speed. As previously mentioned, we are exposed to over 150,000 messages every day, where news and advertisements are interspersed with new social channels, apps and products. The expression "life was better before" may not always be true, but it certainly feels that way sometimes.
Whether you're a proponent of "the good old days" or are more interested in what the future holds, we see nostalgia being increasingly used in marketing, events and experiences in 2024.
Yes, it is! Nostalgia Marketing is a concept that means the following:
• Nostalgia marketing is a marketing strategy that uses nostalgia to evoke positive emotions. The strategy works because it can create an emotional connection that makes customers feel like they are part of something special.
• Nostalgia Marketing can increase brand loyalty, engagement and sales.
• If you want to use Nostalgia Marketing, there are many ways. For example, you can use remakes, throwbacks and symbols from the past.
• It is important that you use Nostalgia Marketing strategically. Avoid relying on nostalgia alone and don't try to force the nostalgic feelings.
• In 2024, Lisa Ekdahl goes on her "VEM VET Vintage Tour", an anniversary tour to celebrate 30 years since the self-titled debut album "Lisa Ekdahl" was released. In the tour picture we find a young Lisa Ekdahl.
• Taylor Swift did a "re-recording" of her first six albums. She did this to reclaim legal rights to them, but she also chose to include bonus tracks that the original albums never contained. The re-release has both made Taylor's fans rediscover old music, and attracted new listeners.
• During the summer of 2023, the movie Barbie was released, with Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in the lead roles. The film became immensely popular and the reason for that is: nostalgia.
• Deepfake music is a type of synthetic music that is created using AI. Here, the AI is fed with just over a million existing songs to create new music by late artists such as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and 2Pac. With AI, you can therefore recreate the sound you want. Both nostalgic and innovative at the same time.
The emergence of AI in 2023 has not escaped anyone, has it? Probably not. So how will AI develop in 2024?
If we look back to the year 2023, we saw many new apps that were completely AI-based. Many of them were created to generate images, text and other content. In 2024, we instead believe that AI will mature and be integrated more into already existing tools and systems – systems that are not solely built on AI. With these AI integrations, users will not have to switch between different platforms. Instead, we believe that e-mail tools, for example, will develop and get built-in AI functions for generative content.
• Notion
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Canva
• Intercom
Do you want to talk trends with us? Have you perhaps done your own trendspotting that you want to share? Feel free to get in touch!