New Post: Virtual events need a rebrand

As a marketer, I’ve been exploring the events space for a couple of years. I'm diving into what could happen next and why virtual event (already) need a refresh https://medium.com/northzone/virtual-events-are-here-to-stay-they-just-need-a-rebrand-25fc5a83383c

1/ Virtual events should not be considered as a single moment in time, but instead the stepping stone to a new media experience. Think of newspapers: successful papers like @nytimes, @FT use their brand to create events, products, and niche content on top of their core offering

2/ For decades, publishers made a fortune selling ads. As news moved online, most of this ad spend went to @Google or @Facebook and newspapers had to adjust their business model to survive. It became clear that outlets should build their own audience and channels

3/ In 2008, advertising revenue dried up and publishers had to launch new revenue streams: tiered paywalls, branded events, products and services. @nytimes executed this brilliantly: they have more than 6.5M digital subscribers every month, which drive 73% of their revenue

4/ This revenue was invested into content, poaching top-tier journalists like @TaylorLorenz @karaswisher, and NYT eventually promoted to the CEO position @meredith_levien, who's behind their subscription flywheel

A brilliant piece about this here
https://minesafetydisclosures.com/blog/newyorktimes…

5/ It’s no surprise @nytimes and @FT were among the first to host online events during the first lockdown. After all, they have both been pioneers in the space. And virtual events have the opportunity to claim a similar space in mainstream media than publishers did in 2008.

6/ But the biggest hype-busting caveat is the following one: while event software companies are seeing explosive growth right now, there is so far little evidence that they are making any real money yet. Why?

7/ For months now, event organisers have primarily seen themselves as advertising and networking businesses, believing that sponsorships could be replaced with digital ad revenue and attempting to copy token physical event elements into the digital space.

8/ But “booths” just don’t work online — we need to free ourselves from the constraints and habits of the past, and build a new narrative that is better suited for the online world. In fact, we should come up with a freshly tailored business model.

9/ The only way forward to ensure not only the quality but also the longevity of online events is to make attendees buy tickets and have brands invest in content, not exposure.

Events have often been catalysers for change in society: the @wef organised @Davos to solve big economic problems; international governments founded the G20; @CES was created to support the consumer electronics industry… something similar should happen with virtual events. 10/10

If you’re building something at the intersection of events and media, feel free to join the discussion
c/ @johnnyboufarhat @bencostantini @robinwauters @MStothard @amyrlewin @MimiBilling @_TheFamily @seedcamp @alextheuma @marcogiberti @SlushHQ @thenextweb @SarahNoeckel (...)