No matter how often we shake our branded Magic 8 Ball or consult our in-house fortune-tellers, knowing how Canadians will return to retail shopping and experiential events post pandemic is still shrouded in mystery. While there will likely be a boom in spending shortly after things have “normalized,” consumers have spent over a year being fully immersed in a digital world, so would they still continue to prefer digital events? On the other end of the spectrum, you have ‘Zoom fatigue’ where people have had enough of online meetings and virtual events.

To bridge this gap between these two ends, consider incorporating more phygital experiences into your brand’s offering.

What is a Phygital Experience?

Physical + Digital = Phygital

Likely, you have either come across or created your own phygital experience in the past. It is a term to describe omnichannel marketing, where two channels, physical and digital, are blended together to give unique, immersive, and interactive experiences to consumers.

Traditionally, phygital marketing could be found in the campaigns of retail stores. The ability to integrate a seamless experience that is heightened by the convenience and personalization of a digital component and the physical ability to touch and interact with product makes for a very effective experience for consumers.

What Does a Phygital Event Look Like?

Prior to the pandemic, events were embracing the reach that phygital events can provide.

While the future looks promising, large, in-person gatherings are probably still some time away. Even once mega gatherings, like trade shows, come back in full swing, many events will continue to have digital components as they have proven an effective way to reach a wider audience.

Hybrid events will become a norm, with in-person groups extended by an online community. The more seamless an event is able to make the bridge between its tangible experience to its digital experience, the more successful their phygital events will be. The physical aspect of your phygital event does not need to be a group of people together, so long as your event is immersive and interactive. Using push notifications attached to GPS locations, QR codes on products and posters, or delivering promotional products are all physical ways to tie an event into its digital aspects.

Many recognizable brands have already begun to lay the foundation for current and future phygital events:

King of the Dot, a global rap battle league that started in Toronto, has positioned themselves, through a partnership with Twitch, to eventually have their battles done live with an audience while simultaneously streaming to fans worldwide.

With June kicking off the Pride season, many Pride festivals around the country have to once again get creative at hosting their events during a pandemic. Pride Toronto, embracing what they learned from a completely digital event in 2020, are committed to creating a phygital experience that will incorporate some in-person installations and events while continuing to engage and create dialogue with their community online at the same time.

Leveraging Swag into Phygital Events

People love swag. It is often one of the most exciting parts of going to events and tradeshows. It allows attendees to interact with brands and, hopefully, take branded merchandise home to be used on a continuous basis. So when events are digital, the easiest way to add a physical element is to provide them with swag.

Throughout the pandemic, we saw a rise in brands utilizing curated swag bags and boxes to be delivered directly to attendees. It provided the bridge to make the event more than just another virtual meeting; it allowed them to experience the event through tangible means.

The promotional products selected do not need to be numerous. A couple of items, branded, perhaps even personalized, and nicely packaged go a long way to creating a memorable experience. You can tell just by checking out past events with unique hashtags! It will be easily seen that most of the activity will surround either the most anticipated speakers or the amazing swag that were delivered to their door. A great example of this would be #skucon2021 an industry event hosted by our friends at commonsku.

Your event can take your swag to new heights by incorporating fun easter eggs, QR codes, and other interactive elements to really help meld the event into a truly phygital one.

If you are looking for some ideas on how to help use promotional products to make your event a truly phygital one, our experts are here to help!