Presently, the word virtual is starting to elicit the same feeling of its en vouge predecessors: out of the box, innovative, curated, organic. It’s used often and in many circumstances. For those of you in the same cultural era, all of the other types of activations that have been temporarily shelved are starting to get a case of the Marcia, Marcia, Marcia’s.

It’s understandable and perfectly normal considering where we are in life as a global community. It’s an effective and accessible way to connect face-to-face with each other whether that takes on intimate forms such as cocktail hours, art and fitness classes or the more formal path in the vein of weddings and milestone celebrations.

In our world, we’re experiencing an onslaught of virtual asks and productions as it’s the appropriate alternative for heavily attended live shows since we are not able to gather in crowds.

Since March, we have activated our share of summits, shows, sales kick-offs, company-wide celebration events and a slew of other productions.

Recognizing that an infusion of invigoration, motivation and gratitude was needed to inspire and uplift a fatigued workforce, leadership wanted to do something truly meaningful to convey to the team they are seen, heard and valued. MKMCreative curated a one-of-a-kind, individually customized Appreciation Parcel that was delivered to hundreds of team members’ doorsteps globally. On the day of delivery, each team had a micro virtual event whereby the leader played MC as everyone opened their gift at the same time, imbibed and felt uplifted. Cheers.

After that particular experience, Scott Brown, the incredibly talented VP of Marketing who possesses endless amounts of know-how and patience co-authored an article with Marcy Karpowitz, Founder, MKMCreative highlighting key insights.

As an agency, one of the biggest items we encounter — on repeat — is the conversation around price. Let’s be clear, we’ve never met a client who said, the sky’s the limit on budget. If you know of one, send them our way.

In these particular experiences, we are finding that people often have difficulty digesting the price tag of virtual events and expect them to be much smaller of a fraction of the price than live events. They are two very different entities. Separately, both require their own respective infrastructure to be successful. Comparing them in any way brings to mind the proverbial apples and oranges reference.

Because the general population and professionals alike spend a notable portion of their lives on digital or connect virtually, it appears to be a free service as all of the infrastructure execution and cost is absorbed by the hosting company. In a virtual event, the brand flips into a media company for all intents and purposes and becomes responsible for putting the infrastructure in place along with footing the bill.

As is often the case, there’s more nuance to virtual versus live events than just fee.

• Set the stage: A virtual event is not “just another” online meeting
• Don’t cheap out: Virtual and physical events are more alike than you think
• Plan with strategic intent: Virtual events are conversation starters, not deal closers
• Package the value: Virtual events provide better data, but the value can be difficult to articulate
• Prioritize post-show activities: You don’t get to strike the stage and go home

More color on the above can be found in the full article.

As virtual takes center stage to assist with life moving along in a way that allows us to connect, it should receive both high praise and an understanding that it is its own entity with surprises, wins and areas to be refined.

Whether you have a virtual need, want to hear more about our pandemic-specific programming or are interested in collaboratively finding effective ways to continue to connect with your brand’s constituency during this time period, reach out. We have a lot of solid ideas that are proven effective in execution.

Hope to hear from you soon…virtually or otherwise.