Brands should rebalance towards real-world events, argues Sparks’ Jason Megson

Jason Megson of Sparks argues that as algorithms, avatars and AI influencers spread into every part of life, people increasingly want something real, and that showing up in person has become “both radical and restorative”.

As technology becomes more human, he says, humans are looking for spaces that feel like connection rather than code, which is why the physical world has become such an important counterweight to the digital one.

Megson accepts that the move online is all-encompassing, effective in many ways and permanent. Budgets have shifted rapidly to digital over the past 15 years. But as more time and money has gone into digital communications, he argues, some brands have lost their way by concentrating too narrowly on performance marketing.

Performance marketing has become so formulaic, he says, that it has stripped advertising of a great deal of its humanity and creativity, at the expense of brand equity.

Real returns

Megson calls for a rebalance in which the physical and digital worlds support each other. For many brands, he argues, physical space holds far more value than digital and is where brand equity can really be built, because it is the most genuine channel, with people engaging with people.

Done well, physical experiences do not compete with digital but feed it, generating organic social content that people trust more than anything else. As AI and automation change how people live and work, he says, brands are rediscovering in-person experiences, with physical events now the places where trust, emotion and relationships are rebuilt among both consumer and business audiences.

Even technology and digital businesses are using brand experiences to bring their stories to life. For a company with a more digital or abstract product, Megson argues, experiences are a very worthwhile place to spend marketing budget. Bringing face-to-face contact into marketing is a creative challenge that sparks interesting conversations and offers that important last chance to close a sale.

This is especially true of B2B technology clients, where brand events are closely linked to sales because they allow salespeople to meet clients in person. Megson says brand experiences have moved on from transactional trade shows to richer, more entertaining events that can communicate the whole product, the business proposition, its innovations and its direction, all of which can be hard to convey digitally.

Shared experiences

Digital platforms are adapting to the same need, Megson says, with dating apps refocusing on meaningful matchmaking and gaming moving from bedrooms to stadiums as players meet in real life.

Hinge’s ‘No Ordinary Love’ campaign started online, collecting real stories through its Substack, before going offline with a limited-edition printed collection of the stories, handed out via book clubs in New York and London.

Hinge is also paying for 100 London community groups to organise dating and social meet-ups, extending its ‘One More Hour’ programme to tackle loneliness among Gen Z. By combining digital storytelling with physical gatherings, Megson argues, Hinge is building a community around modern love rather than simply promoting an app.

Adidas takes the same approach with digital collectibles. Through ‘ALTS by Adidas’, fans build avatars and join storylines that develop over time, and events such as Probably Real in Miami brought those online communities together in person around the product. The aim, he says, is belonging rather than technology for its own sake.

Belonging as a metric

Whether the product is a dating app, digital fashion or complex technology, Megson says, the principle is the same: create a world, both online and off, that people want to join. In consumer and B2B markets alike, the most successful brands create communities around their products and turn them into shared experiences people care about.

The digital world has connected people globally in once unimaginable ways, he says, but it has also driven them apart. Years of screen-based living have contributed to a loneliness epidemic, making the simple act of turning up in person significant.

He argues that this applies to business as much as personal life, and that brand experiences help bridge the gap, encourage genuine conversation and build honest, personal connections.