Retail marketers – and those operating beyond the sector – often fall into the trap of thinking too transactionally when using events to drive brand awareness or lead generation.
“At the end of the day, it’s really about building a community around your brand and creating engaged audiences,” says Elinor Honigstein. In a post-Covid landscape crowded with channels competing for attention, getting in-person events right matters more than ever. As Honigstein puts it, “people forget and move on very quickly.”
Honigstein, the head of international marketing events at WeWork, has spent her career designing experiences that deliver genuine value and connect audiences worldwide. For the UK government, she created events that attracted international startups to the British market.
At LinkedIn, she led the event product strategy, partnering with global brands to help marketers use the platform to expand reach and increase event impact. Now at WeWork, she develops global experiences that build brand awareness and deepen engagement. It is fair to say she knows a thing or two about creating events that actually benefit audiences and brands.
We sat down with Honegstein to find out what retail marketers can learn from her expertise and success.
Understanding the audience to build loyalty and connection
While Honigstein recognises a growing enthusiasm for face-to-face events, she notes that people are increasingly drawn to smaller, more intimate gatherings – and, crucially, to experiences that offer clear value. “People are coming together more around shared purposes and shared interests,” she says. “Post-pandemic, audiences are also more selective about what’s worth showing up for.”
For Honigstein, three factors drive people to attend events: the opportunity to connect with others, the chance to have a genuinely memorable experience, and the opportunity to learn. Understanding these motivations – and the deeper human need to connect, be heard and feel involved – is what ultimately drives loyalty, attendance and meaningful brand connection.
“Events work best when they make the audience an active participant rather than just a passive observer. Having lots of opportunities to engage – whether it’s interacting with the product, playing a game or contributing ideas – really shows that a brand’s listening to its audience and that they’re part of the experience.”
In the events Honigstein and her team design, they always consider engaging people on-site in some way, whether it be a craft activity or something personalised for the audience. “It makes people feel special and part of the experience,” she adds.
To truly understand the “audience” – a term Honigstein admits can feel broad – brands need to segment and tailor experiences accordingly. “The more value you can give to a specific sub-segment, whether through relevant content or carefully curating who’s in the room, the better,” she says.
“Sometimes a targeted dinner for 20 people is far more valuable than a huge expo. Tailoring experiences and thinking from an audience-first perspective really matters.”
Gen Z and millennials, especially, expect personalisation as much as possible.
“We’re living in a world where Amazon teaches us that anything can be at our doorstep in less than a day, and Spotify or Netflix teaches us that everything is tailored to us – that we’re special, that we’re at the centre of everything. So in that respect, the new generation expects the same from the experiences brands design.”
Honigstein recognises that people now expect speed and relevance from their first interaction with a brand. Once that initial engagement happens, brands need to quickly guide people towards what they’re trying to achieve – whether that’s making a sale, deepening engagement or inviting them to the next touchpoint.
Otherwise, she warns, people will move on and forget. “While personalisation isn’t a magic bullet, it’s ultimately what I’m seeing in terms of what people expect now.”
Brands also need to consider the cultural and contextual differences shaping how people gather today.
As Honigstein explains, location and industry have a huge influence on behaviour – not just in terms of preferences, but in the practical decisions that shape turnout. “Where you’re actually doing the event, and the industry you’re operating in, makes a huge difference,” she says.
These nuances matter because they shape not only attendance, but also the atmosphere and expectations surrounding an event. The same applies to data: “How much people are willing to share, how comfortable they are giving details about themselves,” she adds.
“At the end of the day, an event is also there to generate leads, so you need to be mindful of the data you’re collecting. That’s another cultural layer.”
What to avoid when designing events
Bigger and flashier does not always equal a better event, Honigstein admits. “In reality, over-the-top activations – especially when they’re not relevant to the brand or the audience – can really fall flat.”
A guiding principle she often returns to is this: if any other company could put their logo on your event, something has gone wrong. Events should tell the story of the brand, feeling unique, distinctive and grounded in the needs of the audience – not driven by spectacle for spectacle’s sake. The strongest experiences, Honigstein argues, favour intimacy over excess and avoid feeling transactional.
“You need to understand who your audience is and what will actually add value for them. For example, there’s a tendency for some brands to rely heavily on high-tech AR experiences. But if your audience isn’t comfortable with that tech, then you’re missing the mark. So you need to understand the audience first, rather than leaning on glitzy, big-scale experiences.”
For Honigstein, events that fail to captivate attention – despite the best intentions and significant investment – are often those where the audience does not clearly benefit. Clear communication is critical as people need to understand exactly what to expect.
“I might come to a brand event thinking it’s directed at marketers, but in fact it’s targeting engineers or data professionals within a tech platform rather than marketers. If that’s not clear, you create mismatched expectations.”
“It’s actually very simple to fix: be explicit. Say, ‘This event is for X, Y and Z. This is what you’re going to get from it.’ It prevents misunderstandings.”
Consumer events, Honigstein admits, have left her feeling “a bit tired” recently – and she sees the space as one that’s crying out for disruption. “When it’s all about booths, sellers and buyers, trying to match them and forcing the selling, that’s when I don’t feel inspired,” she says.
“Sometimes it works simply because the numbers are so big that a percentage of it works. But a lot of the time, it’s just really samey.”
When experiences feel dry, speaker selection and content curation are often part of the problem. Selecting, briefing and curating the right speakers – in a way that consistently puts the audience first – is pivotal.
“You can choose the best speakers, but you can’t have a panel of three or four people all end up saying the same thing,” Honigstein says.
“You always need a diversity of voices, and you need to brief speakers again and again about who the audience is and what they expect to learn. Speakers can be great speakers, but if they’re not saying anything relevant for that audience, then that’s a problem.”
It is also about balance. Honigstein aims to mix well-known speakers – or speakers from well-known brands who can attract an audience – with up-and-coming voices or specialists who may not be famous but bring depth and expertise to the conversation.
Events that stood out to Honigstein
One event in particular that struck Honigstein was a Vogue and Snapchat collaboration that brought an AR fashion experience to life. The in-person exhibit invited visitors to move between different stations and try on high-fashion designs using Snapchat lenses.
Whether it was Balenciaga, Dior or Gucci, attendees left with high-fashion images of themselves – and even a personalised Vogue magazine cover.
“In terms of brand awareness and brand connection, it did wonders,” Honigstein says. “You could really see the personalisation, the snappiness of trying the brand and getting results instantly, and how interactive the whole experience was.
“There’s research showing that around 85% of people who attend events where they actively engage with a brand go on to use it or like it afterwards. I downloaded Snapchat straight after – and I didn’t have it before. It gave me real insight into the product, and the collaboration between Vogue and Snapchat was very clever.”
Beyond large-scale brand moments, Honigstein also values interest-based meetups that prioritise originality and community.
“I recently saw an event in my neighbourhood, a big brand doing supper clubs and cooking lessons in their shops. It brought loads of clients in.”
Sports brands, she adds, often do this particularly well. “They build communities around running groups or yoga. Alo Yoga, for example, has dedicated studio spaces within many of its stores, running yoga sessions that work really effectively.”
For Honigstein, all of these successful examples come back to the same principle: “Really thinking about what your brand stands for, who your audience is, and how you can bring them together.”
In an increasingly crowded events landscape, it is that audience-first mindset – not scale or spectacle – that makes experiences resonate.
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