Why emotions should be the centerpiece of events today

A lot of event agencies determine the success of their event on the basis of the number of attendees present in the gathering; a few others feel the success of the event can be directly allocated to the number of tickets sold. However in reality both the metrics cannot really help an event organizer in correctly analyzing if the event they just executed was a success.

Come to think of it, all the 100 crore films that you see in the Indian film industry are massive money spinners but are they good films? Similarly a wedding which has been attended by over 500 guests but bores them all, cannot be termed as a successfully organized wedding.

So what should be the parameters of determining the success quotient of an event? Event industry experts say it has to be ‘emotions’.

The event and experiential marketing industry is fascinated with the word ‘experience’ today. Every time a new event mandate is handed over to them, all they want to do is to elevate the experience quotient of the brand in picture through the event. However what most event organizers do not understand is that no experience will ever be memorable for an event attendee if it fails to create any emotions in them.

Even getting beaten up by a goon is an experience but is that something that would emote a positive emotion in people? Is that something a prospective consumer would want to remember? No, similarly the centerpiece of an event or a campaign designing process today has to be solely the intention of generating positive emotions among people, failing which an experiential campaign or an event, irrespective of its budget will not be able to serve its purpose.


Taking an example from some of the best experiential campaigns like ‘Unlock the 007 in you by coca-cola’ where a prospective customer had to bring out the bond in them through a challenge, brought a lot of positive emotions in people who completed the challenge successfully. As a result the campaign even though touched only a few people at a time but is still considered as one of the most effective experiential campaigns by the brand ever.



Similarly, Burger King came up with an interesting campaign “We are all the same inside” to extend its support to homosexuality. The campaign saw homosexuals entering the burger king outlet and all were given burgers with different customized packaging. However when one opened the burger they were all the same in taste and appearance inside, illustrating the premise of every human is the same inside irrespective of their preferences. The campaign brought out the emotional best among people and also won a Cannes lions for the same.



Many people fail to understand what has brought in such unprecedented success for EDM festivals in the country? Well, the answer is simple, all of them have captivated the emotions of music, friendship and enjoyment for the people who attend them.

Brand marketers and event agencies need to understand today that all events have experiences and they can be good or bad but it is only emotions that truly affect people. Hence, an event or campaign design today has to be able to move and touch people first before wowing them with all creative and experiential elements.