Events agency or brand experience agency? What’s the difference and how to choose the right fit.
Corporate event planners often wonder whether to work with an events agency or a brand experience agency. Both play vital roles in delivering memorable experiences, but understanding their differences (and overlaps) is key to crafting an event strategy that meets your business goals. Here, we highlight where these agencies overlap and where they diverge, especially in the context of corporate events and audience engagement.
What does an events agency do?
An events agency specialises in planning and executing conferences, trade shows, internal communication events and more. They coordinate all the logistical details, venues, schedules, technical production, catering, registration, to ensure everything runs smoothly. A good events agency also aligns each event with your organisation’s goals and messaging, so the event isn’t just well-organised but purpose-driven (whether it’s training employees, impressing clients or celebrating a milestone). With such attention to detail, nothing is left to chance.
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What does a brand experience agency do?
A brand experience agency creates immersive experiences that bring a brand’s identity to life, often through brand activations and experiential campaigns (think pop-up installations, product launches or other creative stunts that get people talking). The aim is to forge an emotional connection between the audience and the brand, designing engagements where consumers can interact directly with a company’s products, services and story. Creativity and sensory impact are paramount: the goal is to delight and engage people, leaving a lasting impression that boosts brand affinity. Success for this kind of agency is often measured by the buzz and engagement generated, for example, viral social media coverage, press mentions or positive attendee feedback.
Where events agencies and brand experience agencies overlap
Despite different focuses, both types of agency share common ground:
- Engaging, creative experiences: Both put the audience at the centre and use creativity to deliver memorable events. A formal conference might include live polling or immersive presentations, just as a consumer event might use interactive demos, different context, same goal of captivating the audience.
- Technology and reach: Both agencies use modern tech to enhance events. Live streaming, event apps and social media integration help extend the experience beyond the venue. Embracing hybrid event formats is now common practice to reach wider audiences and boost participation.
Key differences between an events agency and a brand experience agency
While there’s overlap, some differences set these agencies apart:
- Audiences and purpose: Events agencies handle corporate gatherings (like internal conferences). Brand experience agencies focus on public-facing events, from product launches to pop-up activations. The corporate event focuses on information-sharing or networking, whereas the brand activation is about excitement and broad awareness.
- Core expertise: An events agency is masterful at logistics and production, ensuring every practical element is expertly managed for flawless execution. A brand experience agency excels at creative concept and design, developing the big idea, themes and interactive content that make an experience emotionally engaging.
- Measuring success: Both care about ROI, but they measure it differently. A corporate event’s success might be evaluated by attendee feedback and business outcomes, such as sales leads or employee engagement. In contrast, an experiential activation is gauged by engagement and reach, such as social buzz or brand sentiment. Each defines a “great result” according to its own goals.
The line between these roles is increasingly blurred; often the greatest success comes from blending strategic rigour with creative flair.
Bringing it all together: Live Group’s integrated approach
For corporate decision-makers, the ideal partner combines the strengths of both. Live Group is a full-service events agency that does exactly that, blending strategic event planning with imaginative experience design to deliver engaging events.
- Strategic event planning: We begin by understanding your objectives and audience, then craft an event strategy to meet those goals. With a clear purpose, every event is designed to deliver measurable outcomes.
- Personalisation: We leverage data insights to tailor content and experiences for different attendee groups. By customising agendas, messaging and on-site interactions, we ensure each participant feels engaged – turning passive attendees into active contributors.
- Hybrid event delivery: We seamlessly blend in-person and virtual elements to create unified hybrid events. By live-streaming sessions and enabling interactive online participation, we extend your reach to remote attendees without sacrificing engagement.
- Measurable engagement: We use event technology to track and analyse audience participation, from live poll responses to post-event feedback. Then we provide clear metrics so you can see the ROI and what resonated.
Live Group unites event management with creative brand storytelling, so you don’t have to choose between an events agency and a brand experience agency, you get the best of both.
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Live Group helps organisations design and deliver personalised event experiences that engage audiences and achieve results. Contact us to discuss your next event.
