What does the research say? The strategic role of events in the life of brands
The numbers back up intuition: events are not merely communication tools but among the highest-return marketing investments. Here are the latest international studies.
Many professionals intuitively feel that a well-run event adds significantly to a brand’s value. The numbers firmly support this intuition: the latest international research clearly proves that events are not merely communication tools, butamong the highest-return marketing investments.
The market in numbers: a $36 billion industry
The size of the global event-marketing industry will reach$36.31 billion by 2026— and this growth is no accident. According to Launchmetrics’ analysis, the growth is driven primarily by the spread of digital and hybrid events, which allow brands to reach a global audience without physical limits.
The European corporate-event market reached€12.38 billionin value by 2025, and forecasts expect annual growth of around 10 percent from 2026 — according to LinkedIn’s corporate-event trend analysis.
The return to in-person events — looking behind the data
The data clearly shows: we are living through a renaissance of in-person events. According to Freeman’s research, of those surveyed80 percentprefer in-person events over virtual ones, and of event marketers83 percentinclude in-person events in their strategy, and 47 percent of them say in-person events have the highest ROI of all marketing channels.
Trust and brand image: what an event can achieve
An event has a unique ability:it builds genuine trust. Based on Freeman’s data, 77 percent of consumers feel that a live encounter with a brand increases their trust; 64 percent retain the positive impression for a month or longer; and according to Eventtrack’s 2024 survey, 76 percent judge a brand more favourably after a live event.
Experiential marketing triggers three times as many personal recommendations as traditional advertising — in an age of growing scepticism towards digital ads.
G2 — experiential marketing analysisThe return: 338% additional revenue compared to traditional advertising
According to the latest research, event marketing generates338% more revenuethan traditional advertising (Kathy Traum’s LinkedIn analysis). 84 percent of CMOs count events among their top 3 marketing channels; companies running an event-tracking system achieve revenue growth of over 30 percent; and according to Harvard Business Review, experiential campaigns produce up toa fourfold ROIcompared to digital advertising.
Why do people remember experiences better?
The answer lies in how human memory works: our brain processes personally lived experiences differently. According to Elevated Concepts Studio’s summary, people retain 10 percent of content they read, but70 percent of a lived experienceretain it in their memory. This ratio alone justifies why it is worth investing in events.
The next step: Return on Relationships (ROR)
Researchers increasingly propose a new metric alongside ROI: the concept ofReturn on Relationships (ROR)— return on relationships. It is worth measuring not only how much revenue an event generated, but also how much trust, loyalty and long-term customer relationship it built.
NEST’s event-management division works in exactly this spirit: we plan every event as a strategic investment whose results are measurable — and which create real value for the brand.
