Let’s take a break from worrying about cookie replacements to look at a channel where the only cookies are the ones you can chew: events. While the pandemic halted live events, the online event industry has been booming. So much so that virtual event platform Hopin went from zero to 85,000 clients and 400 employees in less than two years. They just raised a $400 million Series C, bringing their total funding to $571 million.
This continues Ping’s work to promote an open, standards-based approach to managing data. Recent work has included managing digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates.
Nextech AR also supports virtual events, although it’s just one of many uses for its augmented reality technology. Their latest venture is to add the ultimate real-world touch to their event experiences: advertising! Yep, they’ve set up a network to sell ads to virtual event attendees. Perhaps they can add some stale pastry and luke-warm coffee to complete the simulation.
Just over half of consumers (54%) like to receive personalized messages because they show the consumers are known to the brand, plus they can be time savers. The rest (46%) find it at best unimportant, at worst creepy. Relevance far outstrips personalization when it comes to driving email opens (54% vs. 19%). Takeaway: treat each customer the way they prefer.