Brand Festivals: How to Plan a High-Impact Experience That Connects People, Purpose and Performance

Let’s start with the obvious: the term brand festival might sound like marketing jargon gone wild – a Glastonbury for HR? But in practice, it’s a genuinely powerful format that more and more leading brands are turning to when they want to create something… well, unforgettable.

A brand festival is an immersive, multi-layered event designed to bring your organisation’s identity, values and purpose to life. It’s not just a big party with some branded bunting. It’s a strategic experience that weaves together content, culture, connection and creativity.

Unlike traditional conferences (which can feel like a long-haul flight with less legroom), festivals allow for movement, choice and discovery. They’re designed for humans, not just stakeholders. People come to be inspired, challenged and engaged, not just to sit through yet another keynote with the lights dimmed and the heating cranked on high.

Why now?

Because attention is scarce. Expectations are sky-high. And your competitors are no longer wooing clients or engaging teams with a couple of slides and a soggy biscuit.

I watched a CMO at a traditional industry conference last month literally check her phone 47 times during a 30-minute presentation. (Yes, I counted.) Meanwhile, at a festival-format event the week before, the same executive spent three hours wandering between immersive installations, deep in conversation with customers she’d never met. Same person. Completely different engagement.

Whether you’re launching a product, aligning a team, or celebrating with customers, the festival format gives you flexibility, energy and a chance to say something bold about who you are.

Think less “here’s our Q3 update” and more “welcome to our world.”

The beauty of the brand festival format is its versatility. It flexes to suit your audience whether they be internal, external, or a blend of both.

Internal: For Employees and Leadership Teams

• Celebrating milestones (anniversaries, culture change, mergers)
• Connecting hybrid or global teams
• Re-launching purpose or values in a meaningful way
• Showcasing internal talent and leadership visibility

It’s like your classic team offsite – but on steroids, with better lighting and fewer awkward icebreakers.

External: For Customers, Clients, Partners, Investors and Media

• Product launches with real wow-factor
• Customer reward and loyalty programmes
• Industry positioning events (thought-leadership, category leadership)
• B2B partner summits with serious flair

Because who said your next client event had to be a cold room in a hotel off the M25?

The shift we’re seeing is a move away from transactional formats and towards emotional engagement. Festivals do this brilliantly as they build community, story and momentum.

If you’ve ever been to an event and left feeling… absolutely nothing, you’ll understand why this matters.

Immersion: Brand Festivals aren’t about watching from a distance. They pull you in. From live stages to quiet zones, creative activations to offbeat experiences, guests engage on their own terms.

Memorability: People don’t remember what you said, but they remember how you made you feel. If your event is just another “agenda slide – panel – sandwiches” cycle, you’ll blend in. A festival stands out.

Six months after one festival we produced, an attendee’s LinkedIn bio still referenced a single phrase from a workshop session. Not the keynote. Not the big reveal. A five-minute breakout moment that perfectly captured their professional aspirations. That’s the kind of stickiness traditional formats struggle to achieve.

Emotional Connection: The best brand festivals build real feeling: pride, belief, ambition, trust. That’s hard to achieve in a break-out room with grey carpet and no windows.

Longevity: Social media moments. Internal comms content. Employee advocacy. Festivals create ripples long after the bunting’s packed away.

Differentiation: Most brands still aren’t doing this. If you want to show you’re progressive, people-led, or customer-obsessed, this is a format that proves it without shouting.

And let’s be honest, given the choice between a dull all-hands in a basement and a fully immersive brand experience with great food, who wouldn’t pick the one with daylight and decent coffee?

Right. Let’s talk brass tacks. How do you convince the board this isn’t just a jolly?

Start with Strategy:

• What are you trying to achieve? How does this link with the overarching business goals?
• Who are you trying to move, inspire or engage?
• What do you want people to think, feel or do afterwards?

Brand Festivals should ladder directly into key business priorities: culture, engagement, loyalty, reputation, recruitment, retention, awareness.

Link to Measurable KPIs:

• eNPS or engagement scores post-event
• Pipeline or press reach for external activations
• Content performance from the event
• Retention or conversion tied to event participation

The key with defining your KPIs is to be able to demonstrate measurable business impact.

Tackle the Budget Head-On:

Yes, it’s an investment. But so is losing your best people. Or failing to cut through with clients. Make the case for Return on Experience; or what we like to call ROX.

One CFO we know was initially skeptical about their Brand Festival budget until HR showed him the recruitment savings: they hired 12 senior people directly through connections made at their customer event, saving roughly £180k in agency fees. Suddenly the festival investment looked rather sensible.

And remember, CFOs love numbers, but they also like a team who can show ambition without being reckless. Show them the plan, the payoff, and that you’re not just after a unicorn petting zoo in Soho (yes, we have quoted for this too).

Let’s get practical. What goes into making a festival-format event sing?

1. Narrative & Content Strategy 

Not just speakers – storytellers. Not just panels – performances. Whether it’s inspiring leaders, external voices or internal talent, content must reflect your voice and vision. And it MUST be engaging.

2. Design & Environment

From layouts to lighting, sensory design matters. If your office is sleek and minimal but your event looks like a village fete, you’re missing a trick. There’s a ton of exciting innovation happening in this space from scent creation to audio projection mapping (down to a square metre!) an entire space to create a genuinely unique journey that immerses guests in your brand / product.

3. Programming with Purpose

Multiple stages, flexible zones, parallel sessions. People need to feel choice and movement. Plan like a film director; think about energy, pace and rhythm.

4. Hospitality Done Right 

Not just sandwiches and sparkling water. Food is part of the brand experience. People remember whether they were cared for. This is also a great opportunity to creatively immerse people in to your brand.

5. Technical Production 

Lighting, sound, video, live streaming. Seamless AV turns a good event into a great one. And a stressful one into a smooth ride.

6. Flow & Wayfinding

How people move through a space matters. Think signage, mood, temperature, rest spots, recharging zones.

I once watched 200 tech executives miss the opening keynote because someone printed “Main Stage” arrows pointing to the catering tent. Twenty minutes of confused wandering and lukewarm coffee later, half the audience had already switched off. Good signage isn’t glamorous, but it’s absolutely critical.

Planning a brand festival is like building a tiny (beautiful) city that lives for 48 hours and then vanishes, so it’s worth having people who’ve done it before.

1. The Customer Festival 

For a fintech group post-merger, we ran a three-day internal brand festival: a mix of storytelling, skills-building, leadership sessions, and after-dark entertainment. The result? Pipeline uplift, a storm of earned media, and months of content assets.

2. The Internal Culture Festival 

For a tech services brand, we built a multi-zone experience featuring customer stories, headline speakers and headline acts and a multi-cultural feast across five countries! Feedback? Best company event in 20 years.

Take a look at how we delivered this event here.

3. The Partner Loyalty Festival 

For a luxury brand, we curated a VIP retreat-style festival for their top-performing resellers, driving deeper relationships, strategic planning, and of course, champagne by the firepit.

In short: the format flexes. You just need the right shape for your story.

Even the most ambitious events can flop if you miss the fundamentals.

• Don’t lead with the venue; lead with the vision
• Don’t overload the agenda; give people space to breathe
• Don’t forget accessibility or inclusion; comfort matters
• Don’t leave feedback till the end; build listening in throughout
• Don’t settle for ‘good enough’ food; nobody networks on an empty stomach

And please, for the love of coffee, test the microphones before the CEO gets up. I’ve seen a brilliant 30-minute speech reduced to an incomprehensible mumble because someone assumed the wireless mic “probably works fine.”

Here’s what you need in your delivery partner:

Strategic mindset: not just “what do you want us to book?” but “what do you want to achieve?”

Creative confidence: to take bold ideas and make them practical

Flawless logistics: because the best events feel effortless, and that takes work

People-first approach: empathy, insight and experience front and centre

You want someone who sees the full picture, not just the production schedule.

We’re in an era where connection matters more than ever. Employees need to feel seen. Customers want to feel part of something bigger. Leaders are looking for formats that actually work.

A well-executed Brand Festival isn’t a vanity project. It’s a catalyst. It changes perceptions. It builds loyalty. It unites people around purpose, momentum and shared ambition.

If you’re ready to do something bold – something people will talk about for years, not hours – we’re here to help you make it happen.

Because in a world full of conferences that blur into one… be the one that felt like a mini Glastonbury – just with better coffee (and toilets), fewer wellies and less mud!