On March 6th, it seemed like an overreaction when South by Southwest canceled its 2020 event.  At that time, we did not fully understand the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak.  We were not all sheltering in place, teaching our kids and still trying to “work” remotely.

Now, one month later, we know that was the right call to cancel and others followed soon after (NCAA Tournament, NBA Season, movie theaters, etc.).  As government officials limited gatherings to smaller sizes or issued stay-at-home orders, attending trade shows, festivals, or events with thousands and thousands of other people became unthinkable.   Just about all of those events ended up canceled and we are just weeks away from summer camps, festivals and programs needing to make the same decisions. 

This has forced organizations, companies, and events to be innovative, adaptive and nimble in ways they haven’t ever had to before.  For those who could work remotely, or postpone rather than cancel, they are considered lucky.  For those that rely on their events or programs for revenue or fundraising, it is not so easy.  But it also has not been impossible.  Restaurants have started to rely heavily on things like branded swag to create cash flow while their doors are shuttered. 

For events like the University of Minnesota Hillel’s Maroon and Gold Shabbat or the Minneapolis Loppet City Trails event, it meant recognizing that things are not happening as planned.  The focus has shifted to what can be done by creating virtual events and creating a shared experience.  Minnesota Hillel took their largest fundraising and end of the year event, and turned it into a branded box for their Home Edition (to be sent out to all of its donors and students).  This has become an opportunity to bring Hillel into homes to celebrate.  The Minneapolis Loppet Foundation also wanted to create a great shared experience, pivoting their City Trails race and rebranding it as the City “Trials” virtual race with participants able to order their gear from a pop-up store and share their progress on social media.   

With technology being what it is, a lot of events have been moved online.  The best events are still engaging on an impactful level, with the participants making them feel like they were still part of a shared group experience.  The creative use of swag is an additional way to connect and create a physical marketing presence with customers and clients.  Many organizations and companies are taking a day-by-day approach waiting to see what happens, but they are missing out on uniquely engaging their participants and people are tuning out.  How many frontal videos have you watched on quarantine (and would you watch another)?    When things return to something like normalcy those businesses and organizations will need to think of brand new ways to coax their former participants back, while the forward-thinking ones will have kept theirs.  Now is the time to be creative and give your participants something even when they cannot be there in person.