As we come into 2025 and finish out the incredible event year that was 2024, I am starting to wonder what the trends of 2025 are going to be? Will it be the status quo of 2024 continued into the New Year? Or are we likely to see a lot of new things pop up and shake things up.
Whilst I have no crystal ball, and as much as I wish I could predict the future, I do think there are a few trends here to stay into the next event season, and a few that will step up and really take hold of the 2025 mood boards and event plans. I have to say, I’m loving most of them, and can’t wait to see how they play out in 2025!
- Smaller, more effective micro popups, and lots of them
One of the trends I have started to see towards the end of the year, is a focus on micro pop ups for a brand, but being able to stretch the budget do more of them. I love this trend, provided the initial concept and design was invested into and was bang on.
We’re working with a Hydration supplement on this exact mindset, invest in the concept, the branded elements and the setup the first time, and operate off a rinse and repeat mindset.
If you invest in good quality media walls, product displays and selling units once, these will pay dividends and be able to be reused across so many different activations, with the cost per use (CPU) dwindling down every time you pull it out of the cupboard.
The only time I see an issue with this is when clients try and cut out the first step and pull together a budget, corner cut activation that does nothing to elevate their brand. Yes you may get your CPU down to $10, but is it going to do more harm to your brand over those uses.
2. Downscaling internal teams, and outsourcing event planning
As the cost of living pressure pinch, and spending seems to be slowing down a little to get inflation under control, I’m seeing lots of cuts to internal teams, and instead outsourcing to an external contractor (benefits of an external contractor blog?), the benefits of this strategy come into play if you only run a few events a year.
Having an external contractor on board, means we can bring all the current trends, our incredible little black book of suppliers, and our expertise and experience of what can make a successful event into your team to become an extension of your team – but without the pressure and commitment of a full time salary overhead.
3. No clear cyclical event calendar – just doing them when they feel
Typically the event industry can be really cyclical, we see nothing in the first few months of the year as everyone makes their way back to work, then it kicks up to the middle of the year, before we see a cool down whilst we all finalise our taxes, and then of course, the hectic run up to Christmas.
This year interestingly, we’ve seen the cyclicality of the industry become less and less, and a more consistent trend line start to track across the year. Of course there are still some quieter months where event planning takes a seat for our clients, but I have seen less peaks and troughs.
I am hoping this continues through to 2025, as of course I love events and just want to do them all year round, but I think it’s also great for customers and their guests – it means we deal with less chaos and makes event planning that little bit more stress free.
Interestingly, this year our end of year rush to the finish line almost happened a full month early, with most of our events wrapping in November, to make way for a fairly cruisey December, and allow for lots of preparation work to commence for the 2025 calendar of events.
4. Bright colours and engaging designs
I mean this one is never going to get old right? 2025 I envision there will be lost more of the bright vibrant and popping colours coming through. After so many years of the muted beiges and sepia filters on all of our photos, colour seems to be making its way back.
Bold colours and colour blocking (a trend of grouping all elements in a particular area in one colour), seem to be really taking hold of the event industry in the design side of things.
Personally, I love any event where we can bring some bright, beautiful colours into the mix and almost play on our inner child-like sense and glee when we see them all come together.
Do I need to mention the success of the Bluey pop-up house in Brisbane ? Yes, of course, Bluey has taken the world by storm on its own, and this pop-up isn’t exactly what catapulted it into success, but do you think the house would be anywhere near as popular if it was just a sea of beige and muted tones? I think not.
Interactivity and gamification
My last trend that I see going into 2024 is the rise of interactivity and gamification when it comes to events and activations. When we came out of COVID guests became pretty easy to please, we hadn’t see other people for months, and it had been years since we were able to gather in massive crowds.
Now as the novelty of this fades, and the rising popularity of Tik Tok and Reels, and our declining attention span, now more than ever we need that hook to get our guests attention and keep them coming back for more.
We are looking more into quirky games, interactive activation elements and engaging and never-before-seen event design to capture attention.
How phenomenal was the Jellycat fish and chip service activation that went viral for all those months and continues to? Gamification, and interactivity at it’s finest.
I am also starting to really see an increase in the focus and importance in community both internally with my clients and through their wider audiences. Utilising events and interaction in events to build and leverage relationships within communities.
Overall, like every New Year that we start, comes some excitement and uncertainty for what the year will bring, one thing I love about events is that there is no rule book. There are no guidelines that tell you what your event needs to look like or what it must include – who’s to say your next event isn’t the pop-up to send TikTok into a storm and get everyone talking?
If you think it might be, let’s chat about how we can use the above trends, and possibly even create our own trends to bring your event vision to life in 2025.