Condé Nast Unveils 500 Virtual and In-Person Events for 2021

Virtual events will outlast the pandemic, and Condé Nast is thrilled about it. In 2020, the publisher hosted more than 400 virtual or hybrid events, which reached a cumulative 700,000 attendees, said Eric Johnson, the senior vice president of global commercial marketing and events. This year, Condé Nast plans to organize a mix of more than 500 online, hybrid, or in-person events, though the majority will feature a mixed model. “Hybrid is here to stay,” Johnson said. “Unless it's a very intimate event, we are always going to have a component that allows for people to participate from wherever they are.” The publisher is hosting its second annual virtual events upfront Thursday, using the opportunity to share its slate of upcoming virtual events and the insights it has gleaned from a year of coordinating remote functions. Condé Nast will also introduce two new products at the upfronts: Its dedicated website for virtual events, and its new measurement tool for tracking virtual-event advertising efficacy called Encore. The upfront will also feature a conversation between The New Yorker’s editor-in-chief David Remnick and Pitchfork’s editor-in-chief Puja Patel about the future of remote events. Future events will be a mix of experiential styles Beginning in April, the publisher will launch a suite of remote events, with the hope that it will be able to introduce a mixed model by August. This month, the publisher will host its virtual Vanity Fair Cocktail Hour Live. In May, Self will host a virtual get-together as part of its Checking In franchise; in June, Them will host a Pride initiative, and Architectural Digest will offer its Iconic Home tour virtually; and in July, Vogue will throw its Forces of Fashion function. In the fall, the publisher hopes to transition to a hybrid model, throwing its New Yorker Festival in October and Glamour’s Women of the Year function in November. With any luck, Condé Nast hopes to hold its Pitchfork Festival in-person later this year, at an unspecified date. Why events are staying (partially) remote Even when events can return to drawing large crowds, there is little reason to stop offering a virtual component, Johnson said. The scale that a remote event can achieve allows publishers to sell advertising against them, opening up a revenue stream that was previously nonexistent. Over 23,000 virtual guests attended the 2020 New Yorker Festival, and 2,600 tuned in to Vogue's virtual Forces of Fashion event last summer. As a result, 48% of Condé Nast’s total 2020 global event revenue came from virtual events last year, and year-over-year- global event revenue growth is projected at 74%, according to the publisher. To capture this revenue, publishers have to incorporate brand campaigns into the events themselves, Johnson said, rather than simply run interstitial advertisements. For The New Yorker festival last year, attendees received meal deliveries sponsored by restaurants and courier services, allowing fans to eat and tune in at the same time. Creative solutions like these, Johnson said, are a must for virtual events. The majority of events will also be ticketed, with the price of attendance ranging between $19 and $125, depending on the event. For subscriber-only events, such as New Yorker Live, the publisher will forgo tickets. Two new products Advertisers embraced virtual events slowly in 2020, in part because they lacked an effective way of tracking their return on investment. To remedy the problem, Condé Nast has introduced a new product called Encore, which it will use to help advertisers gauge the efficacy of their campaigns. Depending on their level of financial investment, sponsors will be given access to tools that allow them to see how virtual attendees engaged with their messaging. In addition, the publisher will be launching a website dedicated to its virtual events, allowing prospective attendees to shop through the various options. The company is even considering something akin to a “season pass,” allowing fans who want to register for multiple events a price-efficient way to do so, Johnson said. These passes could be grouped by subject, allowing a foodie, for instance, to purchase a discounted package giving them access to all of Condé Nast’s food-related virtual events. The company's investment in the future of virtual events is evidence that they will remain fixtures in the lives of publishers and consumers long after the pandemic has ended. In time, where you live could come to have little bearing on what you can do. The New Yorker Rolls Out a New, Star-Studded Virtual Event Series, The New Yorker Live