Think virtual events are boring? Think again as Flox offers life-like brand experiences with the immersive excitement of a virtual world for clients including Molson Coors.
With analyst house Forrester warning marketers not to over-rotate back to in-person events, a new virtual events platform called Flox launches this week – an immersive metaverse platform – here to shake up the industry. Already piloted globally with 3 Fortune 500 organisations, including beverage giant Molson Coors, London-based Flox offers businesses and brands a three-dimensional web – or ‘metaverse’- experience to help create more human virtual and hybrid live events, complete with all the advantages expected from a digital environment.
Started by a duo of digital marketing and virtual experiential’s brightest talents, Alistair Bryan and Jaie Genadt, a pair who held senior leadership roles at global marketing groups including Havas, IPG and Omnicom, spearheading the technology experience offering for clients including Microsoft and American Express.
A stellar team of advisors is backing the new venture, including Phil Chambers (founder of employee engagement platform, Peakon, which recently sold to Workday) and Matt Kingdon (founder of innovation leader WhatIf?). Along with other as yet unnamed investors, they were drawn to the passion and insight of the Flox co-founders, the fast growth of the virtual events market (that is expected to mushroom by £6.81 billion from 2020 to 2025) and growing interest in the metaverse.
Increased calls for an environmentally responsible approach to events, as well as the need for the advantages of digital (including instant translation, conversation transcribing, data capture and limitless space) are driving demand for digital events. Flox’s metaverse offer is far superior to 2D digital alternatives by offering an experience that’s as close to in-person as you can get digitally. Attendees move their digital avatars (personalised to their face with scanning technology) around a defined space, with active intention and more freedom than you would ever get in a video conference.
Easily accessed at home or at work through a computer screen or phone, businesses and brands can use the beautiful pre-built and customisable virtual space or decide to build something entirely bespoke. The bespoke option could be a digital twin (e.g., an exact replica of a corporate site, a retail environment or pop-up, or a university campus) or something completely original and limited only by imagination.
Social connection is at the heart of Flox and has been built into its core product, with movement around virtual space and artificial intelligence helping users find and connect with the right people. This makes it easy to create spontaneous breakouts, or schedule one-on-ones and message other people instantly. The platform also has integrated tools to encourage active participation, such as live polls and moderated Q&As. And importantly, Flox has best in class enterprise grade privacy and security.
Molson Coors’ Digital Operations Manager EMEA & APAC, Matt Marlow, said: “Flox offered Molson Coors a far more interactive way to engage with internal teams across EMEA & APAC.”
Flox co-founder, Alistair Bryan said: “Virtual events and experiences are here to stay; growing with a CAGR of nearly 22% YOY. For brands and businesses, who want to be part of the metaverse today, Flox is here to help them with our 3D virtual events platform, focussed on human connection and engagement. Companies and brands we are talking to, see the huge potential for virtual experiences and events for their consumers, employees, attendees and at the same time are conscious of reaching a global audience, reducing their carbon impact, supporting diversity, reducing their costs and measuring the effectiveness of their spend.”
Flox co-founder, Jaie Genadt, said: “Far from sticking to the status quo in the virtual event space, we set out to design a platform that replicates the spontaneity, collaborative opportunity and live excitement of in-person events and experiences. Between us, we have decades of experience building relationships with event producers, tech suppliers, production logistics teams and CMOs, so we understand what matters to them, and we can bring it to life in the Flox metaverse.”
Putting people first to get the collective experience right: Flox believes the overall collective experience is always driven by the individual one. This means that no Flox event needs to feel the same; each can have unique embedded branding and design through to entirely new and bespoke virtual spaces. People can be led by their own preferences and can easily switch between a personalised avatar or an incognito/personal view, which can be viewed in 2D or 3D. Additionally, Flox can be provided in most countries globally and events can be delivered in multiple languages.
Designed for a hybrid world: developed for our new ‘hybrid’ world with flexible broadcasting baked into the platform. This means the team can build a digital twin of corporate HQs, and clients can host in-person events with content delivered through the Flox platform to a real screen at the event. Or the reverse; using a live feed from an in-person audience to relay content to an expanded real-time or catch-up audience connecting remotely.
Data Driven to drive engagement: Another benefit of the Flox platform is that event data can be sent straight to clients’ CRM systems. Flox tracks participant engagement and interaction in the back end, ensuring that return on investment is measurable. This provides a great tool to feedback levels of interest in different topics or key focus areas covered at the event, which can be a valuable source of information to help adapt and refine content.
Carbon measurement built in: Companies and brands can make use of a built-in Flox carbon footprint tracker which allows organisations to understand the impact saving they have by people attending an event or experience virtually versus in person.
Before even officially launching Flox has already established a diverse and impressive client portfolio. From Fortune 500 companies wanting to bring people together for a global sustainability event, or an HR department that wants to create a townhall for employees that brings their brand to life, as well as international marketing teams looking to share their digital toolkits in local languages without the travel burden, clients come from all areas of business and beyond.
The global virtual events market size was valued at USD 114.12 billion in 2021 and is anticipated to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 21.4% from 2022 to 2030[1]. If you are interested in exploring this booming sector further, start by having a demo of Flox and a conversation with us, for more information visit www.FLOX.live or email Flox at contactus@FLOX.live.
[1] Report by Grand View Research
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