Brands move influencer marketing offline as in-person events drive engagement

Brands are shifting influencer partnerships away from feed-first content and toward in-person community experiences as digital trust erodes. New survey data, creator ticket sales and campaign results from REFY, Bellissima and Merrell point to offline events as a growing advantage for brands in 2025 and beyond. Why it matters: - Brands are using offline events to build trust, belonging and stronger community ties at a time when sponsored content fatigue is rising. - The shift gives brands a way to reach audiences with experiences that feel less staged and more authentic than standard influencer posts. - In-person activations can produce both engagement and conversion, not just social reach. What happened: - Brands across beauty, lifestyle and fitness are moving influencer strategies from content output to real-world community experiences. - The Influencer Marketing Factory’s 2025 Creators IRL survey of 1,000 social media users found 41% attended an in-person influencer event in the past year. - Two-thirds of non-attendees said they were open to attending an influencer event. - StubHub data showed creators, podcasters and authors sold 500% more event tickets in 2025 than in 2024. - A 2025 Business of Fashion and McKinsey survey found 68% of shoppers were frustrated by the volume of sponsored content on social media. The details: - dcdx founder Andrew Roth said the industry has shifted from the attention economy to a post-COVID connection economy. - EMARKETER found more than 84% of Gen Z and Millennials value brands that blend technological and physical experiences. - REFY Beauty selected participants for a Mallorca getaway from its Instagram Broadcast Channel community and invited loyal customers alongside creators. - The REFY activation generated coverage in Vogue, Business of Fashion and Cosmopolitan. - REFY co-founder Jenna Meek said the brand has seen customers become the new influencers. - Brandnation launched MERIT Beauty to UK and Irish audiences by starting with tastemakers chosen for authority in clean beauty. - The MERIT Beauty activation produced 70+ pieces of content reaching a combined following of 3.21 million. - Bellissima took its curl-focused Salon Tours into specialist salons across London and Manchester, with a rollout to three more UK cities underway. - Bellissima invited members of The Curl Collective to one-on-one styling sessions featuring the Diffon Supreme in an educational setting. - One Bellissima creator video reached more than 400,000 views and 40,000 likes. - Across the Bellissima campaign, 95 pieces of content reached 1.51 million people and generated 39,000 engagements. - Merrell launched Destination Hackney to introduce the Agility Peak 6 trail shoe through an 80km ultra-relay race across UK trails and East London. - The Merrell event included five teams of five and an afterparty at Netil360. - Merrell said the goal was to do something that felt genuinely alive. - The Merrell campaign generated more than 300,000 organic social views and 240+ pieces of media coverage. Between the lines: - The best offline activations are shifting from brand parties and gift bags to experiences built for specific communities. - Niche events tend to outperform broad, generic influencer trips because they give creators and attendees a clearer identity and reason to care. - The strongest content from IRL events often comes from unscripted moments, which audiences may trust more than polished brand creative. - Brands are increasingly treating creators as collaborators and community hosts, not just distribution channels. What’s next: - Brands that want stronger results will likely keep investing in co-created experiences, smaller community-based events and creator-led activations. - Offline campaigns will probably keep expanding beyond beauty and lifestyle as more categories look for ways to build loyalty outside social feeds. - The brands that win are likely to prioritize depth over reach and give creators more creative freedom. The bottom line: - In-person community has become a competitive advantage for brands trying to stand out in a crowded, trust-starved digital market.