“With the onset of Zoom fatigue, the value of the platform and the ability to customize is paramount to the success of an event,” said YSL's Alexandria Ivanoff, who compares virtual platform selection to in-person venue selection. The team ultimately opted for event management software Eventfinity, which was customized with a sleek, masculine color scheme of blues and blacks to create a moody, rock-and-roll feel.Photo: Courtesy of YSL Beauté
Green was speaking to a recent event she and her team produced for YSL Beauté. Intended to introduce rocker Lenny Kravitz as the new face of the brand’s Y fragrance, the virtual launch took place Sept. 17 in the midst of New York Fashion Week—and pulled out all the stops to create a gathering that didn’t skimp on luxury. In addition to a live conversation with Kravitz, the L'Oréal-owned brand hosted a series of virtual rooms that included a DJ set with Va$htie, a performance from rapper Aminé, a masterclass with famed bartender Jeremy Le Blanche, a virtual photo booth, and a lively chat function.
The event drew 315 attendees, which YSL Beauté at L'Oréal director of social media Alexandria Ivanoff notes is likely less than it would have for an in-person event. And that exclusivity was by design. “We decided that quality over quantity is best,” said Ivanoff, who wanted to ensure it “wasn’t just another virtual event on someone’s calendar. ... The idea was to create this intimate, interactive experience, to really feel like you're at an in-real-life YSL event. You feel that elevation, you feel that luxury, but at the same time you might be sitting on your couch.”
BizBash chatted with the teams at YSL and Industria Creative to learn more about how they accomplished the event’s “intimate interactivity,” as they called it. Scroll down for a detailed look inside the rock-and-roll-inspired gathering.
“We wanted to ensure that guests didn’t feel like they were losing out on the IRL entertainment component while being in the virtual setting,” said Ivanoff. “In addition to the technical production, we planned down to the final detail of the entire guest journey—from pre-event contact strategy to the in-event experience to post-event amplification and follow-up.”
To add another element of interactivity, guests had the chance to be pulled “on stage” via Zoom. On-theme virtual backgrounds and a designated link were emailed out in advance, giving attendees the option to turn on their cameras for a virtual dance party. “Sometimes there is that awkward moment at the start of an event before the dance floor is popping—but that was not the case with this event,” said Ivanoff. “We couldn't open the waiting room fast enough to let everyone into the dance party.”
That type of intimacy and authenticity is also why the team opted to stream everything live, added Green. “While prerecorded content provides a more limited risk to technical issues, guests are appreciating that brands like YSL Beauté show up with live elements as well,” she said. “It provides that positive tension that anything can happen, just like at an IRL event.”
Ivanoff said the bar was one of the most popular areas of the event, noting, “This was the realization of how key interactivity is to the socialization piece of any event—we all miss going to bars and interacting with the bartender and fellow patrons."
Ivanoff expects the brand to continue applying some of these learnings when in-person events return. “This year has truly altered the way people want to consume experiences. It's gone to show that our time is really, really valuable,” she said. “At the end of the day, someone's choosing to spend their time with you, with your brand. … The virtual element doesn't have to remove the personal element of an event.”
