‘The future is going to be in real life”: IRL events are becoming the new proof point for creator marketing

Raichoora is already putting that into practice. She’s moving her followers off Instagram, the platform that built her audience, and into a monthly event she believes will outlast anything she posts. 

“That’s why I very quickly took my community off my Instagram, and I host events every single month because that’s going to last and that’s meaningful,” said Raichoora. “It’s real. It’s authentic, and you actually see who the person is. So I think events, community in real life activities aren’t just for the sake of it. They’re going to win, and it’s going to be really cool.” 

James Kirkham, co-founder of brand consultancy Iconic, calls it the post-feed world, where social media stopped being social a “long time ago and became broadcast”. That’s brilliant at “finding you”, he continued, but not so good at “really holding on to you”.  He added: “The feed gives you a glance but a proper live room gives you a night you still talk about a year later.”

Plenty of creators are making the same bet, and until recently most of them were the biggest names in the business. Dude Perfect is now in its sixth year of U.S. stadium tours with more than 200,000 fans through the gates in 2025, or Alex Cooper who got White Claw to sponsor her Unwell Tour. Raichoora is among a growing number of smaller creators running events for a core of followers who want to meet people with the same interest. She calls that group a community, and she said it’s where a brand’s money should go when it needs people to act. 

“If you want someone to click on something, turn up in person somewhere or talk about your brand to a friend, go to the communities,” Raichoora continued. 

Creators who can do this, and show how loyal their followers are stand to open up new kinds of deals. Marketers increasingly want a creator partnership to deliver a result their business can count. An event fills a room with people who chose to turn up and a sponsor can tally the turnout, sales and sign-ups before the night is over. Dude Perfect, for instance, judges its tours on ticket and merch sales.  

“I see so many people who can be on video, but no one turns up to their in-person events,” said Raichoora. “I’m not saying that’s a problem, but it is if you want that emotional kind of meaning to what you’re building. And so, really looking at the difference of who has an audience, who has a community, and where are they? Because that then changes the longevity and relationship with the brands. I think now more than ever, the number of followers you have is less relevant.”

Expect to hear more creators talk this way over the coming months. Making a living from video keeps getting harder so they’re looking for other ways to earn from the fans they’ve built up. Joel Beya, content creator and founder of football media platform Cheeky Sport, compared the moment to the music industry. “I feel like it’s almost had its peak,” he continued, adding that clippers now earn more than the creators they clip.” 

In person events give creators something to sell that a clipper can’t copy, and brands are already buying. AT&T signed up to sponsor all of Ludwig Ahgren’s events for six months last year. MKTG Sports + Entertainment’s data backs that up: Nearly half (45%) of sports fans agree that as digital and AI content grows, they find themselves craving more physical/offline experiences. Meanwhile nearly two thirds (62%) of sports fans believe community can only be built in sports through real life experiences.

“For brands, the ability to move an audience from the feed into a room is becoming a powerful measure of a creator’s appeal,” said Amar Singh, svp at the sports and entertainment agency @MKTG. “It shows that the relationship goes beyond views and passive consumption into genuine connection and community. Creator marketing then becomes less about simply buying reach to tapping into genuine fandom by creating meaningful experiences.”