Events and marketing agency Entourage launched the region’s first 3D virtual events platform when live events were no longer possible because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the three months since its first event in September, more than 50 virtual events have been executed on eve, including events for the G20 summit in Saudi Arabia earlier this year and WETEX, said Mohammed Tayem, CEO and founder of eve and founder of Entourage.
“When Covid came, we found ourselves almost jobless so we said we need to find a way to cover at least our running costs and that’s when we thought of creating the same experience we used to create for our clients but online,” said Tayem.
Entourage has 15 years of experience in the region’s marketing and corporate events industry and has witnessed the transition of media from offline to online, inspiring Tayem to think of eve.
“From 2005 until around 2015, millions of dollars were spent on outdoor and offline advertising but then slowly media transitioned to digital. So we took that experience as an example and thought of creating a platform where people can accommodate their events online,” said Tayem.
Officially launched in July, eve is a customisable platform with integrated features such as video conferencing, live chat and e-commerce, live studio integration, one-on-one meeting rooms, backstage management and streaming.
While Tayem acknowledged that there is competition in the virtual events space, he said eve’s competitive edge is their 3D format where any environment can be replicated and the option of e-commerce on the platform, meaning attendees can buy coffee during the event for example.
Entourage’s long experience in the industry gave eve an edge when it comes to marketing and promotion, as did their successful execution of G20 said Tayem. As a result, eve has 25 regional and international clients for which it has executed 50 events so far.
While initially eve was self-funded, Tayem said he will be raising funds and participating in investment series in January.
Medium terms plans include the development of different versions of eve including an automated service where clients can independently book and manage an event online and a video conference platform whereby organizers can control attendees and allow for background screens. Also in the pipelines is eve education, a 3D platform for schools, which Tayem said he will be launching in March.
Tayem said he is not worried about the future of eve once live events resume in a post-corona world.
“I believe hybrid events will be the new norm in 2021 onwards. We will have physical events but with a virtual presence which will complement the event and give it more reach and exposure,” said Tayem.
“Also, the past year almost has made event organisers realise how much money they were spending on speakers’ management from flights to accommodation etc. So instead of using this budget in that way, virtual platforms could reduce this cost by allowing speakers to virtually tune in for the ten or fifteen minutes of their address,” he added.
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