From VR showrooms to haptic product demos and scent-triggered memory design, companies are replacing passive advertising with experiences that consumers step inside. An event production specialist explains what that shift means for brands in 2026.
The standard marketing toolkit – display advertising, video campaigns, social content – is losing ground. Not because these formats have stopped working entirely, but because consumer expectations have shifted in a direction that passive content consumption struggles to satisfy. Increasingly, the brands making the strongest impressions are those that invite people to participate rather than observe.
The market data supports that direction. The global immersive marketing sector reached $7.28 billion in 2024 and was projected to surge to $28.88 billion in 2025, representing a compound annual growth rate of 32 percent. Analysts expect the market to exceed $52 billion by 2030.
James Grifo, Owner and CEO of Audio Visual Nation, a production and staffing company that has worked on large-scale corporate events for clients says the shift is visible in how major brands are now approaching consumer touchpoints. “Companies are looking to do more than just tell their story – they’re inviting people to step inside it,” he said. “When you give someone the chance to physically interact with your product in a virtual space or feel the texture of a material through haptic technology, you create a memory anchor that standard advertising simply can’t match.”
Why the Psychology Works
The effectiveness of immersive marketing is grounded in how the brain processes active engagement differently from passive observation. When a consumer makes choices within an experience – exploring a virtual space, customising a product in real time, responding to sensory stimuli – the resulting memory is encoded more deeply than one formed by watching an advertisement.
Research suggests that 72 percent of consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand after participating in an experiential marketing event. Grifo frames the mechanism simply. “Traditional advertising creates awareness,” he said. “Immersive experiences create relationships. There’s a massive difference between knowing a product exists and feeling like you’ve already used it.”
The Technologies Driving the Shift
Grifo outlines six approaches that brands are already deploying – some at significant scale.
Virtual reality showrooms powered by platforms such as Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro allow consumers to examine products from every angle, configure options in real time, and experience scale that physical retail environments cannot accommodate. Automotive brands use VR to place potential buyers inside vehicles before a purchase decision. Fashion retailers offer virtual fitting rooms that show how garments look on specific body types.
Augmented reality activations layer digital content onto real-world environments rather than replacing them. Location-based AR platforms enable brands to design experiences that drive foot traffic to physical sites or deliver contextual product information at pop-up events. “AR bridges the gap between digital engagement and physical presence,” Grifo noted. “You’re adding a layer of interaction to spaces people already occupy.”
Haptic technology, including wearable systems such as HaptX and Teslasuit, introduces physical sensation to virtual demonstrations. A furniture retailer can let a customer feel the texture of upholstery without a physical showroom. A tool manufacturer can simulate how a drill feels in the hand. The application turns product specification into embodied experience.
Interactive retail environments use projection mapping technology to transform physical spaces into dynamic, responsive settings. Walls and floors become displays that react to customer movement. Products can demonstrate their own functionality without physical demonstration units. “We’ve built entire event spaces where the environment itself becomes part of the brand message,” Grifo said. “Everything responds to what’s happening in the room.”
Virtual event platforms such as Spatial.io allow brands to host branded digital spaces – product launches, exhibitions, networked gatherings – accessible to global audiences without geographic constraint. The format removes logistical barriers while maintaining the participatory quality that distinguishes experiential from conventional marketing.
Scent and environmental design represents perhaps the most underused dimension of immersive marketing. Systems that introduce specific fragrances into brand experiences tap into one of the most direct routes to memory formation. “Scent is often overlooked, but it’s one of the most powerful memory triggers we have,” Grifo said. “People might forget what they saw, but they won’t forget how a space made them feel.”
Where to Start
Grifo’s advice to brands considering immersive elements is to begin with a specific question: what do you want people to remember? The answer should determine which technology is appropriate, rather than the reverse.
A product launch might use VR to let consumers explore features ahead of physical availability. A retail environment might add AR try-on capability to reduce purchase hesitation. A corporate event might use interactive projection to transform a standard presentation into a navigable experience.
“Technology should serve the story you’re telling, not overshadow it,” Grifo said. “The most successful immersive campaigns share one trait: they give consumers agency. People want to explore, make choices, and interact on their own terms. Brands that design experiences around participation rather than presentation will build stronger connections and see better conversion rates going into 2026.”
The implication for brands that have not yet engaged with immersive formats is straightforward. As consumer expectations continue to shift toward participatory experiences, the gap between those who have invested in this direction and those who have not is likely to widen – and catching up becomes progressively harder the longer the delay.