The second wave of Spiro's Experiential Marketing Impact Report (EMIR) moves beyond whether experiences work to identifying the design choices most closely associated with trust, connection and purchase intent.
LAS VEGAS, Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Spiro, a global experiential agency, today released EMIR: The Deeper Dive, the second wave of its Experiential Marketing Impact Report (EMIR), which examines how live experiences influence people and business outcomes.
The inaugural 2025 report established the business case for experiential, finding meaningful relationships between live experiences and outcomes including trust, advocacy, purchase intent and action.
Now, The Deeper Dive asks the next question: What makes some experiences work harder than others?
Based on research with 2,000 additional B2B and B2C live-event attendees, the report looks more closely at the design choices behind an experience and how those decisions relate to what people think, feel and do afterward.
"Marketers already know a great experience can be powerful. The harder questions are why it worked, what actually mattered and whether you can do it again," said Carley Faircloth-Kilmurray, Global Chief Marketing, Strategy & Brand Experiences Officer at Spiro.
Spiro calls this the Effectiveness Era: moving the industry conversation from proving experiential works to understanding why it works and how to make it work better.
"If we understand more about what makes experiences effective, we can bring that evidence into the strategy and design process from the beginning, and make stronger decisions about the experiences we create," said Faircloth-Kilmurray.
Among the findings:
- People trust people. Knowledgeable staff increased brand trust for 43% of attendees, while 54% engaged by talking with a real person.
- Clarity earns attention. 40% said a clear, easy-to-understand benefit made an experience worth their time.
- Participation builds intent. Hands-on participation was associated with substantially higher purchase intent, with 85% of deeply engaged attendees reporting they were more likely to purchase.
"This research gives teams a stronger foundation for deciding what to prioritize, what to measure and what to change next time," said Beki Winchel, VP, Marketing at Spiro. "The more we learn about what works, the better we can get at designing for it."
From Research to Practical Application
The growing EMIR toolkit helps experiential marketers put the research to work, with a Maturity Assessment Workbook to identify where they can improve, plus a Finance Conversation Guide to build stronger internal investment conversations.
To download EMIR: The Deeper Dive and explore the strategic EMIR toolkit, visit Spiro.com.
About Spiro
Spiro is a global experiential agency built around a simple belief: great experiences create stronger bonds between brands and customers. We call that Brand Gravity. Through strategy, creativity, production and measurement, Spiro creates experiences that strengthen those relationships and turn them into meaningful customer and business outcomes. Learn more at spiro.com.
Media Contact
Melissa Burns
Senior Director of Marketing
mburns@thisisspiro.com
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