The Return of Physical Events in the Digital Age: A Screen Is No Longer Enough to Build a Brand
For years, the idea that the Internet had democratized market access was repeated over and over. And it was true: an entrepreneur with good taste, Shopify, and a couple of well-targeted campaigns could appear just as professional as a multinational with decades of history.
Digitally Native Vertical Brands (DNVBs) proved it decisively: Hawkers, Pdpaola, Allbirds, and Gymshark built million-dollar businesses without opening a single physical store. The narrative was clear: the digital channel not only lowered the barrier to consumer access, it also eliminated the need for brick-and-mortar as a symbol of legitimacy.
However, that same competitive advantage eventually became the new standard. Today, everyone has access to the same tech stack, the same ecosystem of templates, logistics platforms, payment APIs, omnichannel CRMs, and campaign managers.
“The ‘equalizing’ effect of the Internet has turned into inevitable homogenization: many players, with different products, appear to users through the same device, the same interface, and the same user experience.”
The Device as the New Limitation
The screen—whether a laptop, mobile phone, or tablet—has ceased to be merely a channel for brand access and has become a constraint on differentiation. No matter how sophisticated the narrative or design, the final delivery of content always happens within the rigid frame of a rectangular screen with vertical scroll.
Multichannel extensions—apps, tablets, smartwatches, even screens in cars or connected devices—don’t solve this limitation; they simply multiply access points without breaking the flat logic of the interface.
Sectors Where Selling Isn’t Enough: Emotion, Atmosphere, and Belonging
Not all industries suffer equally from this problem. Selling SaaS tools, basic consumer goods, or functional services can be done perfectly in a 100% digital environment. But for industries that thrive on emotion, imagination, and symbolic identification—jewelry, fashion, automotive, sports, culture, luxury, or even premium food—the screen is too cold to sustain a meaningful bond.
“It’s possible to build a story using only digital assets, but consolidating it and making it truly transcend is another matter.”
You can tell a story, but you can’t generate atmosphere. You can show a product, but you can’t spark desire. You can scale access, but you can’t amplify identity.
DNVBs Have Already Realized That Physical Is Not a Step Back—It’s an Evolution
That’s why the vast majority of digitally native brands that once proclaimed the end of physical retail have ended up opening stores. Not out of romanticism, but out of strategic necessity:
- Warby Parker turned its stores into hybrids between showrooms and sensory labs.
- Glossier designed spaces like interactive sets where space is content and content is space.
- Nike organizes in-store activities that function as gyms or social clubs.
- Apple transformed its flagships into places where simply being there means being part of the brand.
Physical Presence as a Validator of the Digital Narrative
We don’t suffer from a lack of access—we suffer from a lack of authenticity. We no longer need to discover products; we need to connect with brands we feel are ours. That’s where physical presence acts as emotional certification. If the website promises, the space confirms. If the design seduces, the environment legitimizes. If the narrative moves us, the experience turns it into memory.
Expectations Will Keep Shifting: Generations Set the Tempo
This transition isn’t nostalgic—it’s a natural adjustment. Consumer expectations haven’t been defined by the split between online and offline for a long time; they’re shaped by the cohesion between both. And those expectations aren’t static—they shift with cultural, economic, and generational cycles.
A generation raised on screens may see physical as a luxury. The next may demand digital invisibility. And the one after that will want to live both simultaneously without noticing the transition.
Beyond Devices: Building Presence and a Cross-Channel Narrative
The physical event, the store, the showroom, or any real meeting point is not a relic of the past (hard to believe just a few years ago, right?), but the competitive frontier for those who understand that selling isn’t enough if we’re not able to define a presence and build a dynamic, cross-channel narrative in which the user is incorporated as an active, receptive subject.
The accumulation of devices, along with the platforms and applications that run on them, has created value—but it has also contributed to the dilution of brand identity, or rather, to its whitening.
