Many digitally native brands entering the physical world these days are looking to build community rather than a brick-and-mortar footprint.

Canva recently staged what it calls the industry’s first experiential upfront, for about 300 prospective sponsors during Advertising Week New York (AWNY). The invite-only event pitched the rise of the "experience economy," emphasizing live, immersive brand activations as the new centerpiece of modern marketing and laid out the company's experiential roadmaps for its events including Canva Create, Canva AI Vision, and Canva Cabana.

• 2026's Canva Create, the company's flagship event in SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, drew more than 6,000 people.

The market is moving with them

Digitally native brands have been moving into the physical world for years. Warby Parker opened its first store in 2013, and a JLL analysis of more than 100 top online retailers counted plans for 850 stores in five years. But Canva is riding a broad shift of software companies chasing community.

Brands across sectors expect to spend 8% to 11% more on events this year, and 61% of attendees said they were more inclined to buy after a live experience, according to Event Marketer's EventTrack 2026. UK data points the same way: Events topped the IPA Bellwether’s budget-increase rankings in both Q1 and Q2 2026.

Jimmy Knowles, Canva’s global head of experiential, puts the AI-era version bluntly: As it gets harder to tell real from fake online, “the last real thing that will remain is people in a room together.”

What digital natives do differently

Knowles says Canva keeps its personality constant across audiences. “We’re not putting on a suit and tie when we’re talking to a B2B audience,” he said.

The format shifts, with executives getting smaller rooms and creators getting space to make things, but the brand doesn’t. Canva builds the environment and lets attendees make it their own, because people who actively participate are more likely to share their experience beyond the room.

That approach shaped its Cannes Lions presence this year. After tripling its space, the company went in with what Knowles called an “open doors, not velvet ropes” approach, in a setting built around exclusivity and being on a list. It hosted a happy hour for creatives and a brunch for experiential marketers, a group Knowles says rarely gets a stage at an event built on their work.

Experiences like these take lead time digital teams aren’t used to.

“We are having to book venues a year, sometimes two years out, for something like Canva Create,” Knowles said. Planning for the next edition starts almost as soon as the last one ends. The team wraps in April, and “by mid-May we’re talking about where we’re going next,” deciding what to keep, what to trash, and what to evolve based on customer feedback.

The measurement divide

The harder problem for experiential marketing is proof. Some 78% of B2B marketers fund experiential, yet fewer than one in three call their program established, advanced, or leading, according to Content Marketing Institute research, cited by Cvent.

In an agency survey, there was no standardized method for calculating experiential ROI. Canva gives a clear view of what a solution needs.

Knowles said he sat down with Canva’s CFO to ask which numbers would make an event count as valuable, then built those into each brief. He described a mix of hard metrics (pipeline, marketing-qualified leads, attribution, contribution to annual recurring revenue) and softer signals like organic reach, which he calls part of “return on emotion.” The targets differ by event: An activation for Cannes Lions is measured for pipeline, while an education conference for a K–12 audience carries its own targets.

Digital brands shifting to experiential events unlock new opportunities for client engagement and loyalty building. Brands can foster authenticity through participation but also need to make sure that measurement and desired KPIs are well in sight.

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