By Serge Bejjani
Live events represent one of financial services marketing’s most underutilised assets. While companies invest heavily in delivering compelling in-person experiences, the content opportunity they generate is rarely captured with any strategic intent. This article examines how a more deliberate approach to event content creation can build lasting brand credibility and extend the value of every event.
All major financial services companies now use live events as a core element of their marketing strategy. They’re the only real way to bring together clients, employees, partners, and media, helping to build and strengthen relationships. The investment is almost always worth it. But it still has more to give — and for many organisations, that untapped value remains largely invisible.
The untapped content potential within live events
Events are one of the few moments when financial brands appear genuinely human. Away from the meticulously crafted corporate messaging, events help to uncover the people behind the business. Attendees can see and experience natural interactions. They see how senior leaders handle spontaneous questions and relate with junior staff. They notice who leads conversations, who listens, and how colleagues collaborate. And that’s when company culture becomes clear; not the ethos expressed in pithy soundbites and thoughtful mission statements, but in the dynamic of the live event. But for most companies, that experience exists only within the room.
While enormous effort goes into delivering a compelling in-person experience, relatively little planning is devoted to capturing and extending it. Content tends to be gathered almost accidentally – a selfie here, a group shot there – then used haphazardly; shoehorned into a newsletter, a short social media clip, perhaps a highlight reel. Without a clear strategy, the vast majority of those moments simply disappear. But if handled differently, the same event could generate months of credible marketing material: candid exchanges between leaders, concise insight soundbites, client reactions, behind-the-scenes collaboration. All the while working to humanise the brand.
Documentation is not enough
For the majority of financial services firms, event content begins and ends with documentation. Someone records what happened and produces a written summary afterwards. It serves a very basic purpose, but consistently fails to unlock the full potential, missing key moments, because no dedicated strategy was in place.
Strategic event content creation works differently. It starts early in the planning stages, long before the event begins, aligning brand messaging, editorial goals, and production planning. Photographers, videographers, and marketing teams identify the moments likely to matter, and create opportunities to capture them without interrupting the natural flow. And that last part is essential, because it’s the authenticity that really matters.
When events are approached this way, they stop being purely single-use experiences. Instead, they become a source of interviews, commentary, photography, and visual assets that can be repurposed across multiple channels for months.
Extending credibility
Authenticity breeds credibility, and while that matters in every industry, within financial services it carries particular weight. Audiences are naturally wary of the sector, to the point of outright scepticism, following years of crises and scandals. And that polished corporate messaging does nothing but deepen that sense of mistrust. What audiences actually need is something more human: visible interaction, genuine expertise, and unfiltered moments of engagement. Live events naturally provide these, but only for those who are present on the day… Unless you capture those moments thoughtfully and share them more widely.
The challenge of global consistency
For international financial institutions, presenting a consistent and recognisable human face can be even more difficult. With so many separate marketing and events teams working at the local level, with differing budgets, focus, and priorities, international cohesion is hard. While one office may produce professional interviews and polished photography, another may rely on smartphone images and last-minute posts. A third may produce no content at all. The result is fragmented visibility and uneven brand presentation across markets. The impact of this inconsistency may be subtle, but it does no favours for the company as a whole.
When you create a structured framework that incorporates identified marketing objectives within event planning, it becomes easier for organisations to establish visual and content standards that allow local nuance and personality, while building a strong, relatable, and recognisable brand. Working with external production partners can help to achieve that, enabling the business to set and maintain consistent visual content standards across all regions.
Financial services companies are already investing significant resources into live events, and they’re gaining a strong ROI from them. But they’re missing the potential for integration. When event planning and content strategy operate separately, much of the potential value is lost. When they work together, every event becomes a source of ongoing marketing material. Not just the stiff formality of traditional headshots, the bland mundanity of stock photos, or the half-caught moments of phone snaps. But a collection of authentic moments that can strengthen brand credibility long after the venue doors close.
For an industry that continues to wrestle with deeply embedded questions of trust and authenticity, that is a clear opportunity worth capturing.
About the Author
Serge Bejjani is the co-founder and CEO of Shootday, a global photo and video production company operating across 150+ cities worldwide. He leads the company’s operations, sales, and client experience, building the infrastructure that enables brands to produce consistent visual content across distributed teams and international markets. His work focuses on scaling creative production through technology, global talent networks, and streamlined production systems.
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