Why startups should lead with real world (IRL) brand building

Most startup founders today operate from a familiar playbook; invest early in performance marketing, prioritise digital channels, optimise relentlessly, and save “offline” brand-building for later. On the surface, this seems efficient – safe, measurable and scalable. In reality, it often means pouring limited resources into digital platforms before building anything people genuinely care about. 

 

By over-indexing on digital early, many startups are simply paying a tax to Meta and Google – money spent renting attention rather than earning belief. That’s a dangerous position for a young business. Performance marketing can only amplify demand that already exists; it can’t create it from scratch.

 

For early-stage brands, the smarter move is to build belief before chasing scale, and to do it in real life. In-person activations allow founders to tell their story directly and create memorable moments, building more trust than any paid social ad. This is especially true among younger audiences who increasingly value tangible shared experiences.

 

When executed consistently, IRL brand building doesn’t just win attention and drive awareness; it creates human connection. That connection is what makes people care enough to return to a brand and tell others about it.

 

 

The case for real-world connection

The digital marketing landscape is overcrowded, now accounting for more than 60% of overall marketing spend. Attention is fragmented, competition is fierce, CPMs are inflated, and returns decline quickly unless genuine demand already exists. Dashboards can show what sold today, but they can’t tell you whether people actually believe in a brand beyond its product or service.

 

For startups with limited resources, a digital-first approach often puts scale ahead of substance. They might acquire customers, but without emotional connection, loyalty is fragile and easily disrupted by the next offer or algorithm change.

 

Real-world experiences cut through this noise. Meeting customers face-to-face, sharing your story, answering questions, and letting people touch, taste or try your product can grow a brand faster than social media alone. Research backs this: 66% of consumers say that engaging with in-person brand experiences increases their likelihood to buy.

 

 

Stories are built through shared experience

The impact of IRL brand building goes well beyond immediate sales. Each direct interaction becomes a story someone carries forward.

 

When New York City FC floated a giant inflatable pigeon – the club’s unofficial mascot – down the Hudson River for the Club World Cup, it created a story fans could see and share. The stunt became far more than a social media post; it was storytelling in three dimensions. Soccer fans saw it, shared it and remembered it, precisely because they experienced it as something totally unexpected and surreal in their daily lives.

 

Every well-executed in-person experience, whether it’s a pop-up, tasting or founder-led demo, creates a “remember when?” story that digital channels alone can’t replicate. These moments plant the seeds of advocacy. Every meaningful interaction increases the likelihood that someone will tell a friend, and word of mouth remains the most powerful trust driver available.

 

Case in point; despite receiving countless digital ads from Sonos, what converted me was a conversation at a friend’s house. Hearing their system and why they love it finally made me a customer.

 

 

Why connection can’t wait until after scale

Founders who assume that building deeper relationships with customers can wait until later often don’t get the chance to find out. You can’t build a brand, or a business, without real human connection. Without it, growth is brittle, loyalty is shallow and differentiation disappears the moment a competitor spends more on digital.

 

The principles of real-world brand building don’t change with budget or scale. Whether you’re a two-person startup or a global brand, the job is the same: engage people, tell a story they believe in, and make them feel something.

 

Small brands have an advantage here. Without layers of approval or massive reach targets, founders can get closer to customers at a hyper-localised level – listening, learning, adjusting and improving in real time. Presence matters. Showing up in person to answer questions, hand out samples, sign books or simply talk to people builds intimacy and trust.

 

Consider Vita Coco’s IRL activation last year. On a crisp February afternoon in New York’s Washington Square Park, passers-by stopped, smiled, and waited in a long line to reach a pastel-pink vending machine, hosted by the coconut water company. There was no influencer stage or QR-code scavenger hunt, just real people pressing real buttons, getting a free coconut water and chatting with the brand team. The activation was tactile and human, cutting through in a way that paid social posts couldn’t.

 

 

From simple activations to a coherent brand world

Real-world activations shouldn’t exist in isolation. Their power multiples when each experience reinforces the same central idea, tone and story. That’s how individual moments build into something bigger, a “brand universe” people recognise and remember.  

 

Luxury home and wellness business Flamingo Estate creates a dreamy, immersive brand rooted in its founder’s Los Angeles garden. When that world appears in real life, like at this Bloomingdale’s installation, the result is more portal than pop-up. Visitors physically enter the world they’ve already imagined. Every sensory detail supports the same story, making the experience feel cohesive and authentic rather than promotional.

 

Importantly, startups don’t need massive budgets to achieve this effect. Success begins with one focused idea stemming from your brand’s essence, executed obsessively and consistently in the real world. Even low-risk activations like tastings - the classic “liquid to lips” approach - remain one of the most effective drivers of trial and purchase. The opportunity lies in elevating those moments into experiences that feel personal, considered and on-brand.

 

 

“But how do we know it’s working?”

Many founders assume IRL brand building is prohibitively expensive. In reality, local activations are often far more cost-effective and impactful than sustained digital spend. A well-executed event can deliver a 15–20% uplift in local sales and ignite a feedback loop of trial, advocacy, and community-building that digital alone cannot match.

 

But IRL doesn’t always show immediate results in dashboards, and this is where many founders get uncomfortable and start to question the impact of tangible marketing. The better question might be, how do we know performance marketing is making an impact?

 

IRL brand building is slower. It’s a long, sometimes lonely and often gruelling grind, and that’s the point. You don’t run one pop-up and declare victory. Brands need to show up repeatedly to seed familiarity and belief. Over time, the data does come, be that as better conversion elsewhere, returning customers or unsolicited advocacy.

 

 

Leading with IRL

The startup playbook is changing. The brands that endure will be those that lead with real-world connection and use digital channels to amplify those experiences. Social and performance marketing work best in support of IRL moments, not instead of them.

 

Startups should focus on creating experiences that are true to their core idea, measuring success not just by immediate sales, but by repeat engagement and the stories customers tell afterwards. 

 

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Mike Perry is the founder of branding agency Tavern