Buyers have access to more information than ever before. A few clicks, or a single question to an AI chatbot, returns specs, comparisons, and case studies in seconds. Yet all that information has not made buying decisions easier. Knowing a vendor is not the same as trusting one.
That distinction sits at the heart of The Belief Gap, a study from The Freeman Company conducted with The Harris Poll. In a March 2026 survey of 506 U.S. marketing professionals, 72% said their organizations face a gap between brand awareness and genuine conviction among target customers. Of those, 74% are extremely or very concerned about closing it.
What drives the gap? The top answer, cited by 45% of respondents, was a lack of in-person or experiential touchpoints with customers. Close behind, at 44%, was too much competition for attention in digital channels.
Contact, not content
Asked which single channel builds deep trust most effectively, marketers chose events and experiential marketing by a wide margin: 35%, more than double digital advertising (15%) and triple social media (11%). Ninety-three percent said events help people discover a company, 90% said they establish credibility and authority, and 87% said they drive sales.
The AI factor
The study points to a newer reason in-person events matter. Gartner projected that traditional search engine volume would drop 25% by 2026 as AI chatbots become the default for online searches. Ninety-seven percent of marketers surveyed believe events and event-generated content are important to brand visibility in AI-generated answers, and 62% say events play a major role in the content they create for AI visibility.
Product launches, live demonstrations, education sessions and trade press coverage from a major show create a public record that AI tools draw on. When a buyer asks a chatbot which suppliers to consider, the companies that showed up are more likely to be the ones that get named.
Budgets follow belief
Marketers are acting on these convictions. Seventy-three percent plan to increase event spending over the next 12 months, and events/experiences top the list of channels gaining budget, ahead of digital advertising, video and AI visibility efforts.
The study also carries a caution: 85% of marketers do not report using a formal KPI program to measure how events affect their AI visibility. Exhibitors who set clear goals before the show and track meetings, qualified leads, media pickup, and the content they capture will be best positioned to prove the return.
Where belief gets built
PACK EXPO shows are where the packaging and processing community can close the belief gap. Exhibitors have the opportunity to see machinery in motion, and components, materials & services on display in front of decision makers from 40+ vertical markets. Attendees can compare solutions side by side, talk directly with the engineers who built them, and size up partners in a way that drives real value for your business.
The next shows are coming up soon: PACK EXPO Southeast, April 12–14, 2027, in Atlanta; EXPO PACK Guadalajara, June 15–17, 2027, in Mexico; PACK EXPO Las Vegas, September 27–29, 2027; and PACK EXPO East, March 21-23, 2028, in Philadelphia, PA.
If your company wants to be trusted rather than merely known, the show floor is where that happens.
To exhibit in a PACK EXPO event, visit www.packexpo.com, or email [email protected].
