How Evite’s rebrand is meeting today’s partygoers

Evolving with your customer is an important strategy for sustaining long-term growth. After 28 years of operating its digital invitations platform, Evite is doing just that with a rebrand centering around creating more personal relationships with customers.

Since returning to private ownership in 2020 and receiving a strategic investment from Francisco Partners in 2024, Evite has closely examined the evolving party space by monitoring social media trends and shifting Gen Z consumer behaviors.

“There was almost a white space in the area…just recognizing that hosting is emotional,” said Olivia Pollock, VP of brand at Evite. “There’s just so much happening before the actual event happens and it’s like: How can we be that steady friend and show up? How do we take that emotion and distill it and bring it back to the brand?”

Focus on the user

Pollock said “stagnant” designs and an outdated user experience were big pain points the brand identified; it has introduced a sleeker look with a friendlier voice—or as Pollock calls it, a “steady friend persona.” There’s also more user-generated content displayed to provide event inspiration in line with images users would find on Pinterest.

“Helping a powerhouse legacy brand like Evite navigate this next chapter has been such a deeply intentional journey for us,” said Jhoanna Marissa Flores, CEO and founder of Willa Creative, the agency behind Evite’s rebrand, via email statement. “We wanted to celebrate that heritage while injecting a fresh energy that reflects the magic of how we all connect today.”

Pollock said customers had been impacted by social media fatigue, and it wanted to lean into the reality of hosting parties, which can include “sitting with your guests on the floor of the kitchen eating cake and chatting.”

Part of Evite’s rebooted strategy is also focusing more on analog events, like book clubs or mahjong nights—which internal data shows younger customers gravitating toward. There’s also a desire for more unique events: Pollock highlighted “garden discos” as an event Evite promoted based on broader social media trends, resulting in a 10% YoY increase in popularity for the party type on the platform.

“Working for a brand that there’s no physical product is not an easy thing as a marketer, but it’s the best position too because we’re selling experiences and gatherings,” Pollock said. “There’s nothing better to me than the result of a memory or an experience.”

Revenue drivers

Evite has been working to improve its user experience in the lead up to this rebrand. As a result, since 2020, revenue has grown by 5x with premium paid offerings up 4x, according to the company.

Pollock also said Evite’s affiliate revenue has become a major revenue driver over the last five years as the company has worked on improving the gift experience for customers and signed on affiliates like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Evite’s Amazon business—which allows guests to add party supplies or gifts—has increased 7.5x since 2020, according to the company.

“What’s made this a meaningful revenue driver is the intentionality behind it,” said Pollock via email statement. “Our team has done significant work to surface the right merchant at the right moment, matching each partner to where someone is in their journey—whether they’re a host planning a celebration or a guest looking for the perfect gift. That alignment between user intent and merchant exposure is what drives highly qualified traffic to our partners and has made affiliates a real pillar of Evite’s business.”

Advertising matters

In 2022, Evite started moving away from a reliance on ad revenue as part of its focus on improving the customer experience. According to Business Insider, at the time, ads made up 20% of Evite’s business, down from 80% two years prior.

“Our users don’t like ads,” CEO David Yeom said to Business Insider. “When you’re putting thought into creating an awesome invitation for an event, the last thing you want is your guests to see Williams Sonoma or P&G ads. If you piss off your users, they’ll find a different alternative.”

Through the rebrand, however, Evite is planning on slowly reintroducing ads in a way that doesn’t impact the user experience.

“We’re moving slowly to ensure that any brand presence feels like a natural part of the journey, rather than a disruption to the high-quality experience our users expect,” said Pollock via email statement.