In today’s competitive economy, the role of advertising and promotion has never been more important. Creating consumer awareness and driving them to make a buying decision continues to be the central focus, but the average consumer is attacked with more messages than ever before. As the level of total advertising has risen, there has been an evolution of the variety of methods and types in existence. This has placed the advertising industry in a state of chaos.
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Keeping the Event
in Event Marketing
A white paper
discussing the key
issues dealing with Researched and written by: the quality of performance in the David Rich
Event Marketing Mark Hunter
Industry
1 Keeping the Event in Event Marketing In today's competitive economy, the role of advertising and promotion has never been more important. Creating consumer awareness and driving them to make a buying decision continues to be the central focus, but the average consumer is attacked with more messages than ever before. As the level of total advertising has risen, there has been an evolution of the variety of methods and types in existence. This has placed the advertising industry in a state of chaos. Some traditional forms are going away, while newer ones are taking hold as major advertising mediums. We see this more than ever in the types of promotional events brands are executing in an attempt to win a trial and market share.
Event marketing is one of the promotional mediums that has seen tremendous growth recently. Each year, there is a rise in both the total number of events and the money spent by companies on these types of programs. However, despite the increase, they continue to concern marketers and agencies alike because of the difficulties they present in accurately measuring the results. Reaching the consumer in a one-to-one manner has proven to be effective in building market-share and brand equity, but along with this success, being able to control the event and effectively measure the results is still an issue. Many times, event marketing programs do not have the same control and measurement factors that are typically found when running a more traditional marketing program. With the rise of event marketing, there has also been a decline in the effectiveness of traditional advertising mediums such as television, magazine and print. For years, they had been the preferred marketing methods because of the manufacturer's ability to tightly control the variables and measure the results. In addition, advertising agencies could easily gauge their work and accurately assess the return on investment. Over the past 10 years, the shift in funds to more promotionally-oriented programs has created a gap in both being able to precisely measure each element of a program and determining the ROI. Although event marketing programs can be an effective means of reaching the consumer, the inability to assess and modify them mid-stream has become a
2 significant issue. Unlike television campaigns where it is possible to use recall scores and overnight ratings to quickly ascertain its effectiveness and then make necessary adjustments, the structure of the vast majority of event marketing programs make it difficult to accurately measure them while they are in progress. The number of contact points involved in a typical one can make mid-stream adjustments nearly impossible. None of the issues outlined above would be a concern if marketing did not have to worry about the efficiency of their spending. It would not be a problem if event marketing was only being done to fulfill the needs of a retailer in conjunction with a larger trade program. However, this is not the case. Today, event marketing is an integral part of the advertising mix. The ability to successfully execute a program of this type is often the reason a brand either achieves or misses its quarterly volume / share objectives. For someone in marketing, the way an event marketing program runs and the results it achieves can be the very reason why they get promoted or passed It's easy to find examples over. To an agency, a well-run campaign is of brands that have not only a key marketing tool, but it can also incurred near fatal blows provide the agency with a huge PR lift. from a marketing It's easy to find examples of brands that campaign that was poorly have incurred near fatal blows from a executed. It's even more marketing campaign that was poorly common to find brands executed. It's even more common to that have incurred find brands that have incurred significant financial losses simply from significant financial losses a marketing campaign that was simply from a marketing conducted in the field in a manner campai... [download for more]
