The Concept of Event Marketing - Essay Example

1. Introduction The field of event management has increased in size and impact globally to become a major business with numerous dedicated facilities. The field encompasses meetings, conventions, festivals, expositions, sports, launch of a product, the hospitality sector including tourism and variation, and other special occasions. It includes a range of issues including business ethics, employee volunteering programs, overall role in the society and meeting the interest of the shareholders, customers and employees. Professionalism has come into every field and event management is no exception. Along with glamour and excitement, it requires hard work and dynamism. Big business houses use this as brand building strategy. Even marketing requires creativity, professionalism and distinction and differs to some extent from marketing of conventional products. XYZ Co. has been asked to handle the launch of a new brand of PDAs later this year. This paper will highlight the marketing plan for the event and evaluate and analyze the marketing mix for the launch. 2. Concept of event marketing Traditionally event marketing was associated with sponsoring a sports event or an industry conference. The concept of event marketing has undergone change in the recent years. Event marketing is known by other names like experiential marketing, brand experience marketing or live marketing (Haymart, 2007). The purpose of event marketing may differ across products or industries but the ultimate goal is to add value to any live event. Event marketing helps to place a sales message in front of a qualified prospect which is the ultimate goal of any marketing effort. The right event can open the prospects’ mind to the marketing message. Event marketing is one of the marketing tools that allow reaching the promotional goals. For a well known brand event marketing becomes easy as any kind of advertisement is appropriate (Admotor, 2005). Promoting brands for the youth through competitions or concerts is a popular approach to brand marketing. These help to increase the sales and popularity of the manufacturers. The objective of event marketing is that consumers must have a positive approach to the product and the brand. The launch of the product should be designed to raise the profile of the company. It would help to get a compelling product and a handful of early customers willing to provide testimonials. The product or service here is the ‘launch’ of the product and this paper will prepare a marketing plan for this service. Event organizers now augment their “product” through a variety of add-on services and activities (Green, 2001). The objective is to enhance and broaden the event’s appeal. The inclusion of event augmentation recognizes that people who attend the event will make a choice about how they invest their leisure time. While the event might be full of fun and excitement, it certainly manages to convey personal meanings. Successful event marketing would involve incorporating insights derived from the sub-cultures and values and the identities associated with the product being showcased at the event. This insight would give new and fruitful directions for promoting event attendance. Sub culture and identity are important tools in marketing communications. This makes it essential to understand the core product being launched. Market research for events becomes essential as there is widespread competition in the industry. 3. Marketing Plan The elements of a successful marketing plan include situation analysis, competitive analysis, identification of goals and the target markets. Marketing entry strategy is defined as an internally consistent set of goals and policies, which aligns the firm’s strengths and weaknesses with the external (industry) opportunities and threats (Teo, 2002). The market entry strategy has to be formulated before the actual product is launched. Entry strategies are crucial to survival of new firms. As a new entrant to the PDA field, the biggest weakness is lack of brand awareness as Hoek, Kearns & Wilkinson (2003) cite new smaller brands perform poorly in comparison to larger brands on loyalty measures. This can be combated through the right marketing strategies and promotional measures for the specific target user group identified. 3.1 Event marketing mix Based on the above details of the product to be launched, the marketing plan for the event can be detailed. The strategies to attain the goals require the right event marketing mix. 3.1.1 Brand/product to be launched Competition analysis reveals that in this particular category, no other brand has the voice recognition feature that enables the user to use the hands free operations of the PDA. The operating system has not been used by competitors and is better than rival PDA standards. The design is sturdy and can sustain rough handling and usage. At the same time, there are established players in the market and apart from the PDA manufacturers even game manufacturers like Nintendo and mobile phone manufacturers like Motorola and Nokia have entered the market. Hence, creating brand awareness will not be easy. The situation analysis suggests that despite competition, there is a huge potential for the PDAs. People are still buying the PDA for the first time but product life cycles are short and as the first generation PDAs are become outdated due to new emerging technologies. People are exchanging the older models for new ones. Hallett (2005) mentions that market for pure PDAs is stagnating and devices that feature voice and services connected over cellular networks are seeing strongest growth. Besides, consumers of PDAs are very price-sensitive which has caused the competitors to face financial problems. The objective of the event is to build a brand name which requires innovation, quality and value as the principal strengths. The brand should be able to convey these messages. 3.1.2 Pricing policy for the event The budget for event marketing has now become a part of the traditional media budget. The companies do not shell out separately for the events like launching of the product. As such, the total expenses on the event would depend on the total budget of the client. Marketers are becoming aware of what events can do for them. Nevertheless, the pricing for the event would have to considered in comparison to what competitors are charging. 3.1.3 People – staff running the event This company has the necessary physical and financial resources which is an edge over competition. This would of course require the right marketing mix in launching the product. Our company has an edge over others as we provide hands-on client interaction, attending to individual customers’ needs and attending to details (PRWeb, 2007). We have highly qualified graphic design staff as well as customer service staff and site supervisors. With a widely experienced qualified staff we are able to maintain a progressive and talented exhibit house and compete against giants in the industry. 3.1.4 Place/location of the event Since the initial target audience is the student community, it is preferred to hold the event in one of the recognized educational institutions which would attract the right audience. The institutions should be strategically located, not too far from the city center, so that maximum audience can participate. 3.1.5 Promotion – how to promote the event The target audience has already been identified which includes the student in college. Now the marketing objectives have to be targeted for this audience. Posters at various educational institutions, pubs and night clubs frequented by the youth would be put up. Local dailies are a good source of attracting the target audience. Brief presentation on the event can be given at the meetings of different Youth associations, student unions and coffee houses. Pamphlets would be distributed at strategic locations. 3.1.6 Process – how the event will take place At the outset traditional media channels would be used to drive awareness of the product. Later to convert that awareness into action event would be organized. This would be a live experience for the public and literally outing the brand into their hands. A live experience can enhance any campaign in any sector provided it is done at the right time and the right place. A live experience means the target audience interacts directly with the brand and provides an opportunity to prove the truth behind the brand claims. Essentially an environment is created that demonstrates how the brand brings about a difference to the consumer’s lifestyle. Event marketing is now at the centre of marketing communications. Event marketing plays an important role in the product marketing mix by taking into account the life cycle of the product, the mix of media already employed, the existing retail channels. Event marketing is a powerful marketing tool and the only limit is the scope of imagination. The advertising efforts affect the opinions of the target audience and may not always create an immediate action. The promotions would have to be aligned with the objectives of the event and the marketing message has to be communicated properly. Care has to be taken not to send out negative signals about the product. In this case special promotions would be required to initiate immediate action. A promotion is based on incentives to act and in the case of launching the PDAs, we could offer attractive exchange prices. Promotions are aimed at attracting the customers and getting them to try the product. Along with every purchase, the company could also offer some free coupons which can be redeemed for gifts. Press releases would have to be distributed and the journalists made to attend the launch of the product. Product demo would have to be given as students would like to evaluate before purchasing. Knowledge of competition products is also essential. It would be better to keep the company officials in charge of product demo as students may have queries on the product, process and the technology used. Students being abreast of the latest technological developments, their queries need to be answered promptly to deliver the right marketing message. 3.2 Market segmentation The company initially intends to target the student community to avoid retaliation. As it is the product enjoys product differentiation and price advantage. The target audience is very important for the success of the event. Business investment is meant to retain and strengthen customer bonds and not to have immediate sales. Entertainment costs are like insurance costs meant to prevent losses (Jack, 1989). In an effort to introduce a new investment package to independent brokerage houses, a financial services company organized series of lunches and cocktails in different cities but there was no control over the invitees list. The entire office staff of the brokerage houses would be invited and at the end the success was measured in terms of the food vanishing from the table. The net result was nil as people were interested in free lunches and dinners and not in the product itself. Hence it is important to make the attendance worthwhile. While the student community may be attracted by incentives offered, caution has to be exercised in attracting the right audience. To market the event successfully, key questions like the demographics, the spending power, the income levels and other factors will play a key role in the promotion of the product. The purpose is not merely entertainment but to deliver message about the product. Hence, before the event actually takes place, some sort of screening can be done based on a brief quiz or a questionnaire to be answered by the students. There has to be control at every step. Segmentation can be done on the basis of culture and identity and it is pointless just to get a crowd. A ‘crowd’ does not demonstrate the success of the event. PDAs are now a fashion accessory and hence the target audience should come from the higher strata of society. Social changes in the target market would have to be studied. Segmentation is based on customer expectation. Segmentation is also based on socio-economic, demographic and geographic variables as they enable the reference market to be divided in a simple way and easy segmentation is possible (Diaz-Martin, 2000). Disposable income should be taken to segment the target audience for the event. Teenagers today can be termed as technovators, who recognize the benefits of new technology earlier than others and communicate these benefits to other adopter segments. Access to technology acts as a stimulator for them (Saaksjarvi, 2003). The leaders or full adopters (Harker & Akkeren, 2002) also would try a new technology product, as they are stimulated, but they are still a bit sensitive to the price and the features of the product. Hence these should be targeted in the initial launch. 3.3 Marketing communications Effective marketing depends upon improving and developing relationships. This relationship is not just between the target customers but requires proper communications between the organization and the suppliers, distribution channels, partners and other stakeholders (Simkin, 1996). Today the customer needs are not merely satisfied, they have to be identified and anticipated and the marketing efforts directed accordingly. The effectiveness of marketing depends largely on how the marketer communicates with the customer about the product. Marketing communication includes packaging, advertising through different channels, and promoting the organization itself as a brand. Packaging is an important tool for branding and communication. In the case of promoting an event, the logo for the event should convey the message. Since the initial launch is targeted to the student community, the logo should be conveying a message of differentiation, of incorporating the latest technology. Customers make their decisions to attend an event based on what has been written in the promotional pamphlets. Hence it is essential that correct information is printed. Innovative presentation can change the perception of the audience and emit positive signals of the PDAs to the extent that they decide to attend the event. The right slogans have to be used in the advertising campaigns. Campos Creative Works focused solely on introducing a new product but targeted product launches need not focus solely on the product according to B2B (2007). Companies are realizing that at an event attendees can be motivated to identify with a brand and take that emotional connection with them when they leave. They have to understand what the brand promises and if they are unable to get a clear picture, the event is not successful. The brand message has to sink and become instinctive to the extent that these attendees then become the mouthpiece for the promotion of the product. To create such an impact, it essential to base the event on a theme. Every aspect of the event should be attached to the brand and its image. The lighting, the music, color scheme of the décor, all have to match the brand image. Since the product to be launched is a PDA, the décor of the hall should demonstrate the use of technology. Stress has to be given on the voice recording functionality which is a differentiating factor. The second point to be highlighted is the unique operating system which has not been used by the competitors. Posters to this effect should be put up at the venue at strategic points which catches the attention of the audience as they step in. The visual and emotional characteristics of the company’s website, corporate brochures and advertising have to be embodied as well. The different ways that PDAs can be used by the target audience should be highlighted through the use of visuals. It should demonstrate the lifestyle changes that a PDA would bring to the students. Care has to be taken to ensure that the entire event focuses on building brand image and no distractions are permitted like giving of speeches by the company officials. It should be a pleasurable experience for the audience and contests can be held on the product. This would give an idea how many are aware of the product as such and whether they have used the product before. Then demo on the benefits should be given. Event branding emphasizes the image. Right from pre-planning phase, to onsite to post event activities, event has to be branded. This must convey who the sponsors to the event are and this is where the catch lies. When the décor matches the product or the company that sponsors the event, the message is amply conveyed. Event branding can be accomplished by presenting the company in a variety of marketing activities through out the event. The media and analysts too have to be invited for the event and hence it is essential to invite then for a preview before the event itself. This can be organized at a social club where the invitees are allowed to participate in a swimming competition before lunch. Through out the length of the swimming pool, the company logo is set up, which reinforces the key message. Once the message sinks down in the journalists, it is half the battle won. On the day of the actual event, they would give enough coverage which would fetch the right target audience to this event. References: Admotor (2005), Event marketing, 03 August 2007 B2B (2007), Electrical Outlets; Marketers find events ideal for communicating their brand identities to business partners.(Special Report: Event Marketing), 92.9 (July 16, 2007): 27. British Council Journals Database. Thomson Gale. British Council . 3 Aug. 2007 Diaz-Martin, A M (2000), The use of quality expectations to segment a service market, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 14 No. 2 2000, pp. 132-146 Green, B. C., (2001), Leveraging Subculture and Identity to Promote Sport Events, Sport Management Review, 2001, 4, 1–19 Hallett, T. (2005), HP to do smart phone as PDA market plateaus, 03 August 2007 Harker, D. & Akkeren, J. V., (2002), Exploring the needs of SMEs for mobile data technologies: the role of qualitative research techniques, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. 5 No. 3 pp. 199-209 Haymarket (2007), "Experiential Marketing: Dispel the myth." Campaign (July 27, 2007): ritish Council Journals Database. Thomson Gale. British Council . 3 Aug. 2007 Hoek, J. Kearns, Z. & Wilkinson, K. 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