Event Marketing Project

Table of Content 1. INTRODUCTION

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1.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

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1.2 PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH TRADITIONAL MEDIA

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1.3 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EVENT MEDIA AND 5P’s

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1.4 EVOLUTION OF EVENT MARKETING

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1.5 KEY ISSUES FOR EVENT MARKETING

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1.6 WHY EVENT

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1.7 SPONSORSHIP Vs EVENT MARKETING

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1.8 SIZE OF EVENT

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1.9 TYPES OF EVENT

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2. CRITICAL REVIEW OF LITERATURE

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2.1 WATERSHED EVENT

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2.2 THE KEY TAKE-AWAY

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2.3 ROLE OF EVENT MARKETING IN MARKETING MIX

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2.4 ROI DELIVERD BY EVENT MARKETING

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2.5 MEASURMENT IMPACTS ON EVENT MARKETING BUDGETS 37 2.6 TRANSITION TO EXPERIENCE MARKETING

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

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3.1 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

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3.2 NEED OF THE PROJECT

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3.3 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

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3.4 METHODOLOGY

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4. EVENT MANAGEMENT A PROMOTIONAL TOOL

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4.1 EVENT DESIGNING

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4.2 COMMUNICATION EFFECTS OF EVENT MARKETING

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4.3 EVALUATION OF EVENTS

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4.4 REACH INTERACTION MATRIX

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4.5 RETURN ON ONVESTMENT

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4.6 KEY PROSPECT ANALYSIS

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4.7 HOW TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS PROMOTION AND MARKETING PLAN

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4.8 STATEGIC ALTERNATIVES

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4.9 RISK Vs RETURN MATRIX

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4.10 APPICABILITY

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4.11 ADVANTAGES OF EVENT

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5. ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS

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5.1 PRIMARY DATA ANALYSIS

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5.2 INTERVIEWS AND DETAILED DISCUSSIONS

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6. RECOMMENDATIONS

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7. CONCLUSION

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8. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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9. ANNEXURE

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9.1 QUESTIONNAIRE

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9.2 KEYS TO SUCCESFULL EVENT MARKETING

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9.3 SPONSORSHIP CHECKLIST

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9.4 CASE STUDIES

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1. INTRODUCTION “We GENERATE Quality Business Leads We ENHANCE Your Profile We CREATE New Business Opportunities Everyone Knows Us as EVENTS”

Event marketing is growing at a rate of three times that of traditional advertising. Though relatively small compared to the major components of the marketing communications mix-advertising, sales promotions and P-O-P communications-expenditures on event sponsorship are increasing. Corporate sponsorships in India in 2001 were estimated at $3.9 billion-with 65% of this total going to sports events and most of the remainder spent on sponsoring entertainment tours or festival and fairs. Thousands of companies invest in some form of event sponsorship. Defined, event marketing is a form of brand promotion that ties a brand to a meaningful athletic, entertainment, cultural, social or other type of high-interest public activity. Event marketing is distinct from advertising, sales promotion, point-of-purchase merchandising, or public relations, but it generally incorporates elements from all of these promotional tools. Event promotions have an opportunity

to

achieve

success

because,

unlike

other

forms

of

marketing

communications, events reach people when they are receptive to marketing messages and capture people in a relaxed atmosphere. Event marketing is growing rapidly because it provides companies alternatives to the cluttered mass media, an ability to segment on a local or regional basis, and opportunities for reaching narrow lifestyle groups whose consumption behavior can be linked with the local event. MasterCard invested an estimated $25 million in sponsoring the nine-city World Cup soccer championship in the United States in 1994 and will likely sponsor other big events in many countries as well.

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Olympics and its renowned five rings are “the world’s most effective property” in terms of marketing tools. The Olympics sell sponsorship on a local and global basis, and every couple of year’s corporation’s line up to pay as much as $50 million to be the lord of the rings. The Atlanta games in 1996 have a reported $3 billion in the bank as a result of negotiating sponsorship, broadcast, and licensee fees. The Olympics represents the creme de la creeme of event marketing and corporate sponsorship. Event marketing is a lucrative game of “what’s in a name”, as consumers purchase tickets and expose themselves to everything. The world of event marketing is a fast growing, high profile industry worth over $20 billion annually, and one of the most successful marketing strategies. Event marketing integrates the corporate sponsorship of an event with a whole range of marketing elements such as advertising, sales promotion, and public relations. Corporations both large and small have grown this industry at a rate of 17 percent per year, and they have achieved a high level of success.

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1.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK What is Marketing? Marketing can be defined as a process by which individuals and groups obtain what they want through creating, offering and exchanging products of value with others. All sport and recreation organizations undertake marketing, although they are often unaware that they are actually doing so. Listing in the yellow pages, telephone directory, placing information in the local newspaper, offering a discount and special offers etc. are all forms of marketing.

Marketing Tools The “marketing mix” or marketing tools an organization can use can be classified into four categories: 

Product



Price



Place



Promotion

Tools of Promotion  Advertising  Public Relations  Direct marketing  Word of mouth  Hospitality  Advertising

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Advertising It is the controlled method of communicating the message. The event manager can manipulate the message. It includes the following:  Give-Away

: Leaflets, Posters, Brochures

 Radio

: Commercial, Community, National

 Internet

: Web Sites, Radio

 Television

: Cable, Free To Air, Satellite

 Press

: Newspapers, Magazines

 Non-Media Alternatives: Outdoor Advertising, Street Banners, Aerial, Innovative It can be done by the event manager or, if the event and promotional campaign is too big, by an appointed advertising agency.

Public Relations Often it is part of the event manager's job to gain maximum exposure for the event. PR is different from advertising in that it is not self praise but carries the strength of disinterested credibility. It communicates a more complex message than advertising. It is free but the event manager looses control over the result. It can be publicity can be positive or negative. To this end it is important that the event manager maintains control over as much of the public relations as possible. A thorough knowledge of the media's requirements and beneficial interaction with the media personnel are sensible methods. Although PR is mostly proactive, it is important for an event to have a reactive PR strategy as part of the event risk management. Who will make public statements to the press when there is an emergency? The PR campaign is a plan to gain maximum positive publicity for the event. For an entrepreneurial event it would include:  Data collection: Preparing a media list of suitable targeted media, preparing a contact list and club list such as politicians, interested people and opinion leaders 6

- often called media talent - who can be called on to make suitable comments or actions which promote the event.  List ideas for continuous exposure such as interesting media ready stories, competitions, public appearances, stunts, speeches, feeding the chooks.

When these lists are prepared, the ideas prioritized and the story angles determined, the journalist, editor or producer is contacted to ascertain the exposure potential of the item. These publicity items are then placed into an overall promotion schedule. The critical path is ascertained to ensure continual and growing interest in the event. Milestones such as important editorials at critical times can also be established. Specialist magazines and newsletters with their highly targeted audience such as in-flight magazines, business magazines, trade publications and association newsletters, need to be included in the lists. Depending on the size and complexity of the event, the PR strategy can range from organizing a media launch and handing out a press kit to just sending a out a one page media release to selected media. News releases can be staggered over the planning period to generate increased interest in the event.

Tips on Writing a News Release  Make sure it is released at the right time for it to be picked up by the media.  Make it clear and concise with the main features at the very beginning of the release.  Put who, what, when, why and where in it.  Have all contact details in it and the date.  Use liftable quotes.  Pitch it at the correct level: who will write the story and who will read it.  Identify any media talent associated with the event and give their contact details.  Make sure all the spelling is correct – particularly sponsors and main participants.

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The media launch is used by most large festivals, although it can be used by 'boutique' events that target a specific audience. If the launch takes place in an interesting area, it can be used as an opportunity to take photos and record interviews. Television requires special facilities such as access, power and transmission links.

What is the Media Kit?  Press release including the 5 Ws  Press ready photos or video footage  Event program  Sponsor information  Interview possibilities, times and contact details of any ‘stars’  Press gifts such as complimentary tickets, invitations or smart hooks

Although PR involves the event's relation to the public, it is the relations that the event manager develops with the media that can create interest in the event. It implies developing a rapport with the media - finding out what they want and how best to supply it. Networking is possibly the best way to develop this rapport. If the manager does not have time or the inclination to do this then the event organization should consider hiring a PR company.

Direct Marketing This is delivering the promotional message straight to the interested individual. The basis of direct marketing is the establishment of a data bank and a strategy to best reach those individuals. The mail out is the most common traditional method. The database can be created from previous events through competitions, guest books, inquiries, point of sale information or just by asking the participants if they would like to receive information on other similar events. The effectiveness of direct marketing can be seen in the Port Fairy Festival in southern Victoria. The Festival has an overall budget of half a million and only spends $6,000 on 8

their promotion. Each person who comes to the festival is given the first rights to buy a ticket. The tickets are sold out five months before the festival begins.

Word of Mouth Bill Hauritz of the Woodford Festival in Southern Queensland estimates their advertising budget at less than $1000. The ticket sales generate over one million dollars. Their promotion strategy is just word of mouth. An annual event, they have concentrated on the quality of their program and site. This has built up a loyal following.

Hospitality As part of the promotion tool kit, hospitality can be powerful. The special event or festival has to promote itself to the sponsors. The diner for sponsors, for example, can be an inexpensive way to promote the event. A tour of the site can be an effective way of promoting the event.

Web Sites The latest and increasingly popular method of promoting an event is to create a web site. The advantage is that the site can also capture enquiries and be a point of sale for tickets. The current movement towards virtual reality sites can give the potential attendee a view of the event. The site can give real information, such as the program and map. Used in conjunction with a other elements of the PR campaign, a web site can be used to distribute photos and press releases. It transfers the some of the cost to the customer.

1.2 PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH TRADITIONAL MEDIA The problems associated with traditional media that has been used for satisfying marketing needs discussed in the previous section are listed below:

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1. Too many advertisements have led to a cluttering on T.V, print and other media. This has given rise to a need for avenues, which provide exclusivity to the sponsor while not sacrificing the benefits of reach and impact.

2. The increasing no. of TV channels and the greater no. of programs have led to fragmentation of the viewer-ship. Hence, the need for narrow-casting of campaigns to the sharply defined target audience. 3. Proliferation of low intensity television viewers who view a little of each channel leads to the need for capturing the full attention of the target audience. 4. Media cost inflation – Due to rising inflation which has been eroding the advertising budget, advertisers are demanding the beat return from every ad-rupee spent. Media planning has become more complex and therefore the need for increase the effectiveness in terms of tangible impact which can be instantly evaluated has risen. 5. Proliferation of various media channels, therefore the requirement for intelligent media buying.

1.3 RELATION BETWEEN EVENT MARKETING AND THE 5PS The five Ps of marketing: product, place, people, price and promotion play an essential role in Event Marketing. To successfully use Event Marketing the marketer must understand how Event Marketing fits together with the other parts of the marketing strategy. Kotler describes the organization’s marketing mix as controllable variables that are mixed so that the organization gets the response that they are asking for from the target market. Event Marketing fits under promotion in the marketing mix. Other marketing tools that goes under this section are advertising, sales promotion, personal sales, direct sales, public relations, and sponsoring. Event Marketing is not a substitute for any of the other components- it is a complement. It takes an imaginative mix of all the communication tools available to extend the impact of the event.

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Fig 1.1: Marketing Mix vs. Event Marketing

If an organization uses Event Marketing, they still need to use the other parts of the promotion mix before, during, and after the event. An example of this could be how a car producer can have advertisements to inform about a new car launch, and then use events to get people to test drive the new car, and then follow up with direct marketing with a discount coupon. One of the main advantages with Event Marketing compared to the other channels is that the objective can both be direct sales, and image building, depending on how it is used.

1.4 EVOLUTION OF EVENT MARKETING From its origins in event planning, the event marketing industry has seen great growth in the last five years and has consistently been one of the most effective tools that marketing professionals have at their disposal in terms of making a tangible connection to current and potential customers. The increasing competitive pressures brought on by globalization are forcing business professionals to find new ways to engage customers. Not surprisingly, savvy event marketing professionals are therefore focusing the majority of their efforts and budgetary spend on lead generation tactics such as trade shows. While it is important to garner leads, marketing and specifically event marketing professionals cannot lose sight of the fact that the sales cycle only begins at lead generation and that 11

current and prospective customers must also be nurtured even beyond purchase. Companies can benefit tremendously from the deeper event marketing touch points that promote nurturing such as proprietary conferences that provide a controlled environment for delivering messages and closing business. The nurturing process will allow the customers to more effectively be funneled into the subsequent stages of the sales cycle thus creating greater opportunities to develop into repeat customers.

EVENT MARKETING An event is a live multimedia package with a preconceived concept, customized or modified to achieve the clients objective of reaching out and suitably influencing the sharply defined, specially gathered target audience by providing a complete sensual experience and an avenue for two-way interaction.

EVENT S

REACH

LIVE INTERACTION

Right Communication

from the client

WITH

Live Audienc e

CREATES

Desired Impact

Fig: 1.2: Events Definition In-Short

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This is a diagrammatic representation of the above definition. From the model it is evident that an event is a package so organized has to provide, reach and live interaction between the target audience and the client to achieve the desired impact.

Event marketing involves canvassing for clients and arranging feedback for the creative concepts during and after the concept initiation so as to arrive at a customized package for the client, keeping the brand values and target audience in mind. Marketing plays an important role in pricing and negotiations as well as identifying opportunities to define and retain event properties by gathering marketing intelligence with regard to pricing, timing etc.

In fact, ideally event marketing involves simultaneous canvassing and studying the brand prints; understanding what the brand stands for, its positioning and values, identifying the target audience and liaison with the creative conceptualizes to create an event for a prefect mesh with the brand’s personality.

PUBLICITY AND PROMOTION If one knows how to organize an event he should also know how to market it. If there is something very peculiar or special about the event then that main point has to be highlighted. A product launch for example requires a sales promotion campaign either before or after the launch. In that case the product is advertised through banners and media and even door to door canvassing. Effort is taken to ensure that people sit up and take notice of the event. Sometimes it could be an event like an award ceremony, which is to be shown on television and different companies make a beeline for sponsoring their respective products in the due course of the programme. This is the way publicity and promotions work.

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1.5 KEY ISSUE FOR EVENT MARKETING The Human Dimension A key issue for Event Marketing is having the right human resources communicating the brand values. The importance of having people working that truly understand the brand was emphasized by almost all the interviewees. The human dimension of Event Marketing is what creates the uniqueness to the brand in an event, especially for highinvolvement purchases. In the capital goods industry, where high involvement decisions are taken and more reliable information is needed, interaction serves as a great function. When buying a car, the consumer is making one of his/her biggest investments, the consumer is more sensitive and might require more than one-way communication to convert to another brand. What makes the 3D advertisement more unique is adding a human dimension, by placing someone who is familiar with and can communicate the company brand and product.

The Human Context To add a human dimension might sound an easy solution in order to communicate the brand identity. However, the human being is rather complex in her way of learning, interpreting and understanding, since she, is characterized by her context. Everything the human being experiences will affect the way she interprets situations. Unless she experiences a situation, which requires new behavior and this behavior is positive, she will not change her way of acting. However, if she is put in a situation in which she has to experience a new way of acting and if the experience is interpreted as positive, it is most likely that she will repeat the behavior in a similar situation. Mental Models are deeply ingrained assumptions and generalizations that influence how we understand the world and how we take action. The models keep us in the same pattern of both thinking and acting. By questioning the Mental Models people see matters from a different perspective and openness. But in order to be able to question the Mental Models we first must realize that there has to be something to gain by questioning them. Most managers today only see the brand as the company’s logo and corporate identity program, but in the future the company “brand” will have to encapsulate and 14

communicate what an organization is and what it stands for. Therefore the manager must change the interpretation of the brand. It is as important to win a distinguished and distinctive place in the perception of a company’s actual and perspective customers, as it is the same with the employees. Since it is the human dimension that adds the value to a customer/prospect in an event, all members and functions in the organization must not only be market orientated in general but also market orientated in combination with the brand values. It is a common fact that people are different and cannot adjust to all situations. Several interviewees supported this when mentioning that there has to be a match between the individual values and the company values. One crucial factor might be the individual’s ability to learn, since the individual must not only understand the added values in the brand identity but also learn to interpret the different situations that might occur during an event, and combine the behavior to the specific situation. It is the individual’s perception of the current situation together with how he/she translates the added values to fit to that specific situation that will help or not help the company.

Integrated Organization When working with Event Marketing it is important to have a well-integrated organization, therefore we agree, “that internal marketing builds service quality”. Internal marketing can be defined as selling the firm to its employees, and Kotler and Armstrong (1993) view internal marketing as the building of customer orientation among employees by training and motivating both consumer contact and support staff as a team. These definitions might be too static, since they are not teaching the employees; rather they are persuading how great the business idea of the company is. By learning how different components in a system interact will increase the understanding of how the entire system works. Understanding just one component by itself that is isolated from the others will not be enough. A company itself is a complex system that is connected by a series of contacts and the components in this system are highly integrated. Since we are a part of this network, we most often only see specific components and are puzzled by that we cannot find good solutions to our greatest 15

problems. System thinking is a term that contains knowledge and different tools, which can help us, understand and influence the entire patterns in an organization.

Match The Event To Your Market Choose the kind of event that appeals to your target market suits your product’s image and fits your marketing objectives. If, for example, you are looking for reach and you are selling a low cost product with wide general appeal, sports sponsorship may be the avenue for you. If your product is an up market one, artistic events could suit you better. If your have a technical product, science-type sponsorships would be possibilities and if your main aim is to be seen as a good corporate citizen, put your sponsorship money into good causes. The Children’s Hospital, the Red Cross or the environment, to name three, AIDS research is another one. The meteoric history of event marketing is based in sports marketing. In fact, music and arts represents a combined 35 percent of event spending as compared 45 percent for sports-related events. Event marketing also continues to thrive as traditional advertising rate skyrocket and, really, fail to provide any guarantee of reaching a targeted audience. Event marketing provides a cost-effective approach to making a more hard-hitting, emotional, and tangible pitch to consumers. It also gives companies the opportunity to cross-promote (promote with other companies that have related products or services), offer sample products (give-always), and build strong relationship with various channels of distribution, such as retail outlets. Charities go out of their way to meet both their own fund-raising needs and the profit requirements of the firms they team up with. It is a commercial relationship and the entire better for it. Charities need funds, and the businesses need promotions, which show their worth in extra profit.

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1.6 WHY EVENTS 1. Brand Building Creating awareness about the launch of new products/brand Enormous nos. of brand/product are launched every month. Similarly innumerable new music albums, films, etc get released periodically. This tends to create clutter of product launches. The large no. of launches also leads to need to overcome the “ooh-yet-anotherproduct” syndrome. The need to therefore catch the attention of the target audience at the time of launch becomes very important. Meticulously planned events for the launch of a product/brand seldom fail to catch the attention of the target audience.

Presentation of brand description to highlight the added features of product/services Sometimes technological changes pave the way for manufactures or service providers to augment their products. To convey this via traditional modes of communication to the existing and potential customer base may sometimes be futile. Special service camps of exhibitions are the perfect events that provide the opportunity for a two way interaction and error free communication. For Example, IMTEX, the Industrial Machine Tools Exhibition, is an event used by most machine tool manufactures to explain and highlight the new and improved features of their product.

Helping in rejuvenating brands during the different stages of product life cycle The massive amount of money that is spent during the introduction stage of products gets drastically reduced over time. By the time the product reaches its maturity/decline stage, the need for cutting down the budgets associated with the media campaigns, while at the same time maintaining the customer base is felt. And events offer the best medium for such a focused approach. It helps in generating feelings of brand loyalty in the products’ end user by treating them as royally as possible.

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Helping in communicating the repositioning of brands/products Events help in repositioning exercises to be carried out successfully. In other words, events can be designed to assist in changing beliefs about firms/products/services.

Associating the brand personality of clients with the personality of target market Citibank is an elite bank where people do banking with pride. Hence, other premium brands would like to associate themselves with the same audience so as to benefit from the rub-off effect. An exhibition-cum-sale event organized exclusively for Citibank credit card holders, small merchandisers get to do business with the Citibank customers, as well as build and maintain a premium image for themselves. Here Citibank acts as the event organizer and small merchandisers acts as participants so that they can associate the personality of their products with the personality of Citibank customers.

Creating and maintaining brand identity Australia-based Foster’s Brewing Group’s Asian subsidiary in its plan to launch its bear brand Foster’s Lager in India choose the game of cricket – in which the Aussies are known as the best team in the world. By becoming the official sponsors of Australian cricket team on its India tour, Foster’s hoped to achieve its goal of brand identity building and positioning itself at the premium end of the market. Rennie Solomito, Marketing Manager for Coors Light (Beer Company) explains that in order to increase awareness and personality of the brand, Coors Light tries to find the distinguishing “look of the leader” in each market. Coors Light select events that are fast paced and young minded, for example, Coors Light Silver Bullet Concert Series featuring artists like Bryan Adams and Celin Dion

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2. Image Building Over and above the brand identity that a company encourages, events such as The Great Escape conceived by Mahindra and Mahindra, exclusively for the owners of their four wheelers, the Armada, are an attempt to build a specific image of not only the corporate, but also the product, to let owners experience the thrill of four wheel driving, M&M charts out an off beat route that emphasizes the difference between normal and four wheel driving, and lets the participant experience the high, one feels when steering and navigating an Armada. Coke is associated with Olympics since 1928, the rationale behind this is similar values and ideologies: International peace, brotherhood, standard of excellence and fun.

Fig 1.3: Constructing the Brand Value Chain

3. Focusing the Target Market Helping in avoidance of clutter Even though some events do get congested with too many advertisements, events still provide and effective means of being spotted. For example, Title sponsorship of a major event provides the sponsor immense benefit since the sponsors name is mentioned along with the event like Hero Cup, Femina Miss India, Lux Zee Cine Awards. 19

Enabling interactive mode of communication Events generally provide an opportunity for buyers and sellers to interact. They also provide a foundation for exchange and sharing of knowledge between professionals. Example: Bang!Linux2000, Auto Expo. Unparalleled footwear company NIKE ensures that it sponsors those events which will give it a chance to create an emotional tie with the participants through onsite brand usage and product presentation.

4. Implementation of Marketing Plan Enabling authentic test marketing Events bring the target audience together, thereby creating opportunity for test marketing of products for authentic feedback. The seller can identify exactly the traits and other characteristics that are desired. For example, marketing events that the Frito-Lay Company used before it launched its WOW! brand of potato chips.

Enabling focused sales and communication to a captive audience In an event the audience is more or less bound to witnessing one particular event. In such a situation it is very favorable for sellers to put forth their presentations without any diversions. Such a situation is very valuable given the ineffectiveness of traditional modes of communication in holding on to the attention of the audience. For example, Burger King wanted to reach a young demographic in the New York area, EMG (Event Marketing Company) helped them to create a 30-concert series at the New York Palladium. Burger King received onsite signage and distribution of bounce back coupons.

Increasing customer traffic in stores Events can be conceptualized to increase customer traffic. They can be customized to make available, concepts ranging from retail store specific events to mega events like one 20

day international cricket tournament. For example, Nescafe 3-in-1 treasure hunt, cosponsored by McDonald’s is a combined effect in increasing the customer traffic as well as increasing the awareness among the upper class of the existence of new McD’s outlets.

Enabling sales promotion Weekly events conducted by Crossword Bookstore helps in generating more revenue during the weekends as compared to the revenue generated in the weekdays.

Help in relation building and PR activities Practitioners of this marketing function believe that event marketing campaigns have the ability to create long lasting relationships with closely targeted market segments. Relationship building is not restricted to end user customers but also targeted at enhancing new distributors and sales representative relations. For example: Techfest organized by IIT Bombay, is an annual technological festival held by IIT Bombay has helped the sponsors in establishing their relationship with the Institute and ensuring that an image of being interested is created and nurtured. Coke is sponsoring the Olympic since 1928. As coke does business in over 200 countries, the Olympics give the company the opportunity to identify its product with the foremost special event in the world.

Motivating the sales team The need for interaction is not restricted to external customers only and end consumers are not always the focus of live media exercises. This is especially popular amongst pharmaceutical and other FMCG companies. For Example, during the cricket world cup held in England HSBC introduced a unique pattern of motivating the sales force by awarding them runs instead of the traditional points system. This resulted in conversion of almost all of its employees into sales person.

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Generate immediate sales Most events let firms install and exclusive boot and give the permission to exploit the opportunity to merchandise. Events such as the annual limited period discount sales from Wrangler and Van Heusen are authentic stock clearance and seconds sales aimed at generating immediate sales.

Generating instant publicity An event can be designed to generate instant publicity upon the implementation of marketing strategy. The e-commerce start up Half.com, which wanted to sell products such as CDs, Books, Movies and Games over the internet was up against major and strong competition. The result of this publicity stunt started the ball rolling towards getting this company purchased by eBay for more than $300 million.

Enabling market database assimilation, maintenance and updating By keeping track of the reach and its effectiveness as well as interacting with the audience that actually turns up for the event, event sponsors can assimilate and authentic database. The database can be used to track various marketing trends. Events can then help in maintaining and updating the database.

1.7 SPONSORSHIP vs. EVENT MARKETING However, there are many other marketing tools that can build brand-awareness and create image and not confuse them with event marketing the most common confusion will be explained here. Authors seem to mix up the concept of Event Marketing and sponsorship, although there is a difference between the two. When using Event Marketing, the organization works with the event as part of the marketing strategy. When sponsoring an event, the organization buys exposure during the event at different levels of the event itself. International Events Group (IEG) defines sponsorship this way: “The relationship between a sponsor and a property in which the sponsor pays a cash or in-kind fee in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with the property.” 22

By using the commercial right, the sponsor could associate the brand and have an effective selection of the target group to market themselves to. The association makes the brand synonymous with the sponsored happening, and thereby the sponsoring has been called association by event. Today sponsorship is one of the world’s fastest growing forms of marketing and together with Event Marketing they begin to play a more dominant role in many companies´ marketing budgets.

This model shows one way to look at where traditional sponsoring fits in compared to Event Marketing.

Fig 1.4: Traditional Marketing vs. Event Marketing

When the organization is sponsoring an event, (upper left corner) there is always a business agreement between at least two parties, which Event Marketing does not necessarily have. Usually this is the case when there is a sport competition such as the Olympics or a World Championship. This kind of sponsoring limits the possibilities for the organization to market their products since they have no control over the happenings at the event, etc. There is a concept called the double lever effect, which explains the relationship between different events. When organizations move to EM (1), EM (2) and EM (3) the organizations increase their control and also the risk is increased. When the control is increased, there is also a larger possibility for organizations to use the event integrated with the other marketing strategies. This fig 1.5 shows how it comes to be a double lever effect: 23

Fig 1.5: Control & risk depending on activity

As we can see, there is a risk in using Event Marketing. There is no possibility to test the event for the target group, and everything has to work during the event. The risk associated with the event could be one of the reasons why some organizations choose to use pre-existing events instead of own events. Preexisting events are events that are created by someone else for another purpose.

1.8 SIZE OF EVENTS In terms of size events maybe categorized as follows:

1. Mega Events The largest events are called mega events, which are generally targeted at international markets. All such events have a specific yield in terms of increased tourism, media coverage and economic impact. Example: The Olympic Games, World Cup Soccer, Super Bowl, Maha Kumbh Mela.

2. Regional Events Regional events are designed to increase the appeal of a specific tourism destination or region. Example: Delhi Half Marathon. 24

3. Major Events These events attract significant local interest and large no of participants as well as generating significant tourism revenue. Example: Chinese New Year Celebrations. 4. Minor Events Most events fall into this category and it is here that most event managers gain their experience. Annual events fall under this category. In addition to annual events, there are many one time events including historical, cultural, musical and dance performances. Meetings, parties, celebrations, conventions, award ceremonies, exhibitions, sporting events and many other community and social event fit into this category. Example: Annual Trade Fair organized in Delhi, Chandipur Beach Festival

1.9 TYPES OF EVENTS 1. Sporting Events Sporting events are held in all towns, cities, states and throughout the nation. They attract international sports men & women at the highest levels. 2. Entertainment Arts and Culture Entertainment events are well known for their ability to attract large audience. This includes musical concerts, celebrity performances, movie releases and mahurats etc 3. Commercial Marketing and Promotional Event Promotional events tend to have high budgets and high profiles. Most frequently they include product launches, often for computer hardware and software, perfume, alcohol or motor cars. The aim of promotional events is generally to differentiate the product from its competitors and to ensure that it is memorable. The audience for a promotional activity might be sales staff such as travel agents, who would promote the tour of the clients or potential purchasers. The media is usually invited to these events so that both the impact and the risk are high, Success is vital. 25

4. Meetings & Exhibitions The meetings & convention industry is highly competitive. Many conventions attract thousands of people, whereas some meetings include only a handful of high profile participants.

5. Festivals Various forms of festivals are increasingly popular providing a particular region the opportunity to showcase its product. Wine and food festivals are the most common events falling under this category. Religious festivals fall into this category as well.

6. Family Weddings, anniversaries, divorces and funerals all provide opportunities for families together. Funerals are increasingly are becoming big events with non traditional coffins, speeches and even entertainment. It is important for the event manager to keep track of these changing social trends.

7. Fund Raising Fairs, which are common in most communities, are frequently run by enthusiastic local committees. The effort in the organization required for these events are often underestimated. As their general aim is raising funds, it is important that rides and other such contracted activities contribute to, rather than reduce, revenue.

8. Miscellaneous Some events defy categorization. Potatoes, walnuts, wild flowers, roses, dogs, horses, teddy bears all provide the focus for an event organized in United States.

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KEY ELEMENTS OF EVENTS Event Infrastructure

Organizer

Venue

Target Audience

EVENT

Media

Client Fig 1.6: Key Elements of Event Marketing

Event Organizers Femina with Fountainhead: Event Support Banyan Tree: Arrangements for classical music performance Hemant Trevedi with assistance from Noyonika Chatterjee: Choreography and Direction Omung Kumar Bhandula for Opus Planet Construction: Sets

Event Infrastructure  Core Concept: Search for new top class modeling talent through a contest and pageant interspersed with entertainment.  Core People: Participants i.e., models taking part in the competition and other performers during entertainment slots such as well known classical musicians, Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma accompanied by Ustad. Shafat Ali Khan and popular music by Sweta Shetty and Stereo Nation.  Core Talent: Physical looks and proportions.  Core Structure: Annual event of beauty pageant. 27

Importance of Infrastructure Indian business events, particularly large trade fairs, are underdeveloped as a result of poor infrastructure outside Delhi. New exhibition and convention centers developed in Chennai and Hyderabad will help spur the industry’s growth. If a new facility of international standard can finally be built in Mumbai, this will generate a huge opportunity for business media companies. Smaller, traveling events, road shows which move around the country’s many secondary markets will also be significant income generators for some business media firms.

Event Venue The two types of venue are as follows:  In-house Venue: Any event that is executed within the premises of the company or institution or in the private homes or proprieties belonging to the client is called an in-house venue. The use of such venue is reserved for the employees of the company or the residents of the campus. Most in-house venues do not need to be paid or even if a payment is involved, it may be open for favorable negotiation. The main advantage of in-house venue is the huge saving in the costs incurred in hiring the venue.  External Venue: Any venue over which neither the client nor the professional organizer have any ownership rights is called an external venue. These are venues open for the general public. Example: Hotels, Stadium etc, etc…

Importance of Event Venue Events are venue driven. They help in increasing the customer traffic. Festivals such as Valentines Day or Holi sea venue playing the clients’ role for the event organizer. Venue has a say in the very feasibility of a event concept.

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Example of Key Elements of Event: 

Event L’Oreal Femina Elite Model Look’98



Venue  Shoot location: The Retreat, Marve  Official Host: Taj Mahal Hotel



Target Audience Youth and Family though with a younger mindset or young at heart.



Media  Pre-Event: Magazines and news papers to inform about event and call for entries with entry forms in them.  Electronic Medium: TV and FM Radio to inform target audience about event coverage, date & time.  During Event: Live coverage on DD2 for widest coverage.  Post Event: Re-telecast on Star Plus.  Interviews and appearance of winner on shows sponsored by L’Oreal on the electronic media.  Report on the event in the print media.



Clients  Main Sponsor: L’Oreal  Gifts Sponsors: Onida, Siemens, Bosh and Lomb, Global Tele-systems, Akbarallys Department Store, Trussardi, Catwalk Shoes, Estelle, The Orchids, Lakme, Sony Music.  Ground Transportation: Adarsh Rent-a-Car – an H.B Kedia/Anil Kedia Enterprise. 29

 Communication Convenience: Global Tele-systems  Beverages: Coca-Cola

2. CRITICAL REVIEW OF LITERATURE EVENT MARKETING SURVEY 2006

– conducted by Fifth Edition of Global Study Shows Steady March of Events Business at the Dawn of a New Era The secret is out. Five years of research has shown that meetings and events can play a strategic role in driving business value within every organization. Corporate executives, both in and out of the world of meetings and events, now see the benefits that face-toface interactions can provide to their bottom line. Current customers and prospects can benefit from meetings and events as they provide the greatest opportunity to learn about a company’s brand, value proposition and (new) products/ services. Companies can derive business value from events to strengthen product or brand awareness; differentiate from the competition; educate or train employees and ultimately increase sales.

Three key indicators in Chart 1 show, however, an interesting change from 2005: 1. The importance of event marketing has remained virtually constant from the prior year.

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2. The proportion of the overall marketing budget dedicated to event marketing decreased slightly from the prior year. 3. The perceived future importance of event marketing has declined less than 3% from 2005. While these results at first glance could be considered disappointing, none of these indicators should be taken as a sign of a downward trend within the event marketing industry. In fact, these are clear signs of an industry that is stabilizing and showing signs of maturation.

2.1 A Watershed Event While the meeting and events industry may be developing a beachhead within companies’ marketing mixes, it continues to face increasing scrutiny as it slides under the CFO’s budgeting microscope. Additionally, CMOs continue to face mounting pressure to show ever-increasing value and return on their investments. Enter the CMO’s white knight in the quest for the enigmatic and much sought after integrated marketing campaign — the evolution from event marketing to experiential marketing — an integrated campaign model offering the opportunity for an audience to “live the brand.” Although it is too soon to measure how transformational the evolution to experiential marketing will be for the meetings and events industry, high level findings from the 2006 global research indicate that overall, awareness of and interest in experiential marketing has the opportunity to bring the meetings and events industry to new heights.

2.2 The Key Take-Away Event marketing continues to play an important role in the corporate setting but has seen some minor setbacks in growth patterns from prior years in terms of perceived importance and value, perhaps due in part to the high visibility gained in years past. As opposed to potentially being discouraged by these findings, event marketing 31

professionals should consider these early signs as an insightful call to action to innovate and create opportunities for even greater ROI. Event marketing professionals must therefore develop either more focused traditional tactics or adopt new approaches such as experiential marketing. Between May and June 2006, almost 900 individuals in marketing management positions from North America, Europe and Asia Pacific in industries including automotive, high technology, healthcare, and financial were interviewed via telephone with hopes of bringing clarity to the events component of the marketing mix as it compares to other elements in a marketer’s arsenal.

2.3 The Role of Event Marketing Remains Important In the Marketing Mix As the world economy continues its 2006 recovery, companies face ever-increasing financial pressures to generate additional revenues and improve profit margins. Globalization has created a myriad of new opportunities for companies but has simultaneously brought with it new challenges in terms of newfound competitors vying for the same pool of clients and the inherent need to communicate one cohesive message to the diversifying marketplace. It is not surprising therefore to see that almost one third of the marketing professionals surveyed this year stated that their top marketing concern currently is reaching new customers. Building brand awareness was respondents’ second most frequent concern, coming in at a distant 13%.

Due to the increased competitive pressures, companies large and small, local and global must therefore constantly evaluate the mix of marketing tactics to ensure the best possible approach at reaching both current and potential customers. It is perhaps because 32

of this need to freshen the marketing mix that we see survey respondents’ state that event marketing was either a lead tactic or vital component of the marketing plan slightly less than half the time (49%) — a slight decrease from last year insofar as it was less of a vital component and taken more under consideration with other mediums. Although the current marketing mix shows in Chart 2 a slight decline as compared to last year, almost 50% of respondents stated that the future importance of event marketing was either increasing or increasing strongly. Furthermore, an additional 40% of respondents stated that the future importance would remain constant. This stability in event marketing’s role is corroborated by the fact that event marketing represents more than 25% of survey respondents’ overall marketing budget, which is only slightly less than a one percent reduction from last year’s figure. Another sign of the evolution of companies’ marketing mix appears in the budget allocations for events. Much like in 2005, 59% of respondents stated that the majority of their event marketing budget is currently allocated to trade shows while 35% are spent on conferences. This latter figure shows a dramatic drop from the prior year’s figure of 47% and further augments the current shift towards a focus on lead acquisition.

2.4 Event Marketing Continues to Deliver ROI Although the results of this year’s survey suggest that the current role of event marketing may have slipped slightly in companies’ marketing mix, the data also shows conflicting information insofar as event marketing remains the marketing element that provides by far the highest returns on investment.

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Chart 3 shows that almost one in four respondents to the 2006 survey believes that event marketing provides the greatest ROI in Marketing. Although the figure is almost identical to last year’s estimate (and decreasing over time), it is a statistical bragging right that event marketing has held for the last three straight years, as well as four of the five years of this study (see Chart 4).

The most common reasons given for event marketing’s high returns on investment come from the fact that it provides the greatest opportunity for direct, in-person, face-to-face contact (58%) and that it provides the best opportunity to reach a targeted audience (45%). Survey respondents also attribute event marketing’s high ROI to the fact that it provides one of the only opportunities to reach a large and engaged audience in one venue (28%).

Turning to specific types of events, the survey results show that Trade shows (40%) followed by conferences and seminars (21%) are the external events that are believed to provide the greatest ROI due primarily to their ability to attract new customers. When asked to look at their internal events, respondents cited education/training events (41%) followed by sales or marketing meetings (28%) as the internal events those are deemed to provide the greatest ROI.

2.5 Measurement Impacts Event Marketing Budgets Seventy-one percent of respondents to this year’s survey (see Chart 5) cite that they do engage in some post-event measurement activities. Not only is this a significant increase 34

from last year’s 60% mark, it is also the highest rate of measurement recorded in the history of this study. This is a clear sign that event marketing professionals and CMOs continue to need to demonstrate the ROI that comes from producing successful events as greater financial scrutiny comes from corporate finance departments.

The survey data shows that not only has the number of companies who measure increased considerably from last year, but there has also been a slight increase in the marketing budget allocated to measurement — up one tick from last year — to 12%. When asked what key performance indicators (KPI) companies were measuring, over one third of respondents (36%) cited number of qualified leads, with overall communication effectiveness and sales increases each receiving 31% of the votes. The most common tools used to calculate these KPI were sales reports (28%), onsite surveys (26%) and post event surveys (24%). Although measurement should not be considered a panacea for event marketing’s need to demonstrate value, this year’s survey does show one striking benefit of measurement. As can be seen in Chart 6, companies who do engage in some form of measurement are three times more likely to see an increase in their budgets than those who do not engage in any measurement. This data is further proof that tangibly demonstrating the value of an event marketing program can significantly increase the chances of getting increased funding.

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2.6 TRANSITION TO EXPERIENCE MARKETING As the event marketing industry faces continues to face mounting pressures from the business world to demonstrate value, event marketing professionals find themselves in need to move towards the next evolutionary, if not revolutionary step within the world of events. CMOs and event marketing professionals are now looking for a solution that can provide a more complete approach to interacting with customers and prospects. Senior marketing professionals are looking beyond traditional event marketing tactics for an integrated campaign that offers the opportunity for an audience to interact with a company’s product/service and its brand before, during and after event(s) through the combination of advertising, direct, interactive and traditional event marketing. Over half of survey respondents (55%) in fact gave this definition to the term “experience marketing.” This year’s research also shows that 80% of respondents are currently adding experiencing marketing in some form or another to their marketing mix. Not only have a significant number of companies tried some experience marketing strategies, but a vast majority also feels as if there are tangible benefits to the updated approach. A remarkable 87% have said that they may eventually transition towards experiential marketing, while 74% have definitively said they will be moving forward with more experiential marketing within the next twelve months (see Chart 7). The most common reason given by survey respondents for moving towards experience marketing was that it provides a better method to convey the persuasive difference between their brand and the competition’s. The second most frequent reason given was that it provides an opportunity 36

to leverage marketing spend across all of a company’s marketing disciplines. Although rooted heavily in event marketing, experience marketing should be considered a hybrid of many disparate forms of marketing finally coming together looking to cohesively interact with the customer. It is as evolutionary as it is revolutionary in as much as it brings new meaning to the term “integrated marketing campaign.” Experience marketing provides a unique opportunity to redefine the marketing landscape as well as how companies interact with customers and prospects. Marketing and event marketing professionals who can effectively cross this chasm and adapt to this new paradigm have a great opportunity to become leaders within their organizations.

About This Study EventView, the annual and first-of-its-kind event marketing trends study for senior marketing executives, was originated in 2002 by The George P. Johnson Company. The MPI Foundation has co-sponsored this important research since 2003. Now in its fifth year, EventView is the number-one published event marketing trends report globally and the longest-running study for the event marketing industry, providing the insight and guidance corporations and event marketing professionals within this field need to develop strategic marketing programs.

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Between May and June 2006, almost 900 individuals in marketing management positions from North America, Europe and Asia Pacific in industries including automotive, high technology, healthcare, and financial were interviewed via telephone with hopes of bringing clarity to the events component of the marketing mix as it compares to other elements in a marketer’s arsenal. The results of the 2006 survey have a +/− 3% margin of error.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY To study Event Marketing as a Generic Promotional Tool: 1. The objective of this study is to understand the concept of event marketing, its benefits and implementation process. 2. To evaluate the effectiveness of Event Marketing as a promotional tool. 3. To identify the problems associated with event marketing in the Indian scenario. 4. To offer suggestions for improvement to make it a more productive investment.

Also to study Event Management for organizing and managing the event in best way: 1. The objective of this study is to understand the event management as a communication tool. 38

2. Launching a product or a service. 3. Communicate to a particular target audience. 4. To make proper strategy , plan and execution of an event

3.2 NEED OF THE PROJECT The need of the project is to study and analyses certain issues in event marketing and event management, which need further attention. And some suggestions have been given to make the Event Marketing and event management industry more effective in order to utilize its full potential and serve the objective of an event and be mutually beneficial for the Event agency, the Corporate and the customer.

3.3 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT 1. To understanding the short coming of event marketing and event management. 2. How these are perceived today. 3. Problems faced by Indian event agencies. 4. Understand and manage the event in the best and effective way.

The few reasons for choosing event marketing as a promotion tool are as follows: 1. To accelerate your product into new markets. 2. To judge your products against the competition. 3. To launch new products/services. 4. To appeal to special customer interests. 5. To make more sales calls in a shorter time cycle. 6. To meet potential customers for new applications. 39

7. To change or improve the perception of your product. 8. To network with customers not normally called upon. 9. To present your products to buyers face-to-face. 10. To promote positive product trends. 11. To reposition your company in a market. 12. To select a new approach to marketing your product. 13. To target markets by types of visitors. 14. To understand customer attitudes. 15. To invite special customers to increase business

3.4 METHODOLOGY

The methodology followed for the research: Primary research detailed discussions with event management firms and the corporate clients. Subsequent additions were made to the interview schedule to suit the specific events under study. The secondary information was gathered from various marketing journals and books on event marketing, sales promotions and publicity. Daily newspaper reading in order to keep track of various kinds of events also proved helpful. The information gathered was studied and analyzed. It reveled certain issues in event marketing which need further attention and some suggestions have been given to make the Event Marketing industry more effective in order to utilize its full potential and be mutually beneficial for the Event Marketing agency, the Corporate and the customer.

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4. EVENT MANAGEMENT AS A PROMOTIONAL TOOL 4.1 EVENT DESIGNING 1. Conceptualization of the creative idea/ambience 2. Costing involves calculation of the cost of production and safety margins 3. Canvassing for sponsors, customers and networking components 4. Customization of the event according to brand personality, budgets, etc 5. Carrying-out involves execution of the event according to the final concept

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Initial Concept

Canvassing

Conceptuali -zation Customization

Costing

Final Concept

Carry-Out

EVENT

Fig 1.7: Event Designing Concept

Example: 

Event

: Holi



Event Category

: Fairs & Festivals



Event Organizers

: A2Z Events



Core Concept of Holi

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It is a celebration to mark the onset of spring and the harvest season. It’s a symbolic gesture, celebrating good harvest and fertility. It draws its origin from the Hindu Mythological event in which Prahalad emerges unscathed from a fire arranged by his father King Hiranyakashyap and aunt Holika to kill him. Background



 Title of the Event

: RANG BARSE

 Place

: Mumbai

 Venue

: Parking lot of an amusement park

 Year

: 1997

 Duration

: 2 Days

 Target Audience

: City dwelling families

 No. of Audience

: 1500

 Ambience

: Rural Mela

 Costing

: Rs. 7 lakhs

 Event Type

: Partially sponsor and partially ticketed



Initial Concept For Holi 2000

A2Z wanted to repeat the previous year’s event ad verbatim 

Costing

Costing for Holi 2000 worked out to Rs. 10 lakhs

Canvassing Many corporates were approached with the initial concept to sponsor the event. The leads generated through canvassing for sponsors and negotiation with venue owners gave a strong impetus and indication of success for a particular variation. A leading soft drinks company could be persuaded to fully sponsor the event.

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Customization The target audience of the soft drink company was pre-dominantly was fun-seeking youth. The initial concept needed to be changed from a family oriented event to a youthful event. The budget was needed to be drastically reduced to Rs. 2lakhs per center and the event was to be simultaneously conducted in 5 locations spread across the country.

Final Concept and Carrying Out Constraint of budget and specific requirement of the client changed the initial concept of a two day program to a 3 hour forenoon program titled “HOLI GYRATIONS 2000”. The program essentially revolved around a color rain dance and color blast for young people with coverage on a popular youth oriented music channel on the television. It was also decided to use the event coverage as software for future use by the channel. Now the event was fully sponsored show for a single sponsor with invitations to a limited no. of participants. The show was fully customized to give pre-dominant importance to the sponsors’ colors viz. red and blue. The carry out stage involved being exceptionally careful and prepared for eventualities such as hazards of drunken misbehavior of the youth even though liquor was not allowed inside the venue. The interaction revolved around a popular VJ anchoring the show and except for dancing, there would be hardly anything else actually happening. The carry out stage gets completely taken over by the music channel.

4.2 COMMUNICATION EFFECTS OF EVENT MARKETING Communication is the process of moving a message that includes different elements. Those elements include source, message, channel, receiver and the process of encoding and decoding. The source is the organization, the message could be a new car launch, the channel could be the event, and attendees are the receivers. A problem many marketers have is to make sure that the noise that can disturb the message going from the sender to the receiver does not interfere with the message, and thereby influence the effect it has on the customer. The direct communication with the customer is one of the main advantages 44

with Event Marketing compared to other marketing channels. In the definition of Event Marketing, it is said that “an event is an activity that gathers the target group in time and room.” This means that the event is eliminated from the noise.

Fig 1.8: Communication Process in Event Marketing

Event Marketing is marketing communication in four different dimensions. The first one is the emotional communication method. The Event Marketing is a form of “pull” marketing, where the organizations try to get closer to the feelings and emotions of the customers. They do this not by “pushing” their products at the customers, but by touching the customers’ emotional feelings. The second dimension touches the customers by involving them in activities. When the customer gets a feeling from a product, he/she is informed of the value of the product. An example of this in the car industry is the test-driving of new cars. The third dimension is the intellectual dimension and it regards the relevance of the event for the customers. The fourth dimension is the spatial dimension, how to get the three prior dimensions into action and to inform the customers through all marketing channels. Some researchers say that in the future, customers will not buy just the product, but the meaning, the event and

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the character, which in turn give the customers the possibility to create their own value for the product.

Relative Importance Of Events As A Marketing Communication Tool

Dominant

Favorable Tentative Weak Introduction

Growth

Maturity

Decline

Relative Position

Strong

Life Cycle Stages Fig 1.9: Position of Events and traditional modes of communication vis-à-vis the life cycle stage

Events Traditional Modes of Communication

With Regard to the competitive position of events as a medium and the life cycle stage it is in vis-à-vis other marketing communication media, it is clear that: Traditional ways of marketing communication in the Fig 1.9 are moving from the growth phase into the maturity stage. Their effectiveness is lost due to cut throat competition which is leading to undesirable clutter in all kinds of media including internet. An event as a medium is in a tentative/favorable position now and will continue to remain so in the near future and tend towards becoming stronger. Event as a strategic

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marketing communication tool would gain significant followers and will bite into a much larger portion of the marketing budget.

4.3 EVALUATION OF EVENTS 1. Measuring Reach Reach is of two types – external and actual, since events require massive external publicity, press, radio, television and other media are needed to ensure that the event is noticed and the benefit of reach is provided to the client. External reach can be measured by using the circulation figures of newspapers and promotion on television and radio. The DART & TRP ratings that rate the popularity of programs on air and around which the promotion is slotted. Measurement of external reach should be tempered with the timings of the promotions as effectiveness of recall and action initiated among the target audience is highly dependent on this important variable. A ratio of the external reach to the actual event reach is a very tangible and useful measurement criteria. Ideally, External Reach Actual Reach

=1

The ideal situation in real life is very rare since the external reach gets drastically reduced in terms of reaching out to the target audience and is therefore impractical in most cases. This is because the target audience is derived from the target population which is invariably very large. It is impractical to assume that all the constituents of the target population can make it to the event. The above ratio is usually found to be greater than 1 in practice. External Reach Actual Reach

>1

2. Measuring Interaction 47

In most event categories, compared to reach, it is much more difficult to access the interaction between the audience and the event and the benefit that accrues to the client. A certain amount of quantifiable data can be of help in measuring interaction for an event from the clients’ point of view. These are as follows:  No. of interaction points The no. of direct and indirect interaction points that have been planned and arranged for an event provide the first important measurement tool. The greater the no. of interaction points the better for the client.  No. of interactions The opportunity for interaction between the client and the audience before, during and after the event is also a very tangible measurement criterion. The greater the opportunity for increasing the no. of interaction, the better for the client.  Quality of interactions One-way or two-way communication during interaction has a profound impact on the quality of interaction that takes place. The quality of interaction is perceived as good when there is an avenue for two-way interaction  Time duration of interaction Every event has a limited time period within which both benefits the other issues such as controversies are effective. The amount of time that is available for interaction is very important in that the greater the duration of the interaction, more are the chances that there are some meaningful and decisive interaction between the client and the audience.

Important Points To Consider When Evaluating Event Marketing 1. Quantified Objectives 48

The reason why some people think that it is not possible to evaluate events is that they have used Event Marketing without a specific purpose or objective. The one reason why Event Marketing is not measured also depends on the objectives, but that they are short-time objectives. The cornerstone in the evaluation of events lies in the objective of the event. Event Marketing can have different objectives and it is usually not directly to increase direct sales. Whatever the goal is, the easiest one to evaluate is the one that is expressed and quantified. The most common criteria for a goal to be valid is that it has a time limit, is challenging, measurable, realistic, result oriented, clear and that it could be followed. If the goal is challenging, it is more interesting to try to reach it. If it is too, simple it is not inspiring to work for, but at the same time it has to be realistic. Time limit and measurable goals give a possibility to do a qualitative study. It is important that they are clear so that everyone understands them and that they can easily be followed by developing a strategy for how to reach

2. Identity, Image, Positioning vs. Evaluation Event Marketing is often used to create brand awareness, image and identity for the products. This section shows that depending on the brand-awareness and how the product is positioned, they can sell more products. Event Marketing can have both a communicative as well as a teaching approach for the customer. Identity Identity is what the organization wants to stand for. The differences between identity and image are that identity is as mentioned earlier what the franchiser intends to represent, while the image is how the consumers experience the brand. The Image is on the receiver’s side, while the identity is on the sender’s side. Image focuses on how certain groups perceive a product or brand and refers to the way these groups decode the signals transmitted by the product service and communication of the brand. The purpose of identity, on the other hand, is to specify the brand’s meaning, aim and self-image. In regards to Event Marketing it could be said that the

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organization sends away an Identity at the event and the customers receive it as an image of the product or organization. Using Event Marketing can also differentiate the product for the customer by making the value of the brand stronger for the customer’s identity. Identity comes from Latin and means “same”. The identity for a customer means, “who am I in regards to the surroundings, and to myself?” The brand of a product can symbolize a part of the individual customer’s identity. The brand can create a promise for the customer, and the product gives the brand the physical proof of that promise. The event in Event Marketing can be seen as a value community. In regards to Maslow’s thoughts, humans have needs that need to be satisfied. The Value community creates groups, where three concepts for group development need to be filled in order to create group belonging. Event Marketing can offer the individual a short-track to belonging by letting the individual attend an event. Through the event, the happening and the message will give the individual a picture of him/herself, and a sense of belonging with other individuals. This shows that part of the brand advantages lies in the possibility to influence the individual’s identity, and to make possible his/her relation to other individuals and in this way strengthen their value community. By doing this, there is a possibility to differentiate the brand from other brands. The brand is seen as an independent method of competition.

Image Image is how the customer understands and looks upon the product, and a definition is “how the consumers experience the brand.” An event can give the customer a clear picture of the corporate identity that the company is striving for. Usually the image consists of different key factors that the customer receives during different times and in different places. These key factors could be the communication that the organization has the physical environment, products, service, ethics, social responsibility, engagement in social and local happenings, and the behavior of representatives from the organization 50

Fig 2.0: Image Building

The experience at the event may of course result in direct sales, but normally they help to build image and create positive associations around the brand that will lead to more sales later on. Image can create lots of competitive advantages compared to other brands. This is especially true when the differences between the brands are small. A positive image can lead to not only increased sales, but it can also strengthen the relationships with all interesting parties within and outside the organization, facilitate new employment, increase the tolerance of customers, and facilitate crises. However, even though the main objective with the event is not to change or build image, there is always a possibility for the customer to change his/her opinion and image of the organization. Exposure Rate: A way to measure the Image that the event has created could be done by looking at their exposure rate. However before using and trying to get media attention to an event it requires a careful analysis of the purpose, benefits and to see if the media is available to deliver the appropriate message. There are many different organizations that are working with observing the media and can deliver the exact amount of times a name of a brand or product figured in the media.

Positioning & Branding

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When a company has decided to use Event Marketing they need to understand how Event Marketing can change the perception of the product in the customers mind, and the positioning of the product. According to Kotler, it is extremely important to have a specific positioning in the customer’s mind, due to the fact that if a similar product has the same positioning there is no need for the customer to buy your product. It is important to create an image and a correct positioning for customers that create differentiation between products. The positioning distinguishes brands from each other and creates a place on the market and in the consumer’s minds for a particular project. The idea behind positioning is to create brand awareness, which ideally leads to long-term brand loyalty. The positioning is a two-stage process, indicating which category the brand should be placed in and the differences between the brands in this category. Products are becoming more and more alike. A company needs to diversify its product from competitors´ products. An organization has three main perspectives for differentiation. They are: total perspective, more value for money, produces trustworthy products at a reasonable price, product perspective, offer a better product that is newer, faster, cheaper, with unique selling attributes, and customer perspective, to know the customer better, and thereby reply to their needs faster. The last perspective, the customer perspective, involves the relationship between the customer and the organization. An event is the physical meeting between customer and organization, and thereby Event Marketing can be used as a tool to build relationships and create differentiation. The idea behind positioning is to create brand awareness. Direct advantage of using Event Marketing is that it creates high brand awareness around the product. The value of the brand lies in the mind of the potential buyers, and not with the business itself. Branding is part of the marketing strategy and product differentiation. The brand can communicate more directly with the consumer than the product itself can; if the brand is seen as having a personality and symbolizing certain values. This is due to the fact that the brand has an emotional appeal to the consumers. A trend within Event Marketing is to involve more cultural aspects at events.

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The cultural aspects of events are not used extensively today. He further argues that culture and brand strategy go hand in hand. Over time, a relationship between the customer and the product can be developed into brand loyalty. This loyalty is characterized by a positive attitude towards the brand, and over time continued purchase of the same brand. A company seeks high brand loyalty because it creates stability and provides an opportunity to gain high market share and profit. The development of brand loyalty can be seen as a three-step model. The first step is to create an interest for the product in the consumer. When time has past, the consumers will simplify their buying detour through the product and the connection between the brand and the target audience is strengthened. The third step is where brand recognition is created, which is important for creating the long-term brand loyalty.

Events Less Complex To Evaluate According to the interviewees, depending on the purpose and objective of the event, some of them are easier to evaluate than others. The interviewed people said that the depending on the relationship between event and the customer, the contact and knowledge of whom exactly attended the event decides weather it is easy or not to evaluate the event. Most brand-awareness events focus on the long-term success of the organization. Events that are easier to evaluate are, according to Orreving, events where you know exactly who was there, and where you can control the environment. If it is a VIP event at a dealership where it is possible to see who was actually there, it is easier to follow up with questionnaires and to see if they actually bought a product.

The Complexity Of Evaluating Event Marketing An event is concerned with a message, an interaction and integration. A message creates something valuable for the customer, and gives the customer some kind of experience. The interaction between the organization and the customer will create a relationship. The integration part is concerned with how the Event Marketing is part of the other marketing strategies. Event Marketing are not being evaluated to full extent due to lack-of time, 53

ignorance and due to the fact that it is hard to evaluate it. Some of the interviewed persons agreed with this theory, and believed that ignorance made evaluation complicated. Furthermore, evaluations not conducted due to lack of time. The interviews also discussed that Event Marketing is only one of the possible marketing channels that can be used when marketing a product, and therefore it is hard to evaluate it separately from the other marketing tools. The more complex the marketing strategy, the harder it is to see what influenced the customer to buy the product. Other reasons why it could be hard to evaluate the event is because someone’s experience cannot be valued on a scale, and the interaction as a relation is not measurable. Furthermore, depending on all other marketing aspects it is hard to see why the customer has a specific feeling for a product. Kotler claims that the easiest marketing channel to evaluate is direct marketing. By using direct marketing it is easy to follow up exactly where the customers have seen the coupons, brochures etc. However, none of the interviewed persons mentioned that it would be easier to evaluate direct marketing than Event Marketing. It is as easy to argue against direct marketing as being the perfect measurable evaluation technique as it is to argue that Event Marketing should be trickier to evaluate. This is due to the fact that there is a possibility that the customers could be affected by other parts of the marketing as they are when it looks like it is the direct marketing that has made them buy a product. As long as more than one tool of the marketing mix is used, there is always a possibility that the customers can be affected by them, and thereby there is no 100% accurate evaluation tool. The reason why it might be considered hard to evaluate an event depends on the fact that it is hard to evaluate the intangible aspects of the event. When asking the interviewed people to elaborate on intangible factors, such as the weather affecting the event, most of them were sure that that just the weather was not of importance for the success of the event, and therefore there was no need to try to evaluate it. There are factors that can not be evaluated, and that instead the focus should be on the factors that can be evaluated. This could be interpreted in the following way: since there is no possibility to evaluate the event comparing to the external social happenings, the only way to elaborate on the example weather is to work with the weather and use it. If possible, the external factors 54

should be eliminated, but if that is not possible the event should try to use them and thereby work for the event.

Example:

Event

: Olympic Games 2000

Venue

: Sydney, Australia

Category

: Competitive – Sports

Event Organizer

: IOC

Client

: General Electric, NBC

Theme

: Amateur sports competition to promote world peace.

Measurement Criteria: Reach increase for cable mediums MSNBC & CNBC, % increase revenues for client. Reach External

: Global (over 197 countries)

Actual

: Prime time audience (approx. 18.25 million)

Event Evaluation Advertisements sales increase from $ 680 million at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games to $ 900 million for the Sydney Olympic Games 2000. MSNBC’s reach in terms of the subscriber base expected to increase from 59 million to 70 million. CNBC’s reach in terms of the subscriber base expected to increase from 74 million to 80 million.

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4.4 REACH INTERACTION MATRIX The reach interaction matrix summarizes the generic characteristics of each of the category to enable a bird’s eye view on events. However, each category can be designed in such a way as to change the degree of reach and interaction.

REACH

INTERACTION Low High

High

Low

Exhibition Cultural Special Business

Competitive Charitable Artistic

Fig 2.1: Reach Interaction Matrix

Amongst the various categories corporate interest have been concentrated on competitive events, especially so on cricket in India. Such events have a broad based character and high media coverage. This implies high reach and added excitement through live coverage on various popular channels. Post-event benefits trough highlights aid in the event recall over and above the normal benefits that an event can offer. The fact that 56

interaction is given short shrift is an anomaly that needs to be corrected. Competitive events are closely followed by events for artistic expression, then by exhibitions, special business events, cultural & charitable events in that order for popularity with event-savvy sponsors.

4.5 RETURN ON INVESTMENT Solely coming up with the sponsorship fee (cash expenditure paid out to be associated with the event) for a specific event is not nearly enough of a guarantee for tangible business results. The need to leverage the maximum benefits of the sponsorship is of the highest priority. As a rule, this can be accomplished by spending at least two or three rupees per rupee invested in the sponsorship. In other words, the sponsorship fee is just a mere ante, and you must budget to properly exploit the product that you have just purchased. Too many companies spend the big bucks to get into the event marketing business and then never do anything with it. Leveraging your sponsorship includes an integrated marketing program involving product sampling, on-site signage, event logo usage, and myriad multilevel cross-promotions.

ROI MEASUREMENT TOOLS: 1. Quantitative In the world of trade shows and corporate events, surveys are a frequent choice for evaluating results. Even if you use lead generation forecasts or gross margin from show sales to measure ROI on an event, a survey can help you understand the reasons why the business event performed the way it did. 

Pre-Post Show Surveys

Often used to measure less tangible variables like brand awareness or perceived competitive positioning, pre-post surveys sample a group of attendees on their way into the exhibit hall at the beginning of the trade show, and then sample another batch as they are leaving the exhibit hall toward the end of the event. Prepost surveys are effective in measuring changes in variables such as:

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 Brand awareness  Memorability or recall of key messages  Attitude or image change  Message impact  New product consideration  Audience profile



Booth Exit Interviews

To measure the immediate effectiveness of the booth and attendee experience there, an exit interview can be helpful, especially for exhibitors using a sizable booth footprint. An interviewer intercepts visitors on their way out of the booth, and requests that they answer some quick questions. Exit interviews can explore such areas as:  What prompted you to visit the booth?  Were you treated well by the staff?  Did someone approach you right away?  How useful was the product demo?  As a result of your visit to the booth, how likely are you to add the company to your short list of considered vendors? One of the big advantages of the exit interview, when done early in the business event, is that it allows mid-course correction of any problems uncovered.



Post-Event Surveys

Contacting a sample of show attendees to ask questions about their experience is another method of evaluating trade show and corporate event results. Depending on your information needs, you may want to survey the entire attendee population, the people who visited your booth, or the group that participated in a 58

certain activity at the business event. Surveys typically support the following event objectives: 

Perform detailed reporting and benchmarking of the attendee

profile 

Obtain feedback on your exhibit’s ability to attract and

communicate with high-potential prospects 

Benchmark your performance against the competition



Provide clues as to the value of your investment in events

compared to other elements in the marketing mix

Post-show surveys can be used to explore such issues as:  Audience quality  Audience motivation for attending the trade show  Attendee activity at the trade show  Strengths and weaknesses of your exhibit, staff, design, signage  Competitive comparisons  Which products are most effective to exhibit or demonstrate  Effectiveness of promotions and premiums  Audience attendance/experience at other trade shows

2. Qualitative Tools: Qualitative metrics, while not projectable to the entire population, can be helpful in assessing your performance. Following are a few of the more beneficial qualitative approaches.  Mystery Shopping If you’re looking for an objective means of analyzing your booth’s effectiveness, consider hiring a professional evaluator to “mystery shop” your booth and assess 59

the experience from the point of view of a customer or prospect. Many trade show consultants offer this service.  Staff Feedback The booth staff is your first line of customer contact, and a rich source of data on most elements of interest. Staff feedback forms can be used for continuous improvement in training, exhibit effectiveness, placement, and other marketing tactics during the trade show.  One Word of Caution Don’t rely too heavily on informal feedback from booth staff and senior management when assessing the value of the trade show. Such comments as “Booth was crowded,” “Mostly junior people,” and “Felt light to me” can do more harm than good.

4.6 KEY ACCOUNT OR KEY PROSPECT ANALYSIS Keeping track of key account attendance can be an important success metric, especially at trade shows where you expect a relatively high level of current customer attendance. Make a list of key accounts, noting which were invited in advance by the sales team to visit the booth or attend a business event. Distribute the list to booth staff and other company representatives at the trade show. Ask them to check off any who were engaged in conversation, and make other comments. Subsequent analysis of customer spending correlated to contact points can often then help identify the relative importance of the trade show visit in helping to secure orders from specific customers.

Competitive Analysis Assessing the presence of the competition is best approached qualitatively. Check the trade show guide to see who among your competitors is exhibiting, speaking, or sponsoring events. Assign competitive sleuthing duty to several of your booth staff and other company attendees, if possible. Provide them with a form to fill out that covers

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such items as booth size and location, products featured, staff size, visitor experience, etc.

Fig 2.2: Business Event Objectives and Associated Metrics

4.7 HOW BUILD A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS PROMOTION AND MARKETING PLAN A good marketing plan summarizes the who, what, where, when, and how much questions of the company:  Who are the target buyers?  What sources of uniqueness or positioning in the market does your product have? 61

 Where will you implement your marketing spending plans?  When will marketing spending plans occur?  How much sales, spending, and profits will you achieve? The financial projections contained in your business plan are based on the assumptions contained in your marketing plan. It is the marketing plan that details when expenditures will be made, what level of sales will be achieved, and how and when advertising and promotional expenditures will be made. The major elements of a marketing plan:  The situation analysis describes the total marketing environment in which the company competes and the status of company products and distribution channels.  The opportunity and issue analysis analyses the major external opportunities and threats to the company and the internal strengths and weaknesses of the company, along with a discussion of key issues facing the company.  The goals and objectives section outlines major company goals and the marketing and financial objectives.  The marketing strategy section provides the company's marketing strategy statement, summarizing the key target buyer description, competitive market segments the company will compete in, the unique positioning of the company and its products compared to the competition, the reasons why it is unique or compelling to buyers, price strategy versus the competition, marketing spending strategy with advertising and promotion, and possible R&D and market research expenditure strategies. The sales and marketing plan outlines each specific marketing event or action plan to increase sales. For example, it may contain a summary of quarterly promotion and advertising plans, with spending, timing, and share or shipment goals for each program.

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The sales and marketing plan outlines each specific marketing event or action plan to increase sales. For example, it may contain a summary of quarterly promotion and advertising plans, with spending, timing, and share or shipment goals for each program.

Some of the ways to market your product or service are  Write letters (on issues and news items that have SOME relation to your business) to the editors of local papers.  Have give-aways (e.g. bookmarks or pens) that are useful and give details of your business.  Send news releases about your products and your business to local papers, radio and TV shows.  Take out an ad in a publication of a local group.  Offer to make presentations, on a topic related to your product or service at appropriate fora.  Keep your eyes open for "specialized" newsletters, newspapers, or other publications which might welcome an article written by you.  Get on the Internet and connect to the world with your own home page. Remember marketing is the face you show to public, highlighting uniqueness and quality of the product. Check the content and layout before releasing an advertisement or distributing pamphlet. Marketing is becoming an ever important tool in the present competitive scenario, tell what your product or services can do, but don't promise what you can not deliver.

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4.8 STRAGEGIC ALTERNATIVES: STRAGEGIC

ALTERNATIVES

ARISING

FROM

ENVIRONMENTAL

ANALYSES

INTERNAL

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

EXTERNAL

STRENGTHS Maintenance Strategy Utilizing company’s strengths to take maximum advantage of opportunity

Pre-Emptive Strategy Maximizing strengths and their usage to overcome threats

WEAKNESSES

Developmental Strategy Maximize Opportunities by minimizing weaknesses

Survival Strategy Minimizing both weaknesses and threats by considering options such as: Joint Ventures, Retrenchment, Liquidation, etc

Fig 2.3: SWOT Based Strategy Matrix

Maintenance Strategy 64

Arising from a situation of strength and favorable opportunities, the maintenance strategy provides reasons to carry out activities that maximize available advantages. This is the perfect position to be in. Beyond this, every activity gets focused on maintaining the winning edge and the lead over competitors. The event company here can well afford to be aggressive knowing very well that it has the relevant strengths to back its claim on the opportunity.

Developmental Strategy To gin advantage of potential opportunities while not having sufficient strengths calls for gaining a winning edge by using tactical retreats where irrelevant yet not giving up. It requires passive and defensive strategy, which attacks relevant opportunities in such a way as to cover up on inherent weakness. Analogy here could be from the game of test cricket where a side that knows victory is impossible also knows that it can ward off a defeat by trying for a draw. This can be called a developmental strategy where one tries to make the most of the opportunity by not giving in to weakness.

Pre-emptive Strategy This strategy is usually used by entrenched market leaders on new entrants on their turf. Potential threats are nipped in the bird by exercising the full power of the company’s strength. This is a very powerful and aggressive strategy as it requires foresight to fully understand the threats looming on the horizon. Selecting which one to tackle requires careful study since some points of strength could get eroded if used unnecessarily.

Survival Strategy This strategy is used to ensure that the company is alive for a battle on another day when it will have the requisite strengths to grab its share of opportunities in the market. This strategy gives license to take decisions like leasing one’s soul to the devil if only with an 65

intent to retrieve it later. In plain words, it allows one to make drastic decisions in the face of harsh environment.

STRATEGIC ALTERNATIVES ARISING FROM COMPETITIVE ALANYSIS Further to the strategy from the environmental analysis a mapping of event concepts can be used as a variable component along with decisions on facing competition, which can lead to more detailed and in-depth strategic alternatives.

EVENT CONCEPTS

COMPETE AVOID HEAD-ON CONFLICT

COMPETITION

USE EXISTING

CREATE NEW

Sustenance Strategy

Rebuttal Strategy

Manage critical success factors more effectively

Respond to new initiatives by competition with a similar move

Venture Strategy Accomplishment Strategy Relative superiority Exploit competitor’s weakness

Maximize user benefits by using path breaking, trend setting initiatives to take a lead vis-à-vis competition by being first in the market.

Fig 2.4: Concept vs. Competition Matrix

66

Sustenance Strategy This is a strategy to be used when faced with no options but to take on the adversary with the existing arsenal of event concepts that may be out dated or still current but nearing the end of its life cycle. It becomes essential that the event company manage its resources and advantages in terms of CSFs that have been identified with greater efficacy. Successful concepts need to be brushed up and revamped to meet customer expectations in the face of competitive offerings.

Rebuttal Strategy If the competition forces new concepts first than the rebuttal strategy should be used. In this, the event company can launch its own new concepts of a similar vein and regain its dominant position by aggressively promoting the same as a better alternative. This way the education of the market about the new concept is left to the new competition and an advantage gained is that market reaction to certain new concepts is fore known. The disadvantage lies in the fact that the first mover advantage is lost.

Accomplishment Strategy This strategy is viable when an existing concept is doing better than any of the competitors’ equivalent offering. This strategy, therefore, essentially says that stick to the winning concepts and exploit the fact that competition cannot offer a similar quality concept and thereby wants to avoid a head-on conflict by itself. The danger here is that competition may use any of the other strategic alternatives available to a challenger to combat the situation.

Venture Strategy This strategy envisages making use of the first mover advantage by creating new concepts ahead of competition thereby creating niche markets. This may even involve a 67

re-definition of market segmentation. By maximizing user benefits and creating path breaking trend setting concepts the event company positions itself to take a lead vis-à-vis competition by being first in the market. This is a double-edge strategy in that failure is as devastating as the benefits of a successful launch.

STRATEGIC ALTERNATIVES ARISING FROM DEFINED OBJECTIVES

EXISTING

NEW

EXISTING

RETAIN CLIENTS

INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY OF CLIENTS

NEW

CLIENTS

EVENT CONCEPTS

INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY OF CONCEPTS

MARKET DEVELOPMENT

Fig 2.5: Client/Concept Fit Matrix

The above matrix provides options that event organizers have an offer in terms of concepts and their market. The basic strategic alternatives here revolve around whether 68

the objective is to retain customers or market development. These objectives further lead to the strategic options of achieving them either to customization or new concept development. By offering new concepts to a existing customers, a strategy of increasing business from increasing clients can be discerned. Similarly by offering an existing event to a new client, a strategy of increasing productivity of the event concept can be followed.

PREP MODEL This framework has its roots, in the fact that, events as a business proposition for corporatisation is relatively nascent in nature. Therefore, the concept of strategic perspective to growth through and along with clients is a major decision to be taken by an event agency having major growth plans. This model deals with the strategic options available by playing off objectives relating to market development against growth in competition.

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EXISTING

NEW

EXISTING

Enrichment Strategy

Predatorial Strategy

NEW

COMPETITION

CLIENTS

Retaliatory Strategy

Proactive Strategy

Fig 2.6: PREP Matrix

The above matrix provides the choices before the event company when it comes to a trade off between clients and competition in terms of assigning priorities in decision making.

Predatorial Market Development Strategy If the development of new clients from existing competitors is the need of the situation then the event company would be adopting this strategy. This is essentially an offensive through focused strategy wherein clients of other event companies are targeted.

Enrichment Strategy

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In a market situation where the event company is forced to compete fiercely for retaining its market this strategy is followed. It is used where the need to maintain an improve the quality of service becomes predominant.

Retaliatory Strategy This is basically a defense mechanism wherein the event company tries to defend it self from preditorial strategies of essentially new entrants. This strategy involves taking action aimed at retaining its existing clientele and potential client base.

Pro-active Strategy The event company here can explore new client bases and stretch the limit of its concepts across untried event categories. Every event category has its own special environmental and competitive structures.

4.9 RISK VERSUS RETURN MATRIX

71

Partially Fully Sponsored Sponsored & Ticketed Fully Ticketed

Type of Finance for Funds & Revenue

Time Pre-Planned

Ad-hoe

Zero Risk Assured Returns

Low Risk Assured Returns (can charge extra since chances of failure are high)

Medium Risk Assured Returns to cover costs + chances of loss are low

High Risk Assured Returns to cover costs but lower chances of profit

High Risk Chances of high profits with equal chances of losses

Very High Risk Very less time to ensure reach Chances of failure & loss are high

Fig 2.7: Risk vs. Return Matrix

The above matrix considers two of the most important risk factors as well as the degree to which it can affect the events company – Planning Lead Time and Type of Finance. Events based on time can be divided into pre-planned i.e., events carried out after thorough planning with enough time for taking conscious decisions and ad-hoc events i.e., those that are taken up on the spur of the moment. On the basis of finance, events can be fully sponsored, fully ticketed or partially ticketed and sponsored. Each decision carries with it an element of risk, the gradations of which can vary from zero risk to very high risk as shown in the Fig 2.7.

4.10 APPLICABILITY 72

Differentiation and Focus in Event Marketing Event Marketing has several advantages with multiple purposes, which normal marketing media do not have. For example, when advertising in a magazine, a company needs to decide which message they want to communicate as well as with whom they want to communicate. For companies using differentiation as a competitive advantage, spreading several messages in many different magazines, the result might not cover investment. On the other hand, for companies using focus as a basic strategy, the cost for gathering information about the specific target group must match the possibility to actually reach the right segment. Depending on how Event Marketing is used both differentiation and focus can be achieved.

There are two major differences when using events. The events are pre-communicated; the companies have a possibility to control who will attend, or the event just happens; whoever is there has an opportunity to be a part of the event. Of course, depending on which place the company selects for the event, different types of consumers will be reached. When using general events; meaning that no single target group is invited, the company can still gain on the situation since they have a chance to adjust the added value to specific customers during the event. The employees working during the event “read” the situation and adjust his/her behavior. Further the event itself might also communicate an added value to other people, although they might not be interested in the specific event. On the other hand mean that Event Marketing can also be used when focusing on specific target groups.

4.11 ADVANTAGES OFFERED BY EVENTS 73

As is clear from the preceding section, use of events as a marketing communication tool not only take care of the problems associated with traditional media but also offer certain advantages because of which events are gaining importance over them. Some of the advantages are detailed below: 1. Events have the ability to bring together sharply defined participants since the capacity for a particular event is usually limited. A specific no. of the target audience could be invited of enticed to buy tickets for a show especially created for a particular profile of the target audience. 2. Since the audience is actively targeted, the option of control reach can be exercised and ideal audience for narrow-casting of information can be gathered. This leads to lowering of the media networking budgets and focused communication with the specially gathered audience. The audience that has been specially invited invariably is an ideal audience. 3. An event carried out professionally and cleanly is invariably a memorable experience. The word-of-mouth publicity that this generates is an advantage that lingers on a long time after the event is actually been carried out. This provides an advantage of higher brand recall to the client. 4. The involvement of all the senses in experiencing the event is one of the greatest advantages that events can offer. Events can be designed such that the audience is actively involved in every part of the event and made to feel good. Thus, events as a live media offer a certain amount of immediacy to the experience – of being there while it‘s happening. For the audience, it is undoubtedly a thrilling situation. 5. Live media also enables interactive communication. Live media scores over conventional advertising in terms of reach, impact and tangible immediacy of measurement. Live media communication is a complete sensual experience as compared to a press advertisement or TV/Radio commercial. This is so because of press ad is basically a flat piece of paper and a commercial is just an audiovisual experience. The high recall value of live media communication is also a major factor. 74

6. No other media can boast of the ability to provide such massive collection of feed back instantly as events. Being a live media, it is possible to feel and deduce the reactions of the audience to the aim or objective that the event was conceived for. 7. Easily customizable nature of events, mean that specific traits of the local inhabitants can be incorporated in the big picture to ensure that the event is socially and culturally in tune with the local culture. Thus, the localization of events is very easy. 8. The advantage in terms of post-event publicity that events can offer over and above the paid or bartered media is the benefit associated with reports of the event in the newspaper and news on the electronic media. For such reports there is no extra cost to be borne – neither by the sponsor nor by the event organizer. This is a double edged sword because, in case the event is not up to the mark or is dogged y controversies, then the same is also reported impartially. 9. The conversion of good events into television software for future use either by the sponsors for their commercials or by media house for programming is also a unique benefit that events offer. Such software become products by themselves and can be used profitability in the future.

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5.ANALYSIS & RESEARCH FINDINGS 5.1 PRIMARY DATA ANALYSIS The present study has been undertaken to get the first hand exposure on the mindset of people towards Event Marketing concept and their involvement in events as and when they come across, if any.

A questionnaire was designed keeping in mind the requirements for study & analysis of my thesis for comparing the hypothesis with the outcome of this survey.

A general survey conducted with a sample size of 100 respondents revealed the following facts regarding the mindset of people towards the Event Marketing concept. This survey also gave scope to take necessary steps for organizing an event at right place, right time and in front of the right target audience.

Event Marketing companies were also targeted and their response was also taken which added value to my thesis.

Let’s have a look at what people feel about Event Marketing. When people were asked what they feel about a particular company which promotes its product/service through Event Marketing 82% of the respondents replied that it gives a positive impression about the company and establishes the quality of their product/service. When people were asked about the reasons for which they have participated 53% replied that the event appeared amusing which was followed by reasons like a powerful brand or eye catching signs & banners.

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Graph A: Buying Behavior after a positive experience of an EVENT

90

88 78

80

69

70 60 50 40

29

30 20

16

10

10

3

6

3

0 More likely

less neither likely a

More likely

less neither likely

More likely

less neither likely

b

c

Where, a = Product/service you have heard but not checked out yet b = Product/service you have never heard of c = Product/service you already use Interpretation If people had a positive experience, about the event 88% are more likely to buy a product just when they were aware of it. Surprisingly, 78% are more likely to enter into the buying process even if it’s a new product.

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Graph B: Gender influence on purchase

180 160 140

87 76

120 100

70

80 60 40

27

82

11

20 0

90

67 32

3

8

2

2

More likely less likely neither

More likelyless likely neither

a

18

6

3

7

11

More likelyless likely neither

b

c

Female

70

3

27

87

3

11

76

6

18

Male

67

2

32

90

2

8

82

7

11

Where, a = Product/service you already use b = Product/service you have heard but not checked out yet c = Product/service you have never heard of Interpretation After a positive experience of the events, women are more likely to purchase a product they already use while men are a bit more adventures and may even be inclined to purchase a product that they are not using or haven’t yet heard about that product.

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Graph C: Men are explorers whereas women love samples

68

70 60 50 40 30

36

24 18

20 12

12

9

8

10

8 5

0 I get to touch and I get to learn I get to ask I get a free I get to have fun feel a more about a questions about a sample of a by participating in product/services product/services product/services product/services activities

Male

Female

Interpretation The female folk are drawn towards the event because they love samples which was confirmed when 68% out of the female respondents gave the same reply where as the male counter part are more interested in exploring the product inside out.

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Graph D: Create events for right ages

70

70

60

60

52 50

38

40

30 25 21

21

20 14 10

12

13 10 7

9 4

12

10 8

5

6

6

0

I get to touch and I get to learn more I get to ask I get a free feel a about a questions about a sample of a product/services product/services product/services product/services

22-29 yrs

30-44 yrs

45-54 yrs

I get to have fun by participating in activities

55+ yrs

Interpretation Fun and free best describes the motivation of younger event attendees while education and interaction are what the older crowd is looking for.

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Graph E: Events spur immediate sales

15% 26% 2% 4% 4%

25%

immediately within 3 months Do not purchase

within a week within 6 months

24%

within a month more than 6 months

Interpretation 26% of the attendees are ready to purchase a product immediately after the event, 25% within a month and 15% wont purchase the product at all.

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Graph F: Reasons for participation in any event

80

80

70 60

60

63

66

50 40 30 20 13

18

16 10

9

10

14 13 7

3

7 2

3

3

3

3

1

0 The product/services matched my interest

The product or company was sponsoring an activity I enjoy

22-29 yrs

My friend/relative had a positive experience

30-44 yrs

The event offered an activity I could participate

45-54 yrs

Other

55+ yrs

Interpretation

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Over all the age groups it was observed that if the product/service is of interest to the attendees they are more likely to participate in an event. The next best reason for participation across all age groups is the activity which the attendees enjoy.

Graph G: People spend time at mobile events

8%

24%

68%

1-15 mins

15-30 mins

over 30 mins

Interpretation 83

68% of the total respondents spend approximately 15 mins on a mobile event and every less people spend over 30 mins.

Graph H: Mobile events create better product understanding

1%

24%

75%

better

same

less

Interpretation 84

Mobile events which demonstrate product features are more likely to generate better understanding about a company or its product.

5.2 INTERVIEWS AND DETAILED DISCUSSIONS with various event managers and corporate helped me identify the problems in the event marketing industry. 1. The event marketing industry in India is highly unorganized. 2. Corporate are not fully aware of the concept, implementation process and effectiveness of event marketing. 3. No post-event analysis is carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of an event. As a result of which a lot of money is wasted and nothing productive happens. 4. Lately, event marketing has become a fad and even small entrepreneurs are blindly following the multinationals such as Coke and Pepsi that have presence all over in the event marketing industry (cricket, music, movies & road shows) 5. Even when large sums of money are involved, sponsorships have too often been handed out on nothing stronger than the managing director’s whim. In such cases, virtually no thought is given to their likely benefit to the company, or even how such a benefit could be measured. In the late 1980s, the Hill & Knowlton sports marketing division conducted a survey of Western Australian companies involved in sponsorship. Many were giving more than $100,000 a year.

Yet a staggering 68% of them had no

procedures in place to check the value of their sponsorships. How many of those companies would spend $100,000 on advertising without monitoring every year stage of the campaign? How many would pay an executive $100,000 a year without demanding accountability for performance. 6. Sponsorship today should be made as accountable as any other part of the marketing mix. Some forms of sponsorship have long-term networking goals that 85

don’t lend themselves to immediate measurement. But if sponsorship is linked directly to a product, measurement should be possible through the only criteria that ultimately matter, Sales. 7. T.V. and press coverage of the event cannot be equated with success-even if a company’s logo appears often and prominently. Instead, we need to take a close look at the sales results and see if they go up during the sponsorship period. 8. Not all sponsorships are readily measurable. There are many, especially in the non-sporting field, where it’s almost impossible to establish a direct cause-andeffect relationship between sponsorship and sales.

Carefully planned

sponsorships can be a cost-efficient way to enhance corporate profile. They can link a company and brand with their customers’ lifestyles and aspirations. They can create a difference for the product, boost the effectiveness of the total promotional program, and put one in touch with people who can do a great deal for the business. 9. Sponsorship itself never is a major communications thrust. It is always and only a complement to it. For every Rs. 100,000 you spend on sponsorship, you need to spend at least another Rs. 100,000 on more conventional promotional activities. And your sponsorship venture must not happen in isolation from them. It must be an integral part of your total promotional program. It must tie in closely in theme and message with everything else you are doing. Only then, will you get real benefit from your sponsorship investment. 10. Commit large amounts of time and marketing expertise to it as well in order to bring about a long-term product association with the event. It means monitoring the event constantly, to ensure that your name, logo, product and so on are being featured, exactly as agreed. It means developing reliable ways of measuring its results, if that’s possible. It means thinking about extensions-spin-off consumer and trade promotions, staff motivation programs, hospitality functions and so on. 11. It also means being willing to keep it going for several years at least. The longer you stay with your sponsorship, the better the results you can expect-and the better, for the event too. If its name chops and changes from one year to the next, 86

its image will become confused and tarnished. Then its value as a sponsorship property will drop. 12. There is no consistency of operations and quality of events on the part of event management firms. Event marketing firms in India are very unprofessional and lack integrated marketing expertise. 13. Situation analysis and TOMA effect which are done by advertising agencies is not done by event marketing agencies. 14. Event marketing firms do not have retained accounts as advertising agencies. 15. They also provide poor services as compared to advertising agencies. Hence corporate prefer to give their accounts for event marketing also to their own advertising agencies. These advertising agencies may further forward the contract to the event management firms in case they do not have the infrastructure and facilities for event management themselves. This results in lesser profits for the event management firms as a cut off percentage of at least 13.5% is retained by the advertising agency itself. Hence there is a need to build a more qualified and professional image of the event-marketing firms to gain corporate trust, and remove this intermediary to achieve higher profits.

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6. RECOMMENDATIONS To improve the condition of the event marketing industry and make it more professional and profitable, the following recommendations have been listed: 1. Understand the corporate objectives, target audience, brand image and positioning clearly. 2. Do not go overboard with your concept or preference for a certain event. 3. Conduct a situational analysis for appropriate event selection which synergies with the company objective and brand personality. 4. Create extensive databases of the target consumers in order to conduct pre- and post-event analysis and evaluation to check the success of the event and consumer perception, also to assess the top of mind awareness and brand recall. 5. Conduct extensive market research to establish which parts of the program are working and which ones are not. Those in the first category should be maintained and strengthened. Those in the second should be relinquished. 6. In all sponsorship activities, it is important to protect the integrity of the activity being supported. If it is cheapened or its identity threatened, the sponsorship could rebound on the sponsor’s head.

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7. CONCLUSION •

Event marketing allows a company to break through the advertising clutter and target an audience by enhancing or creating an image through an association to a particular event.

•

Brand awareness reinforces the product or service, and drives sales.

•

Property or event, also profits, a financial partner, a supplemented advertising budget, and added leverage.

•

Event marketing also offers companies the flexibility to reach specific geographic and demographic audiences. It is a benefit that allows depth of exposure, as opposed to the breadth of exposure.

•

As CMOs continue to face increasing financial pressures, they must continuously provide higher levels of value, both in pure financial terms and overall measurement of ROI.

•

When considering the entire sales cycle, marketing professionals must think

beyond

traditional

methods

and

bring

transparency

and

measurement to their activities in order to demonstrate the fundamental value of their field. To answer this challenge, the event marketing industry must redefine itself to recognize the power of the “brand” to forge deep connections, as well as also adapt events to contribute to branding in more sophisticated ways. •

The perception of events as a form of media is quickly moving away from standalone activities to integrated forms of communication. These forms of communication synchronize with overall marketing goals through new 89

applications of techniques rooted in traditional event marketing that project the brand more powerfully. Defining what an organization stands for, mapping out a clear brand strategy, and then formulating event activities that align with overall marketing goals is the next great step in the evolution of the industry.

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY BASIC COVERAGE  Event Management

Lynn Van Der Wagen & Brenda R. Carlos

 Principles of Marketing

 Kotler & Amstrong

 Marketing Management

 Philip Kotler

 Marketing is Business

 Walter E. Vieira

 The Fundamentals & Practice of Marketing  John Wilmshurst

WEBSITES  www.indiatradepromotion.org  www.exhibitionsindia.com  www.supercommindia2004.com  www.branders.com  www.viewcentral.com  www.eventmarketer.com  www.marketersadvantage.net/articles.htm?k=Network%20Marketing  www.mobilemarketingjoblist.com  www.flugsimulatoren.de/strategic-marketing.htm  www.global-electronics.net  www.indianchild.com/marketing/india-marketing-scenario.htm  www.fundsmanagementworld.com/india  www.hedgefundsworld.com  www.sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/marketing/g/promotion.htm 90

 www.wilsonweb.com  www.TradeshowDisplayPRO.com  www.clk.about.com  www.inventors.about.com  www.marketingnpv.com  www.businessknowhow.com  www.3rdfloorup.com  www.exchange4media.com  www.exhibitmanagement.com  www.dmoz.org/Sports/Events  www.biztradeshows.com/india/  www.classifieds.sulekha.com  www.pib.nic.in  www.india.gov.in/business/growing_business.php  www.blonnet.com  www.belowtheline.org/  www.frost.com/prod/servlet/events-asia-pac.pag  www.indialine.com/events/automotive.html  www.hindustantimes.com/3g/  www.informatm.com  www.asia.advertising.msn.com  www.ibef.org  www.tradeshowplaza.com

PERIODICALS  Business & Economy  4Ps Business & Marketing  Business World

NEWSPAPERS  Times of India 91

 Economic Times  Mint

9. ANNEXURE 9.1 Annexure.1 Questionnaire Name Age Gender Occupation

: : : :

1. What are your feelings about a company that creates or sponsors events? □ They are willing to let people try them out □ Support activities that I enjoy □ They understand my interests and needs □ They like to have fun with me □ They want to know more about me 2. Assuming you had a positive experience, would you be more or less inclined to purchase a product or service after having participated in an event? a) Product/service you have heard but not checked out yet  More likely  Less likely  Neither more nor less b) Product/service you have never heard of  More likely  Less likely  Neither more nor less c) Product/service you already use  More likely  Less likely  Neither more nor less 3. What was it that got you to notice or participate in the event? □ It looked like fun

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□ □ □ □ □

I recognize the company/brand running the event Signs and Banners Somebody invited me to participate The crowd that was already taking part in the event Others

4. Which of the following is your favorite part of marketing events? □ I get to touch and feel a product/services □ I get to learn more about a product/services □ I get to ask questions about a product/services □ I get a free sample of a product/services □ I get to have fun by participating in activities

5. Which would most likely cause you to participate in a product demonstration or event? □ The product/services matched my interest □ The product or company was sponsoring an activity I enjoy □ My friend/relative had a positive experience □ The event offered an activity I could participate □ Other 6. How long did you stay at the mobile event? □ 1-15 minutes □ 15-30 minutes □ over 30 minutes 7. Which of the following is true? After leaving the mobile event I understood the company/product… □ better □ same □ less 8. How soon after attending a company-sponsored event at/near a store did you purchase the product or service being offered? □ Immediately □ Within a month □ Within a week □ Did not purchase □ Within 3 months □ Within 6 month □ More than 6 months

 Thank you for your cooperation 

9.2 Annexure.2 93

KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL EVENT MARKETING While marketing an event, there are a few key tactics and methods that can be employed to ensure that the event gains the maximum response and also that event is managed in the minimum cost possible. Event marketing has been a concept that has only recently been pioneered in India. But, though new, the concept has taken off very well with the Indian consumers who are evolving rapidly. Some of the tactics and methods are listed below. Following them can ensure a cost effective implementation of the event marketing.

Event Marketing Hint 1: If the event is meant to market a certain product, then it is necessary to ensure that the purchase decision-maker attends the event. It is important to get the message across to the target audience and therefore enough research about the profile of the attendees is important to be able to communicate effectively to them about the product. It is important that least 50-60% of the people attending the event are targets of the product to be promoted. Event Marketing Hint 2: It is also important to evaluate the value-added benefits that the venue or the trade show organizer makes available to your business. Make sure you find out if they allow access to the attendee mailing list so you can implement a pre-mailing process in order to promote your one-day trade show special, as well as the location of your booth. Make sure you get participant contact information before the event as well as after. Other value-added benefits that can be expected from the show organizer include: being included in participant email distributions promoting the event, as well as an advertisement in the event show guide. Event Marketing Hint 3: Before the event is undertaken, the cost effectiveness of promoting the product through the event should be questioned by asking yourself event qualifying questions around the “who" instead of the “how many”.

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Event Marketing Hint 4: The giveaways at the event should be relevant to the business being promoted through the event. And make sure you don't give something away for free just for the heck of it. Event Marketing Hint 5: The location chosen for the event is perhaps the most important aspect. Make sure you don't purchase a cheap booth at a popular exhibition because there are strong chances that no one will be visiting you, since your booth will be tucked away hidden from all eyes. The most ideal locations in any exhibition areas are found at the entryway to the event and near the pathway to the food stations and restrooms.

9.3 Annexure.3 A sponsorship checklist has been devised for the benefit of all those who are in the business of event marketing or related to it. 1. Are you clear on your sponsorship objectives? 2. Does the activity or event have a link with your product? 3. Is the public perception of it a positive one? 4. Is it watched, attended, shared in or enjoyed by your target market? 5. Will your sponsorship raise your image in their eyes? 6. Is the activity or event free of close identification with a previous sponsor? 7. Will it create good ‘rubbing shoulders’ opportunities for you? 8. Can you measure its results? 9. Will it give you tangible benefits, such as naming rights, program advertising, onsite displays or merchandise? 10. Will it have PR possibilities that reach beyond the immediate audience into your target market? 11. Will it be a natural extension to your main advertising and promotional activities? 12. Are you prepared to commit yourself to it for a considerable period of time? 13. Are you prepared to put a great deal of effort as well as money into it? 95

14. Will your key personnel commit themselves to it enthusiastically?

9.4 Case Studies

Case Study (1)

Nehru Centre, Mumbai, India December 7 – 10, 2005 The Event has once again set the stage for future co-ventures and Trade links between India & UAE. The 3rd UAE Trade Exhibition in India held in Mumbai, has once again set the stage for future co – ventures and trade links between India & the UAE. Spread over 2,500 Square meters at the Nehru Centre, the Expo featured 45 leading companies & Govt. organizations from UAE with over 80 Stands. The Expo attracted a record crowd of 5,027 business visitors over 4 days.

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Organised jointly by Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Dubai Tourism & Commerce Marketing and JAFZA – Dubai Business Hub, the UAE Trade Exhibition has proved to be an ideal platform for a host of business possibilities. The post event survey has revealed numerous business partnerships, trade leads & deals, distribution set-ups and dealership networks.

The Expo provided UAE companies with an effective

marketing platform The event was officially inaugurated by Hon’ble Shri Y.P Trivedi, Chairman – Indo African Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The show featured leading organisations from Banking & Financial Sector, Property Developers, Food Industry, Free Trade Zones, Consultants, Universities, Consumer goods, etc from UAE. For the first time, high end Seminars & interactive sessions took place that highlighted the trends, development in the UAE along with investment opportunities in the entire region. Exhibitor Comments •

Mr. Humaid Alkhatri - Sr. Marketing & Sales Officer, SAIF Zone; “The response has been of good quality visitors to our stand and we are happy with the overall arrangements of the show”

•

Mr. George T. C - Finance Manager, Home Builders Real Estate; “We are very pleased with the organisers and the arrangements of the event, since it is our first experience in India we are quite happy with the quality response to the show and the interest from the local market”

•

Mr. Abdul Rehman Falaknaz – President, International Expo Consults LLC; “We are very happy to organise this 3rd UAE in India trade show that has been growing every year, It also is very fulfilling to know that many UAE companies in the past have benefited through such events by appointing agents and expanding their 97

markets. The initiative of the DCCI, DTCM and JAFZA, has been a major factor to us in making the show a success, the support from these government organisations reinforces the commitments to the event this year”.

FACTS & FIGURES Exhibitor Survey Generate New Business Enquiries

Reason of Exhibiting

Secure Spot Orders 0%

6%

Launch New Products 38%

Meet up Existing clients

31%

Promote Corporate Image / Product Image Identify Agents / Distributors

3% 16%

6%

Others

Objective Met 6%

Less than 25% 12%

25% - 50%

18% 24%

50% - 75% 75% - 100%

40%

Not met

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Note: The above graph states that approx. 60% of the Exhibitors feel that their objective to participate was met & 25% has expressed their satisfaction in terms of their participation.

Visitors Survey Importers, exporters and trade buyers & visitors from across the length and breadth of India appreciated this “trade show”. The show witnessed an impressive attendance from 5,027 trade and business visitors who came to: - Source new products & technology - Seeks investment opportunities in UAE - Meet new trading partners - Secure agency and distributor agreements - Meet joint venture partners - Form strategic alliances or close deals with new supply contracts. Visitors were attracted by a dynamic marketing campaign, which included: -

Eye catching advertisements in leading local newspapers.

-

Direct mail to over 25,000 industry professionals.

-

Personalized Tele-calling invitations.

-

Personalized VIP invitations to leading Governmental and private sector figures.

-

Public relations involving regional publications, including specialist targeted sectors, web sites and broadcasting agencies.

-

Newspaper supplements with leading publications to coincide with the opening of the show.

-

Banners & Hoardings at the major parts of the city.

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Purpose of Visit

To evaluate and place orders To identify possible joint venture

9%

18%

Meet existing Suppliers / Manufacturers

9%

To acquire new Agencies / Representations

9%

To evaluate new Products and Technologies

18% 9%

To evaluate the show for next year's participation Others

28%

Objective Met Less than 25% 0% 17%

25% - 50%

8%

50% - 75% 33% 75% - 100% 42%

Not met

Note: Most visitors have given the show a rating of “Good” in terms of quality of the Exhibitors & wished to come back next year as well.

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OBSERVATIONS & ANALYSIS Exhibitors: The exhibition featured well-known and leading names from the UAE belonging to varied industries. 45 companies showcased their products and services at the event. The companies were keen to optimise this opportunity to tap the potential that the Indian market has to offer, whilst at the same time enhancing their brand image in the market. Feedback: The exhibiting companies were happy with the response they received at the exhibition. The feedback received from the exhibitors proves that their participation at the show was a success. Visitors: The show attracted 5,027 trade and business visitors. The visitor campaign attracted visitors in terms of quality. Feedback: According to the visitor survey done, most visitors have given the show a rating of “Good” in terms of quality of the show and business prospects. Press & Media Coverage: The show received excellent Press and Media coverage both in India as well as the UAE. The Press Conference organized on the first day of the show was well attended by the Indian Press and the event was covered in all leading Newspapers and TV Channels.

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Case Study (2) Citi Financial Road Shows Objective

: To increase awareness and generate leads

Methodology :  Identify a particular location on basis of SEC, footfalls, residential area/ marketplace, ATM, cinema halls etc.  Setting up the infrastructure – canopy, table, chairs etc. and conducting the road show Cold Calling – distribution of leaflets in adjoining areas, providing any required explanations and procuring leads.  Generating leads (Cold calls and from Canopy enquiries) – noting down name and phone numbers of people visiting the canopy.  Follow up – calling up people to know of their decision Implementation: Locations for the road shows were chosen taking into account the SEC of the concerned locality and density. 102

The road shows were help for a duration of half a day; either 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. or 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. The road shows were conducted at: 

Rajender Place (at the main road)



Rajender Place (inside the MTNL compound)



Bagga Link Petrol Pump



DDU Hospital



Moti Nagar



Kali Bari (opposite Birla Mandir)

Observations  A common request by customers – Personal loan limit of Rs. 50,000/- not adequate, want limit to be raised to Rs. 1,00,000. The number of people visiting the stalls was not very high.  Only a very small fraction of people who visited the stalls were ultimately converted.  It was observed that a lot of people deliberately gave wrong phone numbers, names, contact info etc. Nevertheless, the road shows were found to be an effective medium for generating awareness and visibility.

Recommendations  To encourage people to give correct names and contact information some incentive/ scheme should be formulated e.g. conducting a lucky draw of  Respondents and contacting the winners through the contact information given by them.  Canopy should be at least bilingual – SEC segments B and C are more responsive to local lingua franca. 103

 Need to leverage existing awareness of the Citigroup Brand – Creates confidence in the customer. Hence compulsory mention on all Publicity material – canopy, Banners, POP material etc.  Canopy should be supported by – o Mascots o Banners o POP material o Mike system/Music if possible All these also make the job of the team easier, the need for explanations being reduced. 

At all times at least two persons are needed at the canopy, if cold

calling needs to be done then strength should be three to four. 

Telecommunication facility should be provided to solve specific

queries the spot, solution of which may lead to conversion. 

The team at the road show should be informed of aspects such as

the rates of interest and time period of loans quoted by the office. 

Road shows should be for a minimum of two days and in summers

Should be conducted in the evenings.  Tables, chairs etc. are a must for display and impact.

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