Events Marketing Management

A consumer perspective

Ivna Reic

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781136289798
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Marketing
• Index: Business

This textbook provides students with an essential introduction to the theoretical underpinnings and practicalities of managing the marketing of events.

In order to market events effectively, it is vital to consider marketing of events from the organiser's perspective and to link it to that of the consumers attending events. As such, this is the first book on the topic which reflects the unique characteristics of marketing in the Events industry by exploring both sides of the marketing coin – the supply and the demand – in the specific context of events. The book takes the reader from core marketing mix principles to exploring the event marketing landscape to consumer experience and involvement with event marketing and finally strategies and tactics employed to manage the marketing activities related to events. The use of technology, importance of sponsorship and PR are also considered. International case studies are integrated throughout to show practical realities of marketing and managing events and a range of useful learning aids are incorporated to aid navigation throughout the book, spur critical thinking and further students' knowledge.

This accessible and comprehensive account of Events Marketing and Management is essential reading for all students and future managers.

Chapter 1
About this book

In the spring of 2010 I had been teaching events management for about a year and found myself particularly drawn to the area of events marketing. In late 2009, having completed my master’s degree in Events Marketing Management after about five years spent in events and marketing/advertising, I came across Buyology, an insightful and thought-provoking book by Martin Lindstrom, a branding expert and avid consumer educator (who would have thought that the two worlds could so easily be combined in one person!). The book was a revelation and sparked my interest in consumer psychology, particularly in relation to events. I scoured the event management literature on offer at the time and all the books I opened were filled with conventional marketing thought. Moreover, marketing as a function of event management seemed to be under-represented in the literature, which was not surprising considering how young this subject area is. As I tried to reconcile the ‘traditional’ notion of marketing and promotion with the new and exciting concepts Lindstrom talked about in his work, the idea for this book was born. It took a while for it to crystallise and find its own voice, but in December my publisher, Taylor & Francis, decided they wanted in on the action. Fast-forward four years and the fruit of this (and much other) labour is now in your hands.

What is event marketing?

Steve Jobs, the iconic former CEO of Apple, one of the world’s leading creative technology brands, is attributed with saying: ‘To me, marketing is all about values. This is a complicated world, it’s a noisy world, and we’re not going to get the chance to get people to remember much about us – no company is, so we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us.’

In the marketing classes I teach I often start by asking my students the question in the title of this section: ‘What is event marketing?’ The variety of answers I receive to this question always impresses me, particularly as students from different countries always add another dimension to the answer. In reality, there is no one true answer – the word ‘marketing’ has a slightly different meaning to every single person and every company has a different way of defining and designing their ‘marketing’.

Current academic literature largely discusses event marketing through the classic marketing lens of McCarthy’s (1960) concept of the Marketing Mix, more commonly known as the 4Ps, and Booms and Bitner’s (1982) concept of the 7Ps – marketing mix for services. The majority of authors discussing event marketing (see Bowdin et al., 2011; Getz, 2005; Allen et al., 2010) adapt one of the two concepts and try to fit event marketing within the parameters already given. These have been discussed in depth in Chapter 4. As we will see in Chapter 2, events as a phenomenon are an amalgamation of products and services, with a particular impact of the time constraint that heavily influences the marketing aspect. Thus, event marketing as a business function is a more fluid concept that cannot fit neatly into marketing mix ‘boxes’, however many Ps one chooses to adapt. This book introduces a new model which reframes the popular notions of the marketing mix and, I feel, is more intuitive and more responsive to the almost amorphous nature of events.

Another specificity of event marketing is the aspect of time. Whilst marketing of products and services does need to fit within a particular timeline, there is some space for flexibility with the start, end and duration of marketing campaigns. Time is an important and integral aspect of events as a market offering. As events themselves are time-constrained, this creates an invisible boundary line within which marketing activities must fit – if an event is happening on the first weekend in May, then there is not much space to be flexible with when the marketing of the event will be done. There must be no delays or missed opportunities for marketing the event, otherwise it could negatively impact not just the event’s media exposure, but also attendee numbers, brand awareness and (ultimately) revenues and profits.

There are three key things the reader should know before going any further with this book. First, this book is the first comprehensive text focusing on managing the marketing processes within the events industry. It critically evaluates the various ‘traditional’ marketing ideas and concepts within the context of the events industry; it looks at the practicalities of planning, implementing and evaluating marketing communications strategies and also explores their antecedents. Second, this book provides a strong overview of the key concepts of consumer behaviour discussed in the context of events, which is something little other event marketing literature offers. And finally, it introduces key concepts offered by contemporary marketing and business authors, such as Martin Lindstrom, Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Pink, Dan Ariely and others, and outlines their place in the evolving nature of event marketing.

The book itself is arranged thematically.

The first section deals with defining events. Chapter 2 discusses the events industry and its characteristics, ways of classifying events and the role and impact of seasonality in driving the industry forward. Chapter 3 outlines the evolution of dominant economic paradigms which led to the prominence of events in the economy and introduces where the value lies in events and the role of the event experience in building this value. Chapter 4 dissects the notion of the Marketing Mix and discusses its applicability in the context of events.

The next section presents the key concepts that define the events marketing landscape. Chapter 5 presents frameworks for the analysis of the external environment and differentiation and positioning strategies for events, and Chapter 6 discusses segmentation.

The following two chapters focus on the events consumers. Chapter 7 explores the key economic concepts of demand and supply and evaluates the notion of the Economic Man in the consumption of leisure experiences which are events. Chapter 8 introduces the notions of identity, authenticity and being human, which are at the heart of the consumers’ decision-making process, and discusses their relationship to the motivation of consumers to attend events.

The next chapters delve into the practicalities of marketing communications for events. Chapter 9 introduces the generic marketing strategies that provide the overall direction for any marketing plan. Chapter 10 evaluates the role of traditional marketing tactics in the marketing of events, whilst Chapter 11 talks about the changing role of public relations and explores how new PR tactics work in the twenty-first century. Chapter 12 discusses a key new strand of marketing communications – e-marketing (or digital marketing). Chapter 13 presents the marketing planning function and the increasingly important role of integrating marketing communications for events. It outlines the recommendations for financial and other control of the event marketing process.

The final chapter, Chapter 14, represents a sort of conclusion, if you will; it presents a new model for event marketing that puts the consumer centre stage. The model presents an alternative to the current concept of the Marketing Mix, not so much by abandoning the Ps but, rather, by reframing the Ps within a new framework, more suitable to the nature of events as specific market offerings.

The theoretical frameworks and concepts discussed within this book are supported with a variety of practical examples throughout, as well as more extensive vignettes presenting the practical application of the key concepts more in depth. Furthermore, each chapter concludes with a practical case study which encourages the reader to engage with the theory presented in the chapter and to see how it is (or can be) applied in an industry context. Case studies, which are international and varied, highlight the challenges posed by the specific nature of events and provide ample food for thought. Additionally, each chapter is also accompanied by an event management scenario, which allows the reader to assume the role of an events marketer and come up with practical solutions to the scenarios in their own specific local context. For those eager to learn more about the theory behind the chapter, a useful list of books, journals and other resources is also provided at the end of each chapter, to entice the inner researcher in you.

As the author of this book, I am hoping that the book will be interesting to a wide variety of audiences, not only related to events, but also to other areas of the creative industries. However, my primary focus is on those studying and working in, or otherwise connected to, the events sector. Therefore, this book is for you if:

• • You are a student on any of the event management vocational, undergraduate or postgraduate programmes.
• • You are an events management educator.
• • You are an events management practitioner or considering entering the industry.

Additionally, this book can be used by anyone interested in gaining a fresh perspective on the management of marketing activities within the events sector.

About the author

Ivna Reic is an early career academic, who has been teaching events management in the UK higher education since early 2009. She is currently Senior Lecturer in Events Management at the University of Northampton’s Faculty of Business and Law where she teaches on the BA Events Management programme and is Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Events Management Top Up. Before moving to Northampton, Ivna was the Programme Leader for the BA Events Management programmes at London Metropolitan University, where she also taught on postgraduate programmes related to events management and events marketing. After six years of working in events and advertising, Ivna completed her master’s degree in Events Marketing Management and is now preparing to start her doctoral studies. Her academic interests include events marketing and consumer psychology, and corporate events, as well as (to a lesser extent, perhaps) exploring the application of general management theories within the area of events management, most notably theories relating to stakeholder management and sustainability. In January 2014 Ivna was awarded Fellowship of the UK Higher Education Academy and in May 2014 she received the student-led teaching award from the University of Northampton Students Union, which she is particularly proud of. Ivna remains committed to ensuring the next generation of event managers educated at the University of Northampton’s Faculty of Business and Law gain not only the relevant academic skills, but also personal and professional skills that will take them through their career and enable them to become genuine lifelong learners.

References

Allen, J., O’Toole, W., Harris, R. and McDonnell, I. 2010. Festival and Special Event Management, 5th Edition, Milton: John Wiley & Sons Australia.

Booms, B.H. and Bitner, M.J. 1982. Marketing services by managing the environment, The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 23 (May), pp. 35–39.

Bowdin, G.A.J., Allen, J., O’Toole, W., Harris, R. and McDonnell, I. 2011. Events Management, 3rd Edition, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Getz, D. 2005. Event Management and Event Tourism, Putnam Valley, NY: Cognizant Communication Corporation.

McCarthy, E. J. 1960. Basic Marketing: A managerial approach, Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin.

Chapter 2
Defining the event industry for events marketing

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the chapter, students should be able to:

• • Identify the characteristics of the event industry and the range and variety of event types
• • Compare and contrast the differences in event purpose according to the type of event ownership
• • Use the Event Categorisation model for the definition of events and understand its relevance to the marketing of events
• • Critically explain the significance of demand and seasonality to the management of events
• • Critically evaluate the Product Life Cycle model in the context of the event industry
• • Describe the characteristics of the supply chain within the events industry

The events industry contributes to exports, inward investment, infrastructure development, cultural appreciation, civic and national pride and community cohesion, to the shaping of destination identity, creative enterprise, innovation, knowledge transfer, professional development, and tourism.

Business Visits and Events Partnership (2014)

Introduction

Ever since events have emerged as a legitimate area of academic inquiry, the debate around the nature of events has been centre stage: are events products or services? If events are products, how are they defined, produced and delivered? If events are services, how are they best packaged for maximum impact?

Why is there such interest in the nature of events? As we will see further on in Chapter 4, classifying events as either products or services will have a big impact on their marketing. For the purpose of this book, we define events as u...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of vignettes
• Acknowledgements
• 1 About this book
• 2 Defining the event industry for events marketing
• 3 Creating value: the marketing of the event experience
• 4 How many Ps are there? The foundations for the Marketing Mix for events
• 5 Analysing the environment and the foundations of positioning and differentiation for events
• 6 Segmenting event markets
• 7 The demand for events and their consumers
• 8 Customer motivations for attending events: the search for identity, authenticity and hedonic experiences
• 9 An introduction to generic marketing communications strategies for events
• 10 Traditional marketing tactics for events
• 11 The new role of public relations in the promotion of events
• 12 Owning, buying and earning digital spaces for events
• 13 Marketing planning for events
• 14 The future of events marketing: an alternative model that puts the consumer at the centre of marketing activities
• Index