NEWS & UPDATES

July 22, 2008 In By Advent

Pre-Event Planning Tips — Optimize Your ROI

2 Lessons In the Same Breath: The Impor­tance of Pre-Event Plan­ning and The Power of Event Based Marketing

Events are effec­tive.  Time and again stud­ies have shown that face-to-face inter­ac­tion is the most believ­able, authen­tic, and mem­o­rable form of con­tact with con­sumers.  Our com­pany recently con­ducted a snazzy event to intro­duce the part­ner­ship of two major cor­po­ra­tions.  Every job brings its sur­prises and oppor­tu­ni­ties to learn how to opti­mize your invest­ment.  Here is a story that will illu­mi­nate the two lessons I took from our most recent event.

A red car­pet stretched down a long can­dlelit hall­way that emerged into a court­yard filled with cool sum­mer night air and the sound of a jazz trio play­ing in the open air art gallery.  The wait­resses were dressed in black and white; they bus­tled about offer­ing an array of mar­ket fresh del­i­ca­cies.  Strings of lights hung from the high crumbly red­brick ivy cov­ered walls and sparkled like glit­ter as they reflected on the pol­ished glasses that were filled with local Cal­i­for­nia spir­its.  Com­pany logos were lightly printed on sheer fab­ric that draped softly over open win­dows.  Exec­u­tives from all over the coun­try laughed and min­gled below a two story slide show of still pho­tos taken from clas­sic movies that were pro­jected against the far wall.  The envi­ron­ment cre­ated an aes­thet­i­cally delight­ful experience.

An exec­u­tive from the host­ing com­pany walked up to me dur­ing the event and brashly pointed out, “Well, looks like were at about 1,000 dol­lars a head.”  No doubt, this was more than he had intended.  He had quickly derived this fig­ure by divid­ing the bud­get by the atten­dance which was lower than he had expected.  I was taken aback.  Despite our advice, he had not given us the reigns to opti­mize their pre-event strat­egy.  Here we find the first les­son.  It does not mat­ter how daz­zlingly incred­i­ble the event if nobody shows up. 

As these frus­tra­tions raced through my head, he added in the same breath, “But, [John] just spent fif­teen min­utes talk­ing with the pres­i­dent of [Acme Cor­po­ra­tion] and it was all worth it.”  He smiled.  “Wow!” I thought.  He spent all that money and it was worth it for one con­ver­sa­tion.  This com­ment illus­trates our sec­ond point.  Noth­ing takes the place of face-to-face.  Do not under­es­ti­mate the emo­tional con­nec­tion and loy­alty that devel­ops towards a brand or indi­vid­ual as a result of per­sonal inter­ac­tion.  In the blind­ingly fast pace of mod­ern busi­ness for­tunes and fates are sealed by the minut­est mar­gins.  One chance with the right per­son, in the right envi­ron­ment, at the right time can make all difference.

The fact that the event was a suc­cess despite poor atten­dance speaks to the effec­tive­ness of event based mar­ket­ing and invest­ing in face-to-face con­tact as a pri­mary touch point with your audi­ence.  But, think how much more impact they could have had if they had invested in their pre-event plan­ning strategy!

Avoid the same mis­take.  Here are some pre-event plan­ning tips:

• Tar­get your audi­ence — If a thou­sand Jamaicans show up to your bob­sled sales event you prob­a­bly have made a bad investment.
• Start early — Send out mail­ers early to build anticipation.
• Per­son­al­ize - If you are like me you prob­a­bly throw away half the things that don′t look like they con­tain a birth­day card and $5 from Grandma. 
• VIP — The more exclu­sive your event, the more likely peo­ple are to attend.
• Incen­tives — Make a call to action.  Offer small gifts for each RSVP and rewards for attendance.
• Dead­lines - Cre­ate dead­lines for offers and RSVPs to cre­ate a sense of urgency. 

Advent leads from the fore­front of the cut­ting edge mod­ern mar­ket­ing indus­try by fuel­ing brands with the explo­sive power of expe­ri­ences.  Advent cre­ates an emo­tional bond with audi­ences by lever­ag­ing the unri­valed effec­tive­ness of expe­ri­en­tial mar­ket­ing through tar­geted events, engag­ing exhibits, and branded spaces.  High impact and high touch strate­gies mark Advent′s cre­ative advan­tage and have helped rapidly expand­ing brands com­mu­ni­cate mes­sages that gain imme­di­ate and last­ing res­o­nance with con­sumers.  For more check out www.adventresults.com.

Authored By Advent

Advent partners with organizations to help them visually express differentiation.

In By Advent

Pre-Event Planning Tips — Optimize Your ROI

2 Lessons In the Same Breath: The Impor­tance of Pre-Event Plan­ning and The Power of Event Based Marketing

Events are effec­tive.  Time and again stud­ies have shown that face-to-face inter­ac­tion is the most believ­able, authen­tic, and mem­o­rable form of con­tact with con­sumers.  Our com­pany recently con­ducted a snazzy event to intro­duce the part­ner­ship of two major cor­po­ra­tions.  Every job brings its sur­prises and oppor­tu­ni­ties to learn how to opti­mize your invest­ment.  Here is a story that will illu­mi­nate the two lessons I took from our most recent event.

A red car­pet stretched down a long can­dlelit hall­way that emerged into a court­yard filled with cool sum­mer night air and the sound of a jazz trio play­ing in the open air art gallery.  The wait­resses were dressed in black and white; they bus­tled about offer­ing an array of mar­ket fresh del­i­ca­cies.  Strings of lights hung from the high crumbly red­brick ivy cov­ered walls and sparkled like glit­ter as they reflected on the pol­ished glasses that were filled with local Cal­i­for­nia spir­its.  Com­pany logos were lightly printed on sheer fab­ric that draped softly over open win­dows.  Exec­u­tives from all over the coun­try laughed and min­gled below a two story slide show of still pho­tos taken from clas­sic movies that were pro­jected against the far wall.  The envi­ron­ment cre­ated an aes­thet­i­cally delight­ful experience.

An exec­u­tive from the host­ing com­pany walked up to me dur­ing the event and brashly pointed out, “Well, looks like were at about 1,000 dol­lars a head.”  No doubt, this was more than he had intended.  He had quickly derived this fig­ure by divid­ing the bud­get by the atten­dance which was lower than he had expected.  I was taken aback.  Despite our advice, he had not given us the reigns to opti­mize their pre-event strat­egy.  Here we find the first les­son.  It does not mat­ter how daz­zlingly incred­i­ble the event if nobody shows up. 

As these frus­tra­tions raced through my head, he added in the same breath, “But, [John] just spent fif­teen min­utes talk­ing with the pres­i­dent of [Acme Cor­po­ra­tion] and it was all worth it.”  He smiled.  “Wow!” I thought.  He spent all that money and it was worth it for one con­ver­sa­tion.  This com­ment illus­trates our sec­ond point.  Noth­ing takes the place of face-to-face.  Do not under­es­ti­mate the emo­tional con­nec­tion and loy­alty that devel­ops towards a brand or indi­vid­ual as a result of per­sonal inter­ac­tion.  In the blind­ingly fast pace of mod­ern busi­ness for­tunes and fates are sealed by the minut­est mar­gins.  One chance with the right per­son, in the right envi­ron­ment, at the right time can make all difference.

The fact that the event was a suc­cess despite poor atten­dance speaks to the effec­tive­ness of event based mar­ket­ing and invest­ing in face-to-face con­tact as a pri­mary touch point with your audi­ence.  But, think how much more impact they could have had if they had invested in their pre-event plan­ning strategy!

Avoid the same mis­take.  Here are some pre-event plan­ning tips:

• Tar­get your audi­ence — If a thou­sand Jamaicans show up to your bob­sled sales event you prob­a­bly have made a bad investment.
• Start early — Send out mail­ers early to build anticipation.
• Per­son­al­ize - If you are like me you prob­a­bly throw away half the things that don′t look like they con­tain a birth­day card and $5 from Grandma. 
• VIP — The more exclu­sive your event, the more likely peo­ple are to attend.
• Incen­tives — Make a call to action.  Offer small gifts for each RSVP and rewards for attendance.
• Dead­lines - Cre­ate dead­lines for offers and RSVPs to cre­ate a sense of urgency. 

Advent leads from the fore­front of the cut­ting edge mod­ern mar­ket­ing indus­try by fuel­ing brands with the explo­sive power of expe­ri­ences.  Advent cre­ates an emo­tional bond with audi­ences by lever­ag­ing the unri­valed effec­tive­ness of expe­ri­en­tial mar­ket­ing through tar­geted events, engag­ing exhibits, and branded spaces.  High impact and high touch strate­gies mark Advent′s cre­ative advan­tage and have helped rapidly expand­ing brands com­mu­ni­cate mes­sages that gain imme­di­ate and last­ing res­o­nance with con­sumers.  For more check out www.adventresults.com.

Authored By Advent

Advent partners with organizations to help them visually express differentiation.