Immersing all five senses
I often find myself at events that should, at least on paper, emotionally impress me, fill me with new energy, and if it is a sales event, even get me to buy a new product or service. But as you will see, not everything is smooth sailing at events: the atmosphere can be killed by an inappropriate stand-up comedian who doesn’t fit the event profile, a moderator who hasn’t practiced interacting with participants, a long and boring video insert, a clumsy waiter who spills champagne all over the guests, loud music that limits conversation, or a bathroom impossible to find at precisely the moment when you need it the most.
Football and event organisation are two topics that everyone seems to be an expert on nowadays. However, event organisation is a very important strategic marketing tool that requires a lot of knowledge and experience. I always ask the question: “Would you rather build a house with your own hands and knowledge or leave it to the pros?” Well, most people would probably answer with the latter, unless they have some solid experience in construction. The same goes for events and no wonder that so many of them become bad publicity for your brand, carefully built up over the years.
I am tIn the past, marketing was a one-way street with only one mission in mind. But things have changed; now it’s all about provoking emotion, communicating with the consumers and telling a great story. The better we become at it, the higher the chances of our company succeeding on the market. This form of marketing has been around for quite a while, but only started gaining in popularity in the digitalisation and personalisation era.
In last issue of Kongres, we have talked to the masters of brand and consumer interaction from all over the world. Our pick includes representatives and CEOs of the best agencies in this field: Bruce Henderson, CCO, Jack Morton Worldwide; Colja Dams, CEO Vok Dams; Kevin Jackson, Live Com magazine; Martin Schnaack, CEO at Avantgarde; Göran Göhring, Managing Partner of STAGG & FRIENDS, Düsseldorf.
According to them, this industry has been given a lot of names, but at the end of the day it is always about communicating values and the personality of a brand through live interaction. The way to move ahead is to allow consumers to feel your brand with all their senses, and the same philosophy has been used when organising events.
The development of our industry is always connected to new philosophies, models and approaches. In the last couple of months, a lot of buzz has built up around “FESTIVALIZATION” of events and I haven’t really decided if it is a true novelty or a logical development of an industry to fulfil the needs of participants. With that said, mega trade shows like IBTM and IMEX will finally get a more human and personalized dimension, get closer to participants and breathe some fresh air. We are excited to see where this development takes us in the future.
But let me get back to the topic of failed events. Why is it that so many excellent companies entrust their finances and brands to incompetent agencies and self-proclaimed event organisation ‘gurus’. To separate the best from the rest, we will continue with our selection of the best events in the region, as we believe it is the only way to show providers how it’s done. You can read more about it in the Conventa Best Event Award 2017 article in Kongres Magazine.
