News - April 07
Shakira designs a Seat car
Car manufacturer Seat chose the UK leg of pop sensation Shakira’s Oral Fixation European tour to host a dealer and media party produced by Wyndham-Leigh.
The South American-themed event for almost 300 guests was held backstage at Shakira’s concert at Wembley Arena on 18 March and formed the latest experiential marketing leverage of Seat’s partnership with the 10-time Grammy Award-winning artiste.
Seat teamed up with Shakira in December to sponsor the three-month tour, which began on 25 January in Hamburg and has taken in more than 10 European countries.
The Columbian-born singer helped Seat design a one-off Leon Cupra model as a comapetition prize to raise money for her charity, the Bare Feet Foundation (Fundacion Pies Descalzos).
The lilac Leon Pies Descalzos was parked outside Wembley Arena during her UK appearance and literature encouraging concert-goers and party guests to enter the competition by text was distributed on the night.
The competition will close on 15 May and the Leon prize car will be presented to its winner at the Barcelona Motor Show in June.
Shakira further appeared on the Spanish car-maker’s stand at the Geneva Motor Show to sign the bonnet of her unique Leon Cupra last month. According to Seat head of UK press Mike Orford, the stunt “practically emptied the rest of the show as huge crowds assembled around the Seat stand”.
He added: “Our sponsorship has had a massive reaction worldwide and it was fantastic to bring dealers and guests to the UK for this celebration at her only UK gig. Wyndham-Leigh truly understands the values of Seat and did an excellent job in organising the logistics, theming and content that made the party a success.”
New venue for Event Awards
The Natural History Museum will host the 10th anniversary Event Awards on 14 September in a decision that sees the annual ceremony move away from the hotels on Park Lane.
The museum’s head of events and catering, Rupert Ellwood, said: “I think the Event Awards is one of the most recognised events for the industry. It is a great opportunity for the venue to showcase what it can provide to event agencies that may not normally think of using the museum as a venue.
“It will be fantastic to show such a great audience how the venue produces good quality projects using the best suppliers in lighting, production and catering.”
The night’s production company will be Fisher Productions. Rhubarb will provide the catering.
The event is expected to attract more than 500 guests and the main awards ceremony will be held in the museum’s 500sqm Central Hall.
Ellwood added: “The event is still in the planning stages. We will definitely be working with the industry by showcasing new products from companies such as party suppliers. The event will be very different to any other awards ceremony the Natural History Museum has hosted.”
New categories introduced for 2007 include Event Agency of the Year and Young Exhibition Team of the Year.
The deadline for entries is 1 June and a full rundown of the categories can be found at eventawards.com.
Organisers’ anger at Ad:Tech audit fiasco
A scandal that saw DMG World Media promoting the wrong ABC-audited visitor attendance to exhibitors for more than three months after its Ad:Tech event has caused industry-wide condemnation and calls for both the organiser and the ABC to put their houses in order.
The digital marketing and advertising show Ad:Tech took place at Olympia from 26-27 September. Its pre-registered visitor database was sent to the ABC in error and a Certificate of Attendance was issued on 10 November showing a 200% rise in visitor numbers to 9,124.
The correct audit was finally reissued on 20 February proving an attendance of 5,245, but it did not state what the correct figure was revised from or why the audit had needed to be reissued.
The ABC did nothing to prevent DMG using the false data and Event can exclusively reveal that the Ad:Tech team, headed up by DMG vice-president for technology Jason Franks, was sending out its 2006 post-show report with the incorrect attendance figure as late as the day the revised audit was reissued.
Three organisers for Ad:Tech’s main rival shows have led the outcry, supported by Association of Event Organisers group chief executive Trevor Foley.
Ithaca managing director Andy Center has accused DMG of “market distortion”. Together with CMPi and Reed, the company feels that DMG has stolen an unfair competitive edge to promote Ad:Tech 2007.
At CMPi, Technology for Marketing event director Simon Mills said: “The reason we signed up to ABC auditing was because of its high standards but this has highlighted flaws that could have had commercial implications.”
Reed Exhibitions UK managing director Alistair Gornall said: “I want to hear from the ABC how this was allowed to happen and what it intends to do so that it is not allowed to happen again.”
As Event went to press, DMG chief executive Mike Cooke was conducting an internal investigation into any wrongdoings after issuing an apology to its exhibitor customer base.
Speakers in place for Euro conference
The International Special Events Society has announced that London 2012 organising committee chief executive Paul Deighton will be a keynote speaker at its European Event Conference.
The theme of the conference is ‘Future Thinking’, and takes place on 30 April at the Brewery in London.
The event is sponsored by Visit London and will feature international speakers from the UK, Germany, the US and Canada. It will provide examples of how event businesses can confidently grow in the changing European event environment.
Industry experts will also deliver a series of masterclasses. Colja Dams, chief executive of German-based agency Vok Dams Gruppe, will present ‘On the Horizon – Beijing 2008’.
Highlights of how Events Complement New Media
The second coming of digital media has taken the form of a tsunami of a wave, as the January (Q4) IPA Bellwether confirms, sucking the traditional, mass media sectors under its pull. This isn’t just because today’s consumer wants to “consume” what they want, when it suits, but also because TV, radio, magazines, et al, can all be replicated online.
Of all other media at brand owners’ fingertips, it is event marketing, the oldest kid on the block that is riding the digital wave. It’s not just that event marketing is complementary to digital, but that the two have so much in common, to the exclusion of the traditional mass-market media.
The key characteristic of both digital and events is “pull” rather than “push” media. Unlike the interruptive push techniques of broadcast, direct mail and other media forms, pull, or permission marketing, is exclusive to digital and live marketing formats.
In 2007 “engagement” will take “centre stage” for marketers and brand managers in our increasingly fragmented world, where consumers need to be able to make sense of the messages they are bombarded with. Taking a brand into a live, face-to-face environment allows the consumer to build a relationship with that brand beyond what is achievable online, or in any other media form. Where communities and relationships can be built online they can be consummated face-to-face.
So, event marketing, which for so long has not even been regarded as a mainstream marketing medium, now joins digital on the stage as a “now media” star.
Now for the evidence….
Among the greatest users of event marketing are online or airtime brands such as Microsoft, Google, e-Bay, AOL, O2 and Orange. O2’s use of events is a detailed and multi-faceted case study of effective brand positioning and relationship building, through countless touch-points with consumers. The re-naming of The Millennium Dome as The O2 in the summer will be a lesson for all brand managers in extending and building trust in a brand.
In October 2006, Channel 4, with more than one eye for 2010’s digital conversion, bought 50% of Taste Events, a programme of food and drink festivals. Michael Hodgson, managing director of Channel 4 Rights, had the following comments on this significant move:
“C4 sees live events as a great way to give our 4 and programme brands the ability to create a direct connecion with consumers. They offer advertisers opporunities to deepen their advertising spend with us and again interact directly with their audiences. I believe a direct one-to-one relationship with a consumer is only going to become more important in a fragmenting digital world.”
