Event Marketing's Importance Increasing

Event Marketing's Importance Increasing

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/editors-pick/e3id86b3c6480b9377fed428a908708a49d

Feb 11, 2009

-By Kenneth Hein

Although marketers are getting more tech savvy, it seems they still have a soft spot for good old fashioned event marketing.

More than half (53 percent) of 300 senior marketing executives surveyed said event marketing is the discipline that best accelerates and deepens relationships with target audiences.

The EventView 2009 survey, which was completed earlier this month by George P. Johnson, The MPI Foundation and the Event Marketing Institute, included a healthy swath (41 percent) of marketers whose companies pull in revenues in excess of $1 billion.

More than a quarter (26 percent) of those surveyed said event marketing is the discipline that drives the greatest return-on-investment. "The economy is forcing marketers to elevate their game to survive, specifically in regard to deploying direct response marketing such as events to drive top-line performance," said Bruce MacMillan, president and CEO of MPI.

Twenty-nine percent of marketers will transition their strategy from event marketing to experience marketing in the next 12 months. The difference being that experience marketing "involves integrated live and online experiences that drive deep brand interaction through highly relevant story telling and brand immersion," per the study. A third of those polled said they already made the switch.

The findings underline two trends coming together at the same time, said David Rich, svp of strategic marketing/worldwide at experience marketing agency George P. Johnson. "First, a downward economic spiral that is forcing brands to invest in channels like events that demonstrate measurable ROI; and secondly the maturation of strategic event and experience marketing, which takes the strategic, creative, media and digital capabilities of above-the-line marketing and activates them through the on-the-ground execution of an event portfolio made up of different types of internal and external events."

Despite the need to watch spending, marketers are increasingly ponying up to green their events. Sixty-six percent of those polled said they plan on implementing or have already added green initiative-up from 32 percent in 2007.

Of that group, 44 percent are doing so because of a corporate mandate. Green spending makes up 13 percent of their events budget.

Overall, "the real challenge for brands in 2009 will be how to best balance their traditional budget allocations against these trends to drive measurable results," said Rich.

Tmobile advert Liverpool- AWESOME!!!!

Update on Monday, February 9, 2009 at 10:38AM by Tracy Lindsay

Facebook flashmob shuts down station

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/09/uk.station.flashmob/index.html

• Story Highlights
• Thousands take part in silent disco "flashmob" at London's Liverpool Street station
• Event, which imitated phone company advert, was organized over Facebook
• 22-year-old organizer now planning a bigger flashmob event in Trafalgar Square

Display Ad Prices Fall

Display Ad Prices Fell 50 Percent in Q4

By Douglas Quenqua, ClickZ, Jan 15, 2009 

link  http://www.clickz.com/3632378

 

The newly released Pubmatic AdPrice Index shows prices for Internet display advertising in the fourth quarter dropped significantly from the same period last year.

The price for advertising on Web sites of all sizes dropped by about 53 percent from Q4 2007 to Q4 2008, according to the index. The numbers also show that every vertical category suffered steep declines, with Business and Finance leading the way at 61 percent.

Rajeev Goel, co-founder and CEO of PubMatic, said that the drop in prices was expected, though the size of the declines came as a surprise.

"We definitely expected to see deterioration of the market in the fourth quarter, but we didn't expect that it would be more than 50 percent," he said.

PubMatic, an ad revenue optimization firm based in Palo Alto, CA, launched the AdPrice index in Q4 of 2007, meaning this was the first time it was able to make year-over-year comparisons.

The news was slightly better for the quarter-to-quarter results. Prices across all levels of Web sites were down only slightly from Q3 to Q4, in contrast with more severe drops inprevious quarters.

The average CPM in Q3 of this year was $.27 cents, which declined modestly to $.26 in Q4, according to the index. The average price was $.50 in Q4 2007, $.37 in Q1 of this year and $.34 in Q2.

Part of that leveling off, however, could be attributed to additional spending on holiday advertising, said Goel, meaning that the holiday ad rush likely just counteracted what would otherwise have been a severe drop.

"We would normally see a trend up in Q4 because of the holiday season and advertisers trying to end the year on a good note," he said. "Instead pricing was basically flat, meaning the holiday effect only masked further deterioration in the market."

No vertical categories dropped significantly during the quarter, and some, like Sports, Entertainment and Gaming, actually went up slightly. PubMatic compiles the index through a monthly survey of more than 5,500 Web publishers, which is then analyzed and prepared by a pair of independent analysts.

Best and Worst Ads of 1008

A Mean Year for Ads and Their Agencies  Media & Marketing  Wall Street Journal-  See clips of the good the bad and the Ugly. 

Click on the headline to read and watch.

'Green' promotions thrive

Posted by Janet Miller | Ann Arbor Business Review October 18, 2007 02:30AM

Categories: Innovation

A wave of new eco-friendly promotional products gives organizations and companies the chance to advertise their cause or business in a "green" way.

While organic and recycled promotional products and gifts have been on the market for a couple of years, the last few months have seen a blitz of new Earth-friendly items, said Chet Pawloski, owner of Promotelligence in Ann Arbor.

The niche is likely to grow, he added.

"A lot is happening in the industry, especially in 2007," he said.

New items, from pens made from biodegradable corn plastic to rulers made from sawdust or denim to apparel made from organic cotton and bamboo are hitting the market.

"All of a sudden this summer I began to see organic cotton grocery bags, biodegradable mugs and biodegradable pens," Pawloski said.

Products made in the U.S. are also in demand, he said, as reports about toys and other products containing lead paint come out of China.

The new lines allow organizations and companies with an environmental message, from waste management firms to farm organizations, to be true to their cause.

But they also help an organization create an image of being eco-friendly, Pawloski added. And there are some items that are just naturals, such giving away piggy banks made from recycled currency to promote opening a children's bank account.

Organizations looking for earth-friendly promotional products are specially interested in canvas carrying bags, said Harry Hawkins, co-owner of West Hawk Industries in Ann Arbor: "You don't have to use a tree and it's a good advertising media walking around."

The trend is catching on nationwide, said Scott Fuhr, director of corporate communications for the Advertising Specialty Institute, a business-to-business membership organization for distributors, suppliers and decorators of advertising specialties.

Environmentally friendly products, from organic cotton T-shirts made from chemical free inks to soy-based candles, were featured at its July trade show, he said.

While these new product lines account for just a fraction of sales this year, Pawloski expects them to take off. Possible new orders could come from a local credit union considering the recycled piggy banks, and he has an order pending for megaphones made from recycled plastic.

His overall business is growing at the same time, he said. Top sellers are writing instruments, desk and office supplies, drink ware and totes and bags.

The green niche just adds to what customers can find for their promotional products.

"I don't want to just help people find a product, I want to help them develop ideas how to use, package and deliver that product," Pawloski said.