In this episode, we’ll talk about specific ways to extend the reach of events through technology and word of mouth.

Show Notes

00:00 Introduction

01:51 Experiential Events vs. Traditional Marketing

• EventView 2008: Events provide the highest ROI
• 78% of attendees share their experience with others who did not attend (Word of Mouth!)
• 50% of attendees purchased
• 29% of those influenced by attendees purchased
• No other marketing tool has that kind of power

05:41 Key Performance Indicator: Cost Per Touch (CPT)

• Example: $100,000 event / 1000 attendees = $100 CPT

08:46 Event Impact Zones

• Zone 1: Those attending the event
• Zone 2: Those influenced by attendees shortly after the event
• Zone 3: The residual impact that continues over time

11:23 The Event is the Middle

• Treat the event as the middle of one long continuous engagement
• extend the event backward to the pre-event
• extend it forward to post-event
• Effect: Improve CPT dramatically

15:06 How to Extend the Event

• Get your mind right: 95% of your effort should not go into the event itself
• Don’t “plan the event,” rather “design the experience”
• Use virtual and online to extend forward and backward
• Measurement

24:40 Conclusion

• get help from an experiential agency
• start small

26:21 Resources, Links, Comments

Additional Resources

• Full transcript of episode seven
• New York TImes article: The Vampires are Coming, but Only After Months of Warnings
• EventView 2008 survey
• Experiential Marketing Summit
• AT&T US Open Sponsorship

The Next Big Thing

What’s Hot?  For one, the sweltering hazy July heat that pours from a scorching Southern sun to bake the thick, chokingly soupy air that simmers like thick gravy over the sticky black asphalt around Nashville.  But soon the long days will melt themselves away and relent to quick crisp days of October, cool nights, and warm fiery bright foliage around Vanderbilt and Green Hills.  As temperatures cool off in Tennessee, the 2008 Event Marketing Innovation Tour will be heating up.

On October 9, 2008, style guru and virtual trend thermometer, Robyn Waters, stops in Nashville to tell us what’s hot in experiential marketing.  She will turn your world upside down (see picture above) as we take a look at how to gauge fluid and often contradictory marketplace trends.  As keynote speaker, she will take listeners on an insightful tour into the macro marketplace and into the minds of consumers.  She challenges attendees to focus not just on “what’s next” but “what’s important” by looking at new ideas and products from ‘the inside out.’

The world of experiential, face-to-face, event marketing is growing rapidly as over 75% of companies plan to increase their efforts in 2008.  Traditional media advertising is losing out to high impact experiential events.

Robyn is a veteran in the field of tracking and translating trends into sales and profit with over thirty years experience.  She is former VP of Trend, Design, and Product Development for Target and helped turn the small regional discount chain into a national fashion hot spot.

She is also Author of several books including the acclaimed, The Hummer and the Mini, which examines contradictions in the marketplace and encourages companies to approach them as opportunities.

The first 100 registered attendees will receive a free copy of Robyn’s book, The Hummer and the Mini. Register now to get yours!

This event is hosted by Advent and the American Display Aliance.  Advent thrives at 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.