It’s an issue I have discussed before, but in my opinion, media buyers and planners still cannot seem to get their heads around the effectiveness of live events. Live events are getting recognition in their world, but they are the first thing to be removed from the marketing mix if the budget gets cut.
Measurement:
I think it may be hard for media buyers to understand the argument for events because traditionally, the effectiveness of events has been hard to measure.
The live event medium is still a relatively new marketing discipline. We know that event effectiveness can be measured, but often brands do not feel the need to invest in the measurement process – preferring to spend their money on the actual event itself because they have anecdotal evidence that the event works. Brands often measure event success in softer ways, by speaking to their staff and customers - so they don’t feel the need to rigorously measure it. And of course, big brands would not continue to invest in events if they didn’t deliver.
Media Planners prefer to buy media channels that are measured to within an inch of their lives. The data extracted from traditional TV, radio or print campaigns can sit happily on their screens and be utilised in the many tools they use to precisely plan a campaign. I’m not saying that this is wrong – they are effectively a guardian for a brand budget and they need to justify the spend, but perhaps it’s time for them to come into the real world of experiences and not just plan campaigns by relying on what it says on their screens? It’s a numbers game to them and they tend to go for size over substance - the more the merrier: “if our adverts are seen by over 1 million people, then that just has to be better than just a few thousand at an event?” – even if that smaller event audience really connects and engages with a brand – rather than passively viewing an advert and simply changing channels...?
Activation:
Another issue that has to be considered is that events take time to activate – they are not marketing items that can be picked up and created at the drop of a hat. Once a campaign has been devised it is then pretty straightforward to book and place TV, billboard or magazine advertising. But it takes time and creativity to turn that campaign into a live experience – whether that be for a consumer audience at a festival, a shopping centre, a B2B audience in an exhibition hall or for an internal audience at the staff conference.
There is also a lot of confusion in the market place caused by media agencies pretending that they actually create events themselves and then sending the brief to an events agency to do the actual work. Things get lost in translation – the agency account managers are not event specialists and so do not know the right questions to ask or have the experience to understand what does and doesn’t work. The event agency gets briefed by an intermediary who has a limited understanding – both of the brand and of the event mechanic – so it shouldn’t be a surprise if the resulting event is less than effective.
Media sellers need to look at the bigger picture and start to invest in the research of events and experiences or align themselves to research agencies such as Continental Research who have the experience and expertise to measure events – having measured at least 50 experiential and live event campaigns in recent times. In doing this they will see that there is huge value in the qualitative power of a live experience. Events are the most powerful form of engagement and are proven to influence the change in buying behaviours and advocacy of consumers. Today’s consumers are hungry for immersion, engagement and benefit and there is no proven benefit to them of a TV ad or a 46 or 96 sheet Ad. In fact recent research in the USA showed that at least 40 percent of people watching TV in the US are actually asleep!
This time of advertising is a one way communication – a message forced onto a consumer, so why should they listen? Brands that assume that their customers are receptive to this antiquated approach are often sadly disappointed. More and more, consumers ask ‘what’s in it for me’. We all know that it’s all about a relationship so why should that relationship be one sided?
Marketing has changed and media planners need to keep up. Events are a marketing tool and an effective one at that. Gone are the days of mass messaging and a one size fits all approach. It is not a numbers game and not a case of ‘throw enough mud and some of it will stick...’ Consumers are savvy and they understand how advertising works and they can choose to ignore it.
Brands can choose how they communicate with their audience: an immersive experience that engages and rewards a consumer or a static, one dimensional approach that just happens to be seen by a larger audience (but who are mostly asleep...) I know which one I would choose, and funnily enough, the savvy brands are choosing this approach too so why don’t media planners take this medium far more seriously?
