Festival and Special Event
Management 4e
Chapter 9
Marketing Planning for Events
Festival de jour?
• Also
– Have a read of the questions re the
Parkes Festival Ch 9
– Have a read of the Article ‘Partnership,
social capital etc’ on Webct or online
–
Partnerships, social capital and teh successful management of small scale cultural festivals:
A case study of Hobart’s Antartic Midwinter Festival’ (comes up in google)
Learning Objectives
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Describe how the marketing concept can be applied to festivals and
special events
Understand how event consumers can be segmented into markets
Understand the consumer decision process for festivals and events
Apply the principles of services marketing in creating marketing
strategies and tactics for events and festivals
Plan the event ‘service–product’ experience, including its
programming and packaging
Develop event pricing strategies or other entry options for special
events
Create strategies for place/distribution, physical setting and event
processes that respond to consumer needs
Apply the knowledge generated into an effective and efficient
marketing plan
What is marketing?
• Marketing is concerned with satisfying
consumer needs and wants by exchanging
goods, services or ideas for something of
value
• Event marketing is the process by which
event managers and marketers gain an
understanding of their potential consumers’
characteristics and needs in order to
produce, price, promote and distribute an
event experience that meets those needs,
and the objectives of the event
What is marketing?
The need for marketing
• Marketing principles and techniques
provide a framework for decision
making
• Sponsoring bodies need reassurance
that their sponsorship is linking their
brand with their target markets
• All levels of government require a
demonstration of marketing expertise
before committing funding
• Events must compete against other
leisure activities
What is marketing?
Events as ‘service experiences’
• The delivery and consumption of an
event are inseparable
• Because of the immediacy of service
consumption, event experiences can
have variations in quality each time it is
held
• Events are intangible
• Events have credence qualities –
characteristics that consumers aren’t
able to understand or evaluate
• The event experience is perishable
What is marketing?
The nexus between event marketing and management
What is marketing?
The role of strategic marketing planning
• Strategies are
– Longer term rather than short term
– Not another word for tactics
– Based on careful analysis of internal
resources and external environments
– Essential to survival
What is marketing?
The role of strategic marketing planning
What is marketing?
The role of strategic marketing planning
Event marketing research
• Research is usually conducted at two
levels:
– Macro level – to understand external
forces that may affect the event and its
markets
– Micro level – to gain insight into the
event’s resources and strategic capability
Event marketing research
Analysing event environments
• The C-PEST analysis (see diagram next
slide)
• Marketing internal resource analysis
– Human resources
– Physical resources
– Financial resources
• The SWOT analysis
Event marketing research
Analysing event environments
Event marketing research
The event consumer’s decision-making
process
• Problem recognition
• Information search
• Evaluation and selection
• Choosing whether to attend
• Evaluation
Event marketing research
Event satisfaction, service quality,
repeat visits
• Understanding perceived service quality is
a primary goal of marketers
• Perceptions of the event are based on
technical and functional qualities
• Five main dimensions of service quality:
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Assurance
Empathy
Responsiveness
Reliability
Tangibles
Event marketing research
Event satisfaction, service quality,
repeat visits
• Event satisfaction is related to perceived
service quality
• This is experience dependent
• Dissatisfaction can occur based on
perceived gap in event quality
Event marketing research
Event satisfaction, service quality, repeat visits
Event marketing research
Event satisfaction, service quality, repeat visits
Steps in the marketing
planning process
Segmenting and targeting the event
market
• Geographic segmentation
• Demographic segmentation
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Age
Gender
Occupation
Income
Education
Cultural group
Steps in the marketing
planning process
Positioning the event
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9.
Existing reputation or image
Charisma of director
Focus on event programming
Focus on performers
Emphasis on location or facilities
Event users
Price or quality
Purpose or application
Event category
Steps in the marketing
planning process
Developing event marketing objectives
• Profit orientated
– Maximise ROI
• Market orientated
– Increase market share
• Must be measurable
Steps in the marketing
planning process
Choosing generic marketing strategies
and tactics for events
Steps in the marketing
planning process
Selecting the event’s ‘services marketing’
mix
• Event product experience (the core
service); Programming (event
components, their quality or style);
Packaging of opportunities within the
event or packaging the event with external
elements (attractions, transport,
accommodation)
Steps in the marketing
planning process
Selecting the event’s ‘services marketing’
mix
• The place (where the event is held and
tickets are distributed); physical setting
(venue layout to satisfy visitor needs) and
processes (on-site queuing etc)
• People (cast, audience, hosts and guests)
and partnerships (sponsors, media etc)
• Price (or exchange of value)
• Integrated marketing communication
(the strategic mix of media and messages
to address markets)
Planning event ‘product’
experiences
• Events contain three elements:
– The core service and benefits that the
customer experiences
– The tangible ‘expected’ product (e.g. venue)
– The augmented product – what differentiates
it from other events
• Interactions with people are also part of the
product, so marketers need to:
– Ensure visitor segments within audience are
compatible
– Ensure an ease of interaction at the event
Planning event ‘product’
experiences
Developing the event
• Major ‘event’ innovations
• Major process innovations
• Product (event) line extensions
• Process (event delivery) extensions
• Supplementary service innovations
• Service improvements
• Style changes
Planning event ‘product’
experiences
Programming the event
• Have a distinguishing core concept
• Marry the event program with its site or
environment
• Note the role of directors as program
‘gatekeepers’ and talent ‘poachers’
Planning event ‘product’
experiences
Programming the event (cont)
• Establish criteria for program content:
– Compatibility of performers or exhibits
to the event market
– Success of the performer or exhibit
being considered
– Ratio of innovation and tradition in the
event program
Planning event ‘product’
experiences
Packaging the event
• Strategies to package different types of
entertainment, food and beverage, and
merchandise as a single market offer (a
service bundle)
• Strategies to package the event with
accommodation, transport and other
attractions in the vicinity
People and partnerships
• Sense of sharing a common vision
pervades the team of staff, volunteers and
sponsors behind successful events
• Principles of relationship marketing and
management may be applied with a range
of event or festival stakeholders
• The people element in marketing events
extends to building relationships with the
residents where an event is staged
Pricing
• Non-cash costs for consumer
– Time – opportunity to do other things with
that leisure time
– Psychic costs – social and emotional costs
of attendance, mental effort to engage in
the social interaction required
– Physical efforts – effort to travel to and
then comsume the leisure experience
– Sensory costs – unpleasant environment,
unnecessary loud noise
Pricing
• ‘Net value’ = the sum of all perceived
benefits minus the sum of all perceived
costs
• The greater the positive difference between
the two, the greater the net value to the
consumer
Pricing
•
Event managers should account for two
cost categories when setting the price
strategy for the event:
1. Fixed costs (those that do not vary
with volume of visitors, i.e. venue
rental, power costs)
2. Variable costs (those that do vary with
volume of visitors, i.e. catering costs,
staffing costs)
Pricing
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Event managers should also consider
competitive leisure experiences when
establishing a pricing strategy
For similar experiences, there are three
choices:
1. Match the price
2. Adopt a cost leadership strategy – charge
the same plus 25%
3. Adopt a differentiation strategy – increase
the price but use marketing to promote the
value of the event
Pricing
•
Pricing strategies can be:
– Revenue orientated: maximises
revenue by charging the highest price
– Operations orientated: balances supply
and demand by adjusting price in
relation to low or high demand periods
– Market based: uses differential pricing,
may be linked to alternate event
packages
Event ‘place’, physical setting
and processes
• ‘Place’ refers to both the site(s) where the
event takes place (the venue) and the
place(s) where event goers can purchase
tickets (ticket outlets)
• The physical setting is crucial for consumer
satisfaction
• Processes of service delivery is also an
important element of the marketing mix
Event ‘place’, physical setting
and processes
• Ticketing distribution is a marketing element
in itself, but it is also a process of
interaction with consumers that deserves
careful planning
– Ticketing agency
– Internet
• Other operational processes like security
checks, entry/exit procedures, the ability to
readily access ATMs or toilets can also
‘make or break’ market satisfaction
The marketing plan
And then ......
• During the Event
– Collect information about what people
thought
– This feeds into the evaluation process
• Of the Event itself
• Of the Marketing of the Event