Making all the world a stage

By Helen Vause

"Great party ... what was it for?"

Whether product launch or public performance, this is the era of events.

Some will end in tears, or at least fall short of a roaring success as an inexact science matures.

But with the bumpy growing-up process well under way, events are becoming a better understood and more frequent part of marketing activity.

A tremendous number of new entrants are coming into the event management and planning business. Obviously, their talent will be in the spotlight during the multiple celebrations of this summer, but overall the new events industry is under scrutiny.

The consensus is that while there is a new breed of slick operators, there are still too many cowboys and sponsors without much understanding of event power.

A significant move to lift the game has come from the Auckland Institute of Technology with the announcement of a yearlong diploma in event management starting next year. It will draw about 25 students who already have a tertiary qualification and experience in a related field.

It is a move welcomed by serious practitioners of event management, aware that their business has a reputation needing improvement in accountability, skill and professionalism.

"For too long it has been seen as a glamour industry with grandiose ideas," says Rendell McIntosh of New Zealand Events, who has contributed his experience to short courses on event management.

"There is still plenty to be learned, but a recognised qualification can only contribute to confidence and credibility. It will also upskill people in the wide range of disciplines needed to run top-class events. This calls for flair and creativity, but also business and marketing skills and attention to detail.

"When things go wrong, invariably at least some of those elements are missing."

On the issue of business skills, Mr McIntosh believes that smart event managers and sponsors will both move towards more of an open-book approach where budgets and plans are carefully scrutinised by both parties in the interests of keeping things on track and achieving the objectives of an event.

"Incredibly, many sponsors don't ask event managers for that sort of detail. No doubt some event managers could be reluctant to open the books, but the wise ones will understand they need to in order to keep a big sponsor hooked in."

Mr McIntosh also sees sponsors here wanting a slice of gate takings, as some now do overseas.

"It is the next trend ... if everyone is making money in the event partnerships, it stands to reason that the event will be more successful."

As events become more accepted as part of marketing strategy, their nature and objectives are being more closely evaluated.

At Television New Zealand, Kay Wilson is sponsorship and events manager in a department only established as a separate entity four years ago.

"Events are a non-traditional but increasingly smart part of the marketing mix. Marketers are starting to understand events as a vehicle and to see the unique benefits of them," she says.

When she took over at TVNZ, there was a re-evaluation of involvements and what was best suited for which channel. The result was that many events were dropped and the number on the books fell from around 50 to a dozen.

Events are a very successful marketing tool for both channels, says Kay Wilson.

"Through very targeted events, we can reach an audience we may not otherwise meet, we can reintroduce a channel to an audience we are not currently reaching, and to our loyal audience we can reinforce relationships by being involved with something they approve of.

"We can measure success from events in many ways, including from recognition of our name to reservations and ticket sales."

She cites the Ellerslie Flower Show as a very successful relationship that has brought high recognition and many opportunities for the television channel.

As events proliferate, she says, across-the-board budgets have dropped back everywhere by as much as 25 per cent, entertainment dollars have been cut and all players from sponsors to event managers and suppliers are becoming aware of better practices.

"As corporations recognise the marketing potential, they are setting up in-house event departments to drive this area themselves and they're cutting the cost of the markups that would go to the public relations consultancies who would otherwise be running events for them."

Air New Zealand has many events and sponsorships on the go which are an important part of its communications plan, says sponsorship and events manager Michael Maingay.

He applauds the education initiative taken by AIT, but is blunt about the maturity of the events industry in New Zealand at this time.

"Most events fail, but then again so do many businesses.

"Events must be very clearly targeted with clear marketing strategies. They are supplementary to all communication but they also bring unique benefits like bringing you closer to your customers in an environment they enjoy.

"The event business is evolving and the quality is lifting. They have to be part of the whole planning cycle of an organisation. In this country we are still some way from seeing events used with the strategic intelligence that is practised in other places."

Worldwide, the Gillette organisation has used spectacular events for successful product launches. For the launch of the Mach3 razor, the huge and widely reported international marketing budget included a significant portion for events.

In New Zealand, the launch of the razor was built up through a series of expensive and snazzy events for the trade. The event strategy worked very well, says Gillette New Zealand's general manager, Kerry Gleeson.

"We don't do many product launches, but when we do, we do them big. Great product launch events create an early, fast impact. You make a big noise everywhere, overnight with the right event strategies."

The impact was sustained - more than a billion of the Mach3 razors have sold, and the new product landed right on target in this country where it has been acknowledged by the marketing industry as the biggest brand of the year.

While some public events have had far less happy outcomes than snazzy product launches (Sweetwaters, the latest Queenstown Winter Festival) the New Zealand Wearable Arts Festival has bloomed into an enviable show.

It won the supreme New Zealand tourism award this year and top honours in the events category. It is now attracting international attention, with other countries asking the organisers here to form partnerships and show them how to repeat the formula of this Nelson-grown success.