EVENT MARKETING INNOVATION TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Dr Louise Todd Lecturer in Festival and Event Management Edinburgh Napier University

#PerfectStage

Events and festivals marketing: the theory

Dr Louise Todd [email protected]

Events and festivals marketing Experiences • • • • •

Experience Economy: value and nature of experience Five steps in staging engaging experiences (THEME) Experience design Engagement and immersion Hacking subjectivity

Experiential marketing • Three marketing trends and challenges

Turning experience into engagement • Thinking about the whole experience in events and festivals marketing

Summary: questions for festivals and events marketing

Experience Economy • First defined by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore (1998, 1999, 2011). • Accelerating pace of technological change causes people to collect experiences as they once collected objects. • Experiences are a 4th economic offering: distinct from commodities, products and services. • Products and services have become increasingly commoditised: e.g. marketed on price. • Experiences are the next step in the progression of economic value. • Experiences created by organisations will matter most in today’s competitive, technology driven marketplace. • Experiences are therefore a source of value for organisations. • Need for management focus to shift from traditional service perspective to embrace experience. (Berridge, 2007; Getz & Page, 2016; Pine & Gilmore, 1998, 2011)

Value of experience ‘Learning from the Birthday Cake’, James Gilmore (02:13): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pboXoyChKf8

Image: 'The Ba8ckyardigans Birthday Cake' http://www.flickr.com/photos/30925581@N02/3623700540

(Pine & Gilmore, 1998)

Nature of experience Absorption

Four Realms

Entertainment

Educational

Passive participation

Active participation Aesthetic

Escapist

Immersion (Pine & Gilmore, 1998, p. 30)

Most valued meaningful experiences 1. Accomplishment Achieving goals and making something of oneself 2. Beauty

Appreciation of qualities that give pleasure to senses or spirit

3. Community

Sense of unity and general connection with others

4. Creation

Sense of having produced something original , lasting contribution

5. Duty

Willing application of oneself to a responsibility

6. Enlightenment

Clear understanding through logic or inspiration

7. Freedom

The sense of living without unwanted restraints

8. Harmony

The balanced, pleasing and memorable relationship of parts to a whole

9. Justice

The assurance of equitable and unbiased treatment

10. Oneness

A sense of unity with everything around us

11. Redemption

Atonement or deliverance from past failure or decline

12. Security

The freedom from worry about loss

13. Truth

A commitment to honesty and integrity

14. Validation

The recognition of oneself as a valued individual of respect

15. Wonder

Awe in presence of a creation beyond one’s understanding (Diller et al., 2005, in: Berridge, 2007, p.173)

Experience design A new and emerging paradigm • “A call for inclusion: It calls for an integrative practice of design”

‘Dig This’, Colorado, USA: http://www.digthisvegas.com/ http://www.digthisvegas.com/whatyou-do/

(Jackson, 2000)

Focused on engagement and immersion

• “The main focus of experience design is to create desired perceptions, cognitions and behaviour amongst users, customers, visitors or the audience.” (Berridge, 2007, p. 161)

‘Deadinburgh’, Edinburgh, UK: http://www.deadinburgh.co.uk/

Hacking subjectivity • “Hacking subjectivity… with deep immersion in experience as a focus” •

Experience Design, Jason Silva (02:57): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJlfwbS0BFY

Deadinburgh Images all © The Gate Worldwide & LAStheatre

Five steps in marketing and staging engaging experiences (THEME) 1. Theme the experience: • Example: Disneyland: conceived in 1957 as “a cartoon that immerses the audience” • Development of theme rides/areas/parks.

2. Harmonise impressions with positive cues: • Signals in environment and behaviour of workers: should support and be consistent with the theme, e.g. Disneyland: staff as “cast members” • Indelible impressions: “takeaways” of the theme.

Image: 'Sleeping Beauty Castle Disney resort Paris [Explored]' http://www.flickr.com/photos/44206268@N07/7149477867

Five steps in marketing and staging engaging experiences (THEME) 3. Eliminate negative cues:

• Ensure integrity of the experience, e.g. Disney employees remain in character, unless “back stage”. 4. Mix in memorabilia:

• Consumers purchase memorabilia as tangible artefacts of the experience they want to remember: postcards, ticket stubs, flyers, posters, branded clothing... 5. Engage the five senses: • Tune each positive cue to integrate sensations with the theme: visually, aurally, tactilely, flavourfully and aromatically. (Pine & Gilmore, 2011, pp.67-91)

Experiential marketing Traditional marketing (products and services) characteristics

Experiential marketing characteristics

Focus on functional features and benefits of products

Focus on customer experiences

Product category and competition narrowly defined

Focus on consumption as a holistic experience

Customers are rational decisionmakers

Customers are rational and emotional

Methods and tools: analytical, quantitative and verbal

Methods and tools are eclectic, visual and customised (Schmitt, 1999)

Three marketing trends and challenges Shifting from traditional marketing approaches towards creating engaging and immersive experiences for consumers, based on:

1. The omnipresence of information technology 2. The supremacy of the brand 3. The ubiquity of communications and entertainment (Schmitt, 1999)

Designing the experiential marketing approach: • Requires an integrative practice of design (key to success) • Expertise and skills drawn from various specialisations • Clear synergy in cross-disciplinary associations (Jacobson, 2000)

Turning experience into engagement Experiential marketing approach: 1. User involvement (physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual). 2. User’s co-participation in the event or festival offer.

3. The relevance of the event’s or festival’s symbolic values. 4. The event’s or festival’s multi-functionality. 5. The centrality of experience in consumption. (Frochot & Batat, 2013)

Summary: questions for events and festivals marketing • What particular aspects of any event or festival experience makes it unique, memorable and engaging? • What types of experiences make the most engaging events and festivals? • How do meaningful experiences change over time, either for specific events and festivals or generally? • How can experience be developed from the existing interactions of people to embrace newer forms of interactions? • How can event and festival marketers address trends and challenges of: 1. the omnipresence of IT? 2. the supremacy of the brand? 3. the ubiquity of communications and entertainment?

References • • • • •

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Berridge, G. (2007). Events design and experience. Oxford: Elsevier ButterworthHeinemann. Frochot, I & Batat, W. (2013) Marketing and Designing the Tourist Experience. Oxford: Goodfellow Publishers Ltd. Getz, D & Page, S. (2016) Event studies: theory, research and policy for planned events. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. Jacobson, B. (2000). Experience Design. A List Apart Magazine. Issue 77, available at: http://alistapart.com/article/experience [Accessed on 16th May 2016] Pine, B. J., & Gilmore, J. H. (1998). Welcome to the experience economy. Harvard Business Review, 76, 97-105, available at: https://hbr.org/1998/07/welcome-to-theexperience-economy [accessed on 16th May 2016] Pine, B.J. & Gilmore, J.H. (2011). The experience economy: work is theatre and every business is a stage. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press. Schmitt, B. (1999). Experiential marketing. Journal of marketing management, 15(1-3), 53-67. Schmitt, B. H. (2000). Experiential marketing: How to get customers to sense, feel, think, act, relate. Simon and Schuster.