IMEO International Mass Event Organisation based on Recent Experience of Euro 2012 Name of the workshop: Marketing of mass events Leader of the workshop: Mateusz Rak, Management Faculty, Wroclaw School of Banking Required materials and equipment: joined tables of two, a flipchart, markers Knowledge required basics of marketing, knowledge of marketing tools, basics of customers behaviour Requirements for preliminary skills an ability to work in a team, an ability to creatively solve problems, analytical skills- a capacity to evaluate a situation, to approach an issue from various points of view, to look for different perspectives, to communicate efficiently The objective of workshops: The objective is to familiarise students with issues of applying marketing in the mass events industry with particular attention devoted to possibilities of using marketing tools for developing marketing strategies for these events. The workshop is to teach thinking in marketing terms for the purposes of organizing mass events and to convey elements of theoretical and practical knowledge concerning the discussed issues. The workshops develop skills in applying and adopting marketing knowledge in real situations, competences in team work as well as creative search for solutions. 1
Elements of the theory The notion of mass event marketing occurred about 40 years ago. Mass event management used to be dedicated to resourceful amateurs and only for a decade or two qualified professionals deal with arranging mass events. It results from two factors (Bowdin 2012 introduction, XXVIII): o Mass event management comprises a wide spectrum of various activities which were previously perceived as separate areas (e.g. festivals, sports events, conferences, tourist events, corporate events). It has triggered a demand for management methodology broad enough to comprise various types of events and flexible enough to account for individual expectations and needs of such events. o The environment where events are organised and the entire spectrum of stakeholders as well as expectations are more and more complex and demanding. o Engagement of governments and big corporations in mass events has dramatically increased, both sides attempt to use mass events for their own purposes. Both companies as well as governments invest in events be means of sponsorship and grants. It has led to a demand for the management system capable of measuring and delivering a return rate on investment. In order to understand what mas events marketing is about one has to get to know the origins of formulating the definition of marketing. At present the broadest definition of marketing originates from Ph. Kotler s Marketing is a social and management process that provides specific persons or groups with what they need and want to achieve by creating, offering and exchange of possessed value of goods which defines marketing as a process where three different groups of stakeholders occur. In a similar way the British Marketing Association in its definition indicates this feature also adding an important role of an organization: marketing is a management function which entails organising and managing all company activities involved in evaluating customer s needs and exchanging the purchasing power of the customer into an effective demand for a specific product or a service and finally providing the end customer or user with the product or the service in order to generate anticipated profits or another goal set by a company or another organization (Holloway 1997 p. 19). The organization s task is to dynamically manage marketing by researching the market, adjusting products to the customer and creating his needs to buy this product. It means that satisfying and creating needs of a customer is one of the most important activities 2
of marketing. A perspective approach to activities is important in the concept of marketing coined by J. Carman and K. Uhl. They indicate that marketing looks forward in order to get to know and satisfy future needs of customers: marketing is a social and economic process aiming to get to know a future structure of a demand for products or services and to satisfy it by creating the supply, providing buyers with information, delivering manufactured goods to a proper place and in proper time and realizing them (Kramer 1994 p. 9). Trying to define mass event marketing one has pay attention to the fact that: Mass events are addressed to various stakeholders When arranging a mass events we negotiate contracts with many partners in areas such as: premises, games or entertainment, sponsorship, media, safety, sales and delivery, food and beverages (Greenwell 2013) A lot of organization may hold events parallel Effects of mass marketing should be considered from the point of view of: o General and social aspects - changes to habits, opening to new possibilities o Regional aspects- the growth in entrepreneurship and competitiveness o Micro social aspects activations and a growth in importance of local communities o An individual consumer- satisfying needs Numerous organization may be interested in participation in an event On the above basis mass event marketing may be defined as follows: mass event marketing is a coordinated attitude of activities of an organization or a group of organizations as well as all activities of public and private organizations on the local, regional, national and international scale to satisfying, in possible best way, needs of specific groups of consumers through organization of various mass events addressed to a mass customer. Marketing is one of methods of managing an organization. Enterprises must use it when they operate in a competitive market. Its main idea is to meet customers needs. If marketing activities are to be effectively carried out, one has to get to know the customer. The consumer is most important. In order to influence the consumer s behaviour when it comes to money, time, loyalty to a brand or a products, one has to get to know in detail and first of all 3
to understand behaviours in the area of an event held (e.g. sports in case of a sporting event) as well as outside the event in a broadly understood world of marketing (Kahle 2010 introduction, p. XVIII). Otherwise it may turn out that competition adjusts products to customers needs in a better way and that our activities may be unsuccessful. That is why, for every organization it is important to best familiarise with a structure and a size of the demand and the supply to get to know its customers, their needs and causes of their arising. Tools are also important aspects that a company may effectively use to influence customers as well as ways of winning new ones and possibilities of expanding into new markets. In mas event marketing it is important to get to know groups of stakeholders who simultaneously are beneficiaries of activities. Marketing activities undertaken by an organization are driven by a profit which does not always have to be expressed in money terms. However in majority of cases the success of a mass event is measured by revenue expressed in money terms. Thus marketing can be perceived as a tool generating revenues: Enterprises do not exist in order to manufacture or sell goods, fulfil the role of market leaders or win awards for achievements in exports, designing or an excellent quality of a product. They run businesses to earn money. Marketing plays a decisive role in generating profits. (Hill 1989, Altkorn 1994, s. 10). In this meaning, marketing is a management orientation targeted at maximisation of benefits by means of limited resources. One has to remember that no organization acts in the market alone but operates in a specific environment (macro and micro environment) that it has to adjust to. Adjustment to the macro environment is exemplified by the compliance with legal norms, aligning prices of services with an economic situation of the society and services with technological possibilities of the society, adjusting provision of services to natural factors as well as services to cultural norms. Adjustment to the micro environment is exemplified by cooperation with the competition and its careful observation, noticing problems (removing noticed problems) of employees and most importantly customising products. Customer orientation is one of the most important assumptions of marketing. In practice customer orientation means (Mazurek-Łopacińska 2002): readiness and an ability to listen to customers and getting information from them; creating a corporate mission on the basis of values important to the customer; 4
elaborating a market offer adjusting it to an appropriate market segment; concentration on the values expected by customers; building a permanent relations with customers; securing participation of all employees in creating growing values for the customer; systematic measurement of the level of services rendered and customer satisfaction. Conducting research is an important element of customer orientation. Apart from the level of customer satisfaction, one has to research their needs as the objective of marketing is to get to know and understand the customer well so that a product or a service could adjust to them and sell by themselves (Drucker 1973 s. 64-65). Research is also conducted before launching new products and services into the market. The objective of the research is to find market niches and describe unsatisfied or slightly satisfied customers needs. Such research must be commenced with analysing the market and particular groups of customers in order to create market segmentation. Results of such results should answer the question who is the main customer of the product and what groups of customers are as well as (Altkorn 1992 s. 11 ): - what features of the products are important to particular groups of customers - what costs are particular groups of customers willing to incur - how to encourage particular groups of customers to buy - What should product distribution look like so that the product was available to particular groups of customers - What are other requirements of particular customers Customer Segmentation (Altkorn 2006 p. 69-83) should result in establishing uniform groups of customers with similar features and as a result show the same demand but differ with reactions to tools of marketing mix. The need of carrying out market segmentation originates from a growing number of consumers, their income as well as a growing competition. It leads to a greater possibility of choosing and developing individual preferences. Under these circumstances marketing is to best get to know the customer in order to adjust products and services to the customer in a better way than the competition. 5
Market segmentation is the first step to elaboration of the marketing strategy consisting of medium and long-term principles and guideline of procedure which outline the framework for market operational activities (Altkorn 2006). The strategy of mass event marketing comprise: a uniform marketing programme for the entire market a uniform marketing programme for a specific part of the market differentiated marketing programmes for particular groups of customers The analysis made in order to elaborate a mass event strategy should comprise (Altkorn 1992 s. 12 ): - market segmentation - the analysis of a competitive position of an enterprise - possibilities of entering a market or development in a particular market - goals of the marketing strategy - adjusting the marketing composition (the price, the product, promotion, distribution) to the phase of a product life cycle in the market. The most important feature of a marketing strategy is manifested by a complete and internally integrated way of solving market problems. Organizations have an impact on the market by means of tools of marketing-mix. In case of mass events it consists of : a product: material goods, a service offered in the market and satisfying consumer needs: o people pay for a ticket but for participation in a particular event o a mass event will result in unforgettable memories o each participant is also a product of a mass event o mass event product consists of 3 elements: a basic products (using the mass event), a real product (a place, a building, time) and an extended product (additional features distinguishing an event from the competition). o Mass events products have characteristic features (Funk 2008 p. 9) inter alia: intangibility (a value or a need difficult to make precise resulting from watching or participating in an event), seasonality (demand and supply dependent on the weather, marketing people can offer open-air events in the 6
summer period), consumers are often experts (football fans control and evaluate strategies of the game whereas a computer company does not present its strategy to its customers) Evaluation: its role is to complete a few factors among others: generating profit, sales, competition in the market, information and developing a corporate image, Distribution: channels and ways of selling (tickets), Promotion: a set of measures which an enterprise use to inform about the company and about features of the product and convinces customers to buy, examples of promoting music events: Tools promotion mix (advertising, PR, personal sales, promotion of sales) used for creating the demand of consumers and activation of sales in various links (Altkorn 1992 s.12 ). It is important understand the influence of social media on mass events (both participants and viewers may provide valuable information by clicking on various social websites. The research indicates that over 80% of sports fans monitor Twitter or Facebook when watching a television broadcast and over 60% do it while watching an event live (Greenwell 2013) Tangible aspect- a place, buildings where an event is held, The Staff- all people who take part in the event on the organizer s side The process of rendering a service all activities of customers and the staff during the provision of the service Using particular instruments and activities as well as interdependencies between them one must elaborate an internally uniform and coherent marketing strategy. It is targeted at actions characterised by high degree of effectiveness and efficiency. That is why when composing marketing tools for a particular undertaking, one must be careful with adjusting them to a specific customer, a place, time and limitations of corporate resources. Knowing goals and needs of customers in a particular market segment and conditions for company operations we may: characterise the most desired by customers features of a product, choose the most effective and the most commonly accepted price level, indicate the most effective distribution channels use effective forms of promotion and advertising. By means of a detailed analysis of particular instruments and actions and interdependencies one may elaborate an ideal marketing-mix concept which is characterised by an ability to obtain big effects in influencing market phenomena. 7
The concept of mass event marketing is also about choosing such marketing tools in order to secure the best effects. However the idea of a mass event presents additional limitations which must be taken into account when establishing the marketing mix: a marketing budget time needed for marketing legal regulations binding in a particular place (e.g. quiet hours) limitations related to a product or a service the customer cannot be harmed the environment a company operates in cannot be harmed the environment a company is holding an event cannot be harmed In the process of searching and selecting variants of the concept of the marketing mix one has to account for (2000 s. 63-65): available instruments which can be used in shaping the marketing concept adjustment of dependencies between market phenomena and accompanying instruments and actions participation of particular instruments and actions in achievements of assumed goals groups of customers of our product (service). There is also a necessity of analysing marketing tools. It first of all results from the fact that the importance and intensity of the influence of particular instruments and actions and also their significance do not stay on the same level but dynamically change. The reason for these changes results from the competition, policy, social changes, force majore (flooding, celebrities appearance e.g. Rober Kubica has attracted numerous fans in front of Polish televisions and previously television did not concentrate on Formula 1 races considering it a niche sport). Bearing in mind a dynamic market and the need of adjusting a product to the customer mass event marketing applies the rule of creating many marketing concepts adjusted to particular groups of customers (the most important from the point of view of the organiser or a goal). That is why when preparing a marketing strategy one has to elaborate variants 8
adjusted to various customers. Creation of a concept consists in selection and adjustment of marketing tools to the afore-mentioned groups of customers. When creating a customer tailored marketing strategy it is most difficult to indicate which stakeholders is the most important customer to an organization. In each mass event there are a few main groups of stakeholders: participants from vicinity (e.g. inhabitants of the town hosting an even)- viewers of the mass event participants from the further and distant environment (e.g. inhabitants of the town hosting the event) - viewers of the mass event Sponsors of the mass event Volunteers of the mass event Town authorities (a village or a region) where the mass event takes place Nearby inhabitants who are not going to be viewers of the event People selling products (gadgets, food, services (taxis), to participants of the mass event Police services Enterprises operating in the region Each of the listed groups differs with many features: Has different purposes related to the mass event Expects different information about the mass event Expect other services (accommodation, transport, auxiliary services) connected to the mass event Incurs different costs related to the mass event Has a different attitude to the mass event It is the task of mass event marketing to prepare the event in such a way so that none of these groups felt omitted or neglected. Often when designing a marketing strategy a seemingly insignificant group of stakeholders or an activity are omitted. Not noticing the need of efficient operation of catering places in Wrocław football stadium at the first mass events held there is a good example. It turned out that customers unhappy with catering services evaluated the entire stadium management in the wrong way. Future customers were discouraged from coming to the stadium by posts on the internet or on the grapevine. That is 9
why when preparing the marketing concept it is so important to thoroughly examine what groups of stakeholders may occur before, during and after the mass event. Each group must be precisely examined and provided with benefits they require so that the final effect of the undertaking was compliant with its assumptions. The evaluation of a sporting event plays an important role here. Such evaluation allows us to get to know various areas of the event which have to be polished. Unfortunately, the lack of evaluation made by the organizers is one of the major weaknesses of the mass event industry (Greenwell 2013). 10
Tasks for students Contents of the task: You are an organizer of a football match between lecturers of universities and representatives of business. The competition is supposed to strengthen the cooperation between the business world and the universities. The event aims to promote universities as organizations cooperating with the business world as well as companies open to cooperation with the scientific world (or seeking employees). You want the event to succeed: You are planning to: 1. Attract interest of the media 2. Invite at least 300 companies 3. Invite at least 10 universities 4. Attract at least 10000 thousand spectators (from the town and the region) 5. To obtain zł 300,000 from sponsors to cover the costs related to organization of the event such as hiring the stadium and arranging accompanying activities Limitations: A car park for 1000 cars The event must finish by 8 p.m. Nearby inhabitants have problems with getting home during mass events held in the stadium (traffic jams, occupied parking lots, stranger wandering in the housing estates) Other conditions: Eating places are under management of the city Increasing public transport communication lies within the town s responsibility 11
Task to do: Develop a marketing concept for an event. Your marketing budget is zł 100.000 1. Enumerate what are important groups of stakeholders for a particular mass event 2. Enumerate what problems may occur during the match (before and after) 3. Indicate what kind of costs a particular group of stakeholders will incur in relation to the mass event 4. Indicate what profits (tangible and non-tangible) will the mass event generate to a particular group of stakeholders 5. Set promotion goals for the most important groups of stakeholders and indicate appropriate tools for realization of these goals 6. For a drawn group of stakeholders [Sponsors, Spectators, Enterprises, Universities]: Set PR goals, chose PR tools Suggest a TV commercial for the mass event (take into account promotions and PR goals, indicate the light motif of the commercial, colours, sound, the main message, use an original advertising slogan, consider the addressee, indicate features of the products, apply appropriate vocabulary ) - use the STORYBOARD (4-6 slides) 7. Describe the most interesting participant (spectator) of the mass event for a particular stakeholder applying the following features: Demographic criteria (age, gender, race, origins, denomination, education, marital status) Geographic criteria (place of residence, climate, size of the town and region) Economic criteria (income per person, profession, income of a household) Social and psychological criteria (social class, reference group, lifestyle, stage of the family life-cycle, personality) Description of education outcomes The student is familiar with the specificity of the mass event industry. The student has a theoretical and practical knowledge on marketing tools and possibilities of their application 12
in organization of mass events, is able to use this knowledge for the purposes of elaborating marketing strategies for mass events. The student is able to indicate the most important groups of stakeholders, understands the essence and importance of market segmentation in case of organizing mass events, is able to carry out a simple segmentation and indicate its importance in the marketing strategy and select target markets. The student knows the specificity of promoting a mass event product, is able to define objectives of promotional activities and indicate appropriate tools for achieving goals set. The student is able to use the possessed theoretical and practical knowledge to solve business problems. The student can creatively approach solving real problems in cooperation with the team. 13
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