POP&DISPLAY秀道设计的博客

      Event marketing offers something that other marketing tactics can’t—face-to-face interactions with consumers and an engaging way to build affinity and drive trial of your brand. But event marketing has also transitioned into something that’s measurable, giving brands even more reason to include it in their marketing mix.

“The challenge that event people have is that events are complex, there are a lot of moving parts, and they are perceived as expensive,” says Kerry Smith, president of the Event Marketing Institute in Norwalk, Conn. “But the value of events is that those people have self-selected themselves into engaging with you. Where traditional media is passive impressions, events and face to face are active engagements.”

Tecate, White Plains, N.Y., spends 25% to 30% of its overall marketing budget on events and sponsorships, including numerous boxing matches and the Toyota Grand Prix. “It’s a way to communicate directly with consumers, to provide a brand experience, and it’s also a way to not only reach our target consumers but also to expand a little bit more, but in a way that makes sense for the brand,” says Carlos Boughton, brand director.

Some event marketing agencies have seen an increase in business, like Chicago-based Marketing Werks, which has grown from $4 million in revenues in 1997 to close to $70 million today, says managing partner Julie Guida. Retailers are also stepping up their efforts: Planning and coordinating company Shopper Events, Bentonville, Ark., was created in January to streamline sampling at Walmart. (The October issue will have a white paper featuring this company and its work with Walmart.)

“We’ve had considerable growth over the last five years,” says Bob Martin, president of Portland, Maine-based Pierce Promotions, which does events for Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Diageo and others. “Our current clients are doing more of this, and also clients that had not necessarily done experiential before are realizing the value of the medium.”

帐篷营销提供了其他营销策略无法提供的与消费者面对面的互动，及建立品牌亲和力和推进体验的动人方法。而帐篷营销的效果同样已可转化成某些方面来测评，给了品牌商更多将帐篷营销纳入其综合营销的理由。

“帐篷营销人员面临的挑战是帐篷是综合设施，有许多部件是可移动的，并被认为是费钱的。”位于康涅狄格州诺瓦克市的帐篷营销学院的总裁Kerry Smith称。“但帐篷营销的价值是与你约会的人可以自主选择，传统媒介给人消极被动的印象，而帐篷营销和面对面则是积极主动的约会。”

位于纽约州白原市的Tecate公司用于帐篷营销和赞助的花费占全部营销预算费用的25%~30%，包括众多的拳击比赛和丰田国际汽车大奖赛。“这是与消费者直接沟通的方法，提供品牌体验，这也不仅仅是接触目标消费者的方法，还可扩大多一点点，对于品牌在某种程度上是有意义的。”品牌总监Carlos Boughton说。

一些帐篷营销代理已目睹业务量增长，如位于芝加哥的Werks营销公司，合伙人Julie Guida称，营业收入已从1997年的400万美元增长到今天的近7000万美元。零售商也正进一步囤力：位于阿肯色州本顿维尔市的规划与整合公司Shopper Events一月份成立，致力于沃尔玛试销流程的合理化。（十月份的杂志将有该公司和它为沃尔玛工作的白皮书专题。）

“我们在过去的五年里已取得了相当大的进展。”位于缅因州波特兰市的Pierce促销公司总裁Bob Martin称，该公司为宝洁、卡夫、迪阿吉奥等做帐篷营销，“我们的客户正对此投入更多，以前没有做体验需要的客户也正认识到此媒介的价值。”

Measuring Events

Much like shopper marketing, measuring the effectiveness and ROI of events is not always cut and dried.

“With event marketing, it’s particularly difficult to really gauge the impact of what you are doing with numbers, not that we don’t try,” says Dan Green, integrated marketing associate, running division at Boston-based New Balance. The company’s running division spends “well over half” of its marketing budget on events that range from marathons to the XGames. “Sometimes it’s tough to attribute sales lift directly to an event, especially if it’s not on-site sales, but at least we can get some idea of sales lift that might be associated.”

Most interviewed for this report agree that sales are the most important success metric but stress that events are long-term investments that aren’t always repaid on the day of the event.

“Day-of sales are great, but really the post period is critical in showing that true ROI,” says Liz Van Voorhis, senior director at Daymon Worldwide, Stamford, Conn., which handles in-store events and sampling at Costco, Meijer and Giant Eagle. Using the retailers’ POS data to track sales for 12 weeks after an event, “we’re seeing between a 20% and 30% ROI for the retailer on our events,” she says.

Walmart looks at day-of lift and residual sales lift four weeks out from an event, says Glen Walter, vice president, events at Crossmark, Plano, Texas. (Where Shopper Events coordinates the events, execution is split between Crossmark and Irvine, Calif.-based Advantage Sales and Marketing.)

Taking measurement even further, PromoWorks, Schaumburg, Ill., commissioned a study with Knowledge Networks/PDI based on three sampling events — one new product, one brand extension and one existing brand — that showed an average sales lift of more than 74% over 20 weeks. What’s more, the study also found an average lift for the entire brand franchise of more than 19%.

The study compared test and control households in the same store using loyalty card data to track purchase behavior by time-stamping each shopper in the store, seeing who was exposed to the sampling event and tracking those shoppers for up to 20 weeks.

Van Voorhis says loyalty card data, when available, helps refine metrics around ROI and purchase behavior. “In one of our retailers, we took their loyalty card information and looked at the prior six months,” she says. “70% of [that retailer’s shoppers] had not previously purchased that product in the last six months. Then we looked at the 12 weeks following the event and saw that 30% purchased, so we were able to convert them into a user of the product.”

测评帐篷营销

与顾客营销十分类似，测评帐篷营销的效果和投资回报率并非总是一成不变。

“对于帐篷营销，不是我们不做，而是真正用数字评估所做的效果特别困难。”位于波士顿的新百伦公司运营部的整合营销同事Dan Green称。该公司运营部花费“超过半数”的营销预算到帐篷营销上，范围从马拉松到XGames，“有时难以把销售增长直接归功于帐篷营销，尤其是如果不是现场销售，但至少我们可以获得一些销售增长相关联的想法。”

绝大多数对此报告的访谈认同销售额是最重要的成功度量标准，但强调帐篷营销是长期的投资，在举行帐篷营销的日子并不总是能得到回报。

“销售的日子是极好的，但真实的投资回报率公布的时刻才真正至关重要。”位于康涅狄格州斯坦福德市的Daymon 全球公司资深总监Liz Van Voorhis称，该公司为科斯科连锁企业、梅杰公司和巨鹰公司处理店内帐篷营销和试销。在帐篷营销结束后使用零售商的POS数据跟踪销售12周，她说：“我们目睹零售商在使用我们的帐篷营销后投资回报率达到20%~30%。”

沃尔玛目睹了业绩提升的日子，在帐篷营销后销售业绩仍持续四周增长，在德克萨斯州普莱诺市Crossmark公司做帐篷营销的副总裁Glen Walter称。（Shopper Events公司协办了此次帐篷营销，Crossmark公司和位于加利福尼亚州欧文市的Advantage 销售与市场公司分别承办。）

为了进一步评测帐篷营销，位于伊利诺伊州绍姆堡的PromoWorks公司委任Knowledge Networks/PDI基于三种帐篷试销的研究——一新产品，一延伸品牌及一现存品牌——表明74%以上的平均销售业绩增长超过20周，此外，该研究亦发现全部特许品牌商销售额平均增长超过19%。

该研究对比测试和管控家庭使用优惠卡在同一商店通过时戳跟踪在该商店的每一个顾客的购买行为，看谁光顾帐篷试销并追踪其最多达20周。

Van Voorhis声称使用优惠卡资料有助于很好地度量投资回报率和购买行为。“我们从零售商中抽取其中一位的优惠卡资料，并察看前六个月的资料。”她说。“零售商顾客中70%在过去六个月前并没有购买过该产品，而我们察看帐篷营销后接下来的12周的资料，看到30%的顾客购买了，因此我们能把他们转化为产品的用户。”

Barcode tagging, RFID and mobile messaging can also be used to give consumers a unique identifier and track their purchase behavior, says David Rich, senior vice president, program strategy/worldwide at George P. Johnson Experience Marketing in Auburn Hills, Mich. But sales aren’t the only thing being measured at events, particularly outside of retail. Media impressions and the number of interactions are still popular quantitative measures, but qualitative measures such as engagement and attitudes about the brand are often just as important.

“The danger about impressions is it’s about exposure, but it’s not about relevance,” Rich says. “Have I cared about it, am I interested in it, and has it moved me closer to the brand? Number of impressions doesn’t tell you that, so what a lot more people are starting to measure now is the depth of engagement” through surveys and other means.

Pierce Promotions looks at sales and performs onsite surveys to measure events in three ways: action-based measurement (do they buy the product?); impression-based measurement (do they have a newfound brand perception?); and advocacy-based measurement (will they recommend the product?). “The not-so-distant past was based on outcomes, meaning how many samples did you distribute, how many impressions were created.”

In Stop & Shop and Giant Landover stores, Daymon conducts blind taste tests between national brands and private labels. Samplers answer a series of questions about the taste, smell and texture of both products on a computer, which provides the stores with instant feedback. Sara Lee Corp. also used surveys to gauge consumers’ reactions to the quality and taste of the new Hillshire Farm Miller High Life Beer Brats during in-store sampling events this summer.

“Qualitative survey results provided a snapshot of success in terms of consumer feedback with very encouraging outcomes with respect to consumer favorability,” says Kristine Abrahamson, director, consumer and shopper marketing at the Downers Grove, Ill.-based company.

条码标签、RFID和手机信息同样能用作独特的标识符呈现给顾客，并追踪其购买行为，David Rich在密歇根州奥本山举办的George P. Johnson体验营销的全球项目战略中发言称。但销售额并不是帐篷营销测评的惟一，尤其是对户外零售而言。媒体印象和互动多少仍然是流行的定量的测评，而诸如约会和对该品牌的看法的定性测评通常是重要的。

“媒体印象的危险之处是到处曝光，而不是处处中肯。”Rich说道，“我担心过它吗，我对它感兴趣吗，它使我更贴近品牌吗？许多媒体对此无可奉告，因此现时随着更多人开始测评而使约会更深入。”通过调查和其他方法得悉。

Pierce促销公司着眼于销售额和进行现场调查而通过三种方法来测评帐篷营销：基于行动的测评（他们购买产品了吗？）、基于印象的测评（他们对品牌有眼前一亮的感觉吗？）、基于拥护的测评（他们会推荐该产品吗？）。“不久前是基于效果的测评，意味着试销了多少样品，给人留下了多少好印象。”

在Stop & Shop和 Giant Landover两家商店，Daymon在全国性品牌和自有品牌之间举行了不告知品牌的口味测试，在一台电脑上采样回答了两种产品关于口味、气味和质感的一系列问题，并即时反馈给两家商店。Sara Lee公司今夏同样在店内帐篷试销期间采取调查以评估顾客对Hillshire农场的新产品“米勒高品质生活啤酒小子”的质量和口味的反应。

“定性调查结果提供了关于顾客好感的成功片段，在顾客反馈方面，效果非常令人鼓舞。”位于伊利诺伊州丹尼森市的消费者和顾客营销公司总裁Kristine Abrahamson称。

Integrating Retail, Online

Whether an event takes place at a festival, out of a bus or on a street corner, tying it back to retail is key. KC Masterpiece and Kingsford charcoal have partnered with country singer Keith Urban for his summer tour, using scent technology to create the smells of a backyard barbecue as concertgoers enter the venue. But the brands’ parent company, Oakland, Calif.-based Clorox, is also using a sweepstakes, various promotions and P-O-P to bring the campaign to shoppers who aren’t attending the concerts.

“It’s important for us to not just talk to fans during the actual tour because barbecuing is year round,” says Drew McGowan, senior group manager, public relations and sponsorships. “59% of barbecue occasions are happening outside the summertime period, so it’s really important to keep people engaged and excited.”

Mott’s, Rye Brook, N.Y., has a similar goal with its Pink to the Core campaign. As a sponsor of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, the brand has a full experience at 17 of the 121 races, with product samples, coupons and tote bags for those who make a pledge to adopt healthy habits that reduce their risk of breast cancer. During that same time, in-store displays and pink packaging promote that message at retail. New York-based PowerPact is executing the campaign.

In addition to living on in-store, events are increasingly adding an online component to keep consumers engaged after the event. One widespread practice is taking photos of consumers at events that they can go online and download once they’re home.

“Sharing photos is probably one of the No.1 ranked things that people like to do at an event to remember the experience, so there are several companies out there that offer that as the data-collection engine,” says Smith of the Event Marketing Institute.

This method also allows brands to collect information about consumers, such as e-mail addresses, cell phone numbers and their opinions about the brand by requiring users to answer a few questions before downloading their photo.

Daymon and Pierce both encourage their clients to create microsites and email campaigns to let consumers know when an event is coming and to stay in touch with them after the tour is over.Clorox took this idea to the next level by putting branded content directly on Keith Urban’s website to reach even more of its target audience.

网上整合零售

帐篷营销不论是在节日，还是在公共汽车外或者街头举行，绑紧背靠零售才是关键。KC Masterpiece牌烧烤酱和Kingsford 牌烧烤炭已搭伙乡村歌手Keith Urban的夏季巡演，参加音乐会的人进场时，就可闻到后院由气味技术创造的烤肉味。而这两个品牌位于加州奥克兰的母公司Clorox，亦利用一场比赛、各种各样的促销和POP把该项活动带给那些没有参加音乐会的顾客。

“实际巡演期间不要只是一味对乐迷夸夸其谈，因为烤肉一年到头都有，这点对我们来说很重要。”集团公关与赞助高级经理Drew McGowan称。“烤肉的售卖机会59%是在夏季时段以外，因此保持大家的光顾和激情真的很重要。”

纽约莱·布鲁克的Mott’s公司的Pink品牌产品对该核心运动有一个类似的目标。作为Susan G. Komen 种族疗法的赞助商，该品牌有121个种族中的17个的完整经验，那些保证接受降低其乳腺癌风险的健康习惯者，可得到样品、优惠券和手提袋。同一时期内，零售店内的展示和粉红色包装使该消息更广为人知。位于纽约的PowerPact公司承办了该活动。

除了依存于店内之外，帐篷营销正越来越多地加进网络组分，以保持顾客在帐篷营销结束后还能光顾。一个普遍的惯例是在帐篷营销时对顾客拍照，一旦到家他们就会上网来下载。

   “照片分享也许是人们忆起帐篷营销经历时喜欢做的排在第一位的事之一了，因此有几家公司在那里以提供拍照作为资料收集的引擎。”帐篷营销学院的Smith称。

    此方法亦可以供品牌商收集消费者资料，使用者下载其照片前必须回答几个问题，如电子邮件地址、手机号码和对品牌的评价。

    Daymon 和 Pierce公司均鼓励代理商建立微型网站和开展电子邮件活动，以使顾客知道何时举办帐篷营销，及巡演结束后好与其保持联系。Clorox将此进一步发扬光大，将品牌目录直接放上Keith Urban的个人网站，这样甚至可以达到其更多目标受众。

    Logistics

With so many moving parts and the added pressure of being live, pulling off an event requires the help of experts. “This is not for amateurs,” says Smith. “There are too many things that can go wrong.” Some event agencies are full service, while others are divided into what Smith calls “heads” and “arms and legs,” with the heads handling creative planning and the arms and legs dealing with execution.

Walmart uses Shopper Events as the head and Advantage Sales and Marketing and Crossmark as the arms and legs. Each company is in charge of 1,000 Walmart Supercenters, running a combined total of 40,000 to 50,000 in-store events per month, estimates Walter.

Walmart deployed this new system in January, cutting down from seven event management companies to “ensure a more consistent effort as opposed to the old model,” says Walter.

Each of the 2,000 Supercenters houses the same Walmart branded tables, cooking equipment and uniforms in the back room. P-O-P and other materials needed for a particular event are shipped to the stores each week. But perhaps most unique is the program’s direct staffing model, in which the samplers and demonstrators are employees of either Crossmark or Advantage. “These folks are tied to a particular store. They get to come to work and know that all their equipment is there waiting on them, as well as their samples and fulfillment materials, and they get to strike up a relationship with not only the store management but also the consumers,” Walter says.

For mobile events, like the Walgreens Wellness Tour that delivers free health screenings via nine customized buses in the United States and Puerto Rico, charting the most efficient route is an important consideration.

“When it comes to clients having preferred places to go, our expertise would be in counseling them on routing so that it’s very efficient,” says Guida of Marketing Werks, which is handling the Walgreens tour. “When you’re going cross-country, you really need to decide if that event is worth it to go to.”

Attention-grabbing visuals and engaging activities are also crucial in creating an event experience. At the Keith Urban concerts, 3-D dioramas of the singer in a backyard setting, a 30-foot inflatable tunnel shaped like a grill and large billboard signage throughout the venue help attendees make a connection with the brands. And as part of Marketing Werks’s Gore-Tex and Windstopper“Know What’s Inside” Tour, consumers were able to try on jackets and other outdoor gear in an Extreme Weather Chamber that produced 32-mile-per-hour winds and rainfall up to 22 inches per hour.

“You always want to have things to help generate a crowd and generate excitement because just having a static event site really doesn’t help you,” Guida says.

    物流

伴随众多的可移动部件和生存的额外压力，帐篷营销要想成功需要专家的帮助。“这不是业余爱好者玩的。”Smith说。“有太多东西会出错。”一些帐篷营销代理处全方位服务，而其余的则被分成Smith谓之的“头”和“手与腿”，头负责创意规划，而手与腿则负责实施。

    沃尔玛使用Shopper Events公司做头，Advantage销售和市场公司及Crossmark公司则做手和腿。每家公司掌管1000家沃尔玛超级中心，每月运营的店内营销帐篷总数，据沃尔玛估计，共达40000~50000顶。

沃尔玛一月份才部署此一新体系，从7家帐篷营销管理公司中削减数量以“确保与旧有模式相比，效能更加始终如一。”Walter称。

2000家超级中心商场每一家的后台均统一相同的沃尔玛品牌桌、烹饪设施和制服。特殊帐篷营销所需要的POP和其他材料每周会运到商店。但该项目最为独特之处也许是其直属的人事模式，采样员和演示人员要么是Crossmark公司、要么是Advantage公司的雇员。“这些人围着特定的商店转。他们冲着工作而来，知道他们所有的设备在那里等着他们，还有样品和充足的材料，他们不仅要与商场管理、也要与顾客建立起关系。”Walter称。

对于移动的营销帐篷，如Walgreens健康之旅，在美国和波多黎各通过9台定制巴士提供免费健康检查，一个要考虑的重要因素是制定最有效的行走路线。

“当车辆有优先要去的人流点时，我们专家的意见将劝告其按指定路线行走，因此非常有效。”正在实施此次Walgreens 之旅的Werks营销公司的Guida说道。“当你跨国作业时，真的需要作出决定：该帐篷营销是否值得去做。”

强烈引人注意的外观图形和参与活动对创立帐篷营销体验同样是决定性的。在Keith Urban音乐会上，布置在后院的歌手三维实景模型、一个30尺形如烤架的气模和一大型的广告标识牌贯穿现场，帮助与会者与那些品牌连接起来。作为Werks营销公司部分客户的Gore-Tex和Windstopper“洞悉内里乾坤”之旅，顾客可以在一个能产生32英里/小时大风和降雨量多达22英寸/小时的极端气象室里试穿夹克衫和其他户外装备。

“你总是想方设法致力产生人流和制造刺激，因为只有静态帐篷营销场所真的于你无助。”Guida称。

Growing Sophistication

“Being able to demonstrate something in a live setting is a tried-and-true tactic that is just becoming more sophisticated every day,” says Martin of Pierce Promotions. One area of growth is the use of specialized talent to perform demonstrations, such as nutritionists, cosmetologists and chefs. At Pierce’s Gillette Fusion tour, consumers can get a shave on-site rather than simply hearing about product benefits, bringing to life “what the brand means to men and how it talks to their passion points,” Martin says.

Although many companies are already integrating online and other marketing vehicles with events, there are still more opportunities to enhance the experience. “There are things that can be merchandised along with the [sampling] table. For example, displays and signage opportunities for the sponsoring brands may be improved,” says Chip Hoyt, vice president, marketing at Crossmark. “It’s getting beyond the table to integrate other tactics that are available in-store to enhance the experience at the lowest possible cost but with the highest possible impact.”

One of the biggest trends is bringing events closer to the store. “You’re seeing the manufacturers we work with putting greater focus on programs that occur at the store level as opposed to in the community,” says Sheree Winslow,president of Marketration, a division of Advantage Sales and Marketing based in Santa Ana, Calif. The company runs about 10,000 events per year, including the annual Chihuahua Races that take place in Petco parking lots.

“You don’t want to just create an experience that drives awareness; you want to give them an opportunity to purchase,” adds Daymon’s Van Voorhis.“Whether you’re giving them a coupon that’s bouncing them back to retail or whether you’re literally bringing the cash register to the tour, a way that you can get them to purchase immediately once they’ve experienced the trial is really important.”

Rich from George P. Johnson has one idea on how to do this: bring activities that consumers do already into a retail store, for example offering classes from the YMCA inside Target stores. “If you were to consolidate the location of both of those values — where I go to buy things that I need to take care of my children and the activities that I need to invest in to take care of my children— why not marry those two up in the same location?”

日益成熟

“每天能在一生动的环境里证明策略可靠及真实，这样就会变得更拔尖。”Pierce促销公司的Martin称。一个地区能发展得益于使用专才来完成演示，如营养学家、美容师和大厨。在Pierce公司举办的吉列融合之旅上，顾客可获现场刮胡子，而不是简单听闻产品益处，并从“该品牌对男人意味着什么，如何传达男人的激情点”中清醒过来，Martin声称。

虽然已有许多公司将网络和其他的营销传播媒介与帐篷营销整合在一起，但仍有更多的机会去扩大体验。“有可与（试销）桌一起推销的东西。例如，赞助品牌的展示与标识机会可增加。”Crossmark公司的营销副总裁Chip Hoyt称。“超越该桌来整合其他店内可用的策略来扩大体验，以合适的最低成本达到合适的最高果效。”

最大的趋势之一是使帐篷营销更靠近商店。“你正目睹与我们共事的厂商正更加聚焦于出现在商店级别的项目，而不是截然相反的社区。”位于加利福尼亚州圣安娜市的Advantage 销售和市场公司的Marketration部门总监Sheree Winslow说道。该公司每年大约运作10000场帐篷营销，包括在Petco停车场举办的一年一度的吉娃娃赛狗大赛。

“你不会只是想建立提升知名度的体验，你想给他们提供一次购买的机会。”Daymon公司的Van Voorhis补充说。“不管你给他们赠券使他们折返回零售现场，也不管你老老实实带收银机到场，一旦他们体验完毕，想方设法让他们立即购买就真的重要。”

来自George P. Johnson体验营销的Rich对此如何处理自有一套：给顾客提供活动，这已经走进了零售商场，如在Target商场里提供来自基督教青年会的课程。“如果你要强化价值双方的场所——我走到哪里买东西，我需要顾及我的孩子和孩子的活动，我必须投入于以照顾我的孩子——为什么不在同一处把这两者结合起来？”

                               （By Erica Walkup，From SHOPPER MARKETING）

                            （作者：Erica Walkup，来源：SHOPPER MARKETING）