When the party’s over the ROI begins

Marketers are taking off their party hats in favour of a cool business head, as three dimensional, hands-on, tactical events get invited onto more discerning marketing budgets in Hong Kong. Heather Jacobs discovers even in a party town like this one events for the sake of an events are so last season and ROI is in.

In May, Nokia had 60 people madly racing through the streets of Mongkok and Causeway Bay competing in the Nokia N95 Treasure Hunt Challenge. Working in teams of four, each team was given a Nokia N95, including GPS, HSDPA, WiFi, megapixel camera and QR Code Reader to help them find clues, complete missions and hunt their way to the finish line at the Nokia flagship store in Causeway Bay. The first three teams shared a prize pool of HK$100,000 with prizes presented by artist Aaron Kwok.

Globally, Nokia has long recognised the value events can bring to the brand and is just one of the marketers tapping into this potential to create unique experiences for consumers which leave them with a warm glow about the brand and generate desirable word-of-mouth buzz.

Bruce Lam, general manager, customer and market operations, Hong Kong and Macau for Nokia says the game was designed to let users apply the latest mobile technology in an engaging and novel way.

"In doing so, they can discover for themselves the vast potential that a Nokia NSeries multimedia computer could offer," he says.

Events are now recognised as a critical part of the marketing mix, says Hong Kong based Ben Taylor, SVP, managing director, Asia of Jack Morton Worldwide. The importance events now have is evidenced by the fact Taylors clients are now coming from the marketing department where as once the majority were executive assistants or HR managers.

"Consumers and audiences are demanding more - it is no longer acceptable for a brand just to ‘tell' they also have to ‘do'. Advertising ‘tells' while events ‘do'," he says.

While the common assumption is that an event is more limited in its ability to reach a wide audience than more traditional forms of marketing, this is only partially true, Taylor says.

"Firstly the majority of marketing plans can identify a top tier target audience - even if they are the supply partners as opposed to consumers - and to reach this top tier holding an event is the most effective way of communicating on an intimate and personal basis and to build advocacy. Advocacy in turn leads to word of mouth," Taylor says.

"Secondly some brands are utilising the events medium as their key marketing platform with advertising, PR, and point of sale cascading out. A typical example of this is The Lycra Fashion Awards: brands that go beyond simply sponsoring an event to make a true brand statement."

Events-driven marketing needs to be defined, says Beatrice Remy, business development director of Uniplan Hong Kong, which has organised events in Hong Kong for clients including Mercedes-Benz, Louis Vuitton, ABN Amro, Amway, Elle Magazine and Time Asia. It includes a diverse range of "live communication" activities such as trade shows, conferences, corporate and public events, road shows and showcases.

"Events combine aspects of selling, lead generation, public relations, research, brand awareness building, customer relationship and experience management. They always deliver an experience whether they are more content or emotion driven," she says.

"With positive and memorable events, you create invaluable growth for the corporation in the form of increased loyalty, purchase, product trial and experience sharing. It is an ongoing evolution - you are only as good as your last event."

Get out and touch your consumers

Focused events, which target a specific interest group, is the dominant trend in the market currently, according to Culsin Li, general manager of E21 Magicmedia, who is feeling the impact of an increased focus on customer relationship management (CRM).

"Since CRM, personalised service and royalty programs are getting popular and have become key elements of most marketing plans and events have proven to be an effective drive-tool for achieving these marketing goals," says Li.

"No matter how good the CRM and web based royalty programs are, eventually a regular face-to-face meeting is necessary to strengthen the relationship."

Yvonne Tey, marketing manager for Microsoft's MSN and Windows Live for Asia-Pacific, agrees, saying the decision to hold an event is driven by opportunities in each market across the region. The most recent event the company held was in Thailand, celebrating MSN's fourth year anniversary in this market. It gave Microsoft an opportunity to thank its partners and clients and at the same time show them new product innovations.

Tey says the biggest trend in the style of events is that they have gone from a more formal setting to a more casual one. In the past the presentation style was very formal providing a chance to outline what the company does and how it positions itself but with so many more channels available to communicate with consumers, it's more about building relationships.

While Hong Kong has been an events hot spot, geographically, for many years, Shanghai and Macau are emerging as strong competitors. Remy thinks the three markets complement each other as they each have different consumer catchments areas. She considers Macau, with its rapidly growing appeal as an event destination, as unique while Shanghai is critical for reaching out to mainland Chinese consumers.

"In Hong Kong, there is a pool of top-end international event producers who have brought experience, process and creativity to managing international large scale events anywhere in Asia Pacific. They produce among the most sophisticated events in Asia, which makes Hong Kong distinctive," says Remy.

Jack Morton's Hong Kong office is also benefiting from the boom in adjacent markets.

"Many of our client's regional offices are based in Hong Kong, so whilst the event destination might not be on home soil, the project's planning often is. In some instances, due to the maturity of the Hong Kong events market, clients based in destinations such as Macau and Shanghai are working with Hong Kong based organisations to ensure quality of service which is perceivably not available locally to them," Taylor says.

Making business an event and events mean business

Taylor says events are becoming more marketing aligned, regardless of the audience - employees, B2B or consumer - which means that concepts have become much more about ‘the message' than ‘the moment'.

Remy has noticed this trend as well, saying events have become more focused and integrated with the key marketing and business objectives.

She says: "The choice and depth of events have changed primarily with the emergence of the new economy. Consumers' attention has become increasingly difficult to catch. Information overload, lack of relevance, predominance of personalisation and management of customer relationships: those factors have contributed, for marketers, to a shift for events-driven marketing to a branded experience relevant to its audience. Another shift is that marketers in Asia are slowly asking for measurable results and consultancy services."

Remy suggests that each event be evaluated in term of business objectives, target audience and budget.

"Some of the top event professionals in Asia are based in Hong Kong which increases the cost-effectiveness of running events here," she says.

The obvious cost centres to holding an event cover venue, food and beverage, ground transportation, production/fabrication, any entertainment and of course agency fees, says Taylor, who finds Hong Kong comparable.

"There is little cost differential between venue and food and beverage between Hong Kong and other markets. China might be cheaper for production, but using a local supplier can often compromise quality - hence many Hong Kong based production suppliers also have bases on the mainland."

E21's Culsin agrees, saying the cost of holding an event is more controllable in Hong Kong with reliable quality of deliverables.

"For example, we will only use one third of the manpower to do the same thing in Hong Kong compared to Shanghai," she says, adding that it is important to consider the weather and holiday periods, not only in Hong Kong, but also mainland China.

"During summer time in Hong Kong the weather isn't stable so I wouldn't recommend an outdoor event and during public holidays there are quite a lot of people traveling heavily or working in China, so if the event is targeting this group of people, the above two factors must be taken into account," she says.

For a large multi-market company like Microsoft running events across numerous geographic locations across the Asia Pacific brings its own challenge. These are mainly to do with not making assumptions about each market and understanding the local conditions, according to Tey.

For example, connectivity is important for an online company and the technology and infrastructure in Hong Kong and Singapore means things move smoothly, whereas in Vietnam and Thailand connectivity can be a bit of an issue because wireless is not at the same standard.

Beware the party crashers

Remy says that the litany of things that can go wrong in Hong Kong is similar to any other international city - underestimation of resources during peak season, absence of event insurance, poor training, and lack of weather contingency.

"Another risk is cost cutting that jeopardises the integrity of an event and by extension its success," she says.

Taylor agrees, nominating amateurs as the biggest risk to a successful event.

"If you think employing a professional is expensive, wait to you see what an amateur will cost you!" he warns.

At the end of the day, your event is only going to be a success if you attract the right people. And just who the right people are depends on factors including the client, their objectives and targets for communications, says Taylor. Some are compulsory, for example, internal or employee events, but for B2B audiences the higher you go up the food chain the harder it becomes to attract them.

"For B2B audiences and on a spend per-head basis the trend these days is to sink the dollars into the most influential audience - the direct decision makers - the word "C-level" is on most client's lips," he says.

"We are currently researching international headline acts as a draw to a social event for a C-level audience - these headline acts often cost more than half the total event budget."

For events with a more business related angle, key business speakers create a draw to an event - but they also don't come cheap, warns Taylor.

"Beyond the tactics employed at the event to act as a draw many organisations create complex marketing campaigns to draw target audiences - often comprising integrated web (registration is a key element of audience acquisition), direct marketing, telemarketing, PR and trade advertising. The technology companies are best at this, for example, Cisco Networkers, Oracle OpenWorld and Microsoft Tech-Ed."

The right crowd

Fiona Shek, marketing executive at New Point Marketing says a successful event depends on the creative idea/concept and effective execution.

"To attract the most influential people to an event, the first things you need to look at are the characteristics of your target audience, understanding their needs and interests, then design the suitable activities to arouse their interest," she says.

Shek also recommends using other marketing tools, for example, database marketing, telemarketing, direct marketing, and email marketing to inform them about the event. But, make sure there's a good reason to hold the event in the first place.

"You should only hold an event when you really need to as events aren't always necessary to enhance awareness, in some situations, media interview and exposure can also do the job well in building image and credibility," says Shek.

To attract the most influential people to an event, Culsin recommends issuing personalised invitations and highlighting the pertinent points in all marketing collateral; ensure the event topic, theme and speaker adhere to current trends; and use frequent reminders in the lead-up to the event to make sure people don't forget it is on.

For Microsoft, most events are targeted at companies who could spend money on advertising including SMEs, banks and FMCG companies. Tey says attracting the right people is influenced by the invitation itself, how it is presented, and the content as, when it comes to influential people, they are very busy and therefore the content of the event itself should be relevant to them.

Lost in space

While there have been some great new spaces emerging for events in Hong Kong, there's still not enough, according to Taylor, who identifies the lack of event spaces as a major challenge for event marketing.

"If you have up to 200 guests you use a hotel or a restaurant, if you have 500 you have to go to a hotel or one of the convention centres, if you have 1000 you have to go to the convention centres," he says.

Taylor admits there are exceptions where venues which wouldn't normally be event venues have thought outside the box, such as Cyberport, but these are rare. "Hong Kong needs to get more creative with its space - what little there is - take a leaf out of the book of Singapore whose government has directly supported the realisation of event venues to drive convention visitors. They have recently built a floating platform on the waterfront which can be hired as space for events - it's a blank canvas, which is brilliant!"

Remy says innovation is independent of choice of venue.

"You can make an extraordinary event out of conventional venues. Nevertheless, out-of-the-box and unexpected venues can match the event brief perfectly such as museums, venues on water, in construction sites and warehouses," she says.

Booking venues that aren't expected by the target audience is a strategy also recommended by Culsin.

"Clients like the idea of hosting events in museums, historical venues, art centers or temples, and other places that haven't been traditionally used for events," she says.

"Although the event content is similar, the creative venue will lead a new experience which creates a very positive perception towards a company."

The right venue along with a smoothly run event, the content of which is relevant and supportive of the brand values isn't just about creating the "wow" factor but creating the "Wow these guys really know how to engage opinion influencers and create a lasting impression" factor. After all the last thing you want to hear at the end of the night as your guests pass through the front door clutching their goodie-bag is "Great party...what do those guys do again?".

 

Box: ITU Telecom World, Jack Morton

In 2006, ITU Telecom World, which is the largest and most important global telecom event for parliamentarians, dignitaries, VIPs and exhibitors, moved from Geneva to Hong Kong for the first time and Jack Morton was charged with producing the welcome reception and Minister's dinner.

Over 4,500 guests attended the events. At the reception drumming performances were synched with 3-D video to tell the story of how telecommunications brings the world together.

The Minister's dinner was seen as another opportunity to display Hong Kong's culture and hospitality and the "Global Connections" performance combined contemporary dance and multimedia and illustrated the progression of technology, China and the world at large.

 

 

Box: Nokia, New Years Eve global concert

On December 31, Nokia hosted a New Year's Eve party for 6000 people at the Rooftop car park of the Ocean Terminal at Harbour City as part of its first ever NYE global event. Parties were also held in Mumbai, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro and New York. It was also the first client to celebrate NYE at the venue, which has a panoramic view of Victoria Harbour. There were performances by local and international artists including Atomic Kitten, DJ Jamaster A, Eason Chan, Grasshopper and Paul Wong. The audience was able to send greetings via SMS to the giant display on stage, download artists' wallpapers and animated wallpaper via two Bluetooth Poles on site as well as the remixed Nokia ring tone especially created by DJ Jamaster A. Those unable to attend could stream the archived event clips and the performances of selected artists were available for viewing from January 1 via selected operators. The party was tied in with Nokia's brand positioning of connectivity. "Living up to the promise of ‘Connecting People', Nokia New Year's Eve aimed to connect millions of people from around the world through music and mobility," says Bruce Lam, general manager customer and market operations, Hong Kong. "Nokia New Year's Eve leverages the power of television, radio, the internet, live event and the world's most exciting artists to get them talking, sharing and celebrating on one incredible night."