No big show for the events agencies

Of all the categories in the Agency of the Year survey, events marketing drew one of the most eclectic mixes of agencies, but the final decision was a close battle between Jack Morton Worldwide and the WPP-owned Ogilvy PR.

Jack Morton Worldwide managed to scrape through 6.6% of senior client marketers nominating Jack Morton as the agency they would most likely hire to run their events business. A further endorsement for Jack Morton was that recommendations among its agency peers was high, at 4.28%. But on the agency recommendation front, Jack Morton was outgunned by Ogilvy PR which recorded 6.6% of agency recommendations.

Of all the 41 companies nominated by clients, the real race was between the top four events companies. Ogilvy PR slipped in at second place with a 4.6% share of client recommendations, with Boutique with a 3.97% share of all client recommendations.

But the following 29 events groups listed by senior client marketers was a non-event. The agencies ranked between five and 33 all received an equal 1.99% of client recommendations, with agencies ranked 34 to 47 all taking a 1.32% share.

Drilling down into the numbers, events companies seriously lacked recommendation from clients from the automotive sector, travel, tourism and transport sectors (where not one company scored a client recommendation), as well as the consumer products category.

On the peer recognition front, it was not that much better. It seems senior executives from media buying and planning agencies hold little regard for the events companies. Not one senior media executive recommended an events company, and just one agency in the events category, Hill & Knowlton, managed to score a recommendation from a senior creative agency executive.

If the events industry is looking to bolster is business, it seem they have of work to do in getting both client marketers and agency managers on their radars.