Report on Marketing

Event Management as
a Service
Service Marketing Project for Trimester III

This report on marketing event management as a service is a part of the project

submitted as part of the syllabus of the subject service marketing of trimester
III.

Contents
Marketing of Event Management as a Service (EMaaS).................3
What is an Event?.......................................................................3
What is Event Management?......................................................3
Who is an Event Manager?.........................................................3
New Features of 21st Century Event Management......................4
Inclusion of Sustainable Practices.............................................4
Use of Digital Technology.........................................................4
Blue Print for Marketing Event Management as a Service
(EMaaS)...................................................................................... 5
Event Management as a Service Marketing Mix.......................5
Suggestions for Optimization of Event Management as a
Services Marketing..................................................................7
Focus Company: Lemongrass India Pvt. Ltd................................8
Overview.................................................................................. 8
Leadership...............................................................................8
Business Philosophy.................................................................8
Organizational Culture..............................................................8
Service Strategy....................................................................... 8
Marketing Strategy...................................................................9
Upcoming Projects....................................................................9
References:................................................................................. 9

Marketing of Event Management as a Service (EMaaS)

Id Love to Throw Parties for a Living. Nikolaj Petrovic
What is an Event?
An event may be defined as a gathering of people for various purposes
(celebration, seminar, education, business etc.). Events can be classified on
the basis of their size, context, and type.
What is Event Management?
Event management may be defined as the application of the principles of
project management to the conception and development of events such as
festivals, conferences, ceremonies, formal parties, concerts, or conventions.
Some of the key steps involved in event management (before actually
launching an event) are:

Studying the client brand

Identifying the target audience
Devising the event concept (keeping in mind the first two factors)
Planning the logistics
Coordinating the technical aspects

Who is an Event Manager?

The event manager is in event management what the general contractor is
in project management.
She/he plans and executes the event, taking responsibility for overseeing the
creative, technical and logistical elements.
An event managers responsibilities include supervision of the following:

Overall Event Design

Brand Building
Marketing and Communication Strategy
Audio-Visual Production
Scriptwriting
Logistics
Budgeting
Client Negotiation and Service

New Features of 21st Century Event Management

Inclusion of Sustainable Practices
Sustainable event management (also known as event greening) is a new
concept wherein one incorporates socially and environmentally responsible
decision making into the various activities of event management (i.e.
planning, organization, implementation, participation). Event greening
entails the inclusion of sustainable development principles and practices at
all stages of event management with the goal of ensuring that an event is
hosted in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.
Some commonly used greening practices are listed below.

Green purchasing
Waste minimization
Energy efficiency
Water conservation
Emissions reduction

Greening has the following benefits:

Cost savings
Positive reputation
Environmental innovation
Social benefits

Use of Digital Technology

Event management leverages recent developments in Information and
Communication Technology (ICT).

Creation of customized mobile-friendly event websites.

Venue management including floor planning, booking and billing.
Online invitation/registration and delegate/invitee management
(including online payment).
E-procurement, and online Request For Proposals (RFPs).
Content management including documentation and publishing.
Audience polling and instant response solutions.

Blue Print for Marketing Event Management as a Service (EMaaS)

Event Management as a Service Marketing Mix
4P+3
Pricing
This needs to respond to two concerns:

What is the unit which serves as the measuring rod for pricing
(e.g. for an event is it the area of the venue, the number of hours
it is booked for, or both)?

Are additional sub-services factored into the overall price or each

priced individually as an add-on charge?

Product
In the case of event management, the product is an intangible service,
which may be defined by the equation service = people + process.
These two elements will be dealt with subsequently.

Promotion
As event management is essentially a service it is important to use
experience marketing the logo, the demeanor of the team, the
ambience of the events, even the room freshener, food packaging can
be used contribute to the service experience and hence play a role in
promoting and building the brand.
Moreover, in addition to the traditional 4 Ps, the service company
also has to focus on 3 additional (and vital) Ps (People, Processes,
Physical Evidence).

Place
The place where the service is consumed is also of importance for a
service like event management as the service will be consumed at a
location agreed upon by the client. Location, convenience, timing are
some of the attributes of an event place that must be taken into
consideration.

People
In the words of Zeithaml, all human actors who play a part in service
delivery and thus influence the buyers perceptions; namely, the firms
personnel, the customer, and other customers in the service
environment - can come under this P.

Processes
In the case of an event management company, the processes are not a
set of procedures to achieve an established outcome. Processes are in
fact the primary interface between the company and the client in
effect processes are the primary path by which service consumers
experience their moment of truth about the company.

Physical Evidence
This is a key P for an event management company to deliver value,
build its brand, and wow its clients.
E.g. for a sports event, the audiences tickets and players uniforms
can be emblazoned with the logos of the company. The stadium can be
designed tastefully and promoters can work the crowds to create an
energetic atmosphere.
In fact, the company should treat all tangible assets (office space, web
sites, stationery) as physical evidence, and therefore design and brand
them accordingly.

The 5 Ws of Event Marketing

Who is the target audience?
The response to this question must go beyond simple age and gender
demographics.
Profiles of past and current participants must be sampled in order to
gain meaningful insights into behavior, buying habits, social media
traits, and overall lifestyle with the final goal of understanding
what motivates them to register for an event.

Where will the marketing campaign be held?

There are many platforms and media to market the event, such as
traditional print and television advertising, social media, and even
guerilla marketing programs.
Using our insights from the who question, we can decide on the
marketing medium (as per the participants measured preferences).
Whereas traditional media (such as radio, TV, and print) are useful for
spreading brand awareness, they would certainly serve as a good
complement to digital and social media marketing campaigns because
digital and social media are cheap, easily customizable, reliable for
delivering participant actions (such as registration and fundraising)
which in turn can be easily measured by tracking online trends and
behavior of the target audience.

Why campaign there?

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Once event marketers have determined the online media where their
target audience would consume digital content, their next step is to
determine why they do so. E.g. a recruiter who uses LinkedIn daily for
more than three hours might quite possibly see a promoted LinkedIn
ad and click on it. However, a person who just uses LinkedIn to read a
few business articles might not be influenced by the LinkedIn post and
perhaps a different channel would be required to get through to
him/her.

What motivates the target audience?

Before deciding on creative artwork and copy, we must formulate a
messaging that is aligned with the target audiences intrinsic
motivations and appeals to both stated as well as unstated wants. A
thorough analysis of the who and why questions will help in making
the correct decision regarding what.

When is the best time?

The response to this question is the key to formulation of a delivery
timeline for the marketing communication campaign. E.g. the best time
to post a message on Facebook is between 1 PM and 4 PM, as during
the afternoon slump after lunch, people often check their Facebook
accounts and hence the clickthrough rate is higher. Similarly, Friday is
not a good day to post on LinkedIn as people are winding up their
workweek.

Suggestions for Optimization of Event Management as a Services

Marketing
Maintain continuous feedback and improvement throughout service
delivery.
Event management as a service tends to involve frequent and deep
client interaction during both production and consumption. Elements of
the customer experience need to be tailored as per the tastes of the
particular client. As people play a key role in service delivery the
attitude, skills as well as appearance of the event team must all be
impeccable.

Focus on relationship marketing (and not just transactional marketing).

The companys focus should be on customer retention and satisfaction,
rather than a myopic focus on sales transactions. Relationship
marketing further benefits the company through the generation of
repeat sales, word-of-mouth promotion, and the ability to gather
information on long-term customer behavior.

Focus on originality, memorableness, and differentiation.

The company must work on experience branding providing a
unique experience that cannot be emulated by competitors who lack
the work culture and people of this company. It must aim on creating a
wow factor in all that it does via the simplicity, uniqueness, and
creativity of their events.

Hire for servant leader attitude. Train for technical and interactive
skills.
As services are all about people, it is vital that the right people are
recruited. Studies indicate that technical competency is the wrong
focus.
The keys traits needed are coachability, emotional intelligence,
temperament, and motivation. Technical and other skills can be
taught later; DNA, however, cannot be altered.

Use the power of social proof to promote and build your brand.
Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is a
psychological phenomenon wherein people learn social behavior by
emulating the behavior of others. In the case of consumers of event
management services, the social proof can be via celebrity endorsers,
users (via written reviews on Yelp, review videos on YouTube, word-ofmouth on social media sites like Facebook etc.).

Focus Company: Lemongrass India Pvt. Ltd.

Overview
Lemongrass India Pvt. Ltd. is an event-management company based in
Greater Noida, currently in the start-up stage of its commercial journey. It is a
boutique firm and specializes in handling bespoke out-of-the-box event
solutions with a different flavor.
Leadership
Mr. Keshav Kohli, the MD, is a mechanical engineer by training, and has over
16 years experience working with Marlboros business communication
department.
Mr. A. S. Bais, Head (Advisory Board), is an MBA in HR and has extensive
experience in Human Resource Management (HRM) with companies like
Wipro, Vedanta, Ernst & Young and has pioneered many projects in the Indian
outsourcing industry.

Business Philosophy
Clarity of vision and excellence of execution are the cornerstones of
Lemongrasss credo. Management is a verb, not a noun therefore
pragmatism trumps sophism. The scale of the companys operations does
not bring it into direct competition with the major players. Competition is not
viewed as a threat but a learning opportunity, and a large project turns the
companys friendly competitors into friendly business partners.
Organizational Culture
The company has the look and feel of a start-up. To paraphrase the words of
the founder, it is like family members working for the family. The style of
working is informal, as the leadership feels that formal techniques work best
for a process that is already pre-defined and in their case they need to dig a
new well everyday in order to drink water. The leadership seeks skills that
are native to a person while recruiting but also believes in polishing and
growing its people.
Service Strategy
Lemongrasss client service operates on the basis of a set of ground rules.
However, the modus operandi (i.e. service delivery methodology) is
completely bespoke drafted and then be customized as per the customer
requirements. The company regards its offering as a product as it has to be
suitably packaged in the sense that impeccable presentation and flawless
performance of the finished program are very important. Moreover, the
founder notes that events are not services in the strict sense of the
definition of the term as events are not produced and consumed
simultaneously. In conclusion, Lemongrass views event management is a
service but the event, from start to finish, as a product.
Marketing Strategy
The company has domain expertise in grass roots and social media
marketing. An in-house IT team handles digital marketing and gathers
insights from marketing data by running algorithms. On the basis of these
marketing insights, the company creates niche markets, locates the target
audience, and plans the R&D for its event offerings.
For Lemongrass, the best way of gauging marketing success is return
customers. The overall happiness of the sponsors is a KPI that must be
monitored. At the end of the day, performance is best gauged by the balance
in the bank account.
In order to add holistic and durable value to the community through its
business, the company also actively engages in CSR (under the aegis of
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various NGOs) via the medium of its event management activities and their
related supply chain. This is also a sound marketing tool as it lends a feelgood factor to the companys brand.
Upcoming Projects
The company is planning a Holi-themed event for the 6th of March. The
event is being organized in collaboration with the AMR Corporation and will
feature Tomatina, adventure sports etc., rivaling the event Holy Shit in its
grandeur and wow factor. The company is also handling the entire
marketing campaign for this event.
References:
Event Marketing by Leonard H. Hoyle
www.slideshare.net/CharlesCotter/strategic-and-impactful-eventsmanagement?qid=c8f98db4-2b98-4861-bed7324d389c5317&v=qf1&b=&from_search=12
www.event360.com/blog/the-5-w-s-of-event-marketing/
www.fastcompany.com/3036184/how-to-be-a-success-ateverything/the-best-and-worst-times-to-post-on-social-media-infograph
www.marketingteacher.com/services-marketing-mix/

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