The Club eventoplus analyzes the event brief

The idea: to be specific and get first hand experience of key professionals. In Madrid, José María Palomares (ING Direct) and Luz Hidalgo (Telefónica) provided the corporate point of view, and Pilar Sayans (Momentum), the agency experience. And in Barcelona Rafael Grande (Almirall) and Kirsty Brown (Apple Tree Communications) compared views and experiences, before opening the floor to questions from the public. Over 40 professionals attended in each city.

The details of the discussions wont be revealed here, since the Club eventoplus will shortly publish a report on the brief, which will integrate the best of these meetings. But some of the keys are the following:

– It is fundamental. Impossible to make a really useful event without a full brief. You have to collect a lot of information (about the company, the target, objectives…) that will help define the type of action, concept, contents and activities. If an event has to communicate, then it is imperative to have complete information.

– … And should work, time and contacts… Before starting to organize the event, or before selecting the agency, it is important to lay the groundwork. Often the brief is a cold document that arrives by email. All agreed on the importance of direct contact, ideally a meeting or calls to clarify points in the brief rather than letting agencies work with doubts.

– … And involvement of stakeholders. The brief does not come only from direct client, but this has to get internal information from various types of actors, whether procurement, communication for the presence of the brand, marketing for product objectives…

– The objective, quantitative (ideally). Here we touch upon the issue of ROI… and while defining a clear goal is important, it is not always possible (especially in the pharmaceutical sector, restricted in what type of tracking options of attendees).

– The necessary transparency. This fundamental point as José María Palomares sometimes is missing in our sector. You need to know the participating agencies the budget, the process, background…), so they can work as effectively as possible.

– Be selective. Recent years have seen agencies participate in pitches without discrimination, “to get something”. Luz Hidalgo advised them to be more selective, less but better presented, always with a deep understanding of the client and fits securely.

– The entire chain. While the client brief to agency needs to be completed (and not always is), the agency´s brief to providers should also improve. Creativity, ideas for improvement, adaptation to target… this can also come from suppliers, which would therefore have to contact earlier and fuller brief.

Stay tuned to get the full report, or contact club@eventoplus.com