Confidence in event marketing’s power, value soars

The results of The George P. Johnson Company/MPI Foundation 2004 Global Event Trends Survey are in – and the powerful findings forecast a future for event marketing rich with potential, in terms of impact, utilization and investment.

The global report on the third-annual survey of 600 marketing executives in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific found that 91% of marketing executives perceive the importance of event marketing to be constant or increasing, a finding that bolsters a three-year trend of increased confidence in the face-to-face marketing discipline.

Some two-thirds of respondents rated events as delivering the greatest ROI, with 19 percent giving the nod to direct marketing and 14 percent to sales promotion.

A key takeaway from this year’s survey is the emergence of event marketing as the marketing discipline reported by 37% of respondents to deliver the greatest return on investment (ROI), as compared to other disciplines. Although event marketing tops the ROI list, marketers’ use of specific event types differs along with their marketing objectives. Global results show that trade shows are perceived by one-third of surveyed corporations as the leading event type in terms of ROI. Following trade shows in perceived ROI are conferences (24%) and seminars (20%).

Event marketing averages 20 percent of total marketing communications budgets.

The growing influence of event marketing appeared greatest in Asia-Pacific. Three-quarters of respondents in Asia-Pacific said the influence of event marketing is growing, 20 percentage points higher than respondents in other parts of the world. Half the Asia-Pacific respondents anticipated increased budgets for event marketing, more than any other marketing activity.

The survey also revealed differences in the ways marketing executives in United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific qualify event success. While executives in the United States and Europe cited increased product knowledge as the criterion most important when determining event marketing success, executives in Asia-Pacific placed greater emphasis on brand awareness.

“Whether it’s increased product knowledge, greater brand awareness, a boost in sales or a reinvigorated work force, face-to-face events are instrumental in helping organizations advance their strategic goals,” said David DuBois, executive vice president of the MPI Foundation and vice president of corporate services for MPI.

“It is encouraging to see that executives in the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific are continuing to see the value of events in the marketing mix,” DuBois added.

Get more information at: www.gpjco.com.