Event Marketing, a way to be seen, heard and connected : Six case studies of Event Marketing as a promotional tool

Sammanfattning: Problem statement: In what ways do companies work strategically with event marketing? To answer the problem statement, the following research questions help us gain the necessary understandings: What role does event marketing play in a company’s marketing mix? What are the deciding factors that make companies select certain events? What objectives do companies have with event marketing? How do companies evaluate their event marketing? Purpose: Through analyzing multiple case studies of event users and event organizers, this essay attempts to gain an understanding of how companies work strategically with event marketing as a promotional tool. Method: Primary data collection was compiled through a series of six interviews of both event users and event organizers. This qualitative data has contributed towards the formulation of six case studies that outline the research findings. In addition to interviews, secondary data was compiled through literature, scientific articles, and internet-based materials. Conclusion: The findings of this paper show that event marketing is an integrated promotional tool that is used to further strengthen a company’s comprehensive marketing mix. Companies’ objectives of event marketing are usually well-defined, but can differ a great deal between different companies and different kinds of events. With that said, one of the main objectives shared by nearly all kinds of events is the goal to affect the image of the brand. Furthermore, companies take several criteria into consideration when selecting a particular event to align with, but the findings show that the most important criteria is an event’s capacity to fulfil the goals stated with the event. Finally, companies experience that the evaluation of event effectiveness is difficult to measure. Whereas hard values such as number of visitors or television viewership is straightforward to gauge, soft values such as attitude, perception or image associations are much more difficult to quantify.