GOODBYE!!!!!!!!

Good bye to one and all, this blogging game i quit fun!!! see you again blogsville and

SO WHATS THE DIFFERENCE THEN!

This blog has been covering the aspects of difference off two events marketing strategies, one a consumer show and the other a trade show. You could say that they are just both expo's and that their marketing communications are the same, but that is not so!

Yes both use marketing communications and yes the marcomm's tools used are very similar, with a huge use of web,digital and social media.What is important to understand is that everyone uses the same marketing communications tools within the modern world of marketing, but it is what the business objectives and goals that govern what the marketing communications strategy and objectives will be and in which way this will impact on how you use the marcomm's tools. 

Each event had a very different set of objectives and this can be seen in what they where marketing and how.

Getting to grips with what your business objectives are and conveying them to your target market via marketing communications tools such as advertising, PR and many other channels can be a mean feet or could be as simple as creating a Facebook page.

It is clear that in today's modern world that technology and media is changing the way we communicate. It is also clear that both events no matter how different they actually are, Both must and do have a handle on the new media challenges and use very similar platforms but in very different ways and this is all down to aspects of difference in the business and marketing objectives and goals.

My conclusion of marketing communications is, Its not what you do it's the way that you do it!!

THE FORCE IS STRONG WITH THIS ONE!!

So i have been looking at the marketing and advertising strategies of two events Hyper Japan which has now past and the International Outdoor Event Expo which is on as from tomorrow.

I may have been looking at the marketing strategies but in the advertising strategy we need to analyse what type of force each event may be using, no we are not talking star wars and yes we are talking about advertising theory. If you are now thinking what is he talking about, let this clever bunch explain the strong and week forces  of advertising.

Strong force


"Advertising seen as a strong force suggests that it has a direct and positive impact on sales"(Pickton & Broderick 2005).

Week force


"Advertising seen as a week force suggests that advertising works through a process of reinforcing and maintaining brand values and defending market share. Its effect on sales is therefore less direct" (Pickton & Broderick 2005).


Right then!! where does that leave us? And what difference does it make to Hyper Japan and The I.O.E.X?

Well it is good to know these two differing understandings of advertising when making a close analyses of two companies advertising strategies.

In my personal view i believe advertising to be a bit of both theories.

However if i had to say which force each event had been using and i had to choose one over the other under the pain of death! It would be the strong theory.

It is obvious that both are new events and that they are both using advertising to create a positive impact on sales. Neither of the events are of an age or popularity that the consumer business or general public will see their advertising and think crikey that has reinforced their brand values.

Sorry A.S.C Ehrenberg you lose this time, J.P Jones strong force was to strong!!

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED!!

IT IS FINALLY HERE!! WHOOP WHOOP!!

That's right people its time to get yourself's down to the much awaited I.O.E.X this week. I can not wait to visit
this amazingly interesting and cool looking new show, which is taking place at the Excel exhibition center (OH dear the public relations marketing strategy seems to have worked!! Now even i am doing it!!)

Seminars about the outdoor events industry and a plethora of event industry businesses. I can not wait!(oops doing it again)

AVERSE TO A BIT OF ADVERTISING?

So the two events Hyper Japan and the I.O.E.X  both must have advertised and promoted the events for them to be of notice to the outside world. When searching for two events for purposes of research for a university degree assignment it did not take me long to find which two events i wanted to research the marketing strategies of.
I found these events because they had advertised and well enough for it to come to my attention. I first saw an I.O.E.X advertisement in the Main Event, event industry magazine (hard copy, but this is the weblink,http://www.themaineventmagazine.co.uk/) and the Hyper Japan event was advertised to me via their venue's advertising tool which is the Earls court  website(http://www.eco.co.uk/).

This is proof of advertising, but what is advertising and can we find a clear definition of what it means?
Well many see advertising as a form of communication and it is, advertising is conveyance of the product or service to the consumer market and or the end user. Lets see what the intellects think!

"This idea of advertising "delivering a sales message" is not a new one"(Schultz, D.1990)

That's right advertising has been around for centuries even millennium.

George and Michael Belch really sum advertising up. "Any paid form of non personal communication about an organization, product, service or idea by an identified sponsor."(Belch, G. Belch, M.1998)

OK we now know what advertising is i hope! lets look at how these two events Hyper Japan and I.O.E.X went about advertising their events.

Hyper Japan is up first.

The main concentration of Hyper Japans advertising was via internet/digital, social media and viral marketing/ advertising. There has also been an approach of sales promotion and the use of PR to deliver their sales message. I did not find any hard copy advertising and could not tie them to any magazine or news paper.

Also there i could not find any poster or billboard advertising. The fact that there must of been little to no hard copy advertising around the Hyper Japan event leads me to believe even more so that the main marketing strategy was to be online and strongly based around the website and social media links.

Here i will look more closely at how they advertised.

Lets start with the website, Cross Media have been building this site into what it is today over the past two - three years. The website is used as the main advertising hub for the event. The website is used to advertise the whole event(build up, the show and after show review). The website acted as the media hub in the sense that all roads/ routes connected to the event would or could potentially lead back to the main website.The only website so far out of  the sponsors, partners or public relations that i have found to have website pop ups and banners from Hyper Japan is the Eat Japan website who have a banner down the left side of their home page.  I am yet to find any other digital media on other websites apart from the standard Hyper Japan Image/logo which would be at the top of some form of PR.

There was a huge use of social media marketing being used by Hyper Japan, all social media links reverted in one way or another back to either one of their social media sites or in the long run to the main website. This was a core part of the marketing and advertising strategy being used by Cross Media (Hyper Japan), get all  internet and social media traffic about there event pointing towards their website.

MORE TO COME

I.O.E.X is next!!

So we know that the I.O.E.X has used hard copy and internet advertising by placing advertisements in the industry press magazine Main Event, but i am still yet to find any other hard copy press or magazine with advertising I.O.E.X may of paid for.
I would think that due to Main Event having a stand at the I.O.E.X there may have been some form of B2B partnership deal with either free advertising for a discounted pitch prize at the show or some form of B2B deal.
This i would say would be a large part of the marketing and advertising strategy from I.O.E.X. To use all exhibitors as a form of B2B discounted or free advertising platform. This works for both parties and would definitely be in place with all sponsorship deals.

Between exhibitions, shows and the businesses/consumer market in the given genre of which they might sit there is  normally extensive saturation of the trade show advertising via press or online media within the genres associated media and very little further than that, Obviously, whats the point of advertising an outdoor event trade show to a consumer comic book convention audience!!

This is true but the outdoor events industry is vast and the catchment of many differing industry and trade genres is needed in the case of the I.O.E.X and i believe that the marketing strategy they have taken which is to use platforms of media that many view., i.e online and hard copy trade press and magazines. Also the use of public relations techniques with the I.O.E.X sponsors, supporters and media partners makes for good advertising.

There is use of social media with the use of Twitter, Facebook and  LinkedIn which i believe is a must in today's world especially when it comes to marketing strategies and public relations.

What i believe to be the best marcomms tool that the I.O.E.X have is their website. It really has all guns blazing in all directions. As a student and industry professional myself  i know that these days the website is the first port of call when it comes to getting the low down on the event i am working or attending.

The website really works and as a marketing tool allows visitors to easily understand why they need to attend or exhibit the show. Not only is the website good but all e-marketing as in e-newsletters is really informative and very well pieced together and cleverly directs you back to the website.

Another important aspect and defiantly one of the main reasons for prediction of greatness from the I.O.E.X event is that it is the little brother or son of the almighty C.O.N.F.E.X. The association to the UK's biggest conference and exhibition show is a huge plus for the marketing strategy of the I.O.E.X.
As it is the C.O.N.F.E.X (U.B.M)that birthed the I.O.E.X(also U.B.M), announced its arrival and has most defiantly helped it take its first steps to becoming another industry must attend event, this has helped massively in creating a buzz about the event via public relations, as everyone who already attends or has anything to do with C.O.N.F.E.X will be falling over each other in an attempt to be a part of I.O.E.X or just to show that they were there first.

Very Clever marketing strategy by the parent company U.B.M,(U.B.M is a global media and B2B communications, marketing, service and data provider. Check out this link for more on big mumma!!http://www.ubm.com/about-ubm/ubm-overview.aspx).

Creating a new event and marketing it to target groups that they already either had links with or had their eyes on over the last few years. The new event I.O.E.X is really the an extension of the C.O.N.F.E.X but due to the size of C.O.N.F.E. UBM really could not have just linked the two, they had to create a completely new event with a clever strategical marketing approach.



MORE TO COME

  

DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!!!

That's right people Hyper Japan was not what i thought it was going to be, after visiting the event and the local area in which it was held (Earls Court in London) it was clear to see that the event was lacking in the physical advertising and promotion aspects of marketing.

On my journey to the event i detected no presence of event promotion and even worse no advertising in the form of posters, billboards, handouts, flyer's or London Underground tube advertising. On my arrival to the Earls Court exhibition hall i found it hard to event detect the location and entrance.

The only external physical marketing i could see was a sign that said Hyper Japan tickets this way and on the actual Earls Court illuminated listings which are located directly on the front doors of the Earls court building.

Finding so little or virtually no physical advertising presence at earls court and in the surrounding area's( I traveled around London for the day) came as some what of a surprise to me. I have attended several events at Earls Court and also the local Olympia and i have always seen advertising for the event of which i was attending.

On finding and entering the event which was being held in the smaller event hall at the rear of Earls Court, it was clear to see that there was a minimal budget for the event and that a lot of what they had advertised was hype. All or most of what the website advertised as being at the event was there but in very small quantities and or not well organised. The information from the website and news letters did not match up to what was on offer on the day of the event.

The marketing strategy was to advertise via social media and website links. This in turn has created a social networking event, targeted mainly at 16-25 year old computer gamer's or anime animation fans.

Hyper Japans social media marketing must of worked though as the event seemed reasonably busy with the right type of clientele.

IF the marketing strategy was to only use social media and viral marketing mixed in with a bit of business to business PR it seems to have worked. But i do believe that they are missing a trick by not using other types of media to reach out to other target groups who may be interested in the event, they could be alienating them selves from other markets outside of the social media reach and therefore cutting themselves off from potential market groups which may bring in bigger revenue and advertising and business relations with other media suppliers.   

HYPE UP HYPER JAPAN!!

Today is the start of the Hyper Japan event at earls court, I am visiting the event to have a closer look at their marketing solutions and strategies. So excited, of course i will have to soak up some of the Japanese culture along the way, first its the marketing then its the sushi!! Many advertising aspects to be looked at! watch this space!