SlideShare a Scribd company logo
1 of 79
INTRODUCTION TO EVENTS
Definition of the word Event:
" The use of unconventional media / method involving people witnessing a
happening within a capsule of time, for the purpose of communication of a
message."
Definition of Event Management
“Event management is the planning and management of an event, project or
activity.”
Event management as the name suggests, refers to planning, creatively organizing and
executing an event. ‘Event Management’, 15yrs ago, this phrase would have meant
nothing in the Indian corporate world. Today, it conjures up the image of celebrities
packaged with glamour and pomp in a gala event that is meticulously planned and slickly
turned out. Event management in India, which was born somewhere in mid 1980s has
grown into a highly professional and tech-savvy industry over the years. In 2003, the
industry managed over 1,000 events, including 22 international events.
The stakes have never been higher. Sponsors are savvier. Audiences are more
demanding. And, event producers and managers are held accountable by their clients to
meet their financial and marketing goals more than even before.
Event has grown in to full grown industry, an exciting new hybrid conceived through
the convergence of marketing, promotion, entertainment and the creative arts. For
corporations, events have become an essential part of marketing mix, touching
consumers emotionally and with life-long impact in ways that traditional advertising,
publicity and promotion cannot. Socially, events balance the powerful and rapid
advancement of home-based entertainment alternatives, which tend to isolate us,
bringing us closer together to celebrate and commemorate. Events have become
important as they allow the customers to get a basic feel of the product. This is the
basic difference between events and advertising. The shortcoming of advertising has let
to the emergence of events and today it has become a budding industry, a crowd puller
and a concept with which everyone can identify.
"An event is something that happens, not just exists - somebody has to
make it happen. Successful events only come about through action,
some individual or group of individuals getting things done."
A COMPREHENSIVE NEW DEFINITION
Events
An event is a live multimedia package carried out with preconceived concept, customized
or modified to achieve the clients objectives of reaching out and suitably influencing the
sharply defined, specially gathered target audience by providing a complete sensual
experience and an avenue for two-way interaction.
From the above figure we can infer that an event is a package so organized so as to
provide reach and live interaction between the target audience and the client to achieve
the desired impact. The population of the target audience that the event is exposed to is
called the reach of the event. The live interaction process facilitates communication
between the clients and the audience.
EVENT MANAGEMENT as opposed to EVENT ORGANISING: -
Although the terms are used synonymously there is a difference between the
two. Event management starts from the germination between the two. Event
management starts from the germination of an idea and includes organizing Events. An
event manager ideates on the type of event he would like to have and the audience to
whom such an event should be addressed. He conceptualizes the whole event including
the themes and the interactive response with his audience.He weighs the benefits likely
to accrue against the cost outlay and visualizes the future impact of such an event and
once he finds his perspective in place he goes ahead to organize the event.
Reach Live
interact
ion
Right
communicatio
n with the
client
With
Live
Audience
Creates
Desired
Impact
Organization of an event, strictly speaking, is co-related with the logistics.
This results in selection of an Event management company, the date, the venue, the
audience, the theme, the design, the décor and a hundred other things, which will lead
to the success of an EVENT.
In General Management terminology the “EVENT MANAGER” is the
“THINKER”. He plans, he visualizes, he decides, he delegates and ultimately he
controls. The “EVENT Organizer” is the “DOER”. He knows what is to be done and
finds ways and means on how it could be done in the best possible manner.
Professional Event Management Companies do the planning and organizing,
leaving strategic thought to their clients. They do advise on themes, conceptualization
and organization but restrict their initiatives as far as corporate strategy is concerned.
EVENT MANAGEMENT AS A CARRIER
“Today, Event Management has emerged as one of the fastest growing industries in
India, and a career in event management is not only lucrative but also glamorous
and challenging. Events are now acknowledged as a tremendous image multiplier
option leading to greater development. As a result, opening brighter and prospective
career opportunities for the new age career seekers.”
There's no business like show business!! Which is why event management has emerged
as one of the hottest careers today. Events have emerged as a hot new corporate
communication device for marketers in the cluttered-for-choice marketplace and
consequently event management has become one of the most sought after professions in
India.
In the new millennium, events are now acknowledged as a tremendous image-multi- plier
option leading to greater brand development and thereby enhanced brand equity. Industry
insiders say that this industry is growing at a tremendous rate and could easily be a Rs.
14,000 crore industry by the turn of 2006.
Event Management involves studying the intricacies of the brand, identifying the target
audience, devising the event concept, before getting down to actually executing the
modalities of the proposed event. Events have become a critical function of an overall
brand building exercise and combined with advertising help in an integrated marketing
effort. This industry is bound to witness exponential growth once more corporates realise
the potency of this tool. Realizing this, this industry has started attracting young people
with creative minds and has started offering them a lucrative carrier because it is a
budding industry in which if one performs up to the mark, no one can stop success
coming to him. Many institutions offer courses related to events. There are wesites like
www.zeelearn.com that provide online course for event management and the students are
given a certificate after the completion of the course.
To sum up, the vast opportunities for growth and exposure in this industry, is an ideal
platform for learning - the whole process of managing an event brings one closer to the
brand or product and consequently, to the industry itself. It offers the ideal atmosphere
for those with a desire to exercise their inter-personal and people management skills as
one gets to meet and work with people from various walks of professional life. It is a
profession where adherence to perfection, meeting deadlines on time and producing an
exceptional show within a stipulated budget is of paramount importance. However, one
needs to keep in mind that this profession calls for hard work, professionalism and
meticulous attention to detail. This industry has mammoth scope for young and ambitious
entrepreneurs, and is best suited to those who swear by challenge and change!
THE SCENARIO OF EVENT INDUSTRY IN INDIA
Event Management is a multi-crore industry with mega shows and events hosted
regularly. In India even personal functions like marriages and birthday parties have
become important social matters, and have to be professionally managed. The growth of
sophisticated and mega companies have brought forth a spurt of meetings, seminars,
exhibitions, conferences, product launches with everything being a matter of class and
style. Then comes the innumerable celebrity shows, international artists shows, shows for
a cause, road shows, competitions, that India has seen of late.
More than 200 companies have forayed into events. The early 90s has seen events spend
at a mere 20 crores but now it has increased to over 500 crores. Growth is therefore 100%
annually. The FICCI has estimated event management to be a 3500 crore industry by the
end of the financial year 2006. The organized industry has grown from around Rs 350
crores during 2002 to be a 580 crore (US$129 mn) industry in 2003. The live
entertainment and event management segment has demonstrated an overall growth over:
60%. As this segment, which is still in its infancy, becomes an increasingly important
part of the media pie, it is expected to demonstrate a growth of 30% pa over the next five
years, in effect, more than doubling its size to approximately Rs 1443 crore (US$321 mn)
by 2008. And that’s just the part, which can be measured and estimated. There are around
10-15 large players with revenues around or over Rs 20 crores each and many small
players- around 70% of the segment remains unorganized.
Indeed corporate India has adopted this strategic 'hit-between-the-eyes' communication
tool with a vengeance. Be it a music concert, a cricket match, a film premiere, a nightclub
promo exercise, a product launch (a car, personal products, liqour brand), a social cause -
every conceivable occasion is looked upon as an endeavour towards crafting corporate
identities.
Of late, a string of hi-profile events like The Rolling Stones Concert, Femina Miss India,
the MTV Music Awards, The Cricket World Cup 2003, to events like the Michael
Jackson extravaganza, and Yanni Live At The Taj Mahal, have lent a new dimension to
event management. These events involved intricate logistics control, high-level of
technical finesse and slick promotional chutzpah. Many specialised teams lights, stage,
supplies, stage management worked with clock- work synchronicity under a single
supervisory head to harmonise all the processes leading to the actual event. But
surprisingly, research showed that there was no formalized education to teach event
management and Companies found their executives not up to the mark to handle events.
It was not so easy to train because event management includes organizational skills,
technical knowledge, P.R., marketing, advertising, catering, logistics, decor, glamour
identity, human relations, study of law and licenses, risk managements, budgeting, study
of allied media like television and other media and several other areas. But like other
nations, India has also its event industry and statistics prove its success in our country.
India has just hosted the first Afro Asian Games. Soon, it is going to host the
Commonwealth Games in the year 2010, an event whose magnitude is much greater than
that of Afro Asian Games and India is also making a bid to host the 2016 Olympic
Games in India. The event company Wizcraft will manage Commonwealth Games.
What does this mean to the Event Industry?
It means jobs. It means shortage of people with the skills required to execute an event of
the enormity
Many institutions like National Institute of Event Management(NIEM) and Event
Management Development Institute(EMDI) have started courses related to event
management. The students of these institutes get the required field experience of the
industry before even completing the coursework as the event companies hire these
students for logistics and execution. Many event companies have also developed in our
country. The prominient ones are:
• Wizcraft International Entertainment Private Limited
• 360 degrees
• Indiatimes
• Encompass Events Private Limited
• Percept D’Mark(Percept Holding Company Private Limited)
• Showtimes Events Private Limited.
Need for events:
Events are fast becoming an integral part of the marketing strategy of companies. Events
score over conventional media in their ability to reach out to the core target in several
ways, sponsors get exclusive coverage during events and get a huge captive audience to
watch the brand advertising. There is always an opportunity to introduce product trial so
that product attributes can be easily conveyed to the target. In comparison to these
benefits the cost of sponsorship is reasonably small. Hence for these reasons sponsorship
of events has taken favor with companies in a big way
Television channels are looking for driver programmes to boost viewership and events
offer a unique genre of programming. Television channels can either commission their
own events or buy the telecast rights of events from event managers. In both the cases the
industry stands to earn profits and gain revenues.
Commercial exploitation of events in the form of merchandising, webcasting over the
internet can also further lead to quantum growth benefits. On account of these statistics it
is expected that the industry would grow at a rate of 30 % annually and reach a figure of
Rs.5.6 billion by the year 2006
Events have mainly developed because of the loopholes experienced in advertising a
product. no doubt advertising is important, but certain objectives and benefits can only be
fulfilled by organizing events.
EVENTS AND PROMOS v/s ADVERTISING:
EVENTS ADVERTISING
Events are interactive
They almost always initiate a dialogue. The
audience is in front of you to create your
brand communication and tell your story.
One way communication
The communication is always one way, and
static and it is assumed that the viewer is
watching which could or could not be the
case always.
Leads to immediate short term gains and
purchases
Exposure to product information and
attributes leads to interest in purchase and
hence sale of product.
Long term brand building
Advertising is more focused on evolving
brands and building awareness
Targeted communication
Event communication is for a fixed set of
audiences and caters to a very specific
group.
Advertising is more mass based
communication
Tangible value
For every rupee spent the marketer can
valuate the feedback and response he
receives from the consumer.
Intangible
Most of the statistics available are based on
guess-estimates and estimation of figures,
which are based on extrapolated results of
research done on a small sample size of
consumer.
Segmentation of Indian Event Industry
Segment wise analysis of organised & unorganised
business of EVENTS
35%
5%20%
20%
5%
15%
Corporate
Sports
Arts & Theatre
Felicitation &
Contests
Festivals
Personal
SOURCE: (INDUSTRY ESTIMATES, ERNST AND YOUNG RESEARCH)
TYPES OF EVENTS
SEGMENTATION OF EVENT INDUSTRY
SUB-SEGMENT GENRE EXAMPLES
CORPORATE Product launches/
Promotions
Conferences/conventions
Shareholders meetings
Employee get-togethers
Exhibitions/trade fairs
Road shows
Press conferences
Annual parties
Ad Asia
Bacardi
Christian Dior
Auto Expo, Pragati Maidan
Innova Launch
Furniture Trade Fairs.
Felicitative/Competitive Awards
Contests/Talent searches
Beauty/Personality pageants
Femina Miss India
FE Business Traveller Awards
MTV Lycra Awards
CNBC Autocar Awards
IIFA Awards
Indian Idol
Arts Film Premiers
Theatre
Musical nites
Celebrity performances
Dance
Fashion shows
Bollywood shows
English, Hindi, Gujarati,
Bengali, Marathi, etc plays.
Bryan Adams Concert
Lata Mangeshkar Concert
Milan Fashion Show
Sports Sports events (individual and
combimed)
Mumbai Marathon
Wrestling Championships
World Cup Cricket
Wimbledon
Ranjit Trophy
Olympics
Festivals Government sponsored
Corporate sponsored
Kumbh Mela
Rajasthan Desert Festival
Goa Carnival
Festival of Kerela
Cultural programmes(dandiya
raas)
Food festivals
Personal/Social Birthday parties
Weddings and related
functions
General parties
Opening ceremony functions
Family/Friends get togethers
Fund Raisers/Charity events
Religious Discources
College Events
Laxmi Mittal’s daughter’s
(Vanisha Mittal) wedding
Educational workshops
Political Political convections
Political rallies/ Meetings
Election campaigns
Broadly event can be classified as corporate events and live entertainment events.
Corporate events are commissioned by corporate for specific purposes such as dealers’
conference, or a happening such as the India visit of Indira Nooyi, worldwide chief of
PepsiCo. Corporate events account for the lion’s share of the total number of events
managed in the country.
Live entertainment events are stage shows or concerts by international artists
(international events) or Indian artists.
These could be:
• Film based
• Music- based
• Fashion-based
• Sports- based events.
For instance, The Manikchand Filmfare Awards is a film-based event, a concert by
ghazal maestro Pankaj Udhas or by the international rock group Scorpions would be a
music – based event. Milan and MTV Lycra Awards are fashion based. Olympics and
Wimbledon are the examples of sports-based live entertainment events. Typically, for a
live entertainment event, there is more than one sponsor as well as entry fee for the
audience. This category of events, albeit small, is growing rapidly in size and popularity.
Unlike a corporate event, a live entertainment event is usually conceptualized, planned
and executed by the event manager. Therefore, the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) also
vests with the event manager. However, a company/television broadcaster can also
commission an event. In such circumstances, the company/television broadcaster
sponsors the entire show and retains the IPR. The event manager is paid a management
fee and a production fee as well if it also produces the event for television. Certain events
are created and marketed by the event manager as a branded property. These events are
called branded events. They are held periodically and require substantial investment in
terms of infrastructure and marketing. For instance, the Femina Miss India contest is
branded event produced by Times Entertainment and held annually. IIFA awards are a
brand of the event company Wizcraft.
BENEFITS OF EVENTS
1.Building brands and creating brand awareness:
Basically brand awareness means promoting your brand and increasing awareness about
the brand(s). It can also be termed as a brand building process. Benefits out of events vary
from company to company. Thus, if a new company is trying to enter the existing market, it
has to first look at building the brand name of the product rather than looking at the profit
ratios. Advertising helps to a great extent in building the brand name but if the company
wants masses and potential buyers to know about their product and give them a basic feel
of their product, then events have to be resorted to. Product launches are a very famous
sub-segment of corporate events. If product launches are planned properly and conducted
in accordance with the standards of the company, they can help in penetrating the market
and creating striking awareness and desire for the product. For e.g., the launch of INNOVA
was a mega event. Aamir Khan is the brand ambassador of Innova. The event was also
telecasted and there were various promotional schemes attached like -a day holiday with
Aamir Khan- for a few lucky winners, which attracted the crowd, increased the sales and
created a basic awareness about the automobile being launched.
2. Corporate Image
It goes the other way for the companies that are already into business for a period of time.
For these companies, events come to the rescue for maintaining their brand image as well
as boosting their sales. It also keeps the brand name in the minds of the people for a longer
time. Similarly, the companies which are here and in business for ages and who are cashing
on their profits have also in someway or the other reached that level with the help of
different events to maintain as well as transform it into a brand name. Hence, careful
scrutinisation of the above helps us to learn that most of the brand building as well as the
brand awareness for the companies is done by events from small promotions to big and
international events. Events can be successfully used to support, build or change a desired
company’s image, shape or reinforce the public's perception of a company or brand's
attributes. Events also help in building as well as changing the brand image of a given
company. For example, the company has already introduced a product, but there is some
defect in it then ultimately the company has to stop the production. Hence it has to relaunch
the same product but emphasizing on the new characteristics. Also care has to be taken that
the earlier defects are removed from the minds of the masses. The event management
company plays a vital role in bringing back the goodwill and corporate image of the
company. Corporate meetings are an ideal example of events creating corporate image. The
way the meetings are conducted, the etiquettes followed, the event flow along with the
level of professionalism maintained creates an image of the company in the minds of its
shareholders and customers.
3. Media Coverage
Guaranteed and potential publicity, helps in projecting right corporate image of the
company, helps media get a touch feel experience of the brand and its products. In any
field media plays a very important role in bringing the particular product or any tangible
thing to the market. We can assume that media can make or break the whole image of the
product in the market. Thus wherever there is an event happening be it a promotion, a
product launch or a large scale event, media forms a part of that whole process thus
giving the event a good amount of publicity and also making the event and the product or
the company a huge success. Media usually has a guaranteed form of response as
nowadays even a small issue translates into a national issue, thanks to the media. High
scale events always attract media. Media can also be invited to cover the events. Events
being a fresh concept and a complete crowd puller ensure media coverage. From the
inception to the completion, an event is scrutinized by the media. Media talks about the
making of an event an eventually when it is over, media critically rates it. Media is the
largest form of communication; be it print, television or radio. For e.g. Filmfare awards.
It has been around 50 yrs since these awards are celebrated and talked about. Even when
they were not telecasted, there were press conferences and press releases, which kept this
event, a most famous one among the clutter. And since it is live telecasted, it is going on
increasing the TRPs of the channel. From the rehearsals to the decorations and stars’
interviews, everything is published to attract crowd. Hence, events being a crowd puller,
media willingly talks about it and helps in its publicity. Also, events enjoy a favorable
position in the minds of people and therefore, media itself takes the initiative to publicize
and talk about it.
4. Net footage
Net footage means to make an association with a website on the Internet or create a website
for your company. This refers to the Internet form of publicity. Any event ranging from a
small event to a big event gets the benefit of coverage on the net. The creative team of any
event company always keeps in mind the benefits the event will gain if covered on the net.
Internet has a vast reach as it is global and can give information to any person residing in
any country about the event. Again, Internet tries to cover all the happenings in the world
and therefore, information about even a small event like a college festival is available on
the net. ANIFEST INDIA, an initiative from THE ANIMATION SOCIETY OF INDIA
(TASI) and ASIFA INDIA is a two-day festival for the whole of animation industry. It has
workshops on animation with the best of speakers coming in from around the globe and
also a post festival bash. It is generally for the animation industry and hence every aspect of
it from planning the design of the event, the setup and the venue, the cost of the passes
everything is posted and sold on the net as it is to computers, their means of
communication is Internet. Post event views, suggestions the need to take Anifest to greater
heights; the polling is done through the net. Events today have become very interesting and
therefore surely find a place in the affairs listed on the Net.
5. Building Corporate Hospitality
Entertain key & potential clients, b2b marketing, building goodwill amongst potential
clients, reinforcing faith in distribution partners, forging alliances with potential investors,
motivating existing workforce or rewarding them forms a part of building corporate
hospitality. Events are also held to strengthen the ties with the associates or say the people
or the clients related to the particular corporate. These days the corporate companies try to
define the word professionalism by the means of collecting data and then trying to build a
relationship with that particular client or the business associates of the company. Thus
holding an event by means of throwing a party for a product launch or while releasing a
particular design of clothes, they even arrange for a fashion show, which can also be
termed as indirect means of impact on the consumers or the associates. Events always come
handy for such companies. Many companies also have a different ways of holding
conventions for its employees. In this way if the employees are being given hospitality it in
turn helps in making the company more strong and thus resulting in good sales as well as
good and profitable figures in the balance sheets. For example, the TATA group every year
has its business convention at different locations namely Goa, Ooty, etc. to refresh its
employees and thus also help the employees to know about the future prospects of the sub
companies they belong to. The event company Wizcraft handles this event. It prepares an
event flow for the entire holiday and makes sure the employees are entertained effectively.
This reflects the efforts put in by the employees for the company and results into having a
satisfied customer base and goodwill of the company. Hence events are also important to
build a good corporate hospitality among everyone who is directly or indirectly related to
the particular corporate.
6. Niche Audience Targeting
Niche targeting is more cost effective and accurate than conventional advertising, which
can get diluted. It is targeting a particular group of people who actually are your target
audience with all the resources you have and so it is cost effective. Other forms of
promoting a product like advertising are meant for a wider segment and therefore have to
be general. But events help in concentrating on a few people and therefore, the impact is
high and the promotions effective. For example, Milan Fashion Show. It aims at
showcasing the designs of famous designers to the elite class of the society. Designers and
attendees from different countries participate in this event. Hence the show is performed in
front of the target, reducing the cost and creating a better impact.
7. Product Showcase and merchandising
Events create opportunity to showcase existing products and test new products. Events help
companies from launching their new product, reviving the existing product as well as
keeping their old products and their brand name alive in the market. Events provide that
platform to the companies for showcasing their products professionally. Event companies
work from budgeting the event to designing the publicity stunts and designing its
execution. In all, except the manufacturing of the product, everything from launching and
making it public with the help of media, every responsibility is taken by the event
management company once they are given the rights to that and that too for a nominal
fee .In today’s time every company wants its product, be it a cheap one or a expensive
product, to have a professional launch and showcase and hence they mostly outsource the
work to event companies for the same. Even from the point of view of creating
merchandise opportunities, event management companies play a very vital role in
sculpturing or resculpturing the product of the company. Events provide opportunity for on
the spot audience gratification. Events gives the product many merchandise opportunities
in the form of selling, cross selling, selling the product to a particular set of audience etc.
The response generated from the audience is prompt. The satisfaction can be measured by
the TG audience attending or taking part in that particular event. The company comes to
know their views generated and suggestions coming in through the medium of events. The
corporates hire event companies to arrange for events for their associates or their dealers or
the distributors, channel partners to get a view about their product thus also increasing the
merchandise opportunities for their products.
8. Differentiation
Events help create perception about the product. It helps in differentiating a company’s
products from the competitors.. It also helps in differentiating the particular product from
the different products available in the market, which is again a good sign for that particular
company. Once after studying the entire market the executives of the event company sit
together and decide on creating something unique for bringing that product to the market in
the form of launching it. The creative team of the event company plays a very vital role in
designing the whole product in such a way that it automatically differentiates itself from
the products of its competitors. For example, if D’DMAS has launched a particular range
of diamond sets then its competitor say TANISHQ makes some few changes to its diamond
line jewellery and will expect the rest from the event company to whom they outsource the
job for making it stand apart from their competitor. Thus from giving a product the much
needed hype to differentiating it from their competitor everything is taken care by the event
management company and that too professionally.
9.Impact the Bottom Line
Impacting the Bottom Line means driving sales through contests, special schemes, product
awareness, etc. These days one may come across many corporates trying to advertise by the
means of sending smses, e-mails etc. There are different companies involved to carry out
these type of activities for an organization. The event companies come into picture as they
help in the initial tie-ups between the service provider companies and the clients as in the
corporates. Then the things get transferred to the event companies in the form of
advertising, designing the publicity stunts, etc. These usually boosts a companies sales as
this is a way of promoting a product and a very effective and cost cutting one, which is
actually not done by any ad agency but by different Event companies. Keeping some
quizzes and holding contests are all the indirect means of impacting the customers.
Sometimes they even give out prizes in the form of tickets for the premier of the show of
the movie being promoted or say a chance to meet the celebrities which is again a very
much effective way of spreading the awareness of the particular product or the company
itself. Nowadays, event companies for example 360degrees which is a known event
management company and which also is a wing of the times of India group has created its
own service provider namely 8888 services which caters to all such above needs of the
clients from holding contests and providing certain schemes, thus promoting the particular
product or the brand of the client. It also has tie-ups with many NGO’S for many social
services for improving our society. Hence there are several benefits of the above services if
carried out by a professionally managed event management company.
10. Helps circumvent Restrictions:
Events help circumvent restrictions on conventional means of advertising. Especially for
the Tobacco and Liquor Brands, where conventional advertising is banned, surrogate
advertising in the form of events and promotion can help in creating positive equity for the
brand and create perceptions in the minds of consumers about the product
As the government has banned any sort of advertising or promoting for all the liquor as
well as the tobacco brands event companies come in the form of rescue for all the above
line of companies. There are no restrictions on any events as such. Thus companies, which
manufacture such taboo products, turn to events for promoting their brand. For example
Manikchand’s brand name was actively involved in the filmfare awards, which is done by
360 degrees every year. Association with such a big event helped the manikchand group to
boost its sales as well as it gave a whole different image to it’s brand as they were
associated with one of the biggest film awards in the country. Just barely three months
back, there was a BACARDI blast which took place somewhere in the suburbs and was
done by the event management company, FOUNTAINHEAD. It attracted lot of customers
and party people and was an excellent way of promoting the brand. Thus, brands which
cannot be directly advertised take the help of events to publicize their products on a larger
scale and thus increasing their profits.
This is also called a s the TINA Factor.
TINA Factor: (there is no alternative)
Helps brands evolve and generate awareness about themselves in situations where public
advertising is not permitted, by creating subtle brand presence, e.g. McDowell’s Derby,
Classic Golf, Smirnoff Fashion awards, Bacardi Blast weekends, etc. Usually these type of
events are huge hits these days as people who are the viewers are mostly the young
working people who are willing to spend on these products and brands if they are get their
share of enjoyment and it is also a stress reliever for them. Thus for such companies,
arranging launches and private parties which is also only by invitation, events prove very
much beneficial and promising.
11.Training
Training is another key initiative, which is required to improve the quality of output. A
number of institutes like the Event Management Development Institute (EMDI), National
Institute of Event Management (NIEM), Mudra institute of communication etc provide part
time and full-length courses in event management. Fresh talent is generally absorbed
directly into industry.
KEY TRENDS IN THE INDUSTRY
The trends of international events is fast catching on
The year 2001-featured 20 international events in addition to the 2 annual events by the
times group – The Fa Femina Miss India contest and The Manikchand Filmfare Awards
ceremony. There were several blockbuster concerts by top international groups – Bryan
Adams, Deep Purple, Scorpions Acoustica, Venga Boys and M C Hammer. The year
2000 featured 20 international events including several events on account of Millennium
year effect. Accordingly, there is a trend of an increasing number of international events
in India.
Multinational companies have made popular artists their brand ambassadors
Multinational companies have realized the growing popularity of live entertainment and
artists with the masses. As a result, they are using such artists as ambassadors to promote
their brands. For instance, Pepsi has appointed Adnan Sami as its brand ambassador
while Coke has done the same with Aamir Khan.
Live sporting events are also becoming big budget entertainment events
Live events (besides cricket) such as tennis championships, golf championships are
increasingly catching the fancy of sports lovers in the country. Corporate sponsors are
also spending huge sums of money on such events. The year 2001 saw three major events
– the Goldfalke ATP Tour World Tennis Championship at Chennai (billings
approximately Rs. 80mn), the Gold flake ATP Tour World Doubles Tennis
Championship at Bangalore (billings approximately Rs 65mn) and the Hero Honda
championship at Delhi (billings approximately Rs 15mn)
The trend of single city international events has been broken
Concerts by international artists are now held in multiple cities as opposed to just one city
earlier. For instance, the VengaBoys India Tour 2001 was a series of concerts across
seven cities in India –Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad,
and Luck now – and Colombo in Sri Lanka. The Bryan Adams concert was held at
Bangalore and Mumbai. This trend can grow rapidly provided obstacles such as high
levels of entertainment tax and cumbersome approval procedures are removed in many
states.
The practice of ticketing for events has been firmly established
The free launch for consumers of live entertainment is over and ticketing as a practice has
been established. The encouraging fact is that events, especially international events,
were huge crowd pullers despite pricing of tickets. Cases in evidence were the sold out
shows of Bryan Adams, the concert of Scorpions Acoustica (audience of 25,000) and
Deep Purple (audience of over 30,000). This clearly brings out the value that Indians are
attaching to quality live entertainment.
The Indians event management industry moved a step towards organized activity
The industry, which has grown over the years in a rather disorganized manner and still
largely comprises non-corporate entities, instituted the Event management Association of
India under the aegis of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(FICCI). With this, the industry has taken the first step towards organized activity. The
industry forum should assist the players in addressing and resolving industry issues that
are stumbling blocks to growth.
Single window for central government clearances for inbound foreign artists has
been created
Managing an international event has been made significantly easier with the Government
of India (GOI) entrusting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with the role of providing a
single window for all the central government clearances necessary for a foreign artist or
group to travel to and perform in India. However the processing of applications has been
centralized at RBI’s Headquarters in Mumbai.
Key Issues & Challenges
Besides generating revenues directly through sponsorships and ticket sales, an event also
has a strong ripple effect on the economy. In case of a visiting foreign artist, Government
of India receives income tax revenues from the artist. The state government receives
entertainment tax from the sale of tickets. The city municipality receives revenue in the
form of hire charges for the stadium or ground where the event is held. The event
involves a large number of people traveling to the venue. For instance, people from all
over the country traveled to Bangalore and Mumbai for the Bryan Adams concert.
Therefore, such an event gives an immense boost to the local industry such as hotels,
restaurants and transport as well as national industries such as airline and railways.
Despite its revenue potential and spin off benefits, the industry is facing several issues
that are impeding its growth. These are discussed below:
Entertainment tax
The entertainment industry has to pay two main taxes namely entertainment and service
taxes. The entertainment tax in India is much higher than in other Asian countries and
varies from state to state. It varies from 10% to 50%. The industry has appealed to the
government to levy a uniform entertainment duty across India. This is perhaps the biggest
hurdle the industry is facing currently. While event managers wish to hold events in more
cities, the high rates of entertainment tax on ticket sales in certain states are forcing them
to avoid such states. For instance, according to industry sources, Mumbai has become
quite unfavorable for events owing to a tax rate of 49%. On the other hand, Bangalore has
become a preferred venue primarily because of a low tax of 10%.
A high tax rate makes events unviable and therefore, states that charge high rates will
lose out on events, and potential tax revenues from such events. In contrast, states that
charge lower rates would attract more events and benefit from higher tax revenues.
Hence, it is but clear that government needs to reduce their tax rates in several states in
order to become favorable destinations for events.
Entertainment tax for live events in certain states
State Tax rate (%)
Assam 130
Haryana 50
Maharashtra 49
Kerala 33
Uttar Pradesh 23
West Bengal 17
Karnataka 10
Tamil Nadu Nil
Andhra Pradesh Nil
Gujrat Nil
(Source: Industry)
Global Comparison
In developed countries in the west i.e. the USA, Canada and European countries, live
entertainment is a very organized and advanced industry. Most individual artists/
entertainment troupes perform anywhere between 60 to 80 shows in these markets. For
example, Depeche Mode, in the year 2000 from June 15 to November 05, performed 81
shows between Europe and North America, with total tickets sales of US $ 1.08mn.
Besides music, there are also events for children like the Barney Circus tour, The Walt
Disney Circus Tour, Magic Shows and a variety of other live entertainment events. On an
average in a year, there are about 180 live entertainment shows in these markets playing
at multiple venues, cities and countries. The live entertainment business is also closely
linked to the record music labels, which work in tandem to promote and sell the music
albums of popular artists. Besides western countries, the two other significantly
established markets are Japan and Australia, and fast catching up with them are
Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok. Hence, in comparison to other countries, India lags
behind in organizing and planning events.
Withholding tax on foreign artists’ remuneration
As per existing regulation, the event manager is required to deduct tax at the rate of
30.6% from the remuneration paid to a foreign artist. In most cases, artists require event
managers to bear this tax burden, as a result of which events often become a non-starter.
Given this scenario, India has the potential to host many more international events every
year provided Government of India reduces the withholding tax rate to a more reasonable
level. More events would mean higher tax revenues for the Government despite the
reduction in tax rate. Simultaneously, it would also give a great fillip to the live
entertainment business in India.
Regulatory clearances for events
There are several clearances required at the central level (for an international event) and
the state level, for organizing an event. While the single window clearance facility with
RBI has vastly facilitated central clearances, decentralization would speed up the
approval process. At the local level, according to industry, on an average, 18 different
approvals are required from various agencies for staging an event. State governments
need to realize that they stand to gain substantially (in terms of higher entertainment tax
revenues) if they make it easy and simple for event managers. A significant reason for
Bangalore attracting many events is the helpful attitude adopted by the State government
and city authorities towards the event management industry.
Clearly the need of the hour is rationalization of taxes to a more manageable level of
around 10%-15% across all states.
Service tax
The rate now proposed by the Budget is to be increased to 12 per cent from 10 per cent
apart from a 2 per cent education cess on the tax element according to the 2006 finance
bill. This will have a detrimental effect on industry. Even if the industry passes the tax on
to the clients, from the viewpoint of the client this would only desist clients from
spending on events.
Lack of Infrastructure
There is a complete lack of infrastructure in India for staging live events. Globally, events
are held in arenas. India still has to rely on open grounds, sports stadiums and university
auditoriums. Industry experts believe that there is a need for large, international quality
facilities in all major cities in India, supported by a network of hotels and domestic
transport. This is because the current infrastructure in the form of event venues of
international quality and size is not adequate. Mumbai’s largest auditorium, the 2800
seater Shanmukhananda Hall is generally booked for over 95% of the year. Also the duty
on imports of equipment pertaining to events is still charged at normal rates, there is no
special subsidy or waiver for the import of world lass equipment to support events in
India.
Corporatisation
Corporatisation is on the increase, as more and more clients source services from large
companies who provide better quality end-to-end solutions using experts. The event
management industry still comprises of many non corporate entities. Corporatisation will
eventually result in increased accountability, ability to benchmark performance and more
accurate measurement of industry size and growth. Corporatisation also assists in
obtaining finance, a key requirement for specialized players with high technology and
equipment costs, as well as for promoter driven events. For this to happen, the industry
needs to restructure itself into corporate entities, implement sound trade and accounting
practices and implement corporate governance as a code of conduct. Having highlighted
the issues and possible solutions, the potential for growth within the industry is immense.
Ideation
The use and re-use of event formats are not only diluting their impact but also confusing
customers. The best example of this is the recent plethora of Auto Events. CNBC
Autocar, ICICI Overdrive, Business Standard Motoring and BBC Wheels all held car and
bike awards for the year 2003-04, within 2 months gap. As a result, all of these could not
create a deep impact on the clients as well as the customers of the automobile industry as
it became very stereotype for them. There is a need to create newer, innovative event
formats to capture target audience’s attention. Differentiation is the key. Innovative
ideation also has a large export potential.
Quality of services
Quality of event execution remains poor in the main, as it is seen in the form of shabby
sets, poor equipment and inadequate facilities provided during events – what event
managers attribute to the “chalta hai!” attitude. Specialization is clearly the way forward.
Specialization is clearly proportional to the quality of the event, which in turn provides
more option to the customer and even reduces cost. It also results in the availability of
better event technology (lights, mechanics, fireworks etc), an arena which India is now
catching up with the West. However, the lack of adequate number of specialists in many
areas of event management still needs to b addressed. Hence, achieving and maintaining
a substantial quality of service is an issue which the industry needs to consider.
Promoter driven events
With the expected increase in the number of promotion driven events a few years down
the line (where ticketing revenues are larger than sponsorship revenues) risk will devolve
on the event manager. Correspondingly, the focus will be on the project management to
ensure promoter’s funds are deployed in correct manner, expenses are authorized and
timeless are adhered to.
Desired customer experience
Given the large Indian population and growing per capita income, the demand for event
remains robust. The key driver for success is the ability to provide the desired experience
to customers so that their objectives are met. This can be achieved through ideation,
careful planning and detailed budgeting. The flexibility to change event formats, create
new types of events and execute them within the limitations of available infrastructure
and resources (electricity, security, regulations etc.) are key to ensure growth in the
segment.
KEY ELEMENTS OF EVENTS
Event
Organizer
Venue Target
Audience
ClientMedia
A CASE EXAMPLE
Event: L’Oreal femina elite model look 2004
Event Infrastructure:
• Core concept: Search for a new top class model through a contest and pageant
interspersed with entertainment.
• Core people: Organizers, Sponsorers and Participants i.e. models taking part in
the competition and other performers during entertainment slots such as well
known classical musicians Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma, Rahul Kumar Sharma
accompanied by Ustad Shafat Ali Khan and popular music by Sunidhi Chavhan
and Stereo Nation.
• Core Talent: Physical Looks and Proportion
• Core Structure: Annual event of Beauty pageant
Event organizers:
Femina with
• Fountain ahead: Event support
• Banyan Tree: Arrangements for classical music performance
• Choreography and direction: Hemant Trivedi with assistance from Noyonika
Chatterjee
• Sets: Omung Kumar Bhandula from Opus construction
Venue
• Shoot location: The Retreat, Marve
• Official Host: Taj Mahal Hotel
Media
• Pre-event: Magazines and newspapers (The Times of India) to inform about
event and call for enteries with entry forms in them.
• Electronic Media: TV and FM radio to inform target audience about event
coverage, date and time.
• During event: Live coverage on DD2 for widest coverage
• Post-event: Re-telecast on Star Plus.
• Interviews and appearances of winner on shows sponsored by L’Oreal on the
electronic media (Internet).
• Reports of the event in the print media.
Clients
• Main Sponsor: L’Oreal
• Gift Sponsors: Onida, Siemens, Baush and Lomb, Global Telesystems,
Akbarallys, Department store, Trussadi, Catwalk Shoes, Estelle, The Orchids,
Lakme, Sony Music
• Communication Convience: Gloal Telesystems.
• Beverages: Coca-Cola
Target Audience
The target is the entire family especially the young people or people with a younger
mindset or people who are young at heart. It also targets the fashion designers and show
coordinators who are in constant search for models. Also, the socialites in Mumbai and
Delhi always keep a check on the winners to check out the new entrants to their party life.
OVERALL PLANNING STRUCTURE
The first and foremost thing to do while planning an event is to know about the client's
expectations. When a client first approaches an Event Manager for assigning a task, he
sits with him and finds out what he wants and how he wants it. It should be kept in mind
the fact that the client has a very hazy idea of what he wants. He expects the event
manager to change that hazy idea into a reality. So the manager first needs to strike a
good rapport with him. Once the manager understands what the client expects, he can
start putting his inputs. Since the manager is a professional event planner the client is
bound to believe that the manager has a better knowledge about these things and will
respect his judgment.
For planning the event the basic steps that are involved are:
1.Analyzing the event
The planning process begins with a detailed analysis of the event itself. The questions
that begin this process are what is the main reason behind having this event? What does
the event hope to accomplish? How will the event be financed?
Numerous questions are placed in front of the event manager. That is how a strong
foundation is established. If too few questions are asked, an event can suffer from a lack
of focus and direction. These questions are asked mainly to identify the event.
To identify the event, manager first needs to identify the type of event to be planned,
whether it is going to be a product launch or a conference or a wedding or some other
event. Then he sits and drafts a rough script of the budget, target audience, promotional
campaigns, publicity and other miscellaneous arrangements.
The manager needs to ask himself six basic questions:
5W’s – 1H =How to produce consistently effective events.
Why?
The first step is to ask “WHY” he should hold this EVENT. There must be
not one but a series of compelling reasons that confirm the importance and viability of
holding the event. Is there any need to hold such an event or it is only for the purpose of
entertaining people and making profits. Will this event prove beneficial for the revenue
of the country and to the people as a whole or will it mint only profits to the organizers
and sponsorers. A valid reason to conduct an event is very important as it lays the base
for marketing and promotional strategies.
Who?
The second step is to ask “WHO” will be the stakeholders for this event. Remember
stakeholders are both internal and external parties. Internal stakeholders may be the board
of director’s, committee member’s, and staff, elected leaders or others. External
stakeholders may be media, politicians, bureaucrats, attendees or other who will be
investing in your event. The manager needs to think who will be present at the event. i.e.,
who are its target audience. To which age group, income group, gender and profession do
they belong to. He has to find out who are the people who will be coming for the event.
This is very important because the whole event rests on the kind of people who are going
to be invited. Conducting solid research will help you determine the each of this parties
and better help you decide “WHO” this event is being produced for.
.
What?
The next question to be asked is what kind of an event one is organizing. The co-
coordinator needs to analyse exactly what he wants to convey through a particular event
and on the basis of his mission decide the category in which the event falls. The event can
be a:
• Wedding
• Party
• Conference.
• Product launch
• Concert
• Others
Depending on the demand of the situation and nature of the event, the manager should
check whether his plans for the event match his client’s requirements and then proceed
with the actual execution of the event.
Where?
An important factor while planning an event is the ‘place’ the ‘venue’ where the event
will be held. Again the venue depends on the type of the event being hosted. For a
wedding or a party, a party hall or open ground will be compatible whereas for a product
launch, a conference room of a Hotel or a conference of the company launching the
product would be appropriate. Once you have selected a site, your work becomes either
easier or more challenging. Therefore, this decision must be made as early as possible as
it effects many other decisions.
When?
The next step is to determine “WHEN” this event is should be held. Here you have to
decide on the dates. The time frame selected for different events will be different. For
organizing a show for children, the best period is to conduct the event during their
summer vacations. For weddings, the months of may and December are auspicious
whereas certain moths are inauspicious. Musical concerts can be held any time but care
should be taken that they do not co-incide with major festivals. Whereas fashion shows
are normally held prior to major festivals and seasonal changes to promote the
collection designed for the upcoming festival or season. One should ask the question if
the research through evaluation time frame is appropriate for the size of this event. If
this window of time is not appropriate you may need to rethink your plans and either
shift the dates or streamline your operations.
“WHEN” and “WHERE” of events are interdependent. First the manager tries to fix the
venue according to the time period decided. But if the appropriate venue is not
available at that time, the organizers will have to make changes in the time period. But
if changes cannot be made, then they will have to compromise on the venue and go for
the next best one. In India, due to poor infrastructure, generally the dates are adjusted
according to the availability of the venue.
How?
If the manager decides to go ahead, he should ask himself several ‘how’ questions to
complete the objective of the event. He should decide upon how long the event will last.
For how many days the venue will have to be booked? How many months before the
planning and execution work should start? How many hours do they need to put daily to
achieve the target? How will the event be promoted and marketed? How will the
audience be seated? How much money will be allocated for each job? ,etc.
The manager needs to be clear regarding these questions while planning the event and
then proceed with the actual execution of the event.
Keep in mind that during the planning stage there are many options and hurdles to
anticipate. Some things increase complexity tenfold and others simplify by an equal
amount. A party in the hotel, for example is always simpler to arrange than a party in a
warehouse of distant field with no power, no restrooms, and no kitchen. That is not to say
that the event manager shouldn’t have an off-site party, but the details should be
considered in the planning stage. In the same vein, the site is often selected before the
program has been set and the event manager may have to anticipate a problem fitting the
program into the available space.
2.Assembling The Event Management Team
The next important stage of the planning process is assembling the team. Broadly
speaking, the team should consist of decision makers and implementers. Decision makers
are the people who define the parameters and are ultimately responsible for the success or
failure of the event. Implementers are those who do everything from negotiating contracts
to inviting speakers to making sure that the right speaker is in the right room and that the
microphone works.
The core group on an event on a big scale should comprise the following positions:
• Event Chairperson
• Public Relations head
• Finance head
• Production head
• Mailing List head
• Marketing head
• Decoration head
• Logistics/Arrangements head
• Food and Beverage head
• Invitation and Programme head
• Entertainment head
• Volunteer head
• Technical head
• Charity Liason head (if needed)
More specially, the planning team will probably include people or committees with the
following functions and responsibilities:
• Event coordinator
A good coordinator is an energetic, conscientious, organized, responsible person and has
good contacts and manages people well.
His main functions are:
 He acts as a team leader for the event
 Schedules event team core committee meeting
 Negotiates and recommends contracts
 Solicits bids from suppliers and hires and supervises supplier
 Prepares and recommends budgets and monitors expenses throughout the planning
process
 Recommends policies and procedures
 Supervises registration
 Follows up with team members on the progress made and overall coordination of
efforts and activities involved with putting on an event
 Prepares personnel schedules for on site activities
 Making sure that everything is done, whether this means delegating to a
responsible person or stepping in to fill in the gap.
• Decision makers
Decision makers may include the organization’s president, CEO, executive director,
chairman of the board, corporate officer, and certain departmental heads. They sit
together, conduct brainstorming and come out with crucial decisions relating to even a
minute issue while planning the event. Decision makers are the true event managers as
the rest of the group, who executive the tasks are the event organizers. Their
responsibility is up to making the plans and assigning the tasks. The rest of the work is
handled by the different organizers. The functions of a decision maker are:
 Collecting the facts and guidelines of the event from the client
 Designing the event flow
 Preparing a marketing and promotional strategy
 Preparing the budget for the event
 Selecting people who will be involved in the execution of the event. The decision
makers generally select the heads and other team members are selected by the
respective heads.
 Decide the venue, caterers, decorators and other technicians involved in staging
the event.
• Technical staff
Technical production has always been the ‘what’s that’ factor for event managers.
Knowledge of technical production has so far been a domain of a few and very few have
tried to dare and ‘know it all’. Various tasks requiring technical expertise may be
assigned to in house personnel or to subcontractors. It is easy to hire a production or a
technical manager and rely on his expertise to deliver services. But if you do not have the
technical knowledge at all, you cannot tell if it is good or bad. Hence, it is essential to
have an in-house technical team or atleast the decision makers should have a little
technical knowledge. The responsibilities and functions of a good technical head are:
 To have a detailed insight into technical gear, knowledge of the different
applications of the gear, how to distinguish gear and order the right equipment for
the right event.
 Selecting technicians as per the show and budgetary requirements of the client.
 Having a thorough knowledge of the show requirements and look and feel that is
required for the show, the design of the set, the seating plan of the audience and
the format of the show(whether it is for television or a closed audience or indoor or
outdoor).
 To check whether the lights, music systems, audiovisuals, laser, etc equipments
work properly and are well co-coordinated.
• Support personnel
Support personnel are the clerical staff, which though do not have the authority but have
many tasks to accomplish. These include clerks, receptionist, person handling computer
work, etc.
Members of the clerical support staff handle:
 Typing and computer data entry,
 Make copies and maintain files,
 Process incoming and outgoing mails,
 Stuff attendee packets;
 They keep daily activity logs for registration, expenses and income,
 They direct incoming calls;
 They follow up on requests for brochures and answer routine questions such as
dates and costs.
3.Developing record keeping systems
Often, the event planner becomes the central coordinator of all information. Therefore
record keeping systems are essential to organize, control and monitor activities. The
organizational system he sets up must include a planning schedule. Deadlines forms and
checklists to expedite the process and capture the details in a structured, usable quickly
retrievable manner. The system’s documents become the files and records he will need
for reporting, evaluating and planning for future events.
4.Establishing policies and procedures
Another important planning issue has to do with establishing policies and procedures in
the early stage. The key to effective management is deciding the rules up front and
advising the people they affect. Simple things such as registration cutoff dates,
administrative penalties for cancellation, payment and reimbursement procedures for
speakers, to name a few need to be established and communicated or event coordinators
will find themselves continually answering the same question and mediating disputes.
5.Preparing a planning schedule and a proposed outlay
A successful event coordinator must have many attributes, but two important
characteristics are good organizational skills and attention to detail. A key tool that will
help in this regard is the planning schedule.
The planning schedule is a detailed list of all the required tasks and steps, the required
completion date, and the person, department, or committee responsible for each. To meet
this a cost sheet will have to e prepared to ascertain the estimated cost of the event. One
major question would be whether the execution would be through an internal event
management team or whether the services of professional Event Managers would be
required. In many cases, the allocation of responsibilities is worked out between the
internal event team and the External Managers. This keeps the event cohesive as routine
tasks are executed by the internal team and the external and stage management aspects
are organized by Event Managers who have more knowledge and experience in the Event
business. The event manager should prepare a plan comprising all these details and keep
it handy. This schedule will work as a guide for all the members and all of them have to
adhere to the guidelines to ensure the success of the event. The importance of having all
the planning issues covered is that, by anticipating problems, special needs, and hidden
costs, the manger can be calm during the storm of the event. If he/she always asks “what
is the worst that can happen?” and then have a solution ready, they will have a reservoir
of strategies to be used at a moments notice, no matter how serious the crisis.
The Budget
The event manager cannot have a successful planning structure without a budget and
priorities for how the money will be spent. Financial decisions affect every area of the
event and must be established early in the process and monitored on a regular basis.
A budget is a statement of income and expenditure that has been allocated under a set of
headings, for a period of time. Budgets are a clear way of identifying and allocating funds
and communicating important financial information. They can also be used as a basis for
evaluation and to help future planning.
The budget represents the action plan that each successful event manager must carefully
develop. Budget preparation is probably the most challenging part in financial
management since the entire preparation is usually based on limited information or
assumptions. There are stories of failed event managers or event management companies
because while they may have had an innovative idea or great vision, they often failed at
the “bottom-line”. Budgeting is a critical issue in any aspect of event planning.
Preparing a budget is part of the initial planning stage. A budget includes projected
revenue and expenditure from which an estimate of the net profit (or sometimes the net
loss) from the proposed event can be ascertained. Forming a budget begins with the
costing of essentials, including the allocation pf staff to the planning and of staging of the
conference. Then there is accommodation, transportation, catering and so on. A budget is
a plan based on accurate quotes from all contractors and suppliers and careful research to
ensure that no expenses have been overlooked. It provides guidelines for approving
expenditure and ensuring that the financial aspects of the event remain on track. The
budget is a part of the event proposal or the basis of the quote by the event management
company to the client. The budget as a document is an important planning tool, but the
true value is in the degree to which the manager uses it and in the accuracy and
thoughtfulness of the preparation process.
A budget represents the income and expenses of an organization or the individual event.
An event budget is based on the following factors:
1. Marketing projections and estimates
2. The general history of previous identical or similar events
3. The general economy and the forecasts given by the economists.
4. The income and expenses reasonably expected to arise with the resources
available.
Preparing a budget:
While preparing a budget a manager needs to include every possible income or
expenditure he can think of. If the manager has historical data from a similar event then
he is really lucky because data from a previous experience can give him an idea of
previous revenues and expenses. He should not try and map out the budget in a single
sitting, but rather plan out a few sessions so that he can do a thorough job. The more
meticulous he is, the more accurate will be the end results.
Income categories for an event:
Due to the wide range of events within the event management profession, it is diicult to
list categorically every type of income. However, there are some general items that most
budgets include:
• Advertising revenues
• Concession sales
• Registration fees
• Ticket sales
• Sponsorship fees
• Exhibit or exposition booth rental fees
• Donations
• Sponsorship in kind
• Grants and contracts
• Merchandised sales
• Vendor commissions (hotels)
• Interest Income from Investments
OVERALL SIZE AND SHAPE
The size of the live entertainment segment can be measured in terms of total billing for
the events managed i.e. sponsorship fees, tickets sales revenue and sales of various rights
associated with the event content such as telecast rights, music and video rights, internet
rights and merchandise rights.
Sponsorship fees: On an average, there are three sponsors for an event – one main
sponsor and the two co-sponsors. The total sponsorship fees ranges between Rs. 10mn
and Rs 20mn for an international event, and between Rs. 2.5mn and Rs. 5mn for a
domestic event.
Ticket sales revenue: This revenue source has picked up substantially over the last year.
Currently, approximately 25,000 tickets are sold on an average in an international event.
Ticket sales revenue has ranged between Rs 3.2mn for the Venga Boys event to Rs 24mn
for the recently held show of Bryan Adams.
Sale of telecast rights to television broadcasters: event managers have not
commercially exploited this source of revenue so far. There have been only some stray
deals involving sale of telecast rights, for instance DNA networks has sold about 3
properties to B4U for approximately Rs 4.5mn.
Sale of merchandise rights: In case of concerts by popular artist or groups or popular
sporting events, significant revenue can be earned through the sale of event-related
merchandise such as clothing, etc. The event manager can sell rights to merchandisers for
such activities. However this is not a significant source of revenue at present.
In 2001, the industry managed approximately 1,000 live entertainment events, including
22 international events. According to industry sources, the total billings for the year are
estimated at Rs. 1.5bn, with domestic events accounting for Rs. 0.9bn and international
event and a domestic event is as under:
Revenue profile for international and domestic events (average)
Item International event Domestic event
Sponsorship fees 30% 80%
Ticket sales revenue 70% 20%
(Source: Industry)
0
20
40
60
80
International
Event
Domestic
Event
Revenue Profile for International and Domestic
Events (average)
Sponsorship
Fees
Ticket Sales
Revenue
Expenses:
The income comes from one or two doors, but the expenses can leak out of many doors!
Expenses can be fixed, variable, indirect , direct or hidden. Developing solid, predictable
expense categories is critical to sound financial management. These expense items often
come from historical data or by comparing your event to others of similar size and scope.
The general expense item for most events is as follows:
Advertising Audiovisual equipment
rental and labor
Car rentals and petrol
Awards and recognition Insurance Legal counsel
Lighting equipment rental Technical labor Local, state, provincial and
federal taxes
Photography + Video Proceedings editing, design
and printing
Postage
Brochure and other
collateral
design/printing/mailing
Consultants Décor
Entertainment Food and Beverage Complimentary
registrations/ admission
Registration contract labor Registration material Research
Signs Site office furniture rentals Site office supplies
Telephone expenses Sound equipment rentals Speaker’s fees + Travel
Volunteers’ fees Public relations Guest transportation
Material shipping/freight
fees
Staff salaries Walkie-talkies
Overtime charges Venue rent Security
Generators Communication (onsite,
green rooms, entrance, etc.)
Miscellaneous
In terms of cost, artists’ remuneration accounts for 40% of the costs and production
expenses such as erection costs of the stage, lights and sound, and operating expenses
such as travel and stay expenses of the troupe, freights expenses, etc. account for the
balance. This cost profile is the same for domestic event as well as an international event.
Cost profile for international and domestic events (average)
International event Domestic event
Artists’ remuneration 40% 60%
Prodn
and operation cost 60% 40%
Cost Profile for an International Event
Artists'
Remuneration
Prod
n
&
Operation
Cost
Cost Profile for an Domestic Event
Prod
n
&
Operation
Cost
Artists'
Remuneration
After evaluating expenses, the event coordinator will have several options to choose from
in each and every expense items. The important ones with available options and their
respective costs are:
Venue
Some of the venue providers in the major cities of India and their charges are as follows:
Mumbai MMRDA Ground Rs.2 – 2.5 Lakhs/day
Andheri Sports Complex Rs.1,75,000/day
NSC Rs.1,00,000/day
Hyderabad Shiparamam Rs.25,000 – 30,000/day
Ramoji Film City Rs.30,000-35,000/day
Pune Durgam Cheruvu Rs.15,000/day
B J Medical Ground Rs.1,00,000/day
S.S.P.M.S Ground Rs.50,000/day
Agricultural College Ground Rs.50,000/day
Banglore Palace Ground Rs.1,00,000/day
Speed Zone Rs.50,000/day
Webs Ground Rs. 50,000/day
These rates are for the main day of the event. For construction period, the cost for
Mumbai venues is Es.35, 000 - Rs.50, 000 per day. Also an amount of Rs.1, 00,000 –
Rs.2, 00,000 has to be paid as deposit.
Security:
Most of the event managers outsource the security for the event and the celebrities to
professional companies which specialize in providing such security. On an everage these
companies charge Rs. 1000 per security guard provided by them. In a big event like an
Award Ceremony, approximately 30 such guard are required whike during press releases
or conferences 5-10 guards re required.
Following are some of the companies that specialize in security for events:
• TOPS Security
• Group 4
• Marshall Security Services
• Guard Well Security Services and so on.
Sound/ Lights:
The cost of sound and light totally depends on the requirement. Two similar events can
have huge differences in their sound and light costs. Generally event managers first fix a
budget as to how much they want to spend on their sound and light and then determine
what all they can get in that budgeted amount.
Big Show (3,000+audience) Small Show (300-500 people approximately)
Open Value Closed Value
Rs. 50,000 – Rs.5,00,000 + Transport Rs. 20,000 – Rs. 1,50,000 + Transport
Permission:
The cost of aquiring permissions differs from state to state. Legally it takes somewhere
around Rs.10,000 to obtain all the permissions for an outdoor event. But there is so much
of bribing for such things that one can end up spending lakhs of rupees depending on his
contacts and negotiating skills.
Advertising
Print
Hoardings
Generally the booking for hoardings is done for a period of 15 days to 25 days. The cost
of hoardings primarily depends on the location of the hoarding. The price based on
location and size would vary from Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 15,00,000 for a period of 25 days.
Buses
In Bombay the cost is approximately Rs.20,000 per bus per month (excluding repainting
if the contents need to be changed). In most other cities it is anywhere between Rs. 5,000
to Rs. 10,000.
Radio:
Advertising on Radio is measured in spots. The spots are generally 10/15/20/25 seconds
and so on. The cost of a 10 second spot ranges from 700 – 2,200, depending on the
popularity of the radio station and of course the volume of business that the client gives
and the client’s negotiating skills.
Public Relations:
Some event companies hire PR agencies to get their PR in place. Such agencies generally
charge around Rs. 25,000 for a single event.
Performers:
There are agents who get performers to perform for an event. They charge either for the
performer or a total for the performer as well as the band. These costs do not include the
air fare and thehotel stay of the performers.
The charges of some Indian performers are as follows:
For a 90 minute performance:
KayKay : Rs. 2,50,000
Shaan : Rs. 4,50,000
Sunidhi Chauhan : Rs. 3,00,000
Jagjit Singh : Rs. 5,00,000
Pankaj Udhas : Rs. 3,00,000
For one item in an Event (e.g. Priety Zinta’s performance in Star Screen Awards)
Shahrukh Khan : Rs. 12,00,000
Aishwarya Rai : Rs. 10,00,000
Saif Ali Khan : Rs. 10,00,000
Priety Zinta : Rs. 10,00,000
Hypothetical Event Control Sheet
Costs Head of
ex
pe
ns
es
Units Cost/uni Total Sponsored Net Responsibility Phone
Venue 3 1,00,000 3,00,00 0 3,00,00 Ajay 982xxx
Artists 3 50,000 1,50,00 0 1,50,00 Vijay 982xxx
Branding 10 10,000 1,00,00 0 1,00,00 Priti 982xxx
Travel 5 3,000 15,000 15,000 0 Faroukh 982xxx
Food 200 100 20,000 0 20,000 Deepa 982xxx
Sound 1 1,00.000 1,00,00 0 1,00,00 Sanjay 982xxx
Lights 1 50,000 50,000 0 50,000 Anand 982xxx
Accommodation 10 3,000 30,000 15,000 15,000 Philip 982xxx
Total Cost 7,65,00 30,000 7,35,00
Revenues Title Sponsor 2,00,000
Associate
Sp
on
sor
0 Jimmy 982xxx
Associate
Sp
on
sor
(2)
0 Rita 982xxx
Ticket Sales 25,000 Michael 982xxx
Total Revenues 7,65,00 2,25,000 5,40,00
The above sheet in a hypothetical Excel Sheet, namely the Event Control Sheet. It is
filled with the various heads of expense as the event may require. The last
row shows the total cost. As with most events today, some of the costs may
get offset by a service sponsor and that reflects in the sheet so that the
manager has a clear idea of the profitability ratio. After looking up at the
costs and the sponsors who offset specific costs, we need to take revenues
into account. For the sake of this exercise, I have taken sponsorships and
ticket sales as the two sources of revenue. It is therefore clear that the
project needs another Rs. 5,40,000 to break even. As we keep on updating
the sheet, we will come to know how much the gap is and will have to
strategise as to how to bridge it. Without the Responsibility and Phone
columns it is a fairly efficient cost-control sheet, but to make it an “Event
control sheet” with the addition of just two columns – Responsibility and
Phone. Now we have an document that can control an entire event. If the
person in charge is absent for any reason, anyone else can take over just by
accessing the Excel Sheet!
Marketing of Events
Marketing deals with identifying and meeting human and social needs. One of the
shortest definitions of marketing is “meeting needs profitability”. Marketing is typically
seen as the task of creating, promoting, and delivering goods and services to consumers
and business. Marketers are skilled in stimulating demand for a company’s products, but
this is too limited a view of the tasks marketers performs. Just as production and logistics
professionals are responsible for supply management, marketers are responsible for
demand management.
Events have emerged because of the need of marketers. Before, advertisement and word-
of-mouth were the tools which were commonly used by marketers to
promote the products and services. But by observing the customers,
marketers felt that there was a need to provide the customers the real
experience, feel of the product before they could buy it. The marketers
wanted immediate feedback from the customers and a platform where two-
way communication between the customers and the marketers was possible.
Also, advertising is not a focused medium. A medium was sought after
which would be helpful in dealing with the target market directly. Because
of all these needs, marketers took resort to events and since then event
management has become a booming industry and has reached the most
preferred and attractive position in marketing of products and services.
Hence we can say:
“Event Marketing was developed to provide managers with practical direction in
planning and implementing marketing and sponsorships.”
An event is the reflection of the corporate entity. It is part of the direct
marketing the corporate has programmed. It gives direct access to the target market
which it needs to address be it a sales conference, a dealers convention, a live
performance, a fund raiser, a religious function, a road show or any other event.
An event gives the corporate a focus on the right audience and keeps in
making the audience aware of the policies, programs, the marketing of ideas to this
target group. There is direct exchange of information between the corporate and the
target audience. It creates a bond between the management and the audience for whom
the event has been organized.
Event marketing is fast emerging as a great promotional catalyst compared to traditional
marketing communication tools. Because of wide spread clutter, escalating media costs
and lack of guaranteed measurable media tools a sense of disillusionment has been
created in the minds of marketers.
Philip Kotler describes Events as occurrences designed to communicate particular
messages to a target audience.
Event marketing allows a marketer to break clutter and target a focused audience by
creating an image through association with a particular event while reinforcing product or
service and driving sales.
In 2007, Event marketing is projected to grow and nearly quadruple the amount that the
companies spent on event sponsorships in 1988. Sports sponsorship accounts for two-
thirds of the total sponsorship spending with the remaining event categories accounting
for ten percent or less.
Clearly, event marketing has rapidly become a significant element within the marketing
mix. Its strategic value enables marketers to communicate with consumers in a personal
and relevant manner to fully "experience" their brands. It also provides a framework that
can support a number of corporate, brands and trade objectives.
Generally speaking, sponsored events fall into five major categories: sports,
entrainments, fairs & festivals, the arts, and cause-related. Events (properties) are sold to
corporations (sponsors) by a variety of concerns that own and / or represent the events.
Depending on the event, these might include one or more of the following:
• Right holders
• Advertising and event marketing agencies
• Media entities
• Event promoters
On the basis of audience participation and sponsor's objectives, events can be classified
into Direct and Indirect events. Events like exhibitions, trade fairs, dealer meets,
conferences where the audiences attending have a direct bearing on the objectives of the
promoters are direct events, Events where participating audiences not necessarily are the
target but through media coverage and word of mouth publicity the event reaches a larger
target. These events are indirect events. Such events are used primarily to build brand
image and create positive equity for the brand.
Objectives of event marketing:
• Improve the relationship between sponsors and organizers in order to make the event
planning process more efficient and effective,
• Facilitate a shift from a rigid sponsor-organizer relationship to true partnership, where
in the objectives and goals of both the parties are addressed and achieved,
• Encourage strategic planning, proper budgeting allocation (rights fees versus
activation), focused objectives and analyzing, both before and after the event, to
deliver maximum value and Return On Investment (ROI),
• Provide inspiration to all practitioners for improving the creation, management and
marketing of events.
The Need for Marketing:
Marketing is that function of event management that can keep in touch with the event's
participants and audience (consumers); their needs and motivations, conceptualize events
products that meet these needs, and build a communication programme which expresses
the event's purpose and objectives.
1. The use of marketing principles gives event managers a framework for decision-
making that should result in successful events that still allow innovation and creativity,
but cater to a target market segment that has need for novelty and the excitement of the
new.
2. Sponsoring bodies require some certainty that their sponsorship will be received by the
target market that they are seeking. Sound marketing practices will help convince them
that a festival or event is an appropriate medium for them to communicate to their target
market.
3. All three levels of Government financially assist many festivals and events. They
usually fund only those events whose management can demonstrate some expertise in
marketing planning and management. .
4. Consumers, particularly those living in major cities, have an enormous range of leisure
activities from which to choose to spend their disposable income. This means that a
festival or special event, which, by definition, can be categorized as a leisure activity, will
attract only those who expect to satisfy their perceived needs. Therefore, any festival or
event needs to be designed to satisfy identified needs of its target market. Failure to do
this usually results in an event that is irrelevant to the needs of its target market and does
not meet its objectives.
Functions performed by the Event Marketing Head:
The following list shows the marketing activities that an event
manager undertakes to produce a successful festival or special event:
Analyses the needs of the target market to establish appropriate event components or
'products'.
1. Establishes whether other competitive events could satisfy similar needs to
ensure that their event has a unique selling proposition.
2. Predicts how many people will attend the event.
3. Predicts why people will come to the event.
4. Estimates what price they will be willing to pay to attend.
5. Brings in sponsorship for the event.
6. Decides on the type and quantity of promotional activities telling the target
market about the event.
7. Decides on how tickets to the event can reach the target market.
8. Establishes the degree of success of the marketing activities.
All of these activities, essential for a successful event are part of the marketing function.
Key issues in event marketing:
1. Setting objectives:
Event Marketing is a mixture of marketing and many other objectives. The objectives
could be:
• To increase the awareness of the company,
• Improvement of public perception about a company or objective,
• Reaching target audience,
• Building relationships,
• Enhancing the brand image and increasing sales.
• Wanting to contribute to community development, wanting to reach out to a larger
target audience,
• Be able to differentiate from competitors.
Lakme has been sponsoring the India Fashion Week for the last 4 years with the
objective of making the brand more contemporary and ‘in’ with today's generation. By
sponsoring the India Fashion Week, it tries to be the much talked about cosmetic
company I tha Fashion Industry.
2. Selection of the event:
Regardless to the relative importance of set objectives, organizations must
carefully select events that will help them in achieving their own unique
objectives. The first step is to evaluate and select the right event.
David Shani and Dennis Sandler have developed an Event Pyramid to promote and
select sporting events. These helped in categorizing the events and reducing the choice
set.
Local Events
Regional Events
National Events
International
Events
GE
The pyramid consists of five levels:
• Global Events
• International events
• National Events
• Regional Events
• Local Events
Each level classifies the event on the basis of the width and depth of interest in the event.
Shani and Sandler describe the width as the geographic reach of the event via the various
communication media and the depth of the event refers to the levels of interests amongst
consumers. Global events are at the apex and local events are at the bottom of the
pyramid.
Marketers must first decide the consistency of the corporate objectives and the budget
before they decide the appropriate levels that present the best match.
Coca Cola is deeply involved in events at all five levels.
A closer look at the pyramid reveals certain flaws. First it shows local events at the base.
To some this imply the broadest level of geographical focus while infact they have the
narrowest focus. Secondly it may be extremely difficult to categorize certain events on
the basis of this pyramid.
The primary consideration in selection of events is the brand personality fit. Ferrard and
Pages describe the process of congruence between events and brand as looking for the
“perfect wedding”. They also point out that any action of sponsoring events should begin
with the analysis of the common and unique attributes of the event and the brand.
For instance the association of Sahara and The Indian cricket team and the Sahara Cup
tournaments of cricket seems to be a perfect nationalist fit for the brand Sahara which
boasts of its Indianness in all its ventures, services or products.
There is no standardized technique to assess event-marketing opportunities. However
different companies have different approaches to the concept. Burson Marsteller, USA
has developed a Relative Value Assessment Model to objectively evaluate event
marketing opportunities against a five point criteria:
1. Positioning and Image
2. Audience Reach and Appeal
3. Marketing /Sales objectives
4. Tactical effectiveness
5. Marketing strategies
Each criterion has various elements that can be judged on a ten point rating scale. These
criteria are of two types: Desired and required. A RVA comparison grid can be used to
compare several events under consideration.
EVENT MARKETING MIX: -
Marketing events is the process of employing the marketing mix to attain
organizational goals through creating value for clients and customers. The organization
must adopt a marketing orientation that stresses the building of mutually beneficial
relationships and the maintenance of competitive advantage. Traditionally marketing
students have recognized that product, price, promotion, & place are critical
components in the marketing process. Each of this 4 P’s of marketing is a catalyst for
sales. The four P’s of marketing mix are common to the event mix but the three main
P’s which helps the product or your event to prosper are: process, people, physical
evidence. If your 4P’s are well set but you lack in this three P’s then you may have a
bad event because people are the one who are going to deliver you event and physical
evidence is the look or what customer or people attending the event perceive.. Physical
evidence their people and its process of carrying out the event or work appeal your
customers, then it is sure for your event to be a success and have good results out of it.
The eight P’s of Event Marketing Mix are:
1) PRODUCT(the service offered)
Successful sales people have both expert product knowledge and effective sales
skills. Expert product knowledge is essential in today’s competitive environment. The
expertise the marketing person demonstrates regarding the sponsorship package or
other event components will differentiate this individual from the competition. More
important than sales skills, demonstrated product expertise show the client that he or
she is making a purchase that has added value and helps to develop confidence as well
as long-term loyalty. It also brigs in reputation for the customer. The product i.e., the
event shows the design characteristics. This includes details about the event and how
the presentation of the event will be done. It also shows the intangible concept that the
event is delivering. The intangible concept that an organizations Award Ceremony
delivers is the feeling of acceptance, belongingness and trust among the employees
2) PROMOTION
Event manager may have the best quality event product, but unless he has a strategic
plan for promoting this product it will remain the best-kept secret in the world. There
are varieties of ways to promote your efforts:
• Advertising
• Public relations
• Direct marketing
• Word of mouth
• Hospitality
PROMOTION CHECKLIST: -
• Identify all event elements that require promotion from the proposal
through the final evaluation.
• Develop strategies for allocating scarce event promotion resources with
efficient methods.
• Identify promotion partners to share costs.
• Carefully target your promotion to those market segments that will
support your event.
• Measure and analyze your promotion efforts throughout the campaign to
make corrections as required.
3) PRICE
Marketing research will help the event manager to determine price. Part of
this market research will include conducting a competitive analysis study of other
organization offering similar event. When potential ticket buyers or guests are
interviewed, he may be surprised to learn that they consider his event similar to many
others. Therefore, an event manager must carefully list all competing events and the
prices being charged to helphim determining the appropriate price for his event. This
price later on helps the Finance head to prepare the budget for the event according to
the sponsorship, which the marketing head brings.
The price of the event is determined by the financial philosophy of the event.
The event can be:
• Not-for-profit venture:
If the event is a not-for-profit venture, the organization may not be concerned with a
large commercial yield from the event. Also, the philosophical purpose of the event
may be to generate overall awareness and support.
• Commercial venture
If the event is a commercial venture, the goal is probably to generate the greatest
potential net profit. He eill try to get maximum sponsorship and fiercely sell the event
by using all the promotional tools.
Once the philosophy is clear, then the event manager will be able to determine price.
The price must reflect the cost of all goods and services required to produce the event
plus a margin of profit or retained earnings.
4) PLACE
The place where you locate your event ultimately will determine the marketing efforts
you must exude to drive sales, for example it has been shown that those events that are
close to inexpensive, safe public transportation or those events that feature close and
reasonably priced parking will attract more guests than those that do not offer these
amenities. Furthermore, those events that are connected to other nearby attractions or
infrastructures (such as shopping malls) may also draw more attendees due to the time
efficiency to the destination. For upscale events, the addition of valet parking may
improve the chances of attracting guests to a new or nontraditional location.
The event manager must seriously consider place when designing the marketing
program for the event. Place not only implies the taste or style of the event, it also, in
large, defines the type of individual that will be persuaded to invest in the event.
5) PROCESS: -
There are various processes to be carried out in events. Different processes are involved
in every stage of an event. Few process and their explanations are given below-
• ENTRY or TICKET booking in an event:
Entry or Ticket booking in an event or booking of stalls during an exhibition event is
sometimes very tedious. There should be proper security at the entrance and the tickets
should be available only at one place and there should be no crowding near the ticket
window. The process to book stalls tables and ticket booking should be simple and
easily understood by people attending the event.
• QUEUING of people gathered at an event:
There should be proper process for ENTRY and EXIT of people attending the event.
Single line should be maintained or divisions with the help of ropes or rods should be
made between different lines. Various line techniques must be used to arrange the
crowd and to see that there is no rush gathered at a single place.
• Large Parking space:
Large parking space should be provided for the cars entering the area of an event and
valet parking facility should be provided if possible so that customers or people are not
depressed of parking their car far away or waiting for long hours for parking may spoil
their mood before the function starts and the thought of coming back walking to the
parking area would keep customer away from the event.. There should be good parking
space with security facility. This will help to create a good impression on people
attending the event.
By looking at the various processes we can summarize that process is to be taken care
of by the marketing people but is the main responsibility of the logistics people.
6) PEOPLE: -
A person plays a very important role in case of events. People are the
ones who are going to deliver your event may it be any type of an event -seminars,
exhibitions, entertainment, road show, award functions, etc. People are those who are
going to appeal to your customers and convey your message to the people attending the
event. Every person or people concerned to your event is important and needs to behave
properly. May he be a security guy but he is going to resemble you and your company.
So his manner of behaving is going to convey your company’s attitude and it’s your
impression.
 People in event need to be well dressed as they are going to represent
the company.
 People in event should develop good communication skills and take
care of customer interest and behave properly.
 People’s role is there in every area of event such as reservation
counters, ticket reservation staff, venue staff etc. Thus they need to
have talent and proper knowledge of the going event.
7) PHYSICAL EVIDENCE :-
Physical evidence is very important for any event. Physical evidence is like the
“FIRST IMPRESSION IS THE LAST IMPRESSION”. It is the look of the
event and should reflect what the customers perceive from the event. Without
physical evidence promotion of any event is not possible. Hence physical
evidence is one of the important elements in marketing of any event. These are
some of the important elements on which physical evidence is based.
 Branding: - Branding of an event is a very crucial step in an event.
Without branding any event cannot be recognized. Any event cannot
succeed without brand recognition.
 Decoration: - Decoration is also an important step in marketing of an
event. Any event can be made attractive by its decoration. It case pf
large-scale live entertainment events, Stage Set-Up becomes very
important as throughout the event the customers are going to look at
the stage and experience the event.
 Programs: - Any event cannot be completed without any programs.
Hence programs form integral part of marketing an event. The types of
programs selected and their potential to entertain people form a large
share in the physical evidence of the event.
The following diagram shows how the 8p’s of service marketing are related to
Marketing of Events.
Event management
Event management
Event management
Event management
Event management
Event management
Event management
Event management
Event management
Event management
Event management
Event management
Event management
Event management

More Related Content

What's hot

Event evaluation guest lecture
Event evaluation guest lectureEvent evaluation guest lecture
Event evaluation guest lectureNicole Ferdinand
 
Event management PPT-MBA
Event management PPT-MBAEvent management PPT-MBA
Event management PPT-MBAneha didwania
 
Event Marketing
Event Marketing  Event Marketing
Event Marketing Lake B2B
 
Event marketing
Event marketingEvent marketing
Event marketingAMALDASKH
 
Event management
Event management Event management
Event management Amey Patil
 
Event Management- Methods & Principles
Event Management- Methods & PrinciplesEvent Management- Methods & Principles
Event Management- Methods & PrinciplesTrinity Dwarka
 
Event Management
Event ManagementEvent Management
Event Managementepaulcst
 
Event Management in India final
Event Management in India  finalEvent Management in India  final
Event Management in India finaljayaraj gaddihalli
 
Infinity Events - Company Profile
Infinity Events - Company ProfileInfinity Events - Company Profile
Infinity Events - Company ProfileInfinity events
 
Event management
Event managementEvent management
Event managementBhavana2016
 
Chapter 2 The Event Manager and Its Duties and Responsibilities
Chapter 2 The Event Manager and Its Duties and ResponsibilitiesChapter 2 The Event Manager and Its Duties and Responsibilities
Chapter 2 The Event Manager and Its Duties and ResponsibilitiesPamantasan Ng Lungsod Ng Pasig
 
Event management
Event managementEvent management
Event managementashinpr
 
Hospitality industry trends
Hospitality industry trendsHospitality industry trends
Hospitality industry trendsSnežana Simić
 

What's hot (20)

Understanding event and its types
Understanding event and its typesUnderstanding event and its types
Understanding event and its types
 
Event management
Event managementEvent management
Event management
 
Types of events
Types of eventsTypes of events
Types of events
 
Event evaluation guest lecture
Event evaluation guest lectureEvent evaluation guest lecture
Event evaluation guest lecture
 
Event Management
Event ManagementEvent Management
Event Management
 
Event management PPT-MBA
Event management PPT-MBAEvent management PPT-MBA
Event management PPT-MBA
 
Event Marketing
Event Marketing  Event Marketing
Event Marketing
 
Event marketing
Event marketingEvent marketing
Event marketing
 
Event management
Event management Event management
Event management
 
Event Marketing: The Basics
Event Marketing: The BasicsEvent Marketing: The Basics
Event Marketing: The Basics
 
Event Management- Methods & Principles
Event Management- Methods & PrinciplesEvent Management- Methods & Principles
Event Management- Methods & Principles
 
Event Management
Event ManagementEvent Management
Event Management
 
Event Management in India final
Event Management in India  finalEvent Management in India  final
Event Management in India final
 
Infinity Events - Company Profile
Infinity Events - Company ProfileInfinity Events - Company Profile
Infinity Events - Company Profile
 
Event management
Event managementEvent management
Event management
 
Evt mngt ch 1
Evt mngt ch 1Evt mngt ch 1
Evt mngt ch 1
 
Chapter 2 The Event Manager and Its Duties and Responsibilities
Chapter 2 The Event Manager and Its Duties and ResponsibilitiesChapter 2 The Event Manager and Its Duties and Responsibilities
Chapter 2 The Event Manager and Its Duties and Responsibilities
 
Event management
Event managementEvent management
Event management
 
Events Marketing
Events MarketingEvents Marketing
Events Marketing
 
Hospitality industry trends
Hospitality industry trendsHospitality industry trends
Hospitality industry trends
 

Similar to Event management

event_management
event_managementevent_management
event_managementviren patel
 
Blackbook project on_event_management
Blackbook project on_event_managementBlackbook project on_event_management
Blackbook project on_event_managementviren patel
 
Event management blackbook
Event management blackbookEvent management blackbook
Event management blackbookVikas Gupta
 
Progress and prospect of event companies
Progress and prospect of event companiesProgress and prospect of event companies
Progress and prospect of event companiesHardik Lathiya
 
Event management
Event managementEvent management
Event managementASIF KHAN
 
A study on the marketing, sales & operation event manegment
A study on the marketing, sales & operation event manegmentA study on the marketing, sales & operation event manegment
A study on the marketing, sales & operation event manegmentSaurabh Gupta
 
Role of Digital Marketing in Promoting Events (SIP)
Role of Digital Marketing in Promoting Events (SIP)Role of Digital Marketing in Promoting Events (SIP)
Role of Digital Marketing in Promoting Events (SIP)Arun Gupta
 
Event Management Services
Event Management ServicesEvent Management Services
Event Management ServicesAliceSofiya
 
The Best Corporate Event Management Companies of the Year : 2021
The Best Corporate Event Management Companies of the Year : 2021The Best Corporate Event Management Companies of the Year : 2021
The Best Corporate Event Management Companies of the Year : 2021The Business Fame
 
Enabling marketing and event aspirations with mobile
Enabling marketing and event aspirations with mobileEnabling marketing and event aspirations with mobile
Enabling marketing and event aspirations with mobileDev Sharma
 
Role of Advertising Agent
Role of Advertising AgentRole of Advertising Agent
Role of Advertising AgentBhaskar Bhatt
 
A Study On Event Management Services And Audience Perception Towards Entertai...
A Study On Event Management Services And Audience Perception Towards Entertai...A Study On Event Management Services And Audience Perception Towards Entertai...
A Study On Event Management Services And Audience Perception Towards Entertai...Becky Goins
 

Similar to Event management (20)

event_management
event_managementevent_management
event_management
 
Blackbook project on_event_management
Blackbook project on_event_managementBlackbook project on_event_management
Blackbook project on_event_management
 
Event management blackbook
Event management blackbookEvent management blackbook
Event management blackbook
 
Amity
AmityAmity
Amity
 
Me ppt
Me pptMe ppt
Me ppt
 
Final company prjct
Final company prjctFinal company prjct
Final company prjct
 
Progress and prospect of event companies
Progress and prospect of event companiesProgress and prospect of event companies
Progress and prospect of event companies
 
Event management
Event managementEvent management
Event management
 
A study on the marketing, sales & operation event manegment
A study on the marketing, sales & operation event manegmentA study on the marketing, sales & operation event manegment
A study on the marketing, sales & operation event manegment
 
Role of Digital Marketing in Promoting Events (SIP)
Role of Digital Marketing in Promoting Events (SIP)Role of Digital Marketing in Promoting Events (SIP)
Role of Digital Marketing in Promoting Events (SIP)
 
Event Management Services
Event Management ServicesEvent Management Services
Event Management Services
 
The Best Corporate Event Management Companies of the Year : 2021
The Best Corporate Event Management Companies of the Year : 2021The Best Corporate Event Management Companies of the Year : 2021
The Best Corporate Event Management Companies of the Year : 2021
 
Enabling marketing and event aspirations with mobile
Enabling marketing and event aspirations with mobileEnabling marketing and event aspirations with mobile
Enabling marketing and event aspirations with mobile
 
Bright Today Group
Bright Today GroupBright Today Group
Bright Today Group
 
30 Experts Predict The Event Trends That Will Shape Your 2015
30 Experts Predict The Event Trends That Will Shape Your 201530 Experts Predict The Event Trends That Will Shape Your 2015
30 Experts Predict The Event Trends That Will Shape Your 2015
 
Everaxis
EveraxisEveraxis
Everaxis
 
Role of Advertising Agent
Role of Advertising AgentRole of Advertising Agent
Role of Advertising Agent
 
A Study On Event Management Services And Audience Perception Towards Entertai...
A Study On Event Management Services And Audience Perception Towards Entertai...A Study On Event Management Services And Audience Perception Towards Entertai...
A Study On Event Management Services And Audience Perception Towards Entertai...
 
Assignment
Assignment Assignment
Assignment
 
Ntcc pdf
Ntcc pdfNtcc pdf
Ntcc pdf
 

More from umesh yadav

Banking and other financial services
Banking and other financial servicesBanking and other financial services
Banking and other financial servicesumesh yadav
 
Amity business school
Amity business schoolAmity business school
Amity business schoolumesh yadav
 
financial concurrence-ntpc
financial concurrence-ntpcfinancial concurrence-ntpc
financial concurrence-ntpcumesh yadav
 
identifying distribution gap and planning for route effi
identifying distribution gap and planning for route effiidentifying distribution gap and planning for route effi
identifying distribution gap and planning for route effiumesh yadav
 
retailing in pepsi
retailing in pepsiretailing in pepsi
retailing in pepsiumesh yadav
 
comparative market analysis through each dealer survey a
comparative market analysis through each dealer survey acomparative market analysis through each dealer survey a
comparative market analysis through each dealer survey aumesh yadav
 
coca cola marketing strategies
coca cola marketing strategiescoca cola marketing strategies
coca cola marketing strategiesumesh yadav
 
working capital management
working capital managementworking capital management
working capital managementumesh yadav
 
working capitalmgmnt. in air port authority
working capitalmgmnt. in air port authorityworking capitalmgmnt. in air port authority
working capitalmgmnt. in air port authorityumesh yadav
 
two wheeler industry
two wheeler industrytwo wheeler industry
two wheeler industryumesh yadav
 
the professional practice of placement
the professional practice of placementthe professional practice of placement
the professional practice of placementumesh yadav
 
the glassceiling effect
the glassceiling effectthe glassceiling effect
the glassceiling effectumesh yadav
 
37 supply chain management at glaxo
37 supply chain management at glaxo37 supply chain management at glaxo
37 supply chain management at glaxoumesh yadav
 

More from umesh yadav (20)

Banking and other financial services
Banking and other financial servicesBanking and other financial services
Banking and other financial services
 
Amity business school
Amity business schoolAmity business school
Amity business school
 
Acknowledgement
AcknowledgementAcknowledgement
Acknowledgement
 
nokia report
nokia reportnokia report
nokia report
 
financial concurrence-ntpc
financial concurrence-ntpcfinancial concurrence-ntpc
financial concurrence-ntpc
 
identifying distribution gap and planning for route effi
identifying distribution gap and planning for route effiidentifying distribution gap and planning for route effi
identifying distribution gap and planning for route effi
 
retailing in pepsi
retailing in pepsiretailing in pepsi
retailing in pepsi
 
comparative market analysis through each dealer survey a
comparative market analysis through each dealer survey acomparative market analysis through each dealer survey a
comparative market analysis through each dealer survey a
 
pepsi
pepsipepsi
pepsi
 
coca cola marketing strategies
coca cola marketing strategiescoca cola marketing strategies
coca cola marketing strategies
 
cadbury
cadburycadbury
cadbury
 
casual wear
casual wearcasual wear
casual wear
 
beer
beerbeer
beer
 
working capital management
working capital managementworking capital management
working capital management
 
working capitalmgmnt. in air port authority
working capitalmgmnt. in air port authorityworking capitalmgmnt. in air port authority
working capitalmgmnt. in air port authority
 
two wheeler industry
two wheeler industrytwo wheeler industry
two wheeler industry
 
time management
time managementtime management
time management
 
the professional practice of placement
the professional practice of placementthe professional practice of placement
the professional practice of placement
 
the glassceiling effect
the glassceiling effectthe glassceiling effect
the glassceiling effect
 
37 supply chain management at glaxo
37 supply chain management at glaxo37 supply chain management at glaxo
37 supply chain management at glaxo
 

Recently uploaded

Pitch Deck Teardown: Geodesic.Life's $500k Pre-seed deck
Pitch Deck Teardown: Geodesic.Life's $500k Pre-seed deckPitch Deck Teardown: Geodesic.Life's $500k Pre-seed deck
Pitch Deck Teardown: Geodesic.Life's $500k Pre-seed deckHajeJanKamps
 
Memorándum de Entendimiento (MoU) entre Codelco y SQM
Memorándum de Entendimiento (MoU) entre Codelco y SQMMemorándum de Entendimiento (MoU) entre Codelco y SQM
Memorándum de Entendimiento (MoU) entre Codelco y SQMVoces Mineras
 
Ten Organizational Design Models to align structure and operations to busines...
Ten Organizational Design Models to align structure and operations to busines...Ten Organizational Design Models to align structure and operations to busines...
Ten Organizational Design Models to align structure and operations to busines...Seta Wicaksana
 
1911 Gold Corporate Presentation Apr 2024.pdf
1911 Gold Corporate Presentation Apr 2024.pdf1911 Gold Corporate Presentation Apr 2024.pdf
1911 Gold Corporate Presentation Apr 2024.pdfShaun Heinrichs
 
Unlocking the Future: Explore Web 3.0 Workshop to Start Earning Today!
Unlocking the Future: Explore Web 3.0 Workshop to Start Earning Today!Unlocking the Future: Explore Web 3.0 Workshop to Start Earning Today!
Unlocking the Future: Explore Web 3.0 Workshop to Start Earning Today!Doge Mining Website
 
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Shivaji Enclave Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Shivaji Enclave Delhi NCR8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Shivaji Enclave Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Shivaji Enclave Delhi NCRashishs7044
 
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Tughlakabad Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Tughlakabad Delhi NCR8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Tughlakabad Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Tughlakabad Delhi NCRashishs7044
 
FULL ENJOY Call girls in Paharganj Delhi | 8377087607
FULL ENJOY Call girls in Paharganj Delhi | 8377087607FULL ENJOY Call girls in Paharganj Delhi | 8377087607
FULL ENJOY Call girls in Paharganj Delhi | 8377087607dollysharma2066
 
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Dwarka mor Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Dwarka mor Delhi NCR8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Dwarka mor Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Dwarka mor Delhi NCRashishs7044
 
The-Ethical-issues-ghhhhhhhhjof-Byjus.pptx
The-Ethical-issues-ghhhhhhhhjof-Byjus.pptxThe-Ethical-issues-ghhhhhhhhjof-Byjus.pptx
The-Ethical-issues-ghhhhhhhhjof-Byjus.pptxmbikashkanyari
 
MAHA Global and IPR: Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words?
MAHA Global and IPR: Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words?MAHA Global and IPR: Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words?
MAHA Global and IPR: Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words?Olivia Kresic
 
TriStar Gold Corporate Presentation - April 2024
TriStar Gold Corporate Presentation - April 2024TriStar Gold Corporate Presentation - April 2024
TriStar Gold Corporate Presentation - April 2024Adnet Communications
 
Financial-Statement-Analysis-of-Coca-cola-Company.pptx
Financial-Statement-Analysis-of-Coca-cola-Company.pptxFinancial-Statement-Analysis-of-Coca-cola-Company.pptx
Financial-Statement-Analysis-of-Coca-cola-Company.pptxsaniyaimamuddin
 
(Best) ENJOY Call Girls in Faridabad Ex | 8377087607
(Best) ENJOY Call Girls in Faridabad Ex | 8377087607(Best) ENJOY Call Girls in Faridabad Ex | 8377087607
(Best) ENJOY Call Girls in Faridabad Ex | 8377087607dollysharma2066
 
NewBase 19 April 2024 Energy News issue - 1717 by Khaled Al Awadi.pdf
NewBase  19 April  2024  Energy News issue - 1717 by Khaled Al Awadi.pdfNewBase  19 April  2024  Energy News issue - 1717 by Khaled Al Awadi.pdf
NewBase 19 April 2024 Energy News issue - 1717 by Khaled Al Awadi.pdfKhaled Al Awadi
 
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Kotla Mubarakpur Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Kotla Mubarakpur Delhi NCR8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Kotla Mubarakpur Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Kotla Mubarakpur Delhi NCRashishs7044
 

Recently uploaded (20)

Pitch Deck Teardown: Geodesic.Life's $500k Pre-seed deck
Pitch Deck Teardown: Geodesic.Life's $500k Pre-seed deckPitch Deck Teardown: Geodesic.Life's $500k Pre-seed deck
Pitch Deck Teardown: Geodesic.Life's $500k Pre-seed deck
 
Memorándum de Entendimiento (MoU) entre Codelco y SQM
Memorándum de Entendimiento (MoU) entre Codelco y SQMMemorándum de Entendimiento (MoU) entre Codelco y SQM
Memorándum de Entendimiento (MoU) entre Codelco y SQM
 
Corporate Profile 47Billion Information Technology
Corporate Profile 47Billion Information TechnologyCorporate Profile 47Billion Information Technology
Corporate Profile 47Billion Information Technology
 
Ten Organizational Design Models to align structure and operations to busines...
Ten Organizational Design Models to align structure and operations to busines...Ten Organizational Design Models to align structure and operations to busines...
Ten Organizational Design Models to align structure and operations to busines...
 
Enjoy ➥8448380779▻ Call Girls In Sector 18 Noida Escorts Delhi NCR
Enjoy ➥8448380779▻ Call Girls In Sector 18 Noida Escorts Delhi NCREnjoy ➥8448380779▻ Call Girls In Sector 18 Noida Escorts Delhi NCR
Enjoy ➥8448380779▻ Call Girls In Sector 18 Noida Escorts Delhi NCR
 
1911 Gold Corporate Presentation Apr 2024.pdf
1911 Gold Corporate Presentation Apr 2024.pdf1911 Gold Corporate Presentation Apr 2024.pdf
1911 Gold Corporate Presentation Apr 2024.pdf
 
Unlocking the Future: Explore Web 3.0 Workshop to Start Earning Today!
Unlocking the Future: Explore Web 3.0 Workshop to Start Earning Today!Unlocking the Future: Explore Web 3.0 Workshop to Start Earning Today!
Unlocking the Future: Explore Web 3.0 Workshop to Start Earning Today!
 
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Shivaji Enclave Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Shivaji Enclave Delhi NCR8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Shivaji Enclave Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Shivaji Enclave Delhi NCR
 
Japan IT Week 2024 Brochure by 47Billion (English)
Japan IT Week 2024 Brochure by 47Billion (English)Japan IT Week 2024 Brochure by 47Billion (English)
Japan IT Week 2024 Brochure by 47Billion (English)
 
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Tughlakabad Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Tughlakabad Delhi NCR8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Tughlakabad Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Tughlakabad Delhi NCR
 
FULL ENJOY Call girls in Paharganj Delhi | 8377087607
FULL ENJOY Call girls in Paharganj Delhi | 8377087607FULL ENJOY Call girls in Paharganj Delhi | 8377087607
FULL ENJOY Call girls in Paharganj Delhi | 8377087607
 
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Dwarka mor Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Dwarka mor Delhi NCR8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Dwarka mor Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Dwarka mor Delhi NCR
 
The-Ethical-issues-ghhhhhhhhjof-Byjus.pptx
The-Ethical-issues-ghhhhhhhhjof-Byjus.pptxThe-Ethical-issues-ghhhhhhhhjof-Byjus.pptx
The-Ethical-issues-ghhhhhhhhjof-Byjus.pptx
 
MAHA Global and IPR: Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words?
MAHA Global and IPR: Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words?MAHA Global and IPR: Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words?
MAHA Global and IPR: Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words?
 
TriStar Gold Corporate Presentation - April 2024
TriStar Gold Corporate Presentation - April 2024TriStar Gold Corporate Presentation - April 2024
TriStar Gold Corporate Presentation - April 2024
 
Financial-Statement-Analysis-of-Coca-cola-Company.pptx
Financial-Statement-Analysis-of-Coca-cola-Company.pptxFinancial-Statement-Analysis-of-Coca-cola-Company.pptx
Financial-Statement-Analysis-of-Coca-cola-Company.pptx
 
(Best) ENJOY Call Girls in Faridabad Ex | 8377087607
(Best) ENJOY Call Girls in Faridabad Ex | 8377087607(Best) ENJOY Call Girls in Faridabad Ex | 8377087607
(Best) ENJOY Call Girls in Faridabad Ex | 8377087607
 
Call Us ➥9319373153▻Call Girls In North Goa
Call Us ➥9319373153▻Call Girls In North GoaCall Us ➥9319373153▻Call Girls In North Goa
Call Us ➥9319373153▻Call Girls In North Goa
 
NewBase 19 April 2024 Energy News issue - 1717 by Khaled Al Awadi.pdf
NewBase  19 April  2024  Energy News issue - 1717 by Khaled Al Awadi.pdfNewBase  19 April  2024  Energy News issue - 1717 by Khaled Al Awadi.pdf
NewBase 19 April 2024 Energy News issue - 1717 by Khaled Al Awadi.pdf
 
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Kotla Mubarakpur Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Kotla Mubarakpur Delhi NCR8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Kotla Mubarakpur Delhi NCR
8447779800, Low rate Call girls in Kotla Mubarakpur Delhi NCR
 

Event management

  • 1. INTRODUCTION TO EVENTS Definition of the word Event: " The use of unconventional media / method involving people witnessing a happening within a capsule of time, for the purpose of communication of a message." Definition of Event Management “Event management is the planning and management of an event, project or activity.” Event management as the name suggests, refers to planning, creatively organizing and executing an event. ‘Event Management’, 15yrs ago, this phrase would have meant nothing in the Indian corporate world. Today, it conjures up the image of celebrities packaged with glamour and pomp in a gala event that is meticulously planned and slickly turned out. Event management in India, which was born somewhere in mid 1980s has grown into a highly professional and tech-savvy industry over the years. In 2003, the industry managed over 1,000 events, including 22 international events. The stakes have never been higher. Sponsors are savvier. Audiences are more demanding. And, event producers and managers are held accountable by their clients to meet their financial and marketing goals more than even before. Event has grown in to full grown industry, an exciting new hybrid conceived through the convergence of marketing, promotion, entertainment and the creative arts. For corporations, events have become an essential part of marketing mix, touching consumers emotionally and with life-long impact in ways that traditional advertising, publicity and promotion cannot. Socially, events balance the powerful and rapid advancement of home-based entertainment alternatives, which tend to isolate us,
  • 2. bringing us closer together to celebrate and commemorate. Events have become important as they allow the customers to get a basic feel of the product. This is the basic difference between events and advertising. The shortcoming of advertising has let to the emergence of events and today it has become a budding industry, a crowd puller and a concept with which everyone can identify. "An event is something that happens, not just exists - somebody has to make it happen. Successful events only come about through action, some individual or group of individuals getting things done." A COMPREHENSIVE NEW DEFINITION Events
  • 3. An event is a live multimedia package carried out with preconceived concept, customized or modified to achieve the clients objectives of reaching out and suitably influencing the sharply defined, specially gathered target audience by providing a complete sensual experience and an avenue for two-way interaction. From the above figure we can infer that an event is a package so organized so as to provide reach and live interaction between the target audience and the client to achieve the desired impact. The population of the target audience that the event is exposed to is called the reach of the event. The live interaction process facilitates communication between the clients and the audience. EVENT MANAGEMENT as opposed to EVENT ORGANISING: - Although the terms are used synonymously there is a difference between the two. Event management starts from the germination between the two. Event management starts from the germination of an idea and includes organizing Events. An event manager ideates on the type of event he would like to have and the audience to whom such an event should be addressed. He conceptualizes the whole event including the themes and the interactive response with his audience.He weighs the benefits likely to accrue against the cost outlay and visualizes the future impact of such an event and once he finds his perspective in place he goes ahead to organize the event. Reach Live interact ion Right communicatio n with the client With Live Audience Creates Desired Impact
  • 4. Organization of an event, strictly speaking, is co-related with the logistics. This results in selection of an Event management company, the date, the venue, the audience, the theme, the design, the décor and a hundred other things, which will lead to the success of an EVENT. In General Management terminology the “EVENT MANAGER” is the “THINKER”. He plans, he visualizes, he decides, he delegates and ultimately he controls. The “EVENT Organizer” is the “DOER”. He knows what is to be done and finds ways and means on how it could be done in the best possible manner. Professional Event Management Companies do the planning and organizing, leaving strategic thought to their clients. They do advise on themes, conceptualization and organization but restrict their initiatives as far as corporate strategy is concerned. EVENT MANAGEMENT AS A CARRIER “Today, Event Management has emerged as one of the fastest growing industries in India, and a career in event management is not only lucrative but also glamorous and challenging. Events are now acknowledged as a tremendous image multiplier option leading to greater development. As a result, opening brighter and prospective career opportunities for the new age career seekers.” There's no business like show business!! Which is why event management has emerged as one of the hottest careers today. Events have emerged as a hot new corporate communication device for marketers in the cluttered-for-choice marketplace and consequently event management has become one of the most sought after professions in India. In the new millennium, events are now acknowledged as a tremendous image-multi- plier option leading to greater brand development and thereby enhanced brand equity. Industry
  • 5. insiders say that this industry is growing at a tremendous rate and could easily be a Rs. 14,000 crore industry by the turn of 2006. Event Management involves studying the intricacies of the brand, identifying the target audience, devising the event concept, before getting down to actually executing the modalities of the proposed event. Events have become a critical function of an overall brand building exercise and combined with advertising help in an integrated marketing effort. This industry is bound to witness exponential growth once more corporates realise the potency of this tool. Realizing this, this industry has started attracting young people with creative minds and has started offering them a lucrative carrier because it is a budding industry in which if one performs up to the mark, no one can stop success coming to him. Many institutions offer courses related to events. There are wesites like www.zeelearn.com that provide online course for event management and the students are given a certificate after the completion of the course. To sum up, the vast opportunities for growth and exposure in this industry, is an ideal platform for learning - the whole process of managing an event brings one closer to the brand or product and consequently, to the industry itself. It offers the ideal atmosphere for those with a desire to exercise their inter-personal and people management skills as one gets to meet and work with people from various walks of professional life. It is a profession where adherence to perfection, meeting deadlines on time and producing an exceptional show within a stipulated budget is of paramount importance. However, one needs to keep in mind that this profession calls for hard work, professionalism and meticulous attention to detail. This industry has mammoth scope for young and ambitious entrepreneurs, and is best suited to those who swear by challenge and change! THE SCENARIO OF EVENT INDUSTRY IN INDIA Event Management is a multi-crore industry with mega shows and events hosted regularly. In India even personal functions like marriages and birthday parties have become important social matters, and have to be professionally managed. The growth of
  • 6. sophisticated and mega companies have brought forth a spurt of meetings, seminars, exhibitions, conferences, product launches with everything being a matter of class and style. Then comes the innumerable celebrity shows, international artists shows, shows for a cause, road shows, competitions, that India has seen of late. More than 200 companies have forayed into events. The early 90s has seen events spend at a mere 20 crores but now it has increased to over 500 crores. Growth is therefore 100% annually. The FICCI has estimated event management to be a 3500 crore industry by the end of the financial year 2006. The organized industry has grown from around Rs 350 crores during 2002 to be a 580 crore (US$129 mn) industry in 2003. The live entertainment and event management segment has demonstrated an overall growth over: 60%. As this segment, which is still in its infancy, becomes an increasingly important part of the media pie, it is expected to demonstrate a growth of 30% pa over the next five years, in effect, more than doubling its size to approximately Rs 1443 crore (US$321 mn) by 2008. And that’s just the part, which can be measured and estimated. There are around 10-15 large players with revenues around or over Rs 20 crores each and many small players- around 70% of the segment remains unorganized. Indeed corporate India has adopted this strategic 'hit-between-the-eyes' communication tool with a vengeance. Be it a music concert, a cricket match, a film premiere, a nightclub promo exercise, a product launch (a car, personal products, liqour brand), a social cause - every conceivable occasion is looked upon as an endeavour towards crafting corporate identities. Of late, a string of hi-profile events like The Rolling Stones Concert, Femina Miss India, the MTV Music Awards, The Cricket World Cup 2003, to events like the Michael Jackson extravaganza, and Yanni Live At The Taj Mahal, have lent a new dimension to event management. These events involved intricate logistics control, high-level of technical finesse and slick promotional chutzpah. Many specialised teams lights, stage, supplies, stage management worked with clock- work synchronicity under a single supervisory head to harmonise all the processes leading to the actual event. But
  • 7. surprisingly, research showed that there was no formalized education to teach event management and Companies found their executives not up to the mark to handle events. It was not so easy to train because event management includes organizational skills, technical knowledge, P.R., marketing, advertising, catering, logistics, decor, glamour identity, human relations, study of law and licenses, risk managements, budgeting, study of allied media like television and other media and several other areas. But like other nations, India has also its event industry and statistics prove its success in our country. India has just hosted the first Afro Asian Games. Soon, it is going to host the Commonwealth Games in the year 2010, an event whose magnitude is much greater than that of Afro Asian Games and India is also making a bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games in India. The event company Wizcraft will manage Commonwealth Games. What does this mean to the Event Industry? It means jobs. It means shortage of people with the skills required to execute an event of the enormity Many institutions like National Institute of Event Management(NIEM) and Event Management Development Institute(EMDI) have started courses related to event management. The students of these institutes get the required field experience of the industry before even completing the coursework as the event companies hire these students for logistics and execution. Many event companies have also developed in our country. The prominient ones are: • Wizcraft International Entertainment Private Limited • 360 degrees • Indiatimes • Encompass Events Private Limited • Percept D’Mark(Percept Holding Company Private Limited) • Showtimes Events Private Limited.
  • 8. Need for events: Events are fast becoming an integral part of the marketing strategy of companies. Events score over conventional media in their ability to reach out to the core target in several ways, sponsors get exclusive coverage during events and get a huge captive audience to watch the brand advertising. There is always an opportunity to introduce product trial so that product attributes can be easily conveyed to the target. In comparison to these benefits the cost of sponsorship is reasonably small. Hence for these reasons sponsorship of events has taken favor with companies in a big way Television channels are looking for driver programmes to boost viewership and events offer a unique genre of programming. Television channels can either commission their own events or buy the telecast rights of events from event managers. In both the cases the industry stands to earn profits and gain revenues. Commercial exploitation of events in the form of merchandising, webcasting over the internet can also further lead to quantum growth benefits. On account of these statistics it is expected that the industry would grow at a rate of 30 % annually and reach a figure of Rs.5.6 billion by the year 2006 Events have mainly developed because of the loopholes experienced in advertising a product. no doubt advertising is important, but certain objectives and benefits can only be fulfilled by organizing events.
  • 9. EVENTS AND PROMOS v/s ADVERTISING: EVENTS ADVERTISING Events are interactive They almost always initiate a dialogue. The audience is in front of you to create your brand communication and tell your story. One way communication The communication is always one way, and static and it is assumed that the viewer is watching which could or could not be the case always. Leads to immediate short term gains and purchases Exposure to product information and attributes leads to interest in purchase and hence sale of product. Long term brand building Advertising is more focused on evolving brands and building awareness Targeted communication Event communication is for a fixed set of audiences and caters to a very specific group. Advertising is more mass based communication Tangible value For every rupee spent the marketer can valuate the feedback and response he receives from the consumer. Intangible Most of the statistics available are based on guess-estimates and estimation of figures, which are based on extrapolated results of research done on a small sample size of consumer.
  • 10. Segmentation of Indian Event Industry Segment wise analysis of organised & unorganised business of EVENTS 35% 5%20% 20% 5% 15% Corporate Sports Arts & Theatre Felicitation & Contests Festivals Personal SOURCE: (INDUSTRY ESTIMATES, ERNST AND YOUNG RESEARCH)
  • 11. TYPES OF EVENTS SEGMENTATION OF EVENT INDUSTRY SUB-SEGMENT GENRE EXAMPLES CORPORATE Product launches/ Promotions Conferences/conventions Shareholders meetings Employee get-togethers Exhibitions/trade fairs Road shows Press conferences Annual parties Ad Asia Bacardi Christian Dior Auto Expo, Pragati Maidan Innova Launch Furniture Trade Fairs. Felicitative/Competitive Awards Contests/Talent searches Beauty/Personality pageants Femina Miss India FE Business Traveller Awards MTV Lycra Awards CNBC Autocar Awards IIFA Awards Indian Idol Arts Film Premiers Theatre Musical nites Celebrity performances Dance Fashion shows Bollywood shows English, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, etc plays. Bryan Adams Concert Lata Mangeshkar Concert Milan Fashion Show Sports Sports events (individual and combimed) Mumbai Marathon Wrestling Championships World Cup Cricket Wimbledon Ranjit Trophy Olympics
  • 12. Festivals Government sponsored Corporate sponsored Kumbh Mela Rajasthan Desert Festival Goa Carnival Festival of Kerela Cultural programmes(dandiya raas) Food festivals Personal/Social Birthday parties Weddings and related functions General parties Opening ceremony functions Family/Friends get togethers Fund Raisers/Charity events Religious Discources College Events Laxmi Mittal’s daughter’s (Vanisha Mittal) wedding Educational workshops Political Political convections Political rallies/ Meetings Election campaigns Broadly event can be classified as corporate events and live entertainment events. Corporate events are commissioned by corporate for specific purposes such as dealers’ conference, or a happening such as the India visit of Indira Nooyi, worldwide chief of PepsiCo. Corporate events account for the lion’s share of the total number of events managed in the country. Live entertainment events are stage shows or concerts by international artists (international events) or Indian artists. These could be: • Film based • Music- based • Fashion-based • Sports- based events. For instance, The Manikchand Filmfare Awards is a film-based event, a concert by ghazal maestro Pankaj Udhas or by the international rock group Scorpions would be a
  • 13. music – based event. Milan and MTV Lycra Awards are fashion based. Olympics and Wimbledon are the examples of sports-based live entertainment events. Typically, for a live entertainment event, there is more than one sponsor as well as entry fee for the audience. This category of events, albeit small, is growing rapidly in size and popularity. Unlike a corporate event, a live entertainment event is usually conceptualized, planned and executed by the event manager. Therefore, the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) also vests with the event manager. However, a company/television broadcaster can also commission an event. In such circumstances, the company/television broadcaster sponsors the entire show and retains the IPR. The event manager is paid a management fee and a production fee as well if it also produces the event for television. Certain events are created and marketed by the event manager as a branded property. These events are called branded events. They are held periodically and require substantial investment in terms of infrastructure and marketing. For instance, the Femina Miss India contest is branded event produced by Times Entertainment and held annually. IIFA awards are a brand of the event company Wizcraft. BENEFITS OF EVENTS 1.Building brands and creating brand awareness: Basically brand awareness means promoting your brand and increasing awareness about the brand(s). It can also be termed as a brand building process. Benefits out of events vary from company to company. Thus, if a new company is trying to enter the existing market, it has to first look at building the brand name of the product rather than looking at the profit ratios. Advertising helps to a great extent in building the brand name but if the company wants masses and potential buyers to know about their product and give them a basic feel of their product, then events have to be resorted to. Product launches are a very famous sub-segment of corporate events. If product launches are planned properly and conducted
  • 14. in accordance with the standards of the company, they can help in penetrating the market and creating striking awareness and desire for the product. For e.g., the launch of INNOVA was a mega event. Aamir Khan is the brand ambassador of Innova. The event was also telecasted and there were various promotional schemes attached like -a day holiday with Aamir Khan- for a few lucky winners, which attracted the crowd, increased the sales and created a basic awareness about the automobile being launched. 2. Corporate Image It goes the other way for the companies that are already into business for a period of time. For these companies, events come to the rescue for maintaining their brand image as well as boosting their sales. It also keeps the brand name in the minds of the people for a longer time. Similarly, the companies which are here and in business for ages and who are cashing on their profits have also in someway or the other reached that level with the help of different events to maintain as well as transform it into a brand name. Hence, careful scrutinisation of the above helps us to learn that most of the brand building as well as the brand awareness for the companies is done by events from small promotions to big and international events. Events can be successfully used to support, build or change a desired company’s image, shape or reinforce the public's perception of a company or brand's attributes. Events also help in building as well as changing the brand image of a given company. For example, the company has already introduced a product, but there is some defect in it then ultimately the company has to stop the production. Hence it has to relaunch the same product but emphasizing on the new characteristics. Also care has to be taken that the earlier defects are removed from the minds of the masses. The event management company plays a vital role in bringing back the goodwill and corporate image of the company. Corporate meetings are an ideal example of events creating corporate image. The way the meetings are conducted, the etiquettes followed, the event flow along with the level of professionalism maintained creates an image of the company in the minds of its shareholders and customers. 3. Media Coverage Guaranteed and potential publicity, helps in projecting right corporate image of the company, helps media get a touch feel experience of the brand and its products. In any field media plays a very important role in bringing the particular product or any tangible
  • 15. thing to the market. We can assume that media can make or break the whole image of the product in the market. Thus wherever there is an event happening be it a promotion, a product launch or a large scale event, media forms a part of that whole process thus giving the event a good amount of publicity and also making the event and the product or the company a huge success. Media usually has a guaranteed form of response as nowadays even a small issue translates into a national issue, thanks to the media. High scale events always attract media. Media can also be invited to cover the events. Events being a fresh concept and a complete crowd puller ensure media coverage. From the inception to the completion, an event is scrutinized by the media. Media talks about the making of an event an eventually when it is over, media critically rates it. Media is the largest form of communication; be it print, television or radio. For e.g. Filmfare awards. It has been around 50 yrs since these awards are celebrated and talked about. Even when they were not telecasted, there were press conferences and press releases, which kept this event, a most famous one among the clutter. And since it is live telecasted, it is going on increasing the TRPs of the channel. From the rehearsals to the decorations and stars’ interviews, everything is published to attract crowd. Hence, events being a crowd puller, media willingly talks about it and helps in its publicity. Also, events enjoy a favorable position in the minds of people and therefore, media itself takes the initiative to publicize and talk about it. 4. Net footage Net footage means to make an association with a website on the Internet or create a website for your company. This refers to the Internet form of publicity. Any event ranging from a small event to a big event gets the benefit of coverage on the net. The creative team of any event company always keeps in mind the benefits the event will gain if covered on the net. Internet has a vast reach as it is global and can give information to any person residing in any country about the event. Again, Internet tries to cover all the happenings in the world and therefore, information about even a small event like a college festival is available on the net. ANIFEST INDIA, an initiative from THE ANIMATION SOCIETY OF INDIA (TASI) and ASIFA INDIA is a two-day festival for the whole of animation industry. It has
  • 16. workshops on animation with the best of speakers coming in from around the globe and also a post festival bash. It is generally for the animation industry and hence every aspect of it from planning the design of the event, the setup and the venue, the cost of the passes everything is posted and sold on the net as it is to computers, their means of communication is Internet. Post event views, suggestions the need to take Anifest to greater heights; the polling is done through the net. Events today have become very interesting and therefore surely find a place in the affairs listed on the Net. 5. Building Corporate Hospitality Entertain key & potential clients, b2b marketing, building goodwill amongst potential clients, reinforcing faith in distribution partners, forging alliances with potential investors, motivating existing workforce or rewarding them forms a part of building corporate hospitality. Events are also held to strengthen the ties with the associates or say the people or the clients related to the particular corporate. These days the corporate companies try to define the word professionalism by the means of collecting data and then trying to build a relationship with that particular client or the business associates of the company. Thus holding an event by means of throwing a party for a product launch or while releasing a particular design of clothes, they even arrange for a fashion show, which can also be termed as indirect means of impact on the consumers or the associates. Events always come handy for such companies. Many companies also have a different ways of holding conventions for its employees. In this way if the employees are being given hospitality it in turn helps in making the company more strong and thus resulting in good sales as well as good and profitable figures in the balance sheets. For example, the TATA group every year has its business convention at different locations namely Goa, Ooty, etc. to refresh its employees and thus also help the employees to know about the future prospects of the sub companies they belong to. The event company Wizcraft handles this event. It prepares an event flow for the entire holiday and makes sure the employees are entertained effectively. This reflects the efforts put in by the employees for the company and results into having a satisfied customer base and goodwill of the company. Hence events are also important to build a good corporate hospitality among everyone who is directly or indirectly related to the particular corporate.
  • 17. 6. Niche Audience Targeting Niche targeting is more cost effective and accurate than conventional advertising, which can get diluted. It is targeting a particular group of people who actually are your target audience with all the resources you have and so it is cost effective. Other forms of promoting a product like advertising are meant for a wider segment and therefore have to be general. But events help in concentrating on a few people and therefore, the impact is high and the promotions effective. For example, Milan Fashion Show. It aims at showcasing the designs of famous designers to the elite class of the society. Designers and attendees from different countries participate in this event. Hence the show is performed in front of the target, reducing the cost and creating a better impact. 7. Product Showcase and merchandising Events create opportunity to showcase existing products and test new products. Events help companies from launching their new product, reviving the existing product as well as keeping their old products and their brand name alive in the market. Events provide that platform to the companies for showcasing their products professionally. Event companies work from budgeting the event to designing the publicity stunts and designing its execution. In all, except the manufacturing of the product, everything from launching and making it public with the help of media, every responsibility is taken by the event management company once they are given the rights to that and that too for a nominal fee .In today’s time every company wants its product, be it a cheap one or a expensive product, to have a professional launch and showcase and hence they mostly outsource the work to event companies for the same. Even from the point of view of creating merchandise opportunities, event management companies play a very vital role in sculpturing or resculpturing the product of the company. Events provide opportunity for on the spot audience gratification. Events gives the product many merchandise opportunities in the form of selling, cross selling, selling the product to a particular set of audience etc. The response generated from the audience is prompt. The satisfaction can be measured by the TG audience attending or taking part in that particular event. The company comes to
  • 18. know their views generated and suggestions coming in through the medium of events. The corporates hire event companies to arrange for events for their associates or their dealers or the distributors, channel partners to get a view about their product thus also increasing the merchandise opportunities for their products. 8. Differentiation Events help create perception about the product. It helps in differentiating a company’s products from the competitors.. It also helps in differentiating the particular product from the different products available in the market, which is again a good sign for that particular company. Once after studying the entire market the executives of the event company sit together and decide on creating something unique for bringing that product to the market in the form of launching it. The creative team of the event company plays a very vital role in designing the whole product in such a way that it automatically differentiates itself from the products of its competitors. For example, if D’DMAS has launched a particular range of diamond sets then its competitor say TANISHQ makes some few changes to its diamond line jewellery and will expect the rest from the event company to whom they outsource the job for making it stand apart from their competitor. Thus from giving a product the much needed hype to differentiating it from their competitor everything is taken care by the event management company and that too professionally. 9.Impact the Bottom Line Impacting the Bottom Line means driving sales through contests, special schemes, product awareness, etc. These days one may come across many corporates trying to advertise by the means of sending smses, e-mails etc. There are different companies involved to carry out these type of activities for an organization. The event companies come into picture as they help in the initial tie-ups between the service provider companies and the clients as in the corporates. Then the things get transferred to the event companies in the form of advertising, designing the publicity stunts, etc. These usually boosts a companies sales as this is a way of promoting a product and a very effective and cost cutting one, which is actually not done by any ad agency but by different Event companies. Keeping some
  • 19. quizzes and holding contests are all the indirect means of impacting the customers. Sometimes they even give out prizes in the form of tickets for the premier of the show of the movie being promoted or say a chance to meet the celebrities which is again a very much effective way of spreading the awareness of the particular product or the company itself. Nowadays, event companies for example 360degrees which is a known event management company and which also is a wing of the times of India group has created its own service provider namely 8888 services which caters to all such above needs of the clients from holding contests and providing certain schemes, thus promoting the particular product or the brand of the client. It also has tie-ups with many NGO’S for many social services for improving our society. Hence there are several benefits of the above services if carried out by a professionally managed event management company. 10. Helps circumvent Restrictions: Events help circumvent restrictions on conventional means of advertising. Especially for the Tobacco and Liquor Brands, where conventional advertising is banned, surrogate advertising in the form of events and promotion can help in creating positive equity for the brand and create perceptions in the minds of consumers about the product As the government has banned any sort of advertising or promoting for all the liquor as well as the tobacco brands event companies come in the form of rescue for all the above line of companies. There are no restrictions on any events as such. Thus companies, which manufacture such taboo products, turn to events for promoting their brand. For example Manikchand’s brand name was actively involved in the filmfare awards, which is done by 360 degrees every year. Association with such a big event helped the manikchand group to boost its sales as well as it gave a whole different image to it’s brand as they were associated with one of the biggest film awards in the country. Just barely three months back, there was a BACARDI blast which took place somewhere in the suburbs and was done by the event management company, FOUNTAINHEAD. It attracted lot of customers and party people and was an excellent way of promoting the brand. Thus, brands which cannot be directly advertised take the help of events to publicize their products on a larger scale and thus increasing their profits.
  • 20. This is also called a s the TINA Factor. TINA Factor: (there is no alternative) Helps brands evolve and generate awareness about themselves in situations where public advertising is not permitted, by creating subtle brand presence, e.g. McDowell’s Derby, Classic Golf, Smirnoff Fashion awards, Bacardi Blast weekends, etc. Usually these type of events are huge hits these days as people who are the viewers are mostly the young working people who are willing to spend on these products and brands if they are get their share of enjoyment and it is also a stress reliever for them. Thus for such companies, arranging launches and private parties which is also only by invitation, events prove very much beneficial and promising. 11.Training Training is another key initiative, which is required to improve the quality of output. A number of institutes like the Event Management Development Institute (EMDI), National Institute of Event Management (NIEM), Mudra institute of communication etc provide part time and full-length courses in event management. Fresh talent is generally absorbed directly into industry. KEY TRENDS IN THE INDUSTRY The trends of international events is fast catching on The year 2001-featured 20 international events in addition to the 2 annual events by the times group – The Fa Femina Miss India contest and The Manikchand Filmfare Awards ceremony. There were several blockbuster concerts by top international groups – Bryan Adams, Deep Purple, Scorpions Acoustica, Venga Boys and M C Hammer. The year 2000 featured 20 international events including several events on account of Millennium year effect. Accordingly, there is a trend of an increasing number of international events in India.
  • 21. Multinational companies have made popular artists their brand ambassadors Multinational companies have realized the growing popularity of live entertainment and artists with the masses. As a result, they are using such artists as ambassadors to promote their brands. For instance, Pepsi has appointed Adnan Sami as its brand ambassador while Coke has done the same with Aamir Khan. Live sporting events are also becoming big budget entertainment events Live events (besides cricket) such as tennis championships, golf championships are increasingly catching the fancy of sports lovers in the country. Corporate sponsors are also spending huge sums of money on such events. The year 2001 saw three major events – the Goldfalke ATP Tour World Tennis Championship at Chennai (billings approximately Rs. 80mn), the Gold flake ATP Tour World Doubles Tennis Championship at Bangalore (billings approximately Rs 65mn) and the Hero Honda championship at Delhi (billings approximately Rs 15mn) The trend of single city international events has been broken Concerts by international artists are now held in multiple cities as opposed to just one city earlier. For instance, the VengaBoys India Tour 2001 was a series of concerts across seven cities in India –Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad, and Luck now – and Colombo in Sri Lanka. The Bryan Adams concert was held at Bangalore and Mumbai. This trend can grow rapidly provided obstacles such as high levels of entertainment tax and cumbersome approval procedures are removed in many states. The practice of ticketing for events has been firmly established The free launch for consumers of live entertainment is over and ticketing as a practice has been established. The encouraging fact is that events, especially international events, were huge crowd pullers despite pricing of tickets. Cases in evidence were the sold out shows of Bryan Adams, the concert of Scorpions Acoustica (audience of 25,000) and
  • 22. Deep Purple (audience of over 30,000). This clearly brings out the value that Indians are attaching to quality live entertainment. The Indians event management industry moved a step towards organized activity The industry, which has grown over the years in a rather disorganized manner and still largely comprises non-corporate entities, instituted the Event management Association of India under the aegis of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). With this, the industry has taken the first step towards organized activity. The industry forum should assist the players in addressing and resolving industry issues that are stumbling blocks to growth. Single window for central government clearances for inbound foreign artists has been created Managing an international event has been made significantly easier with the Government of India (GOI) entrusting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with the role of providing a single window for all the central government clearances necessary for a foreign artist or group to travel to and perform in India. However the processing of applications has been centralized at RBI’s Headquarters in Mumbai. Key Issues & Challenges Besides generating revenues directly through sponsorships and ticket sales, an event also has a strong ripple effect on the economy. In case of a visiting foreign artist, Government of India receives income tax revenues from the artist. The state government receives entertainment tax from the sale of tickets. The city municipality receives revenue in the form of hire charges for the stadium or ground where the event is held. The event involves a large number of people traveling to the venue. For instance, people from all over the country traveled to Bangalore and Mumbai for the Bryan Adams concert. Therefore, such an event gives an immense boost to the local industry such as hotels, restaurants and transport as well as national industries such as airline and railways.
  • 23. Despite its revenue potential and spin off benefits, the industry is facing several issues that are impeding its growth. These are discussed below: Entertainment tax The entertainment industry has to pay two main taxes namely entertainment and service taxes. The entertainment tax in India is much higher than in other Asian countries and varies from state to state. It varies from 10% to 50%. The industry has appealed to the government to levy a uniform entertainment duty across India. This is perhaps the biggest hurdle the industry is facing currently. While event managers wish to hold events in more cities, the high rates of entertainment tax on ticket sales in certain states are forcing them to avoid such states. For instance, according to industry sources, Mumbai has become quite unfavorable for events owing to a tax rate of 49%. On the other hand, Bangalore has become a preferred venue primarily because of a low tax of 10%. A high tax rate makes events unviable and therefore, states that charge high rates will lose out on events, and potential tax revenues from such events. In contrast, states that charge lower rates would attract more events and benefit from higher tax revenues. Hence, it is but clear that government needs to reduce their tax rates in several states in order to become favorable destinations for events. Entertainment tax for live events in certain states State Tax rate (%) Assam 130 Haryana 50 Maharashtra 49 Kerala 33 Uttar Pradesh 23 West Bengal 17 Karnataka 10 Tamil Nadu Nil
  • 24. Andhra Pradesh Nil Gujrat Nil (Source: Industry) Global Comparison In developed countries in the west i.e. the USA, Canada and European countries, live entertainment is a very organized and advanced industry. Most individual artists/ entertainment troupes perform anywhere between 60 to 80 shows in these markets. For example, Depeche Mode, in the year 2000 from June 15 to November 05, performed 81 shows between Europe and North America, with total tickets sales of US $ 1.08mn. Besides music, there are also events for children like the Barney Circus tour, The Walt Disney Circus Tour, Magic Shows and a variety of other live entertainment events. On an average in a year, there are about 180 live entertainment shows in these markets playing at multiple venues, cities and countries. The live entertainment business is also closely linked to the record music labels, which work in tandem to promote and sell the music albums of popular artists. Besides western countries, the two other significantly
  • 25. established markets are Japan and Australia, and fast catching up with them are Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok. Hence, in comparison to other countries, India lags behind in organizing and planning events. Withholding tax on foreign artists’ remuneration As per existing regulation, the event manager is required to deduct tax at the rate of 30.6% from the remuneration paid to a foreign artist. In most cases, artists require event managers to bear this tax burden, as a result of which events often become a non-starter. Given this scenario, India has the potential to host many more international events every year provided Government of India reduces the withholding tax rate to a more reasonable level. More events would mean higher tax revenues for the Government despite the reduction in tax rate. Simultaneously, it would also give a great fillip to the live entertainment business in India. Regulatory clearances for events There are several clearances required at the central level (for an international event) and the state level, for organizing an event. While the single window clearance facility with RBI has vastly facilitated central clearances, decentralization would speed up the approval process. At the local level, according to industry, on an average, 18 different approvals are required from various agencies for staging an event. State governments need to realize that they stand to gain substantially (in terms of higher entertainment tax revenues) if they make it easy and simple for event managers. A significant reason for Bangalore attracting many events is the helpful attitude adopted by the State government and city authorities towards the event management industry. Clearly the need of the hour is rationalization of taxes to a more manageable level of around 10%-15% across all states. Service tax The rate now proposed by the Budget is to be increased to 12 per cent from 10 per cent apart from a 2 per cent education cess on the tax element according to the 2006 finance
  • 26. bill. This will have a detrimental effect on industry. Even if the industry passes the tax on to the clients, from the viewpoint of the client this would only desist clients from spending on events. Lack of Infrastructure There is a complete lack of infrastructure in India for staging live events. Globally, events are held in arenas. India still has to rely on open grounds, sports stadiums and university auditoriums. Industry experts believe that there is a need for large, international quality facilities in all major cities in India, supported by a network of hotels and domestic transport. This is because the current infrastructure in the form of event venues of international quality and size is not adequate. Mumbai’s largest auditorium, the 2800 seater Shanmukhananda Hall is generally booked for over 95% of the year. Also the duty on imports of equipment pertaining to events is still charged at normal rates, there is no special subsidy or waiver for the import of world lass equipment to support events in India. Corporatisation Corporatisation is on the increase, as more and more clients source services from large companies who provide better quality end-to-end solutions using experts. The event management industry still comprises of many non corporate entities. Corporatisation will eventually result in increased accountability, ability to benchmark performance and more accurate measurement of industry size and growth. Corporatisation also assists in obtaining finance, a key requirement for specialized players with high technology and equipment costs, as well as for promoter driven events. For this to happen, the industry needs to restructure itself into corporate entities, implement sound trade and accounting practices and implement corporate governance as a code of conduct. Having highlighted the issues and possible solutions, the potential for growth within the industry is immense. Ideation
  • 27. The use and re-use of event formats are not only diluting their impact but also confusing customers. The best example of this is the recent plethora of Auto Events. CNBC Autocar, ICICI Overdrive, Business Standard Motoring and BBC Wheels all held car and bike awards for the year 2003-04, within 2 months gap. As a result, all of these could not create a deep impact on the clients as well as the customers of the automobile industry as it became very stereotype for them. There is a need to create newer, innovative event formats to capture target audience’s attention. Differentiation is the key. Innovative ideation also has a large export potential. Quality of services Quality of event execution remains poor in the main, as it is seen in the form of shabby sets, poor equipment and inadequate facilities provided during events – what event managers attribute to the “chalta hai!” attitude. Specialization is clearly the way forward. Specialization is clearly proportional to the quality of the event, which in turn provides more option to the customer and even reduces cost. It also results in the availability of better event technology (lights, mechanics, fireworks etc), an arena which India is now catching up with the West. However, the lack of adequate number of specialists in many areas of event management still needs to b addressed. Hence, achieving and maintaining a substantial quality of service is an issue which the industry needs to consider. Promoter driven events With the expected increase in the number of promotion driven events a few years down the line (where ticketing revenues are larger than sponsorship revenues) risk will devolve on the event manager. Correspondingly, the focus will be on the project management to ensure promoter’s funds are deployed in correct manner, expenses are authorized and timeless are adhered to. Desired customer experience Given the large Indian population and growing per capita income, the demand for event remains robust. The key driver for success is the ability to provide the desired experience
  • 28. to customers so that their objectives are met. This can be achieved through ideation, careful planning and detailed budgeting. The flexibility to change event formats, create new types of events and execute them within the limitations of available infrastructure and resources (electricity, security, regulations etc.) are key to ensure growth in the segment. KEY ELEMENTS OF EVENTS Event Organizer Venue Target Audience ClientMedia
  • 29. A CASE EXAMPLE Event: L’Oreal femina elite model look 2004 Event Infrastructure: • Core concept: Search for a new top class model through a contest and pageant interspersed with entertainment. • Core people: Organizers, Sponsorers and Participants i.e. models taking part in the competition and other performers during entertainment slots such as well known classical musicians Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma, Rahul Kumar Sharma accompanied by Ustad Shafat Ali Khan and popular music by Sunidhi Chavhan and Stereo Nation. • Core Talent: Physical Looks and Proportion • Core Structure: Annual event of Beauty pageant Event organizers: Femina with • Fountain ahead: Event support • Banyan Tree: Arrangements for classical music performance • Choreography and direction: Hemant Trivedi with assistance from Noyonika Chatterjee • Sets: Omung Kumar Bhandula from Opus construction Venue • Shoot location: The Retreat, Marve • Official Host: Taj Mahal Hotel
  • 30. Media • Pre-event: Magazines and newspapers (The Times of India) to inform about event and call for enteries with entry forms in them. • Electronic Media: TV and FM radio to inform target audience about event coverage, date and time. • During event: Live coverage on DD2 for widest coverage • Post-event: Re-telecast on Star Plus. • Interviews and appearances of winner on shows sponsored by L’Oreal on the electronic media (Internet). • Reports of the event in the print media. Clients • Main Sponsor: L’Oreal • Gift Sponsors: Onida, Siemens, Baush and Lomb, Global Telesystems, Akbarallys, Department store, Trussadi, Catwalk Shoes, Estelle, The Orchids, Lakme, Sony Music • Communication Convience: Gloal Telesystems. • Beverages: Coca-Cola Target Audience The target is the entire family especially the young people or people with a younger mindset or people who are young at heart. It also targets the fashion designers and show coordinators who are in constant search for models. Also, the socialites in Mumbai and Delhi always keep a check on the winners to check out the new entrants to their party life. OVERALL PLANNING STRUCTURE The first and foremost thing to do while planning an event is to know about the client's expectations. When a client first approaches an Event Manager for assigning a task, he
  • 31. sits with him and finds out what he wants and how he wants it. It should be kept in mind the fact that the client has a very hazy idea of what he wants. He expects the event manager to change that hazy idea into a reality. So the manager first needs to strike a good rapport with him. Once the manager understands what the client expects, he can start putting his inputs. Since the manager is a professional event planner the client is bound to believe that the manager has a better knowledge about these things and will respect his judgment. For planning the event the basic steps that are involved are: 1.Analyzing the event The planning process begins with a detailed analysis of the event itself. The questions that begin this process are what is the main reason behind having this event? What does the event hope to accomplish? How will the event be financed? Numerous questions are placed in front of the event manager. That is how a strong foundation is established. If too few questions are asked, an event can suffer from a lack of focus and direction. These questions are asked mainly to identify the event. To identify the event, manager first needs to identify the type of event to be planned, whether it is going to be a product launch or a conference or a wedding or some other event. Then he sits and drafts a rough script of the budget, target audience, promotional campaigns, publicity and other miscellaneous arrangements. The manager needs to ask himself six basic questions: 5W’s – 1H =How to produce consistently effective events. Why? The first step is to ask “WHY” he should hold this EVENT. There must be not one but a series of compelling reasons that confirm the importance and viability of
  • 32. holding the event. Is there any need to hold such an event or it is only for the purpose of entertaining people and making profits. Will this event prove beneficial for the revenue of the country and to the people as a whole or will it mint only profits to the organizers and sponsorers. A valid reason to conduct an event is very important as it lays the base for marketing and promotional strategies. Who? The second step is to ask “WHO” will be the stakeholders for this event. Remember stakeholders are both internal and external parties. Internal stakeholders may be the board of director’s, committee member’s, and staff, elected leaders or others. External stakeholders may be media, politicians, bureaucrats, attendees or other who will be investing in your event. The manager needs to think who will be present at the event. i.e., who are its target audience. To which age group, income group, gender and profession do they belong to. He has to find out who are the people who will be coming for the event. This is very important because the whole event rests on the kind of people who are going to be invited. Conducting solid research will help you determine the each of this parties and better help you decide “WHO” this event is being produced for. . What? The next question to be asked is what kind of an event one is organizing. The co- coordinator needs to analyse exactly what he wants to convey through a particular event and on the basis of his mission decide the category in which the event falls. The event can be a: • Wedding • Party
  • 33. • Conference. • Product launch • Concert • Others Depending on the demand of the situation and nature of the event, the manager should check whether his plans for the event match his client’s requirements and then proceed with the actual execution of the event. Where? An important factor while planning an event is the ‘place’ the ‘venue’ where the event will be held. Again the venue depends on the type of the event being hosted. For a wedding or a party, a party hall or open ground will be compatible whereas for a product launch, a conference room of a Hotel or a conference of the company launching the product would be appropriate. Once you have selected a site, your work becomes either easier or more challenging. Therefore, this decision must be made as early as possible as it effects many other decisions. When? The next step is to determine “WHEN” this event is should be held. Here you have to decide on the dates. The time frame selected for different events will be different. For organizing a show for children, the best period is to conduct the event during their summer vacations. For weddings, the months of may and December are auspicious whereas certain moths are inauspicious. Musical concerts can be held any time but care should be taken that they do not co-incide with major festivals. Whereas fashion shows are normally held prior to major festivals and seasonal changes to promote the collection designed for the upcoming festival or season. One should ask the question if the research through evaluation time frame is appropriate for the size of this event. If this window of time is not appropriate you may need to rethink your plans and either shift the dates or streamline your operations.
  • 34. “WHEN” and “WHERE” of events are interdependent. First the manager tries to fix the venue according to the time period decided. But if the appropriate venue is not available at that time, the organizers will have to make changes in the time period. But if changes cannot be made, then they will have to compromise on the venue and go for the next best one. In India, due to poor infrastructure, generally the dates are adjusted according to the availability of the venue. How? If the manager decides to go ahead, he should ask himself several ‘how’ questions to complete the objective of the event. He should decide upon how long the event will last. For how many days the venue will have to be booked? How many months before the planning and execution work should start? How many hours do they need to put daily to achieve the target? How will the event be promoted and marketed? How will the audience be seated? How much money will be allocated for each job? ,etc. The manager needs to be clear regarding these questions while planning the event and then proceed with the actual execution of the event. Keep in mind that during the planning stage there are many options and hurdles to anticipate. Some things increase complexity tenfold and others simplify by an equal amount. A party in the hotel, for example is always simpler to arrange than a party in a warehouse of distant field with no power, no restrooms, and no kitchen. That is not to say that the event manager shouldn’t have an off-site party, but the details should be considered in the planning stage. In the same vein, the site is often selected before the program has been set and the event manager may have to anticipate a problem fitting the program into the available space. 2.Assembling The Event Management Team The next important stage of the planning process is assembling the team. Broadly speaking, the team should consist of decision makers and implementers. Decision makers are the people who define the parameters and are ultimately responsible for the success or
  • 35. failure of the event. Implementers are those who do everything from negotiating contracts to inviting speakers to making sure that the right speaker is in the right room and that the microphone works. The core group on an event on a big scale should comprise the following positions: • Event Chairperson • Public Relations head • Finance head • Production head • Mailing List head • Marketing head • Decoration head • Logistics/Arrangements head • Food and Beverage head • Invitation and Programme head • Entertainment head • Volunteer head • Technical head • Charity Liason head (if needed) More specially, the planning team will probably include people or committees with the following functions and responsibilities: • Event coordinator A good coordinator is an energetic, conscientious, organized, responsible person and has good contacts and manages people well. His main functions are:  He acts as a team leader for the event  Schedules event team core committee meeting
  • 36.  Negotiates and recommends contracts  Solicits bids from suppliers and hires and supervises supplier  Prepares and recommends budgets and monitors expenses throughout the planning process  Recommends policies and procedures  Supervises registration  Follows up with team members on the progress made and overall coordination of efforts and activities involved with putting on an event  Prepares personnel schedules for on site activities  Making sure that everything is done, whether this means delegating to a responsible person or stepping in to fill in the gap. • Decision makers Decision makers may include the organization’s president, CEO, executive director, chairman of the board, corporate officer, and certain departmental heads. They sit together, conduct brainstorming and come out with crucial decisions relating to even a minute issue while planning the event. Decision makers are the true event managers as the rest of the group, who executive the tasks are the event organizers. Their responsibility is up to making the plans and assigning the tasks. The rest of the work is handled by the different organizers. The functions of a decision maker are:  Collecting the facts and guidelines of the event from the client  Designing the event flow  Preparing a marketing and promotional strategy  Preparing the budget for the event  Selecting people who will be involved in the execution of the event. The decision makers generally select the heads and other team members are selected by the respective heads.  Decide the venue, caterers, decorators and other technicians involved in staging the event.
  • 37. • Technical staff Technical production has always been the ‘what’s that’ factor for event managers. Knowledge of technical production has so far been a domain of a few and very few have tried to dare and ‘know it all’. Various tasks requiring technical expertise may be assigned to in house personnel or to subcontractors. It is easy to hire a production or a technical manager and rely on his expertise to deliver services. But if you do not have the technical knowledge at all, you cannot tell if it is good or bad. Hence, it is essential to have an in-house technical team or atleast the decision makers should have a little technical knowledge. The responsibilities and functions of a good technical head are:  To have a detailed insight into technical gear, knowledge of the different applications of the gear, how to distinguish gear and order the right equipment for the right event.  Selecting technicians as per the show and budgetary requirements of the client.  Having a thorough knowledge of the show requirements and look and feel that is required for the show, the design of the set, the seating plan of the audience and the format of the show(whether it is for television or a closed audience or indoor or outdoor).  To check whether the lights, music systems, audiovisuals, laser, etc equipments work properly and are well co-coordinated. • Support personnel Support personnel are the clerical staff, which though do not have the authority but have many tasks to accomplish. These include clerks, receptionist, person handling computer work, etc. Members of the clerical support staff handle:
  • 38.  Typing and computer data entry,  Make copies and maintain files,  Process incoming and outgoing mails,  Stuff attendee packets;  They keep daily activity logs for registration, expenses and income,  They direct incoming calls;  They follow up on requests for brochures and answer routine questions such as dates and costs. 3.Developing record keeping systems Often, the event planner becomes the central coordinator of all information. Therefore record keeping systems are essential to organize, control and monitor activities. The organizational system he sets up must include a planning schedule. Deadlines forms and checklists to expedite the process and capture the details in a structured, usable quickly retrievable manner. The system’s documents become the files and records he will need for reporting, evaluating and planning for future events. 4.Establishing policies and procedures Another important planning issue has to do with establishing policies and procedures in the early stage. The key to effective management is deciding the rules up front and advising the people they affect. Simple things such as registration cutoff dates, administrative penalties for cancellation, payment and reimbursement procedures for speakers, to name a few need to be established and communicated or event coordinators will find themselves continually answering the same question and mediating disputes. 5.Preparing a planning schedule and a proposed outlay
  • 39. A successful event coordinator must have many attributes, but two important characteristics are good organizational skills and attention to detail. A key tool that will help in this regard is the planning schedule. The planning schedule is a detailed list of all the required tasks and steps, the required completion date, and the person, department, or committee responsible for each. To meet this a cost sheet will have to e prepared to ascertain the estimated cost of the event. One major question would be whether the execution would be through an internal event management team or whether the services of professional Event Managers would be required. In many cases, the allocation of responsibilities is worked out between the internal event team and the External Managers. This keeps the event cohesive as routine tasks are executed by the internal team and the external and stage management aspects are organized by Event Managers who have more knowledge and experience in the Event business. The event manager should prepare a plan comprising all these details and keep it handy. This schedule will work as a guide for all the members and all of them have to adhere to the guidelines to ensure the success of the event. The importance of having all the planning issues covered is that, by anticipating problems, special needs, and hidden costs, the manger can be calm during the storm of the event. If he/she always asks “what is the worst that can happen?” and then have a solution ready, they will have a reservoir of strategies to be used at a moments notice, no matter how serious the crisis. The Budget The event manager cannot have a successful planning structure without a budget and priorities for how the money will be spent. Financial decisions affect every area of the event and must be established early in the process and monitored on a regular basis. A budget is a statement of income and expenditure that has been allocated under a set of headings, for a period of time. Budgets are a clear way of identifying and allocating funds
  • 40. and communicating important financial information. They can also be used as a basis for evaluation and to help future planning. The budget represents the action plan that each successful event manager must carefully develop. Budget preparation is probably the most challenging part in financial management since the entire preparation is usually based on limited information or assumptions. There are stories of failed event managers or event management companies because while they may have had an innovative idea or great vision, they often failed at the “bottom-line”. Budgeting is a critical issue in any aspect of event planning. Preparing a budget is part of the initial planning stage. A budget includes projected revenue and expenditure from which an estimate of the net profit (or sometimes the net loss) from the proposed event can be ascertained. Forming a budget begins with the costing of essentials, including the allocation pf staff to the planning and of staging of the conference. Then there is accommodation, transportation, catering and so on. A budget is a plan based on accurate quotes from all contractors and suppliers and careful research to ensure that no expenses have been overlooked. It provides guidelines for approving expenditure and ensuring that the financial aspects of the event remain on track. The budget is a part of the event proposal or the basis of the quote by the event management company to the client. The budget as a document is an important planning tool, but the true value is in the degree to which the manager uses it and in the accuracy and thoughtfulness of the preparation process. A budget represents the income and expenses of an organization or the individual event. An event budget is based on the following factors: 1. Marketing projections and estimates 2. The general history of previous identical or similar events 3. The general economy and the forecasts given by the economists. 4. The income and expenses reasonably expected to arise with the resources available. Preparing a budget:
  • 41. While preparing a budget a manager needs to include every possible income or expenditure he can think of. If the manager has historical data from a similar event then he is really lucky because data from a previous experience can give him an idea of previous revenues and expenses. He should not try and map out the budget in a single sitting, but rather plan out a few sessions so that he can do a thorough job. The more meticulous he is, the more accurate will be the end results. Income categories for an event: Due to the wide range of events within the event management profession, it is diicult to list categorically every type of income. However, there are some general items that most budgets include: • Advertising revenues • Concession sales • Registration fees • Ticket sales • Sponsorship fees • Exhibit or exposition booth rental fees • Donations • Sponsorship in kind • Grants and contracts • Merchandised sales • Vendor commissions (hotels) • Interest Income from Investments OVERALL SIZE AND SHAPE The size of the live entertainment segment can be measured in terms of total billing for the events managed i.e. sponsorship fees, tickets sales revenue and sales of various rights
  • 42. associated with the event content such as telecast rights, music and video rights, internet rights and merchandise rights. Sponsorship fees: On an average, there are three sponsors for an event – one main sponsor and the two co-sponsors. The total sponsorship fees ranges between Rs. 10mn and Rs 20mn for an international event, and between Rs. 2.5mn and Rs. 5mn for a domestic event. Ticket sales revenue: This revenue source has picked up substantially over the last year. Currently, approximately 25,000 tickets are sold on an average in an international event. Ticket sales revenue has ranged between Rs 3.2mn for the Venga Boys event to Rs 24mn for the recently held show of Bryan Adams. Sale of telecast rights to television broadcasters: event managers have not commercially exploited this source of revenue so far. There have been only some stray deals involving sale of telecast rights, for instance DNA networks has sold about 3 properties to B4U for approximately Rs 4.5mn. Sale of merchandise rights: In case of concerts by popular artist or groups or popular sporting events, significant revenue can be earned through the sale of event-related merchandise such as clothing, etc. The event manager can sell rights to merchandisers for such activities. However this is not a significant source of revenue at present. In 2001, the industry managed approximately 1,000 live entertainment events, including 22 international events. According to industry sources, the total billings for the year are estimated at Rs. 1.5bn, with domestic events accounting for Rs. 0.9bn and international event and a domestic event is as under: Revenue profile for international and domestic events (average) Item International event Domestic event Sponsorship fees 30% 80% Ticket sales revenue 70% 20%
  • 43. (Source: Industry) 0 20 40 60 80 International Event Domestic Event Revenue Profile for International and Domestic Events (average) Sponsorship Fees Ticket Sales Revenue Expenses: The income comes from one or two doors, but the expenses can leak out of many doors! Expenses can be fixed, variable, indirect , direct or hidden. Developing solid, predictable expense categories is critical to sound financial management. These expense items often come from historical data or by comparing your event to others of similar size and scope. The general expense item for most events is as follows: Advertising Audiovisual equipment rental and labor Car rentals and petrol Awards and recognition Insurance Legal counsel Lighting equipment rental Technical labor Local, state, provincial and federal taxes Photography + Video Proceedings editing, design and printing Postage Brochure and other collateral design/printing/mailing Consultants Décor Entertainment Food and Beverage Complimentary
  • 44. registrations/ admission Registration contract labor Registration material Research Signs Site office furniture rentals Site office supplies Telephone expenses Sound equipment rentals Speaker’s fees + Travel Volunteers’ fees Public relations Guest transportation Material shipping/freight fees Staff salaries Walkie-talkies Overtime charges Venue rent Security Generators Communication (onsite, green rooms, entrance, etc.) Miscellaneous In terms of cost, artists’ remuneration accounts for 40% of the costs and production expenses such as erection costs of the stage, lights and sound, and operating expenses such as travel and stay expenses of the troupe, freights expenses, etc. account for the balance. This cost profile is the same for domestic event as well as an international event.
  • 45. Cost profile for international and domestic events (average) International event Domestic event Artists’ remuneration 40% 60% Prodn and operation cost 60% 40% Cost Profile for an International Event Artists' Remuneration Prod n & Operation Cost Cost Profile for an Domestic Event Prod n & Operation Cost Artists' Remuneration After evaluating expenses, the event coordinator will have several options to choose from in each and every expense items. The important ones with available options and their respective costs are: Venue Some of the venue providers in the major cities of India and their charges are as follows:
  • 46. Mumbai MMRDA Ground Rs.2 – 2.5 Lakhs/day Andheri Sports Complex Rs.1,75,000/day NSC Rs.1,00,000/day Hyderabad Shiparamam Rs.25,000 – 30,000/day Ramoji Film City Rs.30,000-35,000/day Pune Durgam Cheruvu Rs.15,000/day B J Medical Ground Rs.1,00,000/day S.S.P.M.S Ground Rs.50,000/day Agricultural College Ground Rs.50,000/day Banglore Palace Ground Rs.1,00,000/day Speed Zone Rs.50,000/day Webs Ground Rs. 50,000/day These rates are for the main day of the event. For construction period, the cost for Mumbai venues is Es.35, 000 - Rs.50, 000 per day. Also an amount of Rs.1, 00,000 – Rs.2, 00,000 has to be paid as deposit. Security: Most of the event managers outsource the security for the event and the celebrities to professional companies which specialize in providing such security. On an everage these companies charge Rs. 1000 per security guard provided by them. In a big event like an Award Ceremony, approximately 30 such guard are required whike during press releases or conferences 5-10 guards re required. Following are some of the companies that specialize in security for events: • TOPS Security
  • 47. • Group 4 • Marshall Security Services • Guard Well Security Services and so on. Sound/ Lights: The cost of sound and light totally depends on the requirement. Two similar events can have huge differences in their sound and light costs. Generally event managers first fix a budget as to how much they want to spend on their sound and light and then determine what all they can get in that budgeted amount. Big Show (3,000+audience) Small Show (300-500 people approximately) Open Value Closed Value Rs. 50,000 – Rs.5,00,000 + Transport Rs. 20,000 – Rs. 1,50,000 + Transport Permission: The cost of aquiring permissions differs from state to state. Legally it takes somewhere around Rs.10,000 to obtain all the permissions for an outdoor event. But there is so much of bribing for such things that one can end up spending lakhs of rupees depending on his contacts and negotiating skills. Advertising Print Hoardings Generally the booking for hoardings is done for a period of 15 days to 25 days. The cost of hoardings primarily depends on the location of the hoarding. The price based on location and size would vary from Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 15,00,000 for a period of 25 days.
  • 48. Buses In Bombay the cost is approximately Rs.20,000 per bus per month (excluding repainting if the contents need to be changed). In most other cities it is anywhere between Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 10,000. Radio: Advertising on Radio is measured in spots. The spots are generally 10/15/20/25 seconds and so on. The cost of a 10 second spot ranges from 700 – 2,200, depending on the popularity of the radio station and of course the volume of business that the client gives and the client’s negotiating skills. Public Relations: Some event companies hire PR agencies to get their PR in place. Such agencies generally charge around Rs. 25,000 for a single event. Performers: There are agents who get performers to perform for an event. They charge either for the performer or a total for the performer as well as the band. These costs do not include the air fare and thehotel stay of the performers. The charges of some Indian performers are as follows: For a 90 minute performance: KayKay : Rs. 2,50,000 Shaan : Rs. 4,50,000 Sunidhi Chauhan : Rs. 3,00,000 Jagjit Singh : Rs. 5,00,000 Pankaj Udhas : Rs. 3,00,000 For one item in an Event (e.g. Priety Zinta’s performance in Star Screen Awards)
  • 49. Shahrukh Khan : Rs. 12,00,000 Aishwarya Rai : Rs. 10,00,000 Saif Ali Khan : Rs. 10,00,000 Priety Zinta : Rs. 10,00,000 Hypothetical Event Control Sheet
  • 50. Costs Head of ex pe ns es Units Cost/uni Total Sponsored Net Responsibility Phone Venue 3 1,00,000 3,00,00 0 3,00,00 Ajay 982xxx Artists 3 50,000 1,50,00 0 1,50,00 Vijay 982xxx Branding 10 10,000 1,00,00 0 1,00,00 Priti 982xxx Travel 5 3,000 15,000 15,000 0 Faroukh 982xxx Food 200 100 20,000 0 20,000 Deepa 982xxx Sound 1 1,00.000 1,00,00 0 1,00,00 Sanjay 982xxx Lights 1 50,000 50,000 0 50,000 Anand 982xxx Accommodation 10 3,000 30,000 15,000 15,000 Philip 982xxx Total Cost 7,65,00 30,000 7,35,00 Revenues Title Sponsor 2,00,000 Associate Sp on sor 0 Jimmy 982xxx Associate Sp on sor (2) 0 Rita 982xxx Ticket Sales 25,000 Michael 982xxx Total Revenues 7,65,00 2,25,000 5,40,00
  • 51. The above sheet in a hypothetical Excel Sheet, namely the Event Control Sheet. It is filled with the various heads of expense as the event may require. The last row shows the total cost. As with most events today, some of the costs may get offset by a service sponsor and that reflects in the sheet so that the manager has a clear idea of the profitability ratio. After looking up at the costs and the sponsors who offset specific costs, we need to take revenues into account. For the sake of this exercise, I have taken sponsorships and ticket sales as the two sources of revenue. It is therefore clear that the project needs another Rs. 5,40,000 to break even. As we keep on updating the sheet, we will come to know how much the gap is and will have to strategise as to how to bridge it. Without the Responsibility and Phone columns it is a fairly efficient cost-control sheet, but to make it an “Event control sheet” with the addition of just two columns – Responsibility and Phone. Now we have an document that can control an entire event. If the person in charge is absent for any reason, anyone else can take over just by accessing the Excel Sheet!
  • 52. Marketing of Events Marketing deals with identifying and meeting human and social needs. One of the shortest definitions of marketing is “meeting needs profitability”. Marketing is typically seen as the task of creating, promoting, and delivering goods and services to consumers and business. Marketers are skilled in stimulating demand for a company’s products, but this is too limited a view of the tasks marketers performs. Just as production and logistics professionals are responsible for supply management, marketers are responsible for demand management.
  • 53. Events have emerged because of the need of marketers. Before, advertisement and word- of-mouth were the tools which were commonly used by marketers to promote the products and services. But by observing the customers, marketers felt that there was a need to provide the customers the real experience, feel of the product before they could buy it. The marketers wanted immediate feedback from the customers and a platform where two- way communication between the customers and the marketers was possible. Also, advertising is not a focused medium. A medium was sought after which would be helpful in dealing with the target market directly. Because of all these needs, marketers took resort to events and since then event management has become a booming industry and has reached the most preferred and attractive position in marketing of products and services. Hence we can say: “Event Marketing was developed to provide managers with practical direction in planning and implementing marketing and sponsorships.” An event is the reflection of the corporate entity. It is part of the direct marketing the corporate has programmed. It gives direct access to the target market which it needs to address be it a sales conference, a dealers convention, a live performance, a fund raiser, a religious function, a road show or any other event. An event gives the corporate a focus on the right audience and keeps in making the audience aware of the policies, programs, the marketing of ideas to this target group. There is direct exchange of information between the corporate and the target audience. It creates a bond between the management and the audience for whom the event has been organized. Event marketing is fast emerging as a great promotional catalyst compared to traditional marketing communication tools. Because of wide spread clutter, escalating media costs and lack of guaranteed measurable media tools a sense of disillusionment has been created in the minds of marketers.
  • 54. Philip Kotler describes Events as occurrences designed to communicate particular messages to a target audience. Event marketing allows a marketer to break clutter and target a focused audience by creating an image through association with a particular event while reinforcing product or service and driving sales. In 2007, Event marketing is projected to grow and nearly quadruple the amount that the companies spent on event sponsorships in 1988. Sports sponsorship accounts for two- thirds of the total sponsorship spending with the remaining event categories accounting for ten percent or less. Clearly, event marketing has rapidly become a significant element within the marketing mix. Its strategic value enables marketers to communicate with consumers in a personal and relevant manner to fully "experience" their brands. It also provides a framework that can support a number of corporate, brands and trade objectives. Generally speaking, sponsored events fall into five major categories: sports, entrainments, fairs & festivals, the arts, and cause-related. Events (properties) are sold to corporations (sponsors) by a variety of concerns that own and / or represent the events. Depending on the event, these might include one or more of the following: • Right holders • Advertising and event marketing agencies • Media entities • Event promoters On the basis of audience participation and sponsor's objectives, events can be classified into Direct and Indirect events. Events like exhibitions, trade fairs, dealer meets, conferences where the audiences attending have a direct bearing on the objectives of the promoters are direct events, Events where participating audiences not necessarily are the target but through media coverage and word of mouth publicity the event reaches a larger target. These events are indirect events. Such events are used primarily to build brand image and create positive equity for the brand.
  • 55. Objectives of event marketing: • Improve the relationship between sponsors and organizers in order to make the event planning process more efficient and effective, • Facilitate a shift from a rigid sponsor-organizer relationship to true partnership, where in the objectives and goals of both the parties are addressed and achieved, • Encourage strategic planning, proper budgeting allocation (rights fees versus activation), focused objectives and analyzing, both before and after the event, to deliver maximum value and Return On Investment (ROI), • Provide inspiration to all practitioners for improving the creation, management and marketing of events. The Need for Marketing: Marketing is that function of event management that can keep in touch with the event's participants and audience (consumers); their needs and motivations, conceptualize events products that meet these needs, and build a communication programme which expresses the event's purpose and objectives. 1. The use of marketing principles gives event managers a framework for decision- making that should result in successful events that still allow innovation and creativity, but cater to a target market segment that has need for novelty and the excitement of the new. 2. Sponsoring bodies require some certainty that their sponsorship will be received by the target market that they are seeking. Sound marketing practices will help convince them that a festival or event is an appropriate medium for them to communicate to their target market. 3. All three levels of Government financially assist many festivals and events. They usually fund only those events whose management can demonstrate some expertise in
  • 56. marketing planning and management. . 4. Consumers, particularly those living in major cities, have an enormous range of leisure activities from which to choose to spend their disposable income. This means that a festival or special event, which, by definition, can be categorized as a leisure activity, will attract only those who expect to satisfy their perceived needs. Therefore, any festival or event needs to be designed to satisfy identified needs of its target market. Failure to do this usually results in an event that is irrelevant to the needs of its target market and does not meet its objectives. Functions performed by the Event Marketing Head: The following list shows the marketing activities that an event manager undertakes to produce a successful festival or special event: Analyses the needs of the target market to establish appropriate event components or 'products'. 1. Establishes whether other competitive events could satisfy similar needs to ensure that their event has a unique selling proposition. 2. Predicts how many people will attend the event. 3. Predicts why people will come to the event. 4. Estimates what price they will be willing to pay to attend. 5. Brings in sponsorship for the event. 6. Decides on the type and quantity of promotional activities telling the target market about the event. 7. Decides on how tickets to the event can reach the target market. 8. Establishes the degree of success of the marketing activities. All of these activities, essential for a successful event are part of the marketing function. Key issues in event marketing: 1. Setting objectives:
  • 57. Event Marketing is a mixture of marketing and many other objectives. The objectives could be: • To increase the awareness of the company, • Improvement of public perception about a company or objective, • Reaching target audience, • Building relationships, • Enhancing the brand image and increasing sales. • Wanting to contribute to community development, wanting to reach out to a larger target audience, • Be able to differentiate from competitors. Lakme has been sponsoring the India Fashion Week for the last 4 years with the objective of making the brand more contemporary and ‘in’ with today's generation. By sponsoring the India Fashion Week, it tries to be the much talked about cosmetic company I tha Fashion Industry. 2. Selection of the event: Regardless to the relative importance of set objectives, organizations must carefully select events that will help them in achieving their own unique objectives. The first step is to evaluate and select the right event. David Shani and Dennis Sandler have developed an Event Pyramid to promote and select sporting events. These helped in categorizing the events and reducing the choice set. Local Events Regional Events National Events International Events GE
  • 58. The pyramid consists of five levels: • Global Events • International events • National Events • Regional Events • Local Events Each level classifies the event on the basis of the width and depth of interest in the event. Shani and Sandler describe the width as the geographic reach of the event via the various communication media and the depth of the event refers to the levels of interests amongst consumers. Global events are at the apex and local events are at the bottom of the pyramid. Marketers must first decide the consistency of the corporate objectives and the budget before they decide the appropriate levels that present the best match. Coca Cola is deeply involved in events at all five levels. A closer look at the pyramid reveals certain flaws. First it shows local events at the base.
  • 59. To some this imply the broadest level of geographical focus while infact they have the narrowest focus. Secondly it may be extremely difficult to categorize certain events on the basis of this pyramid. The primary consideration in selection of events is the brand personality fit. Ferrard and Pages describe the process of congruence between events and brand as looking for the “perfect wedding”. They also point out that any action of sponsoring events should begin with the analysis of the common and unique attributes of the event and the brand. For instance the association of Sahara and The Indian cricket team and the Sahara Cup tournaments of cricket seems to be a perfect nationalist fit for the brand Sahara which boasts of its Indianness in all its ventures, services or products. There is no standardized technique to assess event-marketing opportunities. However different companies have different approaches to the concept. Burson Marsteller, USA has developed a Relative Value Assessment Model to objectively evaluate event marketing opportunities against a five point criteria: 1. Positioning and Image 2. Audience Reach and Appeal 3. Marketing /Sales objectives 4. Tactical effectiveness 5. Marketing strategies Each criterion has various elements that can be judged on a ten point rating scale. These criteria are of two types: Desired and required. A RVA comparison grid can be used to compare several events under consideration.
  • 60. EVENT MARKETING MIX: - Marketing events is the process of employing the marketing mix to attain organizational goals through creating value for clients and customers. The organization must adopt a marketing orientation that stresses the building of mutually beneficial relationships and the maintenance of competitive advantage. Traditionally marketing students have recognized that product, price, promotion, & place are critical components in the marketing process. Each of this 4 P’s of marketing is a catalyst for sales. The four P’s of marketing mix are common to the event mix but the three main P’s which helps the product or your event to prosper are: process, people, physical evidence. If your 4P’s are well set but you lack in this three P’s then you may have a bad event because people are the one who are going to deliver you event and physical evidence is the look or what customer or people attending the event perceive.. Physical evidence their people and its process of carrying out the event or work appeal your customers, then it is sure for your event to be a success and have good results out of it. The eight P’s of Event Marketing Mix are: 1) PRODUCT(the service offered) Successful sales people have both expert product knowledge and effective sales skills. Expert product knowledge is essential in today’s competitive environment. The expertise the marketing person demonstrates regarding the sponsorship package or other event components will differentiate this individual from the competition. More important than sales skills, demonstrated product expertise show the client that he or she is making a purchase that has added value and helps to develop confidence as well as long-term loyalty. It also brigs in reputation for the customer. The product i.e., the event shows the design characteristics. This includes details about the event and how the presentation of the event will be done. It also shows the intangible concept that the event is delivering. The intangible concept that an organizations Award Ceremony delivers is the feeling of acceptance, belongingness and trust among the employees
  • 61. 2) PROMOTION Event manager may have the best quality event product, but unless he has a strategic plan for promoting this product it will remain the best-kept secret in the world. There are varieties of ways to promote your efforts: • Advertising • Public relations • Direct marketing • Word of mouth • Hospitality PROMOTION CHECKLIST: - • Identify all event elements that require promotion from the proposal through the final evaluation. • Develop strategies for allocating scarce event promotion resources with efficient methods. • Identify promotion partners to share costs. • Carefully target your promotion to those market segments that will support your event. • Measure and analyze your promotion efforts throughout the campaign to make corrections as required. 3) PRICE
  • 62. Marketing research will help the event manager to determine price. Part of this market research will include conducting a competitive analysis study of other organization offering similar event. When potential ticket buyers or guests are interviewed, he may be surprised to learn that they consider his event similar to many others. Therefore, an event manager must carefully list all competing events and the prices being charged to helphim determining the appropriate price for his event. This price later on helps the Finance head to prepare the budget for the event according to the sponsorship, which the marketing head brings. The price of the event is determined by the financial philosophy of the event. The event can be: • Not-for-profit venture: If the event is a not-for-profit venture, the organization may not be concerned with a large commercial yield from the event. Also, the philosophical purpose of the event may be to generate overall awareness and support. • Commercial venture If the event is a commercial venture, the goal is probably to generate the greatest potential net profit. He eill try to get maximum sponsorship and fiercely sell the event by using all the promotional tools. Once the philosophy is clear, then the event manager will be able to determine price. The price must reflect the cost of all goods and services required to produce the event plus a margin of profit or retained earnings. 4) PLACE The place where you locate your event ultimately will determine the marketing efforts you must exude to drive sales, for example it has been shown that those events that are close to inexpensive, safe public transportation or those events that feature close and reasonably priced parking will attract more guests than those that do not offer these amenities. Furthermore, those events that are connected to other nearby attractions or
  • 63. infrastructures (such as shopping malls) may also draw more attendees due to the time efficiency to the destination. For upscale events, the addition of valet parking may improve the chances of attracting guests to a new or nontraditional location. The event manager must seriously consider place when designing the marketing program for the event. Place not only implies the taste or style of the event, it also, in large, defines the type of individual that will be persuaded to invest in the event. 5) PROCESS: - There are various processes to be carried out in events. Different processes are involved in every stage of an event. Few process and their explanations are given below- • ENTRY or TICKET booking in an event: Entry or Ticket booking in an event or booking of stalls during an exhibition event is sometimes very tedious. There should be proper security at the entrance and the tickets should be available only at one place and there should be no crowding near the ticket window. The process to book stalls tables and ticket booking should be simple and easily understood by people attending the event. • QUEUING of people gathered at an event: There should be proper process for ENTRY and EXIT of people attending the event. Single line should be maintained or divisions with the help of ropes or rods should be made between different lines. Various line techniques must be used to arrange the crowd and to see that there is no rush gathered at a single place. • Large Parking space: Large parking space should be provided for the cars entering the area of an event and valet parking facility should be provided if possible so that customers or people are not depressed of parking their car far away or waiting for long hours for parking may spoil their mood before the function starts and the thought of coming back walking to the parking area would keep customer away from the event.. There should be good parking space with security facility. This will help to create a good impression on people attending the event.
  • 64. By looking at the various processes we can summarize that process is to be taken care of by the marketing people but is the main responsibility of the logistics people. 6) PEOPLE: - A person plays a very important role in case of events. People are the ones who are going to deliver your event may it be any type of an event -seminars, exhibitions, entertainment, road show, award functions, etc. People are those who are going to appeal to your customers and convey your message to the people attending the event. Every person or people concerned to your event is important and needs to behave properly. May he be a security guy but he is going to resemble you and your company. So his manner of behaving is going to convey your company’s attitude and it’s your impression.  People in event need to be well dressed as they are going to represent the company.  People in event should develop good communication skills and take care of customer interest and behave properly.  People’s role is there in every area of event such as reservation counters, ticket reservation staff, venue staff etc. Thus they need to have talent and proper knowledge of the going event. 7) PHYSICAL EVIDENCE :- Physical evidence is very important for any event. Physical evidence is like the “FIRST IMPRESSION IS THE LAST IMPRESSION”. It is the look of the event and should reflect what the customers perceive from the event. Without physical evidence promotion of any event is not possible. Hence physical evidence is one of the important elements in marketing of any event. These are some of the important elements on which physical evidence is based.  Branding: - Branding of an event is a very crucial step in an event. Without branding any event cannot be recognized. Any event cannot succeed without brand recognition.
  • 65.  Decoration: - Decoration is also an important step in marketing of an event. Any event can be made attractive by its decoration. It case pf large-scale live entertainment events, Stage Set-Up becomes very important as throughout the event the customers are going to look at the stage and experience the event.  Programs: - Any event cannot be completed without any programs. Hence programs form integral part of marketing an event. The types of programs selected and their potential to entertain people form a large share in the physical evidence of the event. The following diagram shows how the 8p’s of service marketing are related to Marketing of Events.