elcome to the premiere issue of Corporate EVENT — the quarterly magazine devoted exclusively to case studies of effective business-to-business event marketing (and to answering Hamel’s provocative questions).

There is a revolution in the marketing world. Customers rule; companies follow. Commoditization threatens every product and service. Profit margins continue to shrink. And marketing faces intense pressure to prove its value.

In response, companies are shifting assets into face-to-face events, where the customer touch points are numerous and the return on investment more visible — events like eBay Live!, where 10,000 resellers from all over the globe meet to connect with the latest eBay training, and more importantly, each other. The takeaway for eBay: improved customer loyalty, less churn,
and greater investment. At Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, business-research firm Gartner Inc. turns customer education into a strategic weapon that keeps Fortune 500 customers coming back for more.

Corporate EVENT will focus specifically on external B2B activities, including user conferences, private trade shows, road shows, dealer/distributor events, product launches, media events, VIP customer events, and other unique private customer events designed to further corporate objectives.

Every quarter, Corporate EVENT will report on the best event-marketing practices applied to the challenges that confront top managers in today’s complex global marketplace. Our editorial mandate focuses on the strategic insights and tactical tools used by market leaders to deliver superior customer experiences and maintain a competitive advantage. For our readers — from chief marketing officers to event producers — that means a magazine full of benchmarks that not only accelerate program innovation and improve performance, but also dramatically reduce the level of risk.

But enough about us, more about you. My thanks, first, to the companies and individuals who support us with their subscriptions and advertising: You have helped to make this possible.

Second, my thanks to our contributors — the writers, the designers, and the event-marketing geniuses we feature in this issue — who busted their tails to make this happen almost overnight.

Finally, we want to hear from you, our readers. Send your e-mails, suggestions for articles, your best event stories — even kudos and brickbats. We are excited to launch Corporate EVENT and want to make it the best we can for you.