The Three-Word Strategy
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. grows its share of CIO and CTO wallets with an executive event built on three guiding pillars: learn, connect, and relax. |
Event Lab
To encourage adoption of new technologies among its clients, exhibit and event firm Czarnowski creates What2007 a private technology showcase that prompts more than 50 percent of attendees to implement a technical innovation within four months. |
Noticing the Man Behind the Curtain
Whenever you host an off-site event, you take a risk that the venue's staff will degrade rather than enhance the attendee experience. A bottom-up incentive program can make all the difference. |
Alltel's Inner Circle
To build brand recognition and retail traffic among influential young Latinos in Southwest Texas, Alltel Wireless extends the embrace of its My Circle advertising campaign with culturally relevant live-music events. |
HP Presents the Power of Print
After announcing a high-minded strategic vision for the company's Imaging and Printing Group, Hewlett-Packard Development Co. creates a two-day global conference to help its customers, partners, and industry influencers understand that vision. |
Adapting National Events for Regional Audiences
We plan to create a scaled-down, one-day version of our national three-day conference and take it on the road as a series of regional events. Are any other companies doing this? |
Executives of the Round Table
Credit-union executives convene at CUNA Mutual Group's first annual "no sell" leadership forum to address credit-union woes and build relationships leading to an ROI of nearly 200 percent. |
Investigative Interaction
To improve attendee interaction and strengthen sponsor involvement during its annual summit, the Corporate Event Marketing Association engages attendees in a mysterious, interactive competition that gets people talking. |
Corporate EVENT Awards 2008: Going Keen
Shoe, sock, and bag manufacturer Keen Inc. employs an inside-out approach to bring its message of sustainability to 46 college campuses across the country, putting its brand before more than 1 million students in the process. |
Corporate EVENT Awards 2008: The 60-Minute Brand Launch
Boots Retail USA Inc. brings five of its brands stateside with an hour-long product-launch event, attracting 93 percent of invitees and generating mega media presence in 20 targeted media outlets. |
Corporate EVENT Awards 2008: Surreality TV
In the midst of Spain's busiest selling season, Electrolux Home Products Espana S.A. attracts hundreds of busy Spanish retail buyers to a product-launch event by playing off the country's passion for variety shows. |
Corporate EVENT Awards 2008: Multi-Sensory Marketing
To turn a minor vehicle upgrade into major news, Renault Espana Comercial S.A. impresses jaded journalists with a launch that markets to all five senses. |
Corporate EVENT Awards 2008: Big Cat on Campus
To claw its way into cat owners' hearts and minds, Meow Mix opens a feline "acatemy" that celebrates cat ownership and schools the competition. |
Second Opinion: Designing an "Unconference"
I've been reading about "unconferences" in the high-tech industry. These events are characterized by the absence of an agenda attendees design their own topics. |
The New Metric That Matters
A new study reveals that marketers are focused on the wrong metrics. The new measure of marketing effectiveness finally places customers at the center of the marketers' universe. |
How NASCAR Drives Loyalty
In an age of microscopic attention spans and marketing skepticism, NASCAR draws more than 100,000 loyal, passionate fans of all ages to every race weekend. |
The Wizards of "Oz"
Contrary to popular belief, Australian businesses make more than surfboards and Foster's Lager. To prove that point, the country's foreign affairs and trade department launches an event to drive investment in Australia. |
The 14-Attendee Trade Show
To spark idea sharing and rejuvenate innovation among decentralized contacts at a longstanding client firm, MG Design hosts a full-on trade show, complete with a custom seminar program and an ooh-ah dinner for just 14 people. |
Focus on the Family
Attendance soars and customer relationships flourish when Honeywell Process Solutions breaks from business as usual to incorporate families into its annual user conference. |
The Value of Virtual Community
MySpace.com marketing maverick Shawn Gold explains why today's online toolset gives event marketers the power to build community like never before. |
Connecting Events to Customer Profitability
Connecting your events to five key customer metrics gives your executives the customer information they need, while proving events' profit-growing power. |
All in the Family
What are some ways to incorporate attendees' families into our corporate event? Three experts weigh in. |
Square Roots
Exhibitor magazine transforms a registration wasteland into a vibrant community hub at its annual conference and expo. |
Deluxe Saves Itself from Extinction
With its check-printing business beginning to fade, Deluxe Corp. counters with a branded suite of events that generate new-product ideas while positioning Deluxe as one of the savviest business partners in the financial-services world. |
Crash Course
Tire manufacturer Bridgestone Firestone lends its dealer-training road-show setup to a nonprofit youth-driving academy, building knowledge and awareness among those who sell its tires and the young drivers who put those tires to the test. |
Mini's Customer Caravan
How Mini USA convinced 7,000 customers to spend up to 17 days immersed in its brand. |
How Big Brown Rebuilt its Brand
Known for decades as a package-delivery company, United Parcel Service of America Inc. repositions itself as a global supply-chain leader with a multi-year series of C-level symposia with a ''going global'' message. |
Toyota's Word-of-Mud Marketing
Toyota Motor spends millions of dollars to connect with just a few thousand customers - then lets them do the marketing. |
Charmin Scores a Royal Flush
By providing posh public restrooms in a high-need locale, Procter & Gamble Co. transforms Charmin toilet paper from a commodity into a luxury item, worthy of the 460 million media impressions generated by the event. |
Marketing Smackdown
In a trademark move, World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. crafts an unforgettable fan-focused event that incorporates its television programs, magazine, live events, and Web site into one tour. |
Creating Customer Community
How can you build community among event attendees? Three experts offer their tried and true community-building techniques. |
The Power of the Zag
Brand strategist Marty Neumeier explains how to bridge the gap between strategy and design to create events that truly differentiate your company from the competition. |
Customer Anthropology
RSA Security Inc. continually improves its annual event with innovations developed by observing and analyzing attendee behavior. |
Exceeding Attendee Expectations
Circus marketer Julie Robertson knows how challenging it is to keep recurring events fresh and exciting while maintaining their integrity. Her secret? Know when to innovate and what never to change. |
Four Solutions, One Problem: New Markets
How four companies use event marketing to successfully connect with new demographic segments. |
Thrill a Niche
Can consistency be a bad thing? Unconventional hotelier Chip Conley tells how a little unpredictable eclecticism can captivate event attendees and keep them coming back for more. |
Using Corporate Events to Drive Innovation
Northrop Grumman Corp. retools an obligatory technical-development event from a bare-bones science fair to a strategic innovation showcase. |
Toshiba's Customer Evangelists
To teach medical professionals about its new technology, Toshiba America Medical Systems lets its customers do the talking by organizing an official Speaker's Bureau and sponsoring educational events. |
10 Ways to Make a Memory
Events create memories for your attendees about your company, products, and services and memories drive behavior. |
Frostbike
Every winter, Quality Bicycle Products lures its top dealers and distributors to its headquarters in the frozen North to learn about its products and build relationships as solid as the ice on the company pond. |
Building Buzz Without Branding
Europa-Fachpresse Publishing House rejuvenates its flagship networking event for marketing professionals by provocatively stripping it of the attendees' bread and butter: brands. |
Xerox's Colorful Demand Strategy
To position itself as the leader in color technology and launch its new color printer, Xerox Corp. focused on convincing its customers that color means much more than pretty pictures it means competitive advantage. |
Positioning is Dead
The popular marketing concept of positioning is stuck in a 70s time warp, forever crippled by a fatal flaw in its DNA a lack of measurement. What's taking its place? Brand wikification. |
Marketing: A Liar's Art
What kind of story do your events tell? Seth Godin shows event marketers how to 'lie' the right way and leave attendees with an impression they'll not soon forget. |
Session Development
When it comes to conference sessions, how do you decide which sessions to offer and who should present them? Three experts weigh in. |
Michelin's Value-Innovation Strategy
Michelin wheels out a three-day event to teach distributors how to sell its new, premium tires based on value, not price. |
HP's Accidental Event
To help customers feel like company insiders, HP transforms its trade-show-affiliated customer meeting into an annual, standalone event now worth $33 million. |
The Event is The Product
RSA Security Inc. grows its annual event from a small, informal gathering to the premiere event in its industry. Its secret? RSA considers the event as one of its key products, with its own research and development strategy. |
Customer Evangelists: Spreading the Word
Customers who believe in your company can become your most potent sales force. Here are 10 ideas you can use at your next corporate event to cultivate customer evangelists. |
Second Opinion
How do you promote attendance at private trade shows? Three experts weigh in. |
Summit at C-Level
SunGard Higher Education invites high-level clients to an executive summit to establish itself as an industry leader, identify future technology needs, and develop strategic solutions. |
CA's Strategic Reboot
CA Inc. redesigns its annual user conference to regain customers' confidence after a corporate accounting scandal. Its strategy? Offer customers and partners insider information, executive access, and a commitment to change. |
This Issue: The Piggyback Solution
Four companies in industries from farming to shipping build private corporate events on a platform of pre-existing events, saving time and money, raking in leads, and making sales. |
C-Level Events
How do you differentiate an event and add value for key executives so that they'll choose your event over your competitors' events? Three event experts weigh in. |
Get the Picture?
To showcase the breadth of its product offerings, Canon USA Inc. creates a non-competitive, invitation-only event featuring interactive demonstrations spread over 120,000 square feet of exhibit space. |
NASCAR: Why Sponsors Keep Renewing
To jump start business-to-business relationship building, NASCAR adopts a sponsor-retention plan that puts 13 of its official sponsors in the driver's seat at its quarterly B2B Council meeting. |
Saving Customers One Event at a Time
For three years, AgVantage Software Inc. failed to attract a single new customer. To rebuild its reputation and rejuvenate customer relationships, AgVantage redesigned its annual user conference. |
Code Camp: Using Events to Drive Innovation
Every time Orange S.A.'s developer partners crank out a successful application, Orange's revenue flares up like a booster rocket. To fuel the fire, Orange developed Code Camp, a three-day, around-the-clock event. |
Relaunch
After a dismal product launch, Compuware Corp. shifts its target audience from executive-level decision-makers to the software developers who actually use its products, creating an interactive customer event complete with hands-on education. |
Is That Sewer Pipe Taken?
To cut costs and put its product center stage, Ferguson Enterprises Inc. builds its event dιcor out of its own plumbing and building products. |
Beauty Mark
Kao Corp. uses the side of a 30-story hotel to make its mark on the Japanese media, not to mention 5,000 mesmerized consumers. |
The Amazing Race
MC2 lures jaded exhibit and event managers off the Vegas strip with a city-wide scavenger hunt. |
The Mailer of Champions
General Mills Inc. whips up a winning two-part mailer that creates industry-wide buzz. |
Cultivating Customers
To create a sustainable competitive advantage, Farm Credit Canada launches a strategy of customer advocacy, using a hospitality event to create sales and networking opportunities for its clients. |
Volkswagen: A Luxury Brand?
Besieged by skepticism over the launch of two new luxury vehicles, Volkswagen of America Inc. converts its doubtful dealers into enthusiastic evangelists by redefining its marketing strategy with a luxury ride-and-drive experience. |
Mystery in a Box
Royal Philips Electronics launches its new corporate identity and brand campaign with a strategic event that combines suspense, secrecy, and surprise. |
Under the Influence
Diageo turns bartenders into brand evangelists with a series of strategic events designed to educate, pamper, and recognize the talents of its customers. |
Customer-Driven Event Marketing
To create successful events that drive revenue, a company must first aggregate its customers based on their behavior in the marketplace. |
Gartner Events: Education as a Strategic Weapon
The Gartner Symposium/ITxpo uses a range of unique educational activities to attract high-profile attendees from diagnostic workshops to consulting theater-in-the-round. |
PeopleSoft: Growing Event Attendance Through Market Segmentation
Aiming for a 20-percent attendance increase at its user conference, PeopleSoft Inc. developed a targeted-marketing promotion that segmented customers based on demographics and behavioral responses. Attendance soared smashing PeopleSoft's goal. |
Using Events to Build Customer Community
To create a community of customers who have almost nothing in common and who are scattered across the globe, eBay invites them to a get-together with classes, parties, and even a wedding. |
