Event Planning and Management - Rock and Roll Rendezvous Motor Event - Case Study Example

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This is a reflective journal report on an event Rock and Roll rendezvous that I attended. Here I have highlighted all that transpired in the event and tried to recognize how event management concepts were adopted. The report has comprehensively evaluated how marketing mix was applied in the event planning process. I have majorly selected pricing as a component in Marketing mix, discused and evaluated how pricing was applied in the whole event process. I have further sought to establish the work done by event managers to ensure the event management process is greatly successful. I have also looked in to the event planning process on how the identification of event audience age, gender, tastes and lifestyle was done. This report has also highlighted the legal contracts for events and how the legal requirements were adhered to. The report has also included the unique risks associated with event planning and management and the event risk control strategies put in place. The report finally gives an elaborate recommendation on areas of improvements and possible solutions. INTRODUCTION According to Allen et al. (2011), event management refers to the process of planning, preparing and producing an event. Like any other form of management, event needs assessment, definition, acquisition, allocation, direction, control, and analysis of time, finances, people, products, services, and other resources to achieve its objectives. Marketing mix on the other hand is the combination of actions and associated instruments to stimulate acceptance of organizational ideas. Here the event planners identifies a product to meet the needs of its target market, the product is then made available to the target market through proper distribution; this should be accompanied by eye-catching promotion to convince the people get the product. Finally the price set should be affordable and cost effective. Rock and Roll Rendezvous Motor Event is the event that I attended, this event is facilitated by the national motor museum. The national motor museum has special and regular events; the museum is proud and capable of hosting some of the best motoring events in Australia. It has enable many people enjoy discovering their motoring heritage since 1965. This is one of the international center for research, education, collection, display and preservation of Australia’s road transport history. It depicts how we were in the past, how we are now and even how we shall be in future. History South Australia (History S.A) is the main sponsor for this event. DISCUSSION Event marketing is defined as the process by which event managers and marketers gain an understanding of their potential consumers’ characteristics and needs in order to produce, price, promote and distribute an event experience that meets both these needs and the financial or social objectives of the special event. (Allen et al. 2011, p. 259) Market segmentation on the other hand refers to the division of the market into direct groups of consumers who might require separate products or marketing mix. It refers to a group of consumers who respond in a similar way to a given set of marketing stimuli. Visiting the classic car for 50s and 60s on display, I was amazed by the magnificent models and makes of the various vehicles. History S.A History S.A is a statutory authority that reports to Parliament via Minister for the Arts. The authority was established in 1981 under the History Trust of South Australia Act 1981 to foster research and public presentation of the history of S.A and safeguard S.A’s material heritage. The role of History SA is research, presentation, collection and preservation of the history of South Australia. The trust has the mandate to manage three museums, a range of historical collections and other public programs. The vision of S.A is to inspire the people of South Australian to actively engage with the past in order to reflect the present and imagine the future. By this, the trust therefore brings the history of S.A to life and preserves the future for the younger generation. This is one way of strengthening community identity and fostering strong sense of place. The history trust has been committed to excellence in historical research, preserving material culture, efficiency in management, providing safe environment to visitor and excellence in customer service. Event management concept Event management concept is considered as a very important marketing activity where event planners are able to communicate various initiatives to the population (Soares, 1991). Here the event serves as a point of attraction, especially if the event planners make use of popular channels such as concerts, dance events, and exhibitions among others; the whole establishments strives to satisfy the expectation of the people. Event planning and Marketing The planning should involve proper situation analysis, segmenting the market, setting SMART objectives, setting the right marketing strategies and designing the marketing mix. The event marketers need to do good strategic marketing; here the event planning is aligned to the resources available and the environments they occur, hence fulfilling the needs of consumers and event’s objectives (Allen et al. 2011, p.262) Events need to be marketed effectively in order for them to be greatly successful. Event management concept strongly advocates for proper marketing of events to achieve the expected profit. When events are well marketed to sponsors, these sponsors shall then in turn provide funds and necessary resources for the success of the event. This is achieved through promotional platforms and advertisements. Marketing is important because it provides a framework for decision making; this will enable sponsors and governments to commit funds. Service quality is a primary goal for any marketer, proper marketing of events ensures customer satisfaction where expectations are exceeded, this means the quality experience has been delivered and hence the outcome is assured repeat visit. Event marketing mix tends to look at the product, Place People Price and promotion. Getz, 2005 Pricing Pricing is one of the most essential component in the marketing mix. This is the main component in this report. It is a component that must reflect the market supply and demand correlation. Prudent pricing enable event managers and planners to design the means to achieve the set strategies whose key function is to satisfy the customers using the limited resources available. Product The event product needs to be packaged to meet the various expectations of the various groups. The planners of Rock and Roll Rendezvous from their report indicated that the vent is currently fabulous due to inclusion of young and energetic attendants and participants who bring in fresh blood and talent for instance dancers and singers. Promotion Event needs to be advertised or promoted and ensure the media used is capable of reaching the intended population. This could use television, radio or print media. This ensures not only prompt delivery of information but also stimulate the desire to have the information and desire to go for the event. (Armstrong, 2001). This promotion will address the what, when, where, why, how, and how much of the event. Best quality product without proper strategy on promotion is doomed. (Goldblatt, 2002). EVALUATION Rock and Roll event priced their product to suit their market affordability. The pricing catered for different groups with children under 15 entering free of charge. There were also tickets promotions for those people who want to buy the ticket in bulk and in advance. This is the best way to entice and retain customers. Events need to have good image in order to realize their pricing efficiency, for this to be realized, there must be proper placement of competent staff that will ensure there is no interference with customers at the event. (Baum, 2006). This could be explained by the reason why Rock And Roll Rendezvous had well trained waiters, gate keepers and ushers, these contributed significantly to customer satisfaction. Immediately I arrived at the venue, I was warmly welcomed by not only staff but also burners hanging all over the place. Although it was my first time attending such an event, irrespective of my confusion, the friendly staff was swift in identifying my state and quickly taking me through the tour guide. Similarly, there is need for compliance. Compliance involves adherence to the various laws, licenses and regulations governing event production. Previously I did not think the event factored in this aspect; however on detailed research I have come to realize that the event conformed to the Trades Practices Act 1974 that requires that there is fair practice within the marketplace. While doing their pricing, event planners need to consider customers as the most esteemed stakeholders. This therefore requires that communication must be kept clear and relevant in order to provide customer satisfaction and their expectation realized and exceeded. The most useful idea I learned in the rock and roll event is that the venue was well designed, furnished and decorated to attract its visitors with artworks displayed appropriately in and artistic manner. This clearly demonstrate hoe the event planers had in mind the need to ensure customer needs are attended to. Rock and roll motoring event was conducted in Adelaide Hills where members of the public can easily access using various modes of transport including trains, busses, cars with ample parking lot and public transport. As an event manager, I undestand that effective and successful effents needs prudent pricing., I shall therefore strive to commit myself in overseeing and arranging every aspect of the event. I shall ensure researching, planning, organizing, implementing, controlling, and evaluating event’s design is well accomplished, similarly the event needs to be well positioned in terms of timing especially on duration and time of the year. This will ensure pricing of events is appropriate and cost effective. PHOTOS OF THE EVENT Tarah and Nick Fantis- winners of the 60s fashion category, 2012 rock and roll rendezvous Entertainment Classics in Chrome Sponsors RECOMMENDATIONS a. Stakeholder liaison is a key requirement when planning for an event. As an event manager and for a mega event to be successful, I shall ensure all the affected stakeholders are involved while making decisions concerning pricing of the event activities right from planning to execution of various functions. Once this is done to perfection, I shall be able to maximize the prospects of the event. b. The employees or workers in the event need good HR strategies and objectives to ensure proper cost containment and improved quality. To achieve this, the event manager needs to ensure the personnel are briefed to ensure they are aware of their individual duties during the event. All the staff must also ensure there is safety, maintain orderly flow of crown and appropriately manage the queues. c. Events management should look in to risk management. This is the process of anticipating, preventing, or minimizing potential losses, or problems for the event (Getz 2005, p. 284). risk and property loss is costly to management. There is need for management to provide appropriate risk mitigating factors to avoid property loss. d. The target customers should be well informed about the expected cost of the event quite in time to avoid last minute rush, similarly health, safety rules, security and hazards must also be considered. To improve the situation:- a. There should be appropriate fit between events pricing and host communities. This involves how event consumers can be segmented into markets. b. There should be introduction of event management and ticketing system that will be able to manage crowd and queues hence reducing congestion and maximize the space usage. Ticketing has been a big challenge henc introduction of this system will ensure efficiency. c. Pricing should be reasonable to avoid overcharging customers, this is in line with the need for compliance with the legal requirements with relevant legislation. The Section 52 prohibits a corporation in commerce to engage in conduct that is misleading or deceiving. CONCLUSIONS By visiting Adelaide Hills motoring event, I have significantly learned that effective use of marketing mix provides brilliant ideas that will promote and market an event. In my observation, marketing mix was well applied though there is still a great room for improvement. The event was advertised to the public well and enough time given, venue was appropriate for various programs such as exhibitions, kid's biennale, dancing floor. For me the most meaningful aspect was pricing, this I found out that it was considerate of the various groups. However the main challenge affecting attendance of the day is always the weather and this cannot be controlled. The next event will be on Sunday 13 April once again at Adelaide Hills. I will not afford to miss it. Word count: 2008 REFERENCES Allen, J, O'Toole, W, Harris, R & McDonnell, I (2011) Festival & special event management. 5th ed. John Wiley and Sons: Milton, QLD. Bowdin et al. (2006) Events Management. 2nd Ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Brassington, F. & Pettit, S. (2006) Principles of Marketing (4thEdition),Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Chalip, L & Costa, C (2005) Sport event tourism and the destination brand: Towards a general theory, Sport in Society, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 218-237. Getz, D (2005) Event management and event tourism, 2nd ed. Cognizant Communication Corporation: New York. Goldblatt, J.J., (2002) Special Events- Global Event Management in the 21st Century. 3rd ed. Wiley : New York. History trust of South Australia (History SA) Thirty-Second Annual Report for 2011-2012 Leopkey, B & Parent, MM (2009) Risk Management Strategies by Stakeholders in Canadian Major Sporting Events, Event Management, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 153-170. Michman, R., (1991) Lifestyle Market Segmentation. Praeger Publishers: New York. Van der Wagen, L., (2007) Human Resource Management for events: Managing the Event Workforce. Oxford: Elsevier. www.history.sa.gov.au www.nationalmotormuseum.com.au Ziakas, V (2010) Understanding an event portfolio: the uncovering of interrelationships, synergies, and leveraging opportunities, Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 144-164. APPENDICES Part A) Create a simple log of two event experiences from the viewpoint of an event visitor Event Experience LOG Name of event Rock n Roll Rendezvous Type of event National Motor Museum. Location of event Adelaide Hills Date of event experience 14/04/2013 With whom did you go to the event? Collins my cousin Experience Log 1 1-1. Briefly describe your event experience. What specific circumstances led up to this experience? How did you feel about this experience? What exactly made you feel that way? (150 words) This year’s Rock & Roll Rendezvous motor event was a great success, the attendance was roughly 4300 where I was among them. The event was held on 14 April, 2013 in Adelaide Hills, it was fabulous. It was a day for classic cars, with classic looks where pre-1979 motors and their owners were on display among other programs. It was well announced across the country that Adelaide Hills 2013 would be the day for this mega event; I knew this was going to be the best event, and I cannot afford to miss out. Fun was early in the morning when people cruised in convoy of classics to the Adelaide Hills. I saw 390 vehicles meet at the Victoria Drive, Torrens Parade Ground and King William Street. This was just a fabulous display in itself. I liked the experience. It is in this event that I witnessed the 50s and 60s models. I saw hottest vehicles from FJs, hotrods to cadillacs and bikes. 1-2. Identify a relevant event management concept and briefly explain how the relevant concept is applicable to this experience (argue for it). (100 words) Principle of Relationship Marketing The principal of relationship marketing requires that the customer needs is met. Product is a key component in customer needs satisfaction. It is that physical product or service accorded to the customer. This product or service needs to effectively meet and even exceed the expectations of the targeted customer. The Rock and Roll Rendezvous has a product to offer to its target group. The event is unique and comes once in a year. It is the largest one day rock and roll motoring event in Australia. The event has various features ranging from dancing, kids corner and car display. This indicated that Rock and roll has packaged its product to suits its target group. Experience log 2 2-1. Briefly describe your event experience. What specific circumstances led up to this experience? How did you feel about this experience? What exactly made you feel that way? (150 words) I attended the Rock & Roll Rendezvous event; it was a great event full of fun. There were dancers and divas in style with Vicky O’Keefe’s doing her tribute show to father, Johnny O'Keefe. The music and dance floor kept every one rolling and rocking along, plenty of jumping and jiving in the dance floor was enormous with only the judge having final decision! The Speedsters, Blue Comets and Pulse Band did their best. The beauty about it all in this event is that I got value of my money; looking at what the event offered me, I think it was worth the money paid. In addition to that, I was given a discount at the entrance; this was because I paid in advance. All these made me feel contented and valued the whole thing. Indeed Adelaide Hills was really a place to be for fun and music that day. 2-2. Identify a relevant event management concept and briefly explain how the relevant concept is applicable to this experience (argue for it). (100 words) Event Planning and Leverage (Chalip, 2004) Event management requires that the event planners need to design the means to achieve the set strategies whose key function is to satisfy the customers using the limited resources available. This is only achieved by prudent pricing. Pricing is one of the most essential component in the marketing mix. It is a component that must reflect the market supply and demand correlation. Rock and Roll event priced their product to suit their market affordability. The pricing catered for different groups with children under 15 entering free of charge. There were also tickets promotions for those people who want to buy the ticket in bulk and in advance. This is the best way to entice and retain customers. Read More