On occasion, using a local VIP such as a politician may be de-
sirable to attract attention and add credibility to an event. You
must be careful when using politicians as they may bring in peo-
ple and add credibility, but they also may bring controversy. In ad-
dition, although the program may call for a brief speech, politi-
cians sometimes do not know the meaning of the word “brief.” For
the Annual Help the Homeless Walkathon, the event was sched-
uled to start at 10:00 A.M. with brief speeches by sponsors and
politicians for 20 minutes. The event organizers were prepared for
the walk to start at 10:20 A.M. with hundreds of event staff in
place. At 10:40, politicians were still rambling on, and in order to
get the event going, organizers had to literally walk on the stage
and cut off the last speech.
Branding Your Event
The most famous branded event is the Olympic Games. The brand-
ing of this event is so important that, unless a company is a spon-
sor of the Olympic Games, it cannot use the term “Olympic Games”
in any advertising. In fact, the Olympic Games protects its name
to such a high degree that the Olympic committees even trade-
mark other similar names, such as the Sydney Committee for the
Olympic Games (SOCOG). The goal of an event organizer is to
have a branded event that is so popular that the mere mention of
the name brings instant recognition, awareness, and attention.
After putting together a successful event, others may look at
that event and say, “We could do one better” or, “There is a big
market for this type of event. Why don’t I get my piece of the pie
by duplicating the event?” The important thing to remember is
that now, by creating a name, a logo, and a concept, all with trade-
mark protection, you can brand the event. There are many circuses
across the country, including Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bai-
ley—the world’s largest, but when the Canadian circus troupe
Cirque du Soleil came up with a unique, artistic, nonanimal, avant-
garde circus, it became a success. To make sure that Cirque du
Soleil kept its market, it quickly set up year-round versions in Las
Vegas, Orlando, and Louisiana, in addition to its traveling troupes.
Not content to sit back and lose that part of the market, Ringling
Bros. created its own one-tent circus, Barnum’s Kaleidoscope, in
an attempt to compete against Cirque du Soleil.
Branding Your Event 165