portunity is ever lost; the other person takes what you miss.” Then
they pressed on with more new concepts.
We also learned that “pricing,” a major component of the five
Ps, is not necessarily a matter of lower prices driving greater at-
tendance at your event. The lessons learned about “perceived
value” are noteworthy and practiced each day by experienced
marketers. The key element in all of the considerations covered in
this chapter is the research required to understand market needs
and values. Quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques can
be used separately or in tandem. But they must be used, continu-
ously and creatively.
Summary 27TALES FROM THE FRONT
A national association historically held an
awards event as part of a breakfast pro-
gram during its annual convention. The event
was losing appeal, attendance was trend-
ing downward, and the honorees were less
than pleased. The association employed
qualitative interview research to determine
what was wrong. The answer was simple.
Many of the award recipients were from
outside the association. Therefore, their
peers were not attending the convention,
and those that were attending did not feel
that they were “stakeholders” in the event.
In other words, other than the breakfast it-
self there was little compelling interest in the
awards. It was the wrong market segment.
The research also showed that the
awards event could be removed from the
convention and reintroduced as a stand-
alone, upscale black-tie dinner to be mar-
keted to the industry at large. The key would
be exclusivity—the “be there or be square”
approach. The complexion of the marketing
for the first event was “see and be seen.” A
small 200-person-capacity ballroom in a lux-
ury downtown hotel was purposely selected
for the first event under the assumption that
the event would be easier to sell out and
others who did not get their tickets ordered
in time would be disappointed, frustrated,
and would make certain that they were a
part of the scene next year. The strategy:
sacrifice a bit today and create the demand
for the long term.
The strategy worked. The first event was
elegantly small, tuxedos and ball gowns
were on display, flashbulbs popped, and a
new industry “happening” was born. In the
postevent research that followed, the major
complaint was “too crowded—you have to
get a bigger room next year!” Now, if there
was ever a “positive negative” for these
marketing strategists, that is it.
That was 10 years ago. The association
changed its marketing strategy to drop the
“exclusivity” approach and moved the an-
nual event to New York City, with greater
ballroom space and increased industry rep-
resentation to make attendance more con-
venient for the “movers and shakers” of the