Why a (brand) event should not be missing from your communication strategy

Curious why and how to go about this? Read on and take an example from a number of brands that know better than anyone how to make a brand event the showpiece of the communication strategy.

With a brand event, a positive brand experience is within reach

When you organize a good event, everything on and around your event is about experience, experience and bonding. With a positive brand experience as a goal. Like Amstel, for example, does with the Amstel Gold Race and Friends of Amstel Live. Such a positive brand experience is more than just a nice party. You don't want your customer to only think about you the day after because of that fat hangover. You dream of your customer associating a positive experience and a good feeling with you. And share this as often as possible.

Surprise your audience and include a brand event in your communication strategy. An event that activates your target group, turns customers into fans and increases loyalty.

Organizing a valuable brand event

Make it memorable! That doesn't mean at all that you should always go big, but that the event should be of value to your target group. When you organize your brand event properly — by immersing your customers in your brand without them experiencing it as an overkill — they will be more engaged with your brand. Let your event attendees experience the brand for themselves. Let them feel it so they make a positive association. For example, when you think of Amstel, you think of friendship, with Red Bull you think of adrenaline, with Jupiler of football and with Bertolli you think of typical Italian. You also want to achieve this with your brand.

Brand events in your communication strategy: why do they work?

Your target group usually decides to participate in your event themselves because they want to be involved with the brand. As a result, you already have an advantage, they are more open to what you have to say and you can easily collect leads. It's only at an event that you really come into contact with your target group and there is time for personal attention. That's what your customer notices. In addition, an event experience is central: people can hear, see, feel, taste and smell. All the ingredients for a positive association with your brand are present.

These brands know how to pack their customers with an event

Libelle, Red Bull, Accenture, Ordina and our customers CRM Partners and CBRE, among others, show how to do that: conquer your target group with a brand event. They all excel in using events in the communication strategy.

Red Bull Soapbox Race

Even if you can't find the energy drink to drink, chances are you can already feel the adrenaline flowing or think of extreme sports when you see Red Bull. They have done that beautifully over the past 30 years. Many people can learn a lot from Red Bull's positioning! After all, Red Bull focuses on the experience, not necessarily on the brand. They took a good look at what wasn't on the market yet and created their own world (their own domain) where they could play the leading role. Let your positioning and proposition inspire a valuable brand event.

Did you know that each region at Red Bull chooses which events or sports best suit the target group? In the Netherlands, for example, we all know the Red Bull Soapbox Race. 'A pleasantly crazy world on wheels'as they call it, which has been taking place every year in the south of the country since 2001.

Dragonfly Summer Week

Sanoma's Libelle Summer Week won the award for cross-media event of the year in 2017. The event was hailed as the most impactful cross-media project of its kind. The Summer Week — which took place for the 21st time that year — brings visitors into contact with the Libelle experience and fully immerses them in the Libelle world, reinforcing Libelle's image, in the words of Mark Miedema (Director of Events at Sanoma).

In fact, research shows that visitors thought more positively about the brands and products present, because the experience itself generated positive emotions.

Ordina Open Innovation Days

Four editions of the Ordina Open Innovation Days have already taken place. During this event, Ordina motivates its visitors and prospects to make its own organization or the world a little better. Of course, they also make it clear that Ordina is a good party for this to bring about that change together.

‍Accenture Innovation Awards‍

Like the Libelle Summer Week, Accenture also won an award in 2017. For their 'Accenture Innovation Awards', they won a Golden Giraffe. The Accenture Innovation Awards brings together 2,500 of the most defining innovators in the Netherlands. With this brand event, Accenture is not only working on their own brand, but they are also contributing to the Netherlands's international competitive position in the field of innovation.

Making a choice based on experience

In addition to the fact that well-known brands commit to an event (and whether or not they organize them themselves), it is also an interesting line of thought for your company to organize an annual or biennial event. A brand event provides more than just interest in your product. What you want to achieve — just like the brands discussed — is that your customer makes their choice not only based on your product or service, but on a total experience. A good feeling they have about your brand.

Your unique proposition and positioning as a basis

Not everyone can just match the success of the Libelle Summer Week, but every brand or company certainly has the chance to claim a unique 'domain' and link an event to it. Every brand or company has, or should have, a unique proposition. This is the basis for your own (brand) event. For example, CRM Partners promises its customers that they are loved by their own customers. From that proposition, Het Cupido Festival was born, an event about customer love. A unique domain that belongs to them.

Take our customer CBRE as an example. Every year, they organize events for various customer target groups, such as the CBRE Investment Outlook, which returns annually in January. During this event, they share their vision of the real estate sector with their customers and show what CBRE stands for in form and content.

In short, there is an opportunity for every brand to claim a live domain. Let an event develop from your unique positioning and proposition, and make a (brand) event a 'fixed' part of your communication strategy.