Has Your Event Marketing Passed the Cannes Test?

Author: Mike Connolly

“In a fast-changing, fluid environment, where one week is different from the next, our biggest challenge is to remain relevant while retaining our core value of creativity.”

–          Philip Thomas, CEO, Cannes Lions Festival

With Cannes going festive-crazy this May, it’s time to look upon the giants of event marketing to set up their shows. The much expected international Cannes Film Festival is to rocket on the 13^th while the world’s biggest advertisement fiesta – Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – will follow suit. An over-crowded French city by the Riviera with more than 160,000 visitors crunched inside a two weeks period: surely it tells that the organizers’ event marketing strategy paid off. Ethical and effective event campaigns highlighted the Cannes cavalcade last year.

New films, new categories and a star-studded red carpet – is that all to marketing an event? Is it all about hard work, or are there some nifty Event Marketing tricks that self-sustain? Know the secret traits of event management from Lake B2B at 800-710-5166 / [email protected].

What We Learnt from Cannes, 2014

Test 1: What Is Your Trophy Made Of?

First rule of Event Marketing: give value to get value. Keep in mind that the attendees will want an evening worth every penny they invest. If the artificial fountain or the 7-star venue is seeming too costly, it’s a value investment for future. And remember the red carpet gathering! The secretaries of the dignitaries of the all-in-all would have to pass you during inspections. Otherwise, your dignity will be served on a platter – shredded and toasted.

Cannes’ Catch:

Cannes Film Festival, in its 67 years’ run, has never compromised class. Word of mouth popularity for this factor alone has proved its worth across the globe. The event is a trend-setter in itself, and still continues to surprise.

Last year, Cannes broke the novel design barrier, the value barrier and the eco-friendliness barrier – a three-in-one feat with its renowned felicitator Palm d’Or Trophy. Official luxury jewellers built the trademark trophy with ‘Fairmined’ – the first of its kind certified gold. The trophy also won accolades for being eco-friendly.

Test 2: Is Your Carpet Red Enough?

Sheep follow the shepherd. And that’s where the word ‘crowd-puller’ strikes a similarity. Is your event hosting a celebrity? Answer to this question can change your gathering count manifolds.

But that’s an old trait. Now what if you tie your sponsors to your ‘crowd-puller’ star? Sponsors get their share of popularity. The star bothers you little for funds. The crowd gets entertainment. And the next day, your event makes the cover for Success Story of the Year. Win-win for all!

Cannes’ Catch:

Right before the Film Festival an actress from Thailand, also selected as one of the presenters in the event last year, was hosting make-up campaigns for a popular fashion brand from Paris. Incidentally, the brand was also one of the sponsors at Cannes. The partnership with the actress proved miraculous for the company’s image. It got direct exposure to the red carpet and conversations surrounding their products went out of the roof.

Test 3: Is Your Bad Publicity Good?

As the saying goes: there’s no news like bad news. But here’s the tricky part: you never know when it gets out of hand. While few negative titles might quantify a lot of response, too much of it can also fetch an overall bad name for your event. End result: zero crowd. Hence, your social media marketing and event marketing team should be over-cautious while generating views through negative publicity. On the other hand, who needs a negative image! If you have a strong message, you can always refer back to Test 1.

Cannes’ Catch:

An actor-turned-director last year generated over 36.1 thousand mentions in the social media for his debut film. Critics and viewers lashed the film and the director for lousy performances. The film became a laughing-stock for the entire event. One post generated ten others, and the resulting chain reaction turned into an avalanche of hate mails overnight. Being a world-wide film exhibit, Cannes created a new milestone for negative publicity based on the incident. Publicity: Yes. Benefit: None.

Test 4: Are You a ‘Social’ Person?

Social media is the game changer of the hour. It’s cheap and has a lot more reach. Your real and virtual presence remain two separate existences. But your event in the social media opens much before the actual event takes place. It takes effort to get the balls rolling amongst such huge mass, and that requires time. But once in play, even one silly notification generates more revenue (and popularity) than anywhere else.

Even during the event, social media picks its own favourites and runs its own show in parallel. While good things about the event get highlighted, lesser known facts (behind the scenes etc.) also receive its share of appreciations. Social media marketing campaigns have become a revolutionary tool for event managers.

Cannes’ Catch:

2014 Cannes Film Festival received a support of above 2.6 million Tweets under diverse hashtags. For promoting the event, all that the organizers needed was a Twitter account. The festival parallel to the Festival had its own favourite film, favourite actor(s), its own awards, and people from all over the world could join in, right from their homes.

There’s no event that comes without its shortcomings, even if it be an international Film Festival by the French Riviera. Good Event Marketing campaigners accept this fact and figure out ways to manoeuvre out of the problems. Want to host a successful event? Look no further than Lake B2B. Talk to our event managers at 800-710-5166. Get event marketing offers specific to your needs. Write to us at [email protected].