Nothing Like Being There

Event marketing is making a modest comeback after an off year in 2006.

Marketers spent an average of $685,598 on events in 2006, compared with $795,147 in 2005, according to Promo’s 2007 Marketer Trends survey.

But more than a third planned to increase their budgets this year. And less than a tenth expected to lower them. And more than a fourth cited events as one of the three promotional strategies on which they spent the most money.

The money is going into the following types of events: retail (34%), entertainment (21.3%), sports (14.2%) and music (11.2%).

Some firms stage events to earn good will. Take Chase Card Services. It began showing its support of the military audience

Music has been an integral part of Chase Card Services.

It began building good will and a strong identity with the military audience seven years ago through its solo sponsorship of the annual Army Concert Tour, which sends country and rock musicians on a circuit playing military installations between May and September.

Chase offers an Army MWR MasterCard specifically for active duty and retired personnel. It also invites civilians at the events to apply for its Flag and Eagle MasterCard. Incentives include patriotic t-shirts and blankets stating: “Support Our Troops.”

But the bank’s primary mission in underwriting the cost of talent and tickets for the events is altruistic, according to Shelley Sanders, Chase senior vice president for military and government programs. Sanders notes Chase doesn’t sign up enough new applicants at the concerts for this to be a moneymaker.

“We’ve used our concert tour as a way to express our support for the military, and to support the morale of the military,” she says.

This year’s tour includes stops at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Benning in Georgia and the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

Then there’s UnitedHealthCare. Success as a sponsor of the New York Triathlon prompted a positive response when the firm was approached by Precision Sports about sponsoring a companion event in Washington, D.C.

The result is the UnitedHealthCare Health & Fitness Expo, scheduled for later this month. Serving as a prelude to the Triathlon, it is expected to draw 30 exhibitors.

“It’s a once in a lifetime event,” says Precision’s CEO Armand Milanesi.

Krishnan Sridharan, director of regional marketing for UnitedHealthCare’s northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, calls the expo “a perfect fit” for his firm. “Encouraging a healthy lifestyle is just what we want to do,” he says.

UHC will have three booths in strategic locations around the Washington mall, where the event will be staged, with one 10-foot-square booth near the finishing line on Pennsylvania Ave.

The firm will offer massage therapy, and cholesterol and diabetes screening at the respective locations, according to Sridharan, who expects 5,000 people to attend the expo during the two days of registration preceding the triathlon.

That event is expected to draw up to 20,000 onlookers. As sole category sponsor, UHC will leave calling cards in the form of water bottles in a gift bag for the competitors.