2002: In the Beginning — The Year It All Began

Fact: The initial explosion of event marketing spending can be traced to early 2002. A recession is rocking corporate marketing budgets and chief marketing officers begin looking for alternatives to ineffective above-the-line spends. The marketing industry begins to face the cold reality that while advertising may provide reach and frequency, it’s not really reaching anybody with anything substantial that frequently.

And so it begins. Event campaigns, labeled for years as either “non-traditional” or “below-the-line” programs, begin to take form. Mobile truck builders start to notice an uptick in orders. Event staffing companies see a substantial increase in requests. And the phones at trade show exhibit houses and b-to-b meetings agencies start ringing like never before. Indeed, change is happening, people.

Early event campaigns are relegated to a few markets or regions. The age of the national program has not yet arrived. But as brands begin to test event marketing, they realize that the connective potential of face-to-face marketing is undeniable—consumers can’t change the channel, click to another website or tune it all out. Even b-to-b buyers are tuning in to meetings and trade shows. It’s clutter-free access to target audiences and as marketers begin to see the potential, they start to believe the potential.

The age of event marketing is here… and this is not a trend. Click here to download the .pdf