Jessica Heasley

The energy drink market is on a high. Turbo charged by top-selling brands like Monster Red Bull and Rockstar the highly-caffeinated offshoots of the soft drink category have not only grown in popularity over the past decade to the tune of $6.5 billion in annual sales they continue to fly off the shelves while other soda and juice drink sales remain flat.

If your post-event surveys show that consumers are interested in buying your product great. If your post-event numbers don’t deliver a lift in product sales uh not so great. Fast-tracking consumers from a memorable brand engagement to the point of sale requires more than just a coupon. It demands multi-layered event strategies and a quick mastery of distribution practices sales tactics retail relationships and consumer behaviors. With budgets shrinking and quantifiable deliverables more important than ever before it’s time to turn experiential programs into sales machines.

Sometimes the maxim “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it ” just doesn’t apply. To wit event marketers working on the second iteration of a successful pop-up face a unique struggle: finding the balance between creating a unique experience that capitalizes on all the great elements from the first pop-up while introducing enough new stuff to keep the crowds—and the buzz—coming the second time around. How two brands faced—and met—the challenge:

EM’s year in review provides a chronological look at more than 67 ways the industry turned a down economy into an opportunity to prove that live marketing is still alive and kicking

Saying that this was one of the industry’s toughest years on record would be an understatement. First the banking industry imploded on itself sparking a domino effect of financial destruction that seemed only to gain momentum as the year went on.

The FTC is cracking down on deceptive marketing practices in the blogosphere. Tips for staying above board