Figure 7: Secret Garden. ca. 2019. Colorful spring bouquet in modern vase
Week 2
Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand.
Confucius
Creativity is a vital ingredient in an event’s recipe, in that ‘businesses need to create experiences that are memorable, given the increased levels of education of many consumers and their pursuit of value-added elements within the experience they purchase’ (Page and Connell 2012).
Having said that, I am wondering how creativity could be used in branded marketing events. As stated in the blog of one of New York’s premier floral and event design companies, B Floral, there are five elements that an events manager should consider when it comes to branded marketing events, which I think totally relate to the importance of using creativity in events. One of them is, If we think of a product launch event in the fragrance industry for example, to create a theme that is relevant to the brand and reflects its unique characteristics (Bfloral 2021). For example, adding floral elements throughout the space, or creating a menu where each dish has the name of a flower, could be ideas for the launch of a floral perfume.
To take that a step further, in order for an event experience to be memorable, a high level of participation is needed, which makes it interactive, meaningful, and allows the consumer to create their own experience. That’s where the presence of creativity is vital, as event managers need to come up with engaging ideas relevant to the brand’s concept that will create a meaningful experience. According to Page and Connell, there are two aspects of consumption which need to be taken into consideration by event managers when staging an event; the need to ‘create a sensation’, and the need to ‘personalize the experience’ (Page and Connell 2012: 19). In the above example of a product launch event of a floral perfume, a personalized engaging activity could be to create a workshop where attendants could try to create their own fragrance by using the perfume’s ingredients. By embodying the consumer in the use of the brand’s elements, there is trust and a bond developed between them. This way, ‘branded marketing events elicit active communication between the consumer and the brand’, by making ‘an intimate brand-consumer connection’ (Altschwagner et al. 2015: 382).
References
ALTSCHWAGNER, Teagan, Steve GOODMAN, Jodie CONDUIT & Cullen HABEL. 2015. ‘Branded marketing events: A proposed experiential needs-based’ conceptual framework’ Event Management. 19 pp. 381-390
Bfloral. ‘Five important elements when it comes to branded events’ Available at: https://www.bfloral.com/bfloral-blog/89paa2xfazezmghlaklnpks7me6pjx [accessed 13 March 2022]
PAGE, Stephen J. and Joanne CONNELL. 2012. The Routledge Handbook of Events. Oxon: Routledge.