On the Road with EventLink - BMW Ultimate Driving Experience Tour
EventLink is helping BMW put consumers into the seats of the automaker’s newest cars as the 2014 BMW Ultimate Driving Experience Tour works its way to cities around the country.
Fans and aspirants of the brand are invited to put the pedal to the metal in ways that the average, run-of-the-mill test drive just doesn’t allow. Vehicle dynamics, performance, handling, control, and safety are all covered in a variety of driving programs created by EventLink curriculum designers and taught by EventLink’s team of professional driving instructors.
EventLink staffs and runs the programs at each stop on the tour, including set-up and tear down, and all maintenance on a fleet of more than 60 new BMWs. We also man the two technical demonstrations – traction control and hill descent control – that showcase the performance and handling of the X5 Sports Activity Vehicle and the 3 Series.
A four-hour Teen Driving School is offered for drivers under 21 with either a driver’s license or learner’s permit. One-Day Car Control schools are offered for a fee and are designed to test drivers’ abilities and push the limits in a safe and controlled environment.
Cities visited so far include Boston, Newark, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The tour then headed to NYC and Miami, and wrapped up in Houston, Texas in November.
Chevy Ride & Drive at the 2014 SEMA Show November 4-6, 2014
The 2014 SEMA Show was held last week at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and EventLink was there to host a three-day Chevy Ride & Drive. More than 2,600 consumers signed up to drive the latest models from Chevy’s 2015 lineup, including the Sonic, Colorado, Silverado, and Camaro. All registered guests earned a Chevy hat and a hot lap in a Corvette Stingray with a pro driver from Spring Mountain Driving School. Racing legends Kurt Bush, Danica Patrick, and Ricky Carmichael were on hand to do the hot lap honors for the lucky guests on Tuesday, November 4th only!
The SEMA Show is the premier automotive specialty products trade event in the world. Held annually in Las Vegas, SEMA draws the industry’s brightest minds, hottest products, and 60,000+ domestic and international buyers for four days of exceptional educational seminars, product demonstrations, events, and networking opportunities.
On the Road with EventLink - GM Vehicle Advocate Program
GM Vehicle Advocate Program & The Women of Color STEM Conference October 23-25, 2014
EventLink was on hand at the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center to organize and execute GM’s Vehicle Advocate Program (VAP). EventLink registered more than 70 test drives of new Cadillacs during the 19th Annual Women of Color STEM Conference.
VAP ride and drive events are held at the Renaissance Center, the GM Tech Center in Warren, and business partner locations and include: New Hire Orientations, New Executive Training, Retiree, All-Employee, Bring Your Child to Work Day, Saturday Family & Friends, and more.
This is the first time that the STEM Conference has been held in Detroit, which was attended by an estimated 4,000 technologists, engineers, scientists, and students. Celebrating “Women of Character, Courage, and Commitment,” the conference focuses on the development and recognition of outstanding women in the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering, and math. Hosted by Women of Color Magazine, STEM provides opportunities for professional development, networking, and recruiting.
When one of the world’s largest tire companies went looking for innovative ways to increase brand awareness and build a larger consumer presence at NASCAR and NHRA events, EventLink stepped in and delivered in a big way.
The Goodyear “Throw Down,” a giant, 40’ x 15’ Plinko-style interactive game board, was designed to stand high above the crowd and draw people in. To engage and encourage participation in the Throw Down, visitors were asked Goodyear Racing-related trivia questions. If they answered correctly, they were invited to climb to the top of our 53’ trailer and drop an authentic Goodyear race-used tire down the board. Prizes – including used racing tires - were given depending on where the tires ended up when they reached the bottom of the Throw Down board.
The Goodyear tour also featured Q & As with NASCAR drivers and Goodyear engineers, racing education and history, tire stress demonstrations, and tire changing machine demonstrations.
Now in its third year, the tour starts in Daytona Florida in mid-February, and stops in Virginia, Michigan, Texas, and Kansas before wrapping up in Phoenix, Arizona in November.
BCBS of Michigan’s annual Legend’s Club award ceremony and dinner was held this year on June 19th at the historic and beautiful Detroit Athletic Club in downtown Detroit, Michigan. The event honors the non-profit mutual insurance company’s highest performing salespeople from across the state of Michigan. Sixty people were in attendance this year.
EventLink has an established relationship with BCBS, who turns to us to plan its largest and most important events, including business summits, golf outings, and consumer events. For this year’s Legend’s Club award ceremony and dinner, we worked hand in hand with BCBS coordinators to plan, organize, and execute the ceremony and dinner. We made recommendations for venue selection and themes, provided options for entertainment, audio/visual display elements, catering and menu selection, gifts for award recipients, and managed all site-specific handling and transportation of assets, set up and tear down. We also expedited registration, and the EventLink creative team designed and produced all signage, logos, graphics, and print materials.
Technology, Social Media, and Non-attendee Engagement
One of the biggest issues facing event planners and exhibitors today is really an age-old problem: how do we engage audiences who don’t show up at your event? They’re what’s known in this business as non-attendees.
Why are these non-attendees such a big issue? Because in reality they represent a sizeable chunk of your potential audience, and that makes them a very real source of revenue and an important factor in your event’s ROI.
It’s important to remember that while this portion of your audience may not be present at your live event, they ARE interested in what is taking – or has taken – place there.
The answer is, quite simply: Technology and social media.
Within the past two years, mobile devices have surpassed standard technologies in their adoption and penetration of the population using these devices. The adoption of mobile devices, the increase in their capabilities, and the increase in transmission speeds and geographical area coverage for mobile computing via 4G-implementation is expected to accelerate substantially over the next three years.
The high-quality video and video-fed communications capabilities offered by these devices might be viewed as a threat to face-to-face event attendance. However, there’s another way to look at this: these capabilities are providing new and seemingly endless opportunities to engage both attendees and non-attendees, and that engagement is not locked in to one specific event time and space.
In reality, what you’ve got is a continuous conduit for an endless stream of information to and interaction with your audience – call it your “community” - and they’re present on social media on a year-round, 24/7 basis.
The growth in social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google underscores not only the acceptance of this breed of targeted communication, but also a preference for it.
Social media marketing – cited as a “trend” just a couple of years ago – has quickly become the name of the game. Harnessing the power and reach of these social media platforms to engage audiences/communities is a competitive advantage that cannot be overlooked. Developing a strategy for an event community is critical to the event’s social media success, and to a certain extent, to that event’s overall success.
At EventLink, we are continuously exploring emerging technologies and “trends” to deliver and support the best experiential events in the industry. Our strategies deliver 360 degrees of engagement - both face-to-face and virtually, to attendees and non-attendees alike.
One of the great things about this business is getting to know our customers and being able to offer a wide range of creative and tactical solutions that fit their communication goals and budgets. Whether it’s a one-time set up or multi-city tour, EventLink’s highly trained teams consistently deliver a superior level of customer service.
At the same time, several additional EventLink teams have fanned out across the country to conduct an 8-city BMW Ride and Drive tour, a travelling Allstate Insurance Pride Parade float, Road America Team Chevy Ride and Drive, Celebrity Cruise Lines, and numerous other events that are “building brands” and influencing thousands of people at fairgrounds, parks, and urban streets across America.
How do we do it? By following one simple rule: make every event exceptional. It’s the driving force behind everything we do.
Recently, EventLink had the privilege of partnering with iconic national brand Johnson & Johnson to help them kick off their 2014 FIFA World Cup Wellness Tour. J&J teamed up with Walgreens and FIFA for a series of in-store events designed to generate traffic and introduce J&J products in select Walgreens locations around the U.S.
Event Stations were created in each location and featured a meet & greet with Mexican FIFA Champion German Villa; a Safe Kids Sport Injury and Prevention demonstration and games that showed how to avoid painful sports injuries; a Futboleros Freestyle soccer exhibition; a World Cup mascot Fuleco photo session; giveaway bags; and a point-of-sale free soccer ball giveaway with every $50 purchase of select J&J items.
EventLink logistics support included sending box trucks to all locations, set up, facilitation, inventory control, and management of all event activities, including: local staff attendance and job performance, ensuring a steady supply of premium at each event, break schedules, and management of Event Stations (photo and autograph sessions, Safe Kids demo, Futboleros exhibition).
Food Trucks – Driving Event Success with Great Taste
Food trucks have rapidly worked their way into nearly every outdoor event I've been to this summer. Everywhere I go, crowds are lining up for unique and oftentimes upscale offerings that include mac & cheese, gourmet dogs, sliders, shawarma, sushi, tacos, fresh salads, BBQ, and much, much more.
In short, food trucks are redefining the concept of event concessions. Foodies no longer have to compromise on quality and taste when they dine at a game, a trade show, or a ride and drive. And with the help of social media and mobile apps, foodies can track their favorite gourmet food truck’s whereabouts, specials, and new menu offerings.
Food trucks are actually drawing people in to events.
Food has always been a vital element of EventLink’s business. Several years ago, we created our Hospitality team, a talented group of professionals who have managed food & beverage service in fine restaurants and private clubs across the country. We rely on their high level of experience and taste to guide our delivery of dining experiences at everything from formal white glove dinners to trackside lunches.
Now, we’re bringing that same level of experience and taste to food truck management at client events. Our hospitality team oversees every aspect of the mobile dining experience, including ordering, staffing, preparation, and serving.
EventLink creates an authentic – and tasty! - food truck experience that will resonate with customers and drive event success for our clients.
In my last post on industry trends, I talked about why measurement is so important in the event business. Hint: $$$$
Let’s face it – in this age of hyper-connectivity, smart phones and other mobile devices have become a powerful tool for commerce. Armed with the ability to freely collect and share product information, customers evaluate and narrow choices, entering an open-ended relationship where brand loyalty is a fluid concept, and strongly influences future buying decisions.
One of the ways EventLink is gaining better insight into the customer’s mindset is with EventMetric, an industry innovation that we use to provide real time feedback for program management and marketing effectiveness. This system takes the “gut-feel” out of decision-making by streaming a live heat map view of participant traffic, revealing the engagement risks and opportunities as they happen.
EventMetric access points broadcast a hidden WiFi network that continuously pings Android and iPhone 5 (or newer) devices to triangulate and calculate participant location and movement, as well as to track social conversation and interactions.
EventMetric advances the science of event measurement with detailed reporting on 16 KPIs of on-site activity:
Number of total, new and unique attendees
Event zoning and aggregate analytics
Average zone dwell time
Zone engagement
Conversion rates
Attendance rate
Event loyalty rate
Total number of impressions
Event geography
Quality of event staff and participation
Time of year
Time of day
Event site plan analysis
Social conversation streaming
For event staff, this creates a total view of venue activities. For event sponsors, it provides a whole new level of visibility into program ROI. When deployed in combination with an on-site registration system, EventMetric has the potential to reshape the customer loyalty chain by connecting “hand raisers” to retail activity and other marketing channels.
EventMetric is the next level of reporting for live events –and a total game-changer.
ELR Mobile Experience – All-New 2014 Cadillac ELR Electrifies Under the California Sun
Consumers are getting their first look – and the opportunity to test drive - Cadillac’s first ever ELR electrified coupe, the only luxury coupe in the U.S. with extended-range electric vehicle technology (total driving range – 340 miles).
The ELR Mobile Experience includes a lounge where customers can relax, sip raw juices, charge their mobile devices, and chat with ELR product specialists.
The tour has five stops under its belt already and, so far, public response to the ELR – and the ELR Mobile Experience – has been overwhelmingly positive.
More activations are scheduled for the Bay Area and LA:
I’m with Judge Smails. If you’re not going to measure – and analyze the measurements - what’s the point?
In my continuing series on event industry trends, let’s talk about measurement. For all practical purposes, it is – in my opinion - one of the most important components of every event.
There are lots of ways in which we gauge an event’s success, or measure our ROI. HOW we measure depends on WHAT we’re measuring.
The key is to have meaningful measurement for your specific type of event. But it goes further than that. Every event has a different objective. Establishing a clear understanding of event objectives is essential in order for measurement to be meaningful.
So, what is your event objective? Is it creating awareness? Lead generation? Pushing sales? Intercepting people who might not be exposed to your brand?
Meaningful measurement means dialing in the RIGHT measurement strategy to align with the specific event objectives. The genesis of the measurement strategy is determining the goals and objectives that you want to measure against.
Measurement can be either macro- or micro-targeted.
Simply put, macro looks at the big picture – how many people attended? How many people went to one area of the event vs other areas? Macro technologies include GPS and heat mapping, and are non-invasive. No personal information is collected, and it’s really no different than being counted walking through a subway turnstile.
Micro, on the other hand, looks at the individual behaviors within an event and is, of course, more expensive and invasive. It also requires a data capture opt-in at registration, meaning an attendee must agree to give out the personal information that’s being sought. An example of micro technology is RFID, or radio-frequency identification. Depending on your event objectives, the knowledge gleaned from micro data may be more cost-effective and bring a greater ROI than macro data can.
Once goals and objectives have been defined, and the technology/method of measurement identified, a secondary engagement strategy for using this measurement must be developed or there’s no point in making the investment to collect the data.
In other words, what are you going to do with the data once you’ve collected it? If you don’t do anything with it, then you’ll never know how successful your event was.
But that’s another topic, another blog post…
EventLink dials in meaningful, real-time measurement in two different ways. Depending on the needs of the client, we will custom-design and deploy electronic data capture and measurement technologies, or we can deploy customer-owned technologies. We work in both spaces, to provide the event measurement strategy that works best with the client’s platforms, their CRM, and data management.
The Dodge Ram Training Tour rolled through Lakeland, Florida, recently, just in time to catch Tiger Fest, held annually in Tiger Town, home of the Detroit Tigers’ Spring Training. Dodge RAM Account Manager Jonah Thomson and Chrysler Experiential Training Manager Kyle Wagner scored a photo op and once-in-a-lifetime chance to hang out with a couple of the Tigers’ Most Valuable Players.
Left to Right: Thomson, Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera, Chrysler Trainer Scott Kay, and Wagner
Thomson and Tigers pitcher Joba Chamberlain
Find more about the Tigers Spring Training here.
The Dodge RAM Training Tour featured EventLink’s new, interactive “Science Experiments,” designed for hands-on learning of the big ideas and key selling features of 2014 RAM trucks.
Joe English, Creative Director for Intel Developer Forums of Intel Corp had this to say about reaching millennials - 93% of whom are avid internet users, extremely comfortable with new technology and social media, AND have an estimated annual purchasing power of $170 billion. It's worth taking a look...
Millenials want to experience your brand, not be sold to—give them what they want. Joe English Sometimes it feels like there is a lot of pressure to design trade show exhibits that are all about selling.
Recently I came across a major trade and exhibition journal that had published a whitepaper highlighting several major trends that will influence experiential events — including tradeshows, new car launches, and exhibits — both in the short- and long-term. The whitepaper made me realize that we’ve already embraced all of the recommended ideas and technologies, and, even better, we are currently using them to provide a broad spectrum of solutions for our clients today.
Since the list of trends is fairly long, I will address them in a series of upcoming blogs. The topic I’ll address today concerns the Generation Gap.
Bridging the Generation Gap
Without question, our industry is undergoing rapid transformation – and it’s being fueled by technology. This acceleration underscores one of the biggest challenges we now face: how to reach, engage, and motivate the increasingly wide range of age groups in the workforce today, especially considering the disparities between these groups in terms of digital literacy and fluency.
For example, industry veterans (over 50) have developed skills and learning processes that are rooted in “traditional” methods. They’re comfortable with a slower process that lets them read information, “kick tires” and ask questions during face-to-face engagements. In general, they’re more willing to experience events the old way and don’t necessarily see the value of high tech kiosks and other less “personal” technology.
On the other hand, many young professionals – aka the online generation – have to be coerced to step out from behind their laptops and mobile devices to attend an experiential event and appreciate the value of face-to-face networking and marketing. They’re used to dealing with multiple messages and continuous streams of “infotainment.”
As event specialists, our challenge is twofold: in many cases we need to attract both groups to the same event. Once there, we have to get them engaged and interacting with the displays. I also submit that a third challenge is to encourage them to communicate with and learn from each other.
At EventLink, we’ve addressed these challenges by blending traditional methods with the most cutting edge tools at our disposal – customized mobile registration apps, data capture programs, attendance tracking, online reporting, instructional games, webinars, social media integration, and performance improvement metrics. This blend of live and digital elements appeals to a wide variety of audiences; deepens the experience in ways they expect; offers inviting new experiences they don’t expect; and encourages interaction that enhances both relevance and long-term impact.
I’m proud of the business we do at EventLink. We keep our toolbox filled with fresh ideas and technology to support virtually any event regardless of size, shape, scope and/or audience. Perhaps our most significant advantage is our team of skilled professionals who keep us ahead of the industry and enable us to offer our clients the best solutions in the industry.
