5 Critical Things to Consider For Event Marketing Agencies Post Covid-19.

We all can't wait until this pandemic is over and we are able to host parties again. Vaccines are being rolled out en masse across the globe, people are getting on flights again, the US economy is out of recession and we are ready to get back to the old normal.

This is great news for Carnival countries, Winter Olympics, World Cup 2022 and all the other global events that have been postponed or would be affected by Covid 19. As marketers prepare for these events, there are five critical factors they should keep in mind when planning and marketing future events.

1. The World Has Forever Changed

The pandemic has changed how we interacted with one another. In some cases, it has even affected our emotional state and it has definitely affected some peoples’ bank accounts.

There is a reason why it is called the ‘new norm’ because it will be. People have had to make huge lifestyle and financial adjustments due to Covid 19. Many women quit jobs to stay home and home-school their children when schools shut down. And while there was heavy praise for health and essential workers going to work, others were losing their jobs and struggling to put food on the table. Athletes and movie stars are no longer the heroes we need and going out is now a health risk not many are willing to take.

With everyone stuck at home, event planners got creative and many events went virtual. For highly social creatures, watching a football match on screen isn’t the same as attending the event live with friends and though die hard fans would still support any way they can, the financial loss in vending and ticket sales is hard to hide.

Going digital may be a great thing for introverts, conferences, and for those who own a smartphone, laptop and have access to Wifi, but for those on the lower income spectrum, hosting a virtual event may change target audience.

Not only that, your virtual event now has to compete with all the others that have moved online. Yes, you have the opportunity for a larger audience reach, but so does everyone else. And while you may get the quantity you like, you may not get the quality you need.

Marketers now have to consider the decrease in earnings, changes in lifestyle and personal goals when targeting their audience and planning their events.

2. Long -Term Planning May Be a Thing of the Past

Planning an event as massive as the Olympic Games takes years of planning and strategizing everything down to the last detail to ensure nothing goes wrong in the two week event and with the Paralympics that takes place right after.

It's extremely hard as an event organizer to lose complete control of your event due to unforeseen circumstances. You plan for accidents, attacks, people not being where they’re supposed to be, food poisoning and even the weather, but no one would have predicted a pandemic.

Now your entire event is a health and safety issue.

The arrival of the Delta strain has sent many health officials in a tailspin worldwide while many are still trying to get vaccinated and move on with their lives. This is not the first strain of the coronavirus. There were three previous strains that originated from the United Kingdom, Africa and Brazil, which is known for its Carnival.

With the virus being able to seemingly adjust to vaccination efforts, planning any sort of event in the future will have to keep the present protocols enforced. This means, for carnival countries like Brazil and Trinidad & Tobago, which normally has thousands of people pressed together in wild abandon, may have to rethink how Carnival is presented further on. Given that these festivals take a year and more to plan, if another strain takes place right now, there will be very little room to do anything else but postpone or cancel.

In the case of seasonal events like Carnival, postponing may not be even an option. Every year there are a few events that are naturally scheduled to take place like Easter, Christmas, Independence Day, and major sporting events, like NBA finals, World Championships and Tour de France. This makes moving the date for large events near impossible.

Planning a long term event in the hope that the pandemic will be over in a couple of years is optimistic, but not realistic. Even with technology to assist us with virus testing, quicker methods of communicating and marketing your event, there can still be a lack of know-how on the part of you and your attendees when it comes to maximizing these tools.

One thing the pandemic has brought us is a lot of change. People changed, technology has advanced, the world has and will continue changing. It may not be the Corona virus the next time, but the mindset of short-termism is there, so maybe we should hold off long-term planning until the next generation.

3. Protection Will be More Valuable Than Pleasure

Depending on where you live, the guidelines for hosting events or gathering can vary at any given time depending on how high your current outbreak numbers are. The standard statement for Covid 19 gathering from the Centre for Disease Control and Protection states; “CDC continues to recommend avoiding large events and gatherings. Currently, CDC does not provide numbers to define small and large events.”

Basically, they aren’t an event managing company, so size doesn’t matter. The issue for them is safety and whether it's five or five thousand, protection of all is more important to them than how many people are attending your event. When thinking about hosting an in-person event, the CDC does have a few risk factors you should consider.

Number of COVID-19 cases in your community—High or increasing levels of COVID-19 cases in the event location or the locations the attendees are coming from increase the risk of infection and spread among attendees.

Exposure during travel—Airports, airplanes, bus stations, buses, train stations, trains, public transport, gas stations, and rest stops are all places where physical distancing may be challenging and ventilation may be poor.

Setting of the event—Indoor events, especially in places with poor ventilation, pose more risk than outdoor events.

Length of the event—Events that last longer pose more risk than shorter events.

Number and crowding of people at the event – Events with more people increase the likelihood of being exposed. The size of the event should be determined based on how many attendees can be 6 feet apart.

Behavior of attendees during an event— Events where people engage in behaviors such as hugging, dancing and who participate in heavy drinking or illegal substances have a potential for ignoring guidelines and increasing the risk of exposure to Covid 19.

Health and safety at the event itself aside, an event usually calls for gathering and gathering means people come from different locations and by different means. The World Health Organisation strongly recommends; “Exercise caution and rethink the need for international travel and organize mass gathering events where spectators attend in person if community transmission is ongoing.” - World Health Organization Sporting Events Considerations.

Keeping these considerations in mind, hosting any in-person event comes with a huge health risk, medical and insurance bill. Even with on the spot testing and Covid 19 vaccinations, any event planner with a conscience will automatically think twice about holding any in-person event in the future.

4. In-Person Big Budget Events are Now a High Risk Commodity.

These health recommendations have already changed the way we plan and attend events with most in-person events going virtual. However, this is not the case for all events. Events like sporting events and open air events aren’t easy to transition to only virtual and can be costly to host in the pandemic era.

Using the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as an example which started off with an estimated projected budget of $6.7 billion and ended up with cost overruns estimated at three times the amount and projected $800 million loss in ticket sales, hosting an event of that magnitude post-pandemic may have a few event organizers jittery.

That obscene amount of money, which is the GDP of a small country, could have been used for a myriad of projects that would have benefited humankind instead of a failed event.

This is not bashing the Olympic Committee, but with countries losing money due to the pandemic, many of the world's global citizens are re-evaluating the value of big budget events. In Japan, many of its citizens have become disenfranchised with the entire Olympics and have opted out of watching it at home.

Previously, when a country hosted the Olympic games, it would not only gain the prestige of being the host nation, but it would also gain money for projects through sponsorship and tourism for years before and after the games.

Now, just to ensure the event is 3 times the original cost and with people being restricted in their travel and movement, there is little incentive to attend an event like this. A lot of planning goes on both sides, with attendees saving up and making travel arrangements sometimes years in advance, only to be restricted by a lockdown happening with the country you are planning to visit. This is a huge loss to small businesses who were also looking forward to the money the Olympic games would’ve brought in.

The situation with Carnival is similar, its craftsmen and musicians are in the same pickle, some even branching out to new business and leaving the industry. Not many are willing to risk their continued survival on an event which may or may not take place in the foreseeable future.

Large sporting events like FIFA World Cup and ICC Cricket have been forced to host their sporting events in sometimes near empty stadiums. Both have found a way to survive by selling television and marketing rights. In the case of FIFA, though they have lost millions in ticket sales, they earn millions more in hosting and television rights bidding wars.

What worked for FIFA is not the same for all sporting events. FIFA’s football fans are not your ordinary fans and neither is FIFA. So where, FIFA was able to still capitalize on its fanbase, other sporting bodies aren’t so lucky. Formula One and the MLB are still struggling to host events and regain fans and revenue.

5. Virtual Gatherings May Be the New Norm

The high insurance and health risk of hosting any in-person event makes it difficult to foresee a return of festivals and large open air events. Though many sporting fans and carnival enthusiasts can’t wait to return to the good old days, we may have to face the fact that the good old days may be gone for good.

With stadiums being limited to 25-50% capacity, with only a promise of 75% increase with a 85% population vaccination increase, sporting events are not going to be the same.

Coupled with the success of virtual versions, some event organizers may simply choose to keep the online version. The reduction of hosting costs due to venue rental, maintenance, upkeep, insurance, security and labor is a great incentive to keep things virtual and stay safe.

Hosting a virtual event isn’t any easier than doing it in-person. You still have to worry about getting attendees to your events and marketing your event. If you aren’t your team isn't tech savvy, hosting a virtual event can be daunting and not many traditional event planners are trained to organize, manage, and market large reach, virtual events.

Keeping all this in mind, at Frescodata we can help you capitalize on up-to-date event marketing industry data to create viral email and mobile marketing campaigns that reach your targeted audience anywhere they are. Using geofencing, we can protect your attendees by ensuring they are not located in a high risk area and use mobile marketing to direct and notify them of sudden changes to your event.

Contact Frescodata today! Because after all, just like the Tokyo Olympics, the show must go on.

SOURCES:-

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant.html

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/070915/how-does-fifa-make-money.asp

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https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/502853/sporting-event-considerations-COVID-19.pdf

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