Fantasists instead of bean counters
At this year's marketing gala with trophy award ceremony, the focus was on event marketing
For the fourth time, the gala of the Swiss Marketing Club took place. Around 600 guests gathered for the presentation of the Marketing Trophy 2001 in the newly built congress center in Fribourg.
The most prominent speaker on the conference topic of event marketing was undoubtedly the "astronomer" and successful author Erich von Däniken. To the question posed by himself: "How does man behave in the face of technology he does not know?" he was able to react in an unforeseen and highly personal way, namely when the highly complicated equipment for his slide show failed its service and his beaming with infrared did not want to lead to any result.
With beads of sweat on his forehead, he finally mastered the pitfalls and even had the laughs on his side. Actually, he wanted to talk about the gigantic "Mysteries of the World" project, a kind of Disneyland for people with a thirst for knowledge, which is to be opened in Interlaken in 2002.
But then he couldn't resist the temptation to spout off about his countless discoveries that lead him to believe that there was once a highly developed civilization on this globe before us.
Erich von Däniken is probably right when he says that our fellow nodders need a fantasist now and then. After all, he is convinced, it is fantasists like him who keep the world in suspense, not the bean counters.
Only media coverage makes an event an event
For Reto Caviezel of Carré Communication AG, organizer of the CSI Zurich and Mövenpick Art on Ice, emotions lead event marketing to success. If half of the visitors at Art on Ice have tears in their eyes, he says, success is guaranteed.
Caviezel also points out the importance of media coverage, which is what makes an event an event. For the last Art on Ice event, he was able to count on 520 newspaper articles, 150 radio and 25 TV contributions.
Daniel Rosselat, founder of the Paleo Festival in Nyon, had less success with the media, at least last year. The festival is already so successful that the media are beginning to question its success, Rosselat comments on the sometimes negative coverage of the festival's 25th anniversary.
It also happens time and again that an artist cannot be engaged because of sponsorship contracts. Tina Turner could never perform at Paleo because she had an exclusive contract with Pepsi, but the festival was sponsored by Coca-Cola.
Presentation of the Marketing Trophy 2001:
The Swiss Marketing Club (SMC) awards the Marketing Trophy to companies whose marketing activities create customer benefits, contribute to the success of the company and take the interests of the public into account. The Marketing Trophy is awarded in three categories: Category 1: companies with 1 to 49 employees; Category 2: companies with 50 to 299 employees; Category 3: companies with over 300 employees. Ten companies were nominated. The trophy for category 1 was won by Jucker Farmart AG, Seegräben, for event marketing around pumpkins. In category 2, the prize was awarded to Villars Maître Chocolatier SA, Fribourg, for the relaunch of the famous Mohrenkopf. Lipton-Sais Unilever (Schweiz) AG won the trophy in category 3 for the clear positioning of the margarine Becel pro.acitv.
