Exhibitors

Crufts Dog Show featured hundreds of exhibitors at this event, various trade stalls were present, selling goods, promoting their company and so on. A screen show below shows some of the exhibitors present: Source of screen shot http://www.crufts.org.uk/trade-exhibitors

Just the same as Crufts, London Fashion Week featured various exhibitors as another screen shot shows below. Source of screen shot: http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/designers.aspx?exhibitor=1

 

 

For exhibitors it is a great opportunity to showcase and sell their products to such a huge number of attendees at such a successful event, and for the event itself it adds more features therefore is more exciting and value for money for the attendees.

TV & Radio Marketing

Television Marketing

Footage of Crufts was recorded and broad casted on More4, from 6.30pm for the duration of 2 hours. It contained highlights of the event, competitions, showings, stands, and so on. The final of the Crufts dog show however was broadcast on Channel4 itself at 5.30pm and lasted for the duration of 3 hours - due to the finale of the show and competition itself, and the winning of 'best in show'. As a student I have not had access to TV broadcasting live, so although I can access to the TV shows on report at http://www.channel4.com/programmes/crufts/4od#34904400, (screen shot picture below) I did not get to see any channel 4 or more 4 TV advertisements leading up to the show, and upon researching on the Internet, using google search engine and youtube search, I have not been able to locate an advertisement that was broad casted on TV itself. A self promotional video was all I could find on the Crufts YouTube Channel, which can be found in one of my earlier posts - yet I would like to note that in 2009 Crufts became the most-watched YouTube channel in the UK as it was streamed online for the first time, so the marketing approach here was truly successful.

 

Unlike Crufts, London Fashion Week isn't broadcast on television. It does however have a link on it's website to "LFWTV" - London Fashion Week Television, yet this is more of a blog keeping users up to date on the event, fashion shows, news, etc. No TV adverts were found when I searched the Internet, a marketing strategy evidently not adopted by London Fashion Week. They may not see it as a necessary tactic to cater for their event as it is not broad casted, or they feel social networking reaches their target demographic more effectively.

Radio Marketing

Radio marketing is another marketing strategy used by both events.



"Crufts FM will be broadcast live on 106.8fm from Wednesday 4th March, until 10pm on Sunday 8th March within a 5km radius of the NEC, Birmingham. This means that those driving to the NEC will be able to listen to the latest news from the event. Those who are a bit further away from the action will be able to listen to Crufts FM via the web on the Crufts website, www.crufts.org.uk" http://www.crufts.org.uk/news/celebrate-happy-healthy-dogs-listening-crufts-fm

London Fashion Week last year was broadcast on BBC Radio 4, as a London Fashion Week Special on 'Womens Hour'. For a duration of 58 minutes on Monday 20th February, as well as BBC Asia, however, when researching marketing strategies for this years event, no such marketing activity was found to exist. This may be down to the event organisers not seeing it as effective as other strategies, it may not directly associate itself with the target demographic.

Social Networking - Facebook and Twitter

This graph presents the findings of the percentage of individuals who use the Internet in relation to their age and gender. It shows from the age of 16-44 almost 100% of individuals, both male and female, use the Internet. (Source: Internet Access Quarterly Update, 2012 Q2 ONS)

Therefore, not only is the Internet itself a great way to reach out to the public, yet even more specifically, social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Both of the events I have chosen for this coursework use both of the social networking sites in order to market and reach out with its target market. The approach seems a lot more interactive with its consumers, a very fast and direct marketing strategy as news and promotions can be uploaded instantly at any time of day.

 

 

 Source:http://www.prmoment.com/685/social-media-census-2011.aspx

This table of statistics hows an astounding 87% of individuals ages 18-29 use social media. Social media user types have been categorised into the 9 C's : Commercialists, Collectors, Connectors, Creators, Critics, Crowd-members, Collaborators, Conversationalists, Currently Inactive.

The vast majority are connected to social media and its networking sites in one form or another, especially in today's society as people can now connect online socially via the use of their mobile phone.

Target Audiences and Demographics

'In order to meet the general communication objectives specific stakeholders groups will need to be identified and targeted. Once this has been done, the final level of objective setting can be undertaken where objectives are developed for each identified target group, as each group may have differing communication preferences'
(G. Masterman & E. Wood, 2006)

 

Crufts dog show holds a primarily dog and pet orientated target audience, whether it is attendee dog owners, exhibitors holding stalls, potential stake holders, and participants in the dog show itself. The event takes place during the day, therefore is open to families attending the event; for entertainment from the dog show, and/or to acquire information from stalls and exhibitors as dogs being family pets.

Overall, the general demographic of the target audience would be both male and female adults, around 20+, because although day tickets cost just £17, it is this age range, and middle class, that most commonly have a higher disposable income. As I mentioned before, primarily dog owners or those interested in dogs, breeds, and dog shows, etc, would also a primary factor. When considering location of the demographic, the NEC where Crufts takes place is the biggest exhibition centre in the United Kingdom, attracting over 4 million attendees to the centre every year, visitors travel from various locations. Crufts attract international attendees, therefore the demographic of the target audience is not pin pointed in just one location.

Similiarly, London Fashion Week is also an international event, therefore both events share in common the fact that the target audience demographic regarding location cannot simply be pinpointed to one location.

London Fashion Week typically targets individuals with an interest in fashion, or those involved already in the fashion industry. "The main demographic at London Fashion Week were women. Most of them being around the age of 20 and 30 year old" http://www.jedphoenix.com/blog/item/london-fashion-week Written by Msgana the events organisation intern

Although the fashion featured at London Fashion Week is beyond expensive, high street shoppers still attend the event simply to view, enjoy and be entertained by the vast amount of fashion and beauty the event surrounds them with. For those attending for the fashion and to spend money, would have to be from more of an upper middle social class, they may well be collectors of fashion, or fashion designers themselves.

London Fashion Week Press Release

This Press Release was published on the 13th March 'conveniently' only two days before the event started (on the 15th March).
 
The Press Release was made by The London Evening Standard, even more conveniently a sponsor of London Fashion Week 2013.
 
The content consists of news that Burberry is staging its next menswear show in London instead of Milan.

Typical objectives of a Press Release are as follows;
- Create Awareness
- Promote understanding
- Inform
- Displace prejudice
- Confirm or realign a perception

With this Press Release awareness is created, as in it is almost a reminder of the event to come in the next few days, possibly for those who may have forgotten it was happening. Furthermore it is informing the reader of news, and lastly it is promoting understanding as well as a good reputation as it proves the London Event is a success as Burberry has chosen to stage its next menswear show there instead of Milan.

Source: http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/fashion/burberry-says-ciao-to-milan-and-chooses-london-to-showcase-menswear-8532245.html?origin=internalSearch

Press Release written by : Karen Dacre, Fashion Editor
Published: 13th March by London Evening Standard

 

Sponsorship Comparison

Sponsorship Comparison

‘Sponsorship is a mutually beneficial arrangement that consists of the provision of resources of funds, goods and/or services ... in return for a set of rights that can be used in communications activity, for the achievements of objectives for commercial gain.’
Masterman, Guy (2007) Sponsorship For a Return on Investment, London: Elsevier

The majority of sponsors identified for both events are corporate sponsors.

It is evident that both events have a substantial amount of sponsors, as previously mentioned it is common for large events to sustain several sponsors. However, with both events there are some sponsors that are hard to relate relevantly to event itself. For example; Renault Retail Group being a sponsor of Crufts 2013 proves little relevance as to what connection the company has with the event, as with Lavazza Italian Coffee and London Fashion Week 2013, again it proves little relevance to the purpose of the fashion
event.

However, it is evident how sponsorship is beneficial to both parties involved in the agreement as it is "an investment, in cash or kind, in an activity in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with this activity."

For the sponsors, it provides opportunity for competitive advantage, awareness, image building and developing and maintaining relationships. The IOC developed reasons as to why companies sponsor; driving revenue, demonstrating altruism, enhancing international relations, and so on. Meenaghan (1991) introduced The Stages Sponsorship Goals and Participation, relating to money donation, return on investment and having control over activities.

London Fashion Week Sponsporship

 

Pictured above is the sponsors for London Fashion Week 2013 - http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/sponsors.aspx
 
As seen above, the following are sponsors of the event:

• Vodafone
• American Express
• Canon
• DHL
• Ebay Fashion
• International Palladium Board
• LavAzza - Italy's favourite coffee
• London Evening Standard
• MAC
• Mayor of London
• Mercedes Benz
• Scavi & Ray - Prosecco
• The May Fair Hotel
• Toni&Guy
• TOPSHOP
• UK Trade and Investment

 
Upon first glance, some of the sponsors are evidently relevant and exactly suited to the event, such as; eBay fashion, MAC, Toni&Guy - all of which relate to fashion, hair and beauty - incidentally the 3 things most people would associate mostly with London Fashion Week
 
Furthermore, Canon can be related to the media coverage of the event; the photographers taking pictures at the event, of models on the runway, etc.
 
London Evening Standard, Mayor of London, and the UK Trade and Investment are all related to location, and being involved in the event because they need to be. It is good publicity for the Mayor of London to be associated with supporting such huge events that take place annually within the City. It presents him as being in touch with the public, and caring about the event.
 
The London Evening Standard will incidentally be acting as media coverage of the events, it can advertise the event through stories within the newspaper. "Founded in 1827, the Evening Standard is “the voice of London”. With a circulation of over 700,000 and a readership in excess of 1.5M the Standard not only boasts a greater number of readers than any other quality national newspaper but also one of the highest ‘AB’ socio-demographic profiles." - http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/news/466/LFW-Sponsors 

Pictured is a screen shot of Scavi & Rays' Homepage of their Website - http://www.scavi-ray.com/en/
With this screen shot, we see the benefits of Sponsors of the event. Scavi & Ray openly advertise London Fashion Week on their homepage, it is the first thing you see when you click onto their website. Scavi&Ray is a German wine company, and London Fashion Week is known as an international event attracting visitors from all over the world. Therefore, this kind of advertising reaches out to demographics and target markets from various different countries that the event may not intentionally spend as much money on advertising to in this way. Also, the target audience of Scavi&Ray seems some what prestige, therefore will be the kind of attendees London Fashion Week would attract to travel and attend the world known fashion show. Typically, the Scavi&Ray customers may be known to afford to travel to such events.


This screen shot is from the May Fair Hotels online Blog, it is yet another example of how sponsors advertise the event freely to its own customers, a specific audience that the event may not necessarily reach without the sponsorship of MayFair Hotel and the advertisements within its blog like this one. It benefits MayFair Hotel as it is reportedly know as "The May Fair Hotel is THE fashion hotel; proud to announce its status as the official hotel of Vodafone London Fashion Week, for the fifth year running." - http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/news/466/LFW-Sponsors 

Attendees of the event are likely to choose the MayFair Hotel if in need of accommodation as it is a sponsor, and therefore in association with London Fashion Week. Attendees will perceive it has a good reputation, being a sponsor makes it look reliable as a choice of hotel.

This is a further example of a sponsor mentioning and advertising London Fashion Week 2013. In Topshops' online blog they advertise "a dream weekend at London Fashion Week", which gives the event further advertisement, reaching to Topshops target audience, individuals interested in fashion, which is equally part of the target market for London Fashion Week.
(Pictured:http://insideout.topshop.com/fashion-week-1)