Creative Strategies for Event Marketing Coordinators

integrated approach enabled the company to make an impact before its target audience of year old males49 . Event Marketing in India: Challenges and Opportunities There is little literature dealing with event marketing in the Indian context. Though India has had a centuries old tradition of folk theatre in the form of Ramlila and Nautanki, commercialisation of events is a more recent phenomenon. Indian industry is far behind its Western counterparts in the use 

of event marketing for attaining corporate objectives. In the West the ratio of below the line marketing to above the line is 60:40, but in India it is just the reverse. Although the scenario is changing fast, events are still primarily regarded as extra fanfare. They are not built into the strategic marketing plan of the companies, but used on an ad hoc basis. Events are usually long haul, but the horizons of marketing managers are getting shorter as they are under 

pressure to deliver short-term results. Hence more emphasis is on sales promotion and direct marketing which can yield returns in the short term. Lack of measurability of event marketing effectiveness is another stumbling block in gaining the conviction of marketers. But Indian managers are beginning to be more proactive in their approach. The recent instance of Lakmé India Fashion Week sponsored by HLL is evidence of the use of event marketing to 

Build brand equity From a fledgling 

industry, event marketing is becoming big business. Large corporates are increasingly sponsoring events and using brand ambassadors to market their brands to a focussed audience. The future is expected to see more events, especially international events, drawing larger crowds and leading to higher ticket sales50 . Television channels in their relentless quest for viewership, are expected to commission more events and also buy telecast rights of 

events. Revenue sources such as merchandising rights, internet rights, hitherto untapped, also hold out significant potential for event and marketing managers. The Government of India and the state governments should address issues like cumbersome regulatory provisions, lack of infrastructure and lack of corporatisation, as theypractitioner driven and that the academic community has been slow to recognise it as a mainstay of 

marketing communication programmes, the prevalence of descriptive studies is not surprising. For developing a body of knowledge, research needs to be undertaken on how events influence consumer behaviour. A ‘hierarchy of effects model’ also needs to be developed for event marketing and compared with that of traditional communication. Empirical studies of integrated marketing communications of companies could be pursued, and the 

Frontiers of marketing communications 

extened from the traditional mix of advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling and public relations to include event marketing and sponsorship in order to give them their legitimate status. Models for integrating the various elements of the communication mix need to be developed and tested in the market place. The second area relates to the measurement of the efficacy of event marketing in attaining the desired objectives. Reach, 

frequency, impact, scheduling and other metrics have evolved over time in judging the effectiveness of advertising. Besides a count of mentions resulting in the public press, more metrics need to be established to evaluate the scope of awareness and word-of-mouth generated in response to event marketing and sponsorships. Inquiry could be done for mapping consumer preferences for different types of events, and models for measuring 

‘brand-event fit’ developed. An interesting area of future research could be to identify the typology of events for brands in different stages of their life cycle. Research can also be undertaken on typology of events for different products and the direction of image transfer in various scenarios including multiple events sponsored by a single brand, and multiple 

The immense potential of event management

will spur research led by both academicians and practitioners. Academicians will seek to understand the effects of event marketing and sponsorship on consumers and practitioners will seek to develop measurement models to justify their investments. It is clear that event marketing has promising horizons but it will be under scrutiny and be required to demonstrate its effectiveness in comparison with other promotional activities in attaining the marketing 

objectives Based on the literature review, the perceived importance of soft skills has increased tremendously during recent decades; and this is well reflected in the findings of our research. In summary, the common skills required by the employers across digital marketing junior positions were English language proficiency, communication and presentation skills, knowledge of internet marketing and using different software. Employers were seeking more 

well-rounded graduates with soft skills. Within soft skills, teamwork and interpersonal skills were also dominant in job ads. Advertisements for marketing and general management jobs were significantly more likely to demand core marketing and basic soft skills as well as software and language knowledge. Faculties should encourage and motivate students to master their soft skills. Students who excel in academic knowledge with technical skills 

Conclusion

related to digital marketing do not have a competitive advantage in a high range of positions. During the content analytics process, thirty-one skill categories, five skill category groups as well as software and language knowledge were analyzed. Positions with more soft skill orientation tended to demand candidates with team working and presentation skills. Findings revealed that the most relevant skills were “oral communication and presentation skills”, 

knowledge of Internet-marketing and software knowledge”, “teamwork”, “precision and attention to detail”, and “planning”. The findings revealed that there were significant differences between domestic and multinational companies’ advertisements in three skill categories teamwork, interpersonal skill category and taking the initiative. One of the key 

reasons why many students invest in university education was to improve their employment prospects. The curriculum of business education should ensure the development of soft skill attributes among students. The practical implications of this study for university educators are that this research acts as a collection of required skills of university students to improve readiness for different work fields. Moreover, for further academic research, this research 

contributes to addressing the gap between recruiters’ expectations for the business graduates and the level of skill sets of graduates from business schools. Moreover, attention should be paid while developing and redesigning curriculums to ensure the employability of business graduates. This study could be a basis for future studies and would help business education institutions guide their students to master the skills, and to develop and prepare them for