Contemporary Issue 4: Creating an Event band

(Image from Gracie Collins)

The brand as defined by Kapferer (2003) is a 'focal point for all the positive and negative impressions created by the buyer over time as he comes into contact with the brand’s products, distribution channel, personnel and communication.’ In short, the brand creates meaning and identity for a, for example Apple, the technology company creates the image of professionalism and wealth. In the context of Events, branding can bring about many benefits and Rust et al. (2005) believes that by branding an event, emotional ties are built with the customer which could result in a high number of attendees.

Keller (2009) states that there are six criteria for choosing brands and I believe that three of these can be applied to branding of events

• Memorability – A brand should be easy to remember and this comes as a result of the brand name, logos and symbols being different and easy to memorise. An example of an event that has successfully branded their event in a memorable way is the V festival. Virgin have included the V from their name into the Event’s name and used the same red of the Virgin logo for the festival’s logo and this in turn makes the brand easier to recall for attendees.

• Meaningfulness – The brand meaning should be clear and simple to understand and should also have a link to the event’s overall message. For example, Red Bull is usually thought to be related to danger and energy and by branding the Red Bull Cliff Diving Series with this brand, these connotations are now also considered by attendees as for the event as well. Red Bull would not be a suitable brand for an event such as a charity dinner as the connotations of the Red Bull brand do not match that of the message a charity dinner would have.

• Likability – Choosing a brand that is liked by the attendees is an important part of making an event a success. If, for example WWF’s Earth Hour was sponsored by Shell oil company, attendance may be lower due to the conflicting values of the two companies. A more suitable brand for WWF’s Earth Hour would be one that is liked by the attendees and therefore would be a brand that is promoting sustainability and helping the environment.


Branding and my future career
Creating a brand that is closely related to an event is important for making sure that the right connotations and messages are given. For this reason, when planning an event, it is vital that the planning team have an understanding of the motives of the event in order to ensure that the brand that is chosen promotes the same message. Personally, I do not consider branding to be an issue that will affect my future career significantly. This is because many charity events are of a smaller scale, unless I work for a National charity and therefore they do not have a large enough budget to brand their event.