At the end of a busy year it is understandable that the EIA team is looking forward to a break over Christmas. Although there will be a certain amount of celebration at HQ over a fine opening year, there is nevertheless the recognition that the return to work in January will herald even harder work and effort. What would Foley like to report when we have this conversation again in December 2007?

"Something that has struck me already is that I was expecting this year to have to go out and almost justify events to the outside world," he says. "In actual fact the reaction has been far more a case of ‘tell us more, we know that we need to use events but we don’t know how to do it’. They need help from us which means that by this time next year it would be good to have had a significant increase in the dialogue we have with these organisations."

To that end, Foley’s 2007 diary is already beginning to bulge with speaking appointments where he has been asked by a variety of marketing and ad agencies along with universities and government departments, to tell them more about live events.

"I think though that the major success would be to see a marked increase in press coverage," he adds. "In the pages of Media Week, for example, it would be great to see events being treated in the same way as radio, television and all the other ‘traditional’ marketing channels. That way we would know that our industry was at last being taken seriously and being listened to."

Lofty ideals indeed but with the apparent demise in other forms of marketing, notably TV advertising, companies are looking for other ways of getting their message across. Events could be just the answer, we’ll find out next December.

Page 2 of 2 :: First | Last :: Prev | 1 2 | Next