Event of the year: hit parade of the best events. AdIndex research: Event&MICE market based on customer survey Best event organizing agency

George P.Johnson Experience Marketing

Pico Global Services ltd

Universal World Events

AMCI

Jack Morton Worldwide

Index

Hartmann Studios

Hargrove

TBA Global

Activities on tasks to be solved

The October issue of Special Events magazine published a new list of the 50 largest event agencies. Most of the participants are from the USA, in particular California, there are also global agencies and a very small number of participants from Asia and Europe. The rating was based on data on the number of events held per year and the company’s financial turnover. We should note that there are no companies from Russia on the lists, which is, of course, strange - after all, many of our companies significantly exceed some of the players on the list in terms of turnover and number of projects per year. Despite this, we have slightly improved this list for your convenience: we have added each agency’s social network page to it. Now you can subscribe to their news and receive fresh and relevant information about the events and trends of their Western colleagues directly in your feed! The company names are clickable and lead to their Facebook page.

$: 250 000 000
2 000
Website: gpj.com
Facebookook: facebook.com/experiencegpj

GPJ is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, that specializes in event and brand marketing. The company was founded in 1914 by George P. Johnson in the USA and specialized in making flags and repairing sails. Having decorated one of the automobile exhibitions with his products, he turned it into a real marketing show, after which customers began to contact him, and he began organizing events from scratch. GPJ has a huge pool of clients across a wide range of industries: Automotive, Technology, Software, FMCG and Entertainment. Clients include more than 40 Fortune 500 companies. Interestingly, the company also succeeded in sewing flags, sewing the largest flag in the world in 1923 and repeating this feat in 1949.

Summer Olympics in Beijing (2008)

The company was invited to work on the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics as the only non-Chinese company. In close collaboration with the Olympics' management, GPJ played a major role in the visual design of the event and the undoubted success of the ceremony, which, incidentally, received numerous awards.

Opening ceremony of the Shanghai World Expo (2010)

Annual income from events, $ : 200 000 000
Number of events for 2012: 270
Website: pico.com
Facebook: facebook.com/PicoGlobal

An international company founded in 1969, headquartered in Hong Kong. Our clients include many Fortune 500 companies and employ more than 2,500 professionals in 35 major cities across five continents.

Acer pavilion at the 2012 London Olympics

Annual income from events, $ : 160 000 000
Number of events for 2012: 320+
Website: vokdams.de
Facebook: facebook.com/VOKDAMS

VOK DAMS was named after the founder and was created as a photography and graphic design studio in 1971 in Germany. He is a trendsetter in Western Europe in the field of event marketing. With offices throughout Germany, clients include names such as Commerzbank, Volkswagen, Daimler AG, Puma and Nespresso.

Launch of Lamborghini LP 700–4 Roadster

VOK DAMS decided to organize a test drive of a new car from Lamborgini in Miami Beach, Florida. The event was organized to celebrate the launch of the new Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 Roadster sports convertible with a V12 engine. VOK DAMS decided to demonstrate all the amazing power and strength of the supercar, presenting it in a special closed airfield next to a real Boeing 777, which accelerates to 290 km/h before takeoff. The car was tested in the direct presence of more than 400(!) journalists.

Annual income from events, $ : 146 000 000
Number of events for 2012: 968
Website: universalworldevents.com
Facebook: facebook.com/UniversalWorldEvents

In November 2010, the two companies UniversalProcon and WorldEvents merged to form Universal WorldEvents, focused on events for pharmaceutical companies, as well as corporate meetings and training. Universal World Events has 25 offices in the United States, as well as overseas offices in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Hong Kong and Singapore. By the numbers: in 2011, the company organized 1,293 corporate meetings and booked a total of approximately 264,000 hotel rooms in North America for meeting participants.

NHS Conference

The NHS Institute for Innovation & Improvement Alumni Conference was organized in London to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the NHS. The main goal of the event is to train experts in the field of healthcare and improve management in the medical community, as well as build a future strategy for the entire healthcare system as a whole.

Annual income from events, $ : from 100,000,000 to 125,000,000
Number of events for 2012: 400
Website: amciglobal.com
Facebook: facebook.com/amciglobal

Amci is a global automotive marketing agency specializing in delivering results for the most influential automotive brands. The main areas of AMCI are car testing. During the company's operation, more than 6,000 test drives were conducted, hundreds of new car models were presented, and more than 100,000 dealers and employees were trained.

Subaru Outback vs. 2013 Toyota Venza All-Wheel Drive Traction Test

AMCI's main activity is test drives of cars and their technical capabilities; in this case, for example, they decided to take Subaru and Toyota onto the hockey ice and compare their all-wheel drive.

Annual income from events, $ : 100 000 000
Number of events for 2012: 1 000+
Website: jackmorton.com
Facebook: facebook.com/jackmortonworldwide

Jack Morton (1910–2004) was an event marketing pioneer who founded Jack Morton Productions in 1939 in Washington, DC. He was the first to conceive and implement a true “corporate event”, and also introduced them into fashion. Jack Morton Worldwide hosted the 2004 Summer Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies in Athens, becoming the first non-national commercial organization to be hired for such a contract.

Lego X-Wing Reveal

To increase user loyalty to the LEGO Star Wars brand and fuel interest in the release of new Chronicles of Yoda toys, Jack Morton staged an event in Times Square in New York, using the largest LEGO models ever built. Thousands of people joined the event, and the hashtag #LEGOstarwarsNYC trended on Twitter. The company had a significant impact on the brand with a 23% increase in sales of Chronicles of Yoda.

Annual income from events, $ : 87 000 000
Number of events for 2012: 96
Website: indexcreativevillage.com
Facebook: facebook.com/IndexCreative

The company was founded in Thailand in 1990. Currently, the Index Creative Village group structure includes 22 companies, mainly engaged in marketing and related areas. The company is one of the leaders in the Asian event marketing market.

Thai Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo (2010)

The main goal of Index Creative Village was to demonstrate the potential of Thailand and highlight its national characteristics. The solution was a building in the style of traditional Thai architecture and its modern content. The pavilion became one of the most visited and mentioned places of the event.

Annual income from events, $ : 84 000 000
Number of events for 2012: 576
Website: hartmannstudiosrentals.com
Facebook: facebook.com/HartmannStudiosRentals

Hartmann Studios was founded in 1982 by visionary designer and entrepreneur Bob Hartmann. The first office was a small warehouse in the southern part of San Francisco. A talented artist, he has designed and executed events throughout the city and the world, earning an excellent reputation. That's why his clients include many Fortune 500 companies.

Giants World Series 2012

Hartmann Studios organized a parade in honor of the victory of the San Francisco Giants in the World Series of Major League Baseball - one of the most important national holidays in the United States.

Annual income from events, $ : 60 000 000
Number of events for 2012: 715
Website: hargroveinc.com
Facebook: facebook.com/pages/Hargrove-Inc

The company was founded by Mr. Earl Hagrove after the Second World War. Together with their son Earl Hagrove Jr., they become pioneers of the event industry, introducing many innovations and changes in the event organization process. After the company organized the inauguration ceremony of President Harry Truman in 1949, it firmly established itself on the event Olympus and has not left it to this day.

Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony (2012)

According to organizers, the inauguration ceremony of the 44th President of the United States was watched by 600 to 800 thousand people located on the National Mall adjacent to Capitol Hill. The most amazing thing about this ceremony was the beautiful performance of the US anthem by Beyoncé herself!

Annual income from events, $ : 50 000 000
Number of events for 2012: 250
Website: tbaglobal.com
Facebook: facebook.com/tbaglobal

TBA Entertainment Corporation was founded in 1994 in California and renamed TBA Global in 2004. There are also additional offices in the UK and Canada. Specializes in marketing communications. The company deals with corporate events, as well as a wide range of organizing meetings, conferences, intensive courses and other types of event marketing.

For the second year in a row, the agency was preparing for the Doodle 4 Google awards ceremony, in which the award is given to the children who created the best Google logo. Every year Google comes up with a theme and children submit their work to the competition. This time the theme was “Best Day Ever”. TBA surprised event guests with an interactive screen with dolls and a life-size Android robot.

№

Company name

Number of events in 2012

Annual income from events, $

04.03.2016 09:00

Organizers of spectacular events are always in the shadow of their creations. But on March 2, the best of them were able to get their share of glory at the “Event of the Year” award, which took place at one of the most prestigious venues in Moscow - Barvikha Luxury Village.

To create an event where other events, and the best ones on the market, are awarded is a non-trivial task in itself, and the organizers almost coped with it. The system for the passage of stars and VIP guests somewhat spoiled the impression. It turned out to be simply impossible to find a person who would meet me, tell me everything and put me in the right place. But this is so, a small fly in the ointment that dissolved in a barrel of positive emotions.

It was fun and noisy in the spacious foyer of the concert hall: some were taking pictures with artistic mimes from the Bright People company, others were posing against the backdrop of numerous photo calls, others were going to the bar to immediately raise the fun to the right degree.

“Event of the Year” is so far the only award in the event industry, so many companies came to it not just to have fun, but also to see what’s new on the market. And of course, make yourself known. Immediately at the entrance, Kirill Belkov from iDOevent caught us and began talking about his business with enthusiasm: “The crisis dictates new rules, now people from any industry understand this. Therefore, our team has developed a unique designer for organizing events online, which saves time and money. For example, people used to turn to a travel agency to plan a trip. Now most of us book hotels, flights and plan itineraries ourselves. The same thing happens at iDOevent. You can go to the website and, bypassing event agencies, organize your own event.” Yes, it looks like new times will soon come in this industry...

The dress code was strict Black tie, but it was not possible to force the creative people into its framework. The general appearance of the guests was bright, unusual and stylish. For men, beards and bow ties prevailed, for women - fashionable haircuts, floor-length dresses, tattoos and bare backs.

The guests entered the hall and spread out in cheerful groups. In general, the event, despite all the pathos of the place, turned out to be very intimate and homely. Everyone was sitting in the hall, so the reaction to the jokes of the presenters was violent, and the movement between the rows did not stop for a minute. “What a pleasant feeling when you look into the hall and realize that you know half the people sitting in it” - this phrase said from the stage by Eteri Beriashvili confirmed our impressions. The singer opened the concert part of the ceremony, performing a medley of everyone’s favorite compositions.

But the relaxed atmosphere in the hall did not in the least affect the professionalism with which the action itself was organized. The musical selections for the nominees' entrance were cheerful and beautiful, the hosts' jokes were funny, and the visual design of the stage was generally beyond praise. You watch how the image spreads across multi-level screens, and there is only one thought in your head: “What has technology come to…”

The expert council, which consisted of event industry gurus and media personalities, had to work hard to review about 200 events and select the best. Moreover, the award could be received not only by the organizers of the event, but also by customers, as well as general contractors. The first couple of presenters, Viktor Vasiliev and Anna Gorodzhaya, started the ceremony. “It’s time,” said Victor. - We have 32 nominations and only 15 minutes. Go!"

And the “trip” into the world of the event industry began. Everyone loves holidays, so the range of areas where event organizers set foot was, to put it mildly, diverse. Car brands and mobile operators, fashion brands and banks, charitable foundations and international forums - no one was left without attention.

The winners' words of gratitude were also very varied: some simply shouted joyfully into the microphone, others made long, heartfelt speeches. A representative of the Eventum Premo agency, which organized the “Svyaznoy Energy” event in Hong Kong, admitted that he almost burst into tears when he heard about the victory. “Thank you, Svyaznoy! It turned out to be a really cool project. And listen, sitting in the hall, I realized how DiCaprio felt all these years...” One of the men from the Departáment Creative Event Marketing team, which opened the Garage, voiced from the stage an idea that was already obvious. He said that behind almost all loud and complex events there are fragile, beautiful girls. It was they who rose to the stage time after time, taking away well-deserved awards.

The famous underwater show by Yana Nedzvetskaya won the “Fashion Event of the Year” nomination, the video of which instantly spread across all social networks. The crystal figurine for the best team building of the year went to Event Cube for organizing the "K"Imaginarium. Summer event" for Kaspersky Lab. The Ostrov project led by Dmitry Yurchenko won the popular vote. We were rooting for Dmitry, because he was one of the heroes at Finparty.

And the best musical event - hurray! - became the Alfa Future People festival, organized by the Alfa Future People company. It is logical that the prize was presented to the winners by the executive director of the Banki.ru holding and the head of the Finparty project, Elena Ishcheeva. “I have three openings today,” Elena said from the stage. - Somewhere, it turns out, there is an anti-crisis, joyful, creative life - this time. Rublevka still relies on black in clothes - that's two. And third: Lord, at least someone doesn’t have a Central Bank that is cutting off the sector! How good life is for you, gentlemen!”

After the award, we talked with the guys who deserved the award: Alfa Bank brand development manager Kristina Vdovina, Alfa Future People agency financial director Yulia Doroshina and Alfa Bank strategic marketing director Anton Kuklin. When asked what the festival will surprise this year, Yulia answered: “Everyone! We will surprise again with the stage, we will again surprise with the lineup - the announced artists, we will create amazing infrastructure, a lot of activities. It will be very cool!” “All the values that Alfa-Bank preaches are the basis of the festival,” Christina continued. “These are the latest technologies, electronic music, a young target audience.”

When asked why the bank did not hire an event agency, but did its own, Christina replied: “We had the experience of the first year when several contractors helped us. And we realized that it’s probably better for crazy people like us, who are in love with their business, with their project, to do everything themselves. We want to keep everything under control." “Another very important circumstance,” Anton added, “is that for Alfa Group, organizing such a large-scale festival is a business. Alfa Future People has a very clear business-oriented model; it is not a sponsorship project.”

The study, conducted in May-June of this year, aimed to study the conditions of the event market, formulate a range of offers from contractors, review the economics of the segment, as well as identify the problems of the market and the trends shaping it

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The study was based on a survey of agencies and service customers. Agencies were involved to create a list of customers for the survey, as well as to assess the competitive environment for the purpose of subsequent market clustering. Clients evaluated contractors, provided feedback on complaints about the service provided, formulated the main market trends, and also shared information on the distribution of budgets over 2016-2017.

A total of 309 specialists from 198 companies took part in the survey (). Based on the responses, ratings were compiled based on the share of cooperation and the quality of the service provided. The events were divided both by location - offsite (MICE) and local (Events), and by tasks solved: B2B (business), B2C (marketing) and HR (corporate). Agency rankings are also based on this principle.

DEFINITIONS ADOPTED IN THE STUDY

MICE-services ( Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) – holding services OFFICE events:

Meetings - meetings, press tours, presentations, meetings, trainings;
- Incentives - targeted trips, which are a unique sign of attention to the company’s most important clients and partners, as well as to the best employees;
- Conferences - congresses, conferences, seminars, forums, business breakfasts, investor relations events, where project developments are presented and clients and partners are acquired;
- Events - thematic programs, usually of an entertaining nature.

EVENT-(marketing) events– achieving specific economic objectives of the customer through the organization of various events: holidays, presentations, exhibitions, business and HR events, etc. at the location of the target audience of the event ( NOT AVAILABLE Events).

Business: forums, conferences, congresses, business breakfasts, exhibitions, round tables, symposiums, press conferences, press screenings
- Educational: seminars, trainings, master classes
- Entertainment: holidays, premieres, presentations of new products, sporting events, festivals, concerts, customer awards, etc.

Agency

Price policy

Customer service

Expertise

average rating

MaxMedium/Ready-to-Go

MARKET SPECIFICS

During the current study and based on the experience of last year, it turned out that the event services market is still far from consolidating. Unlike, for example, media buying, where the Top 20 agencies account for almost 80% of media purchases, both large suppliers of event solutions and boutique companies hired for special tasks successfully compete in the event organization segment. At the same time, both of them can serve companies of different, including the highest budget level, which is nonsense not only for media, but also for creative agencies, which for the most part serve network ones, i.e. contracts received at the global level. Event and MICE companies have more freedom in this sense, but this freedom also has consequences for clients: in the absence of a clear stratification, it is more difficult for customers to navigate the choice of trusted partners. The rating obtained by AdIndex, which is formed in two clusters - companies holding less than 50 events a year, and contractors capable of organizing streaming deliveries of an event product - will help you understand the range of services offered.

MAIN RESULTS

BUDGETS

The companies surveyed allocate a very significant part of their commercial and administrative budget to events: last year this figure was 17.6%, this year it is almost 20%.

Question: Please name the share of budgets for MICE and Event services in total commercial and administrative expenses in 2016-2017 (in %). Number of answers: 48 (hereinafter, the number of answers is given only for relative metrics (shares)).

Almost half of respondents maintained budgets at the previous year's level (48% and 45% in 2016 and 2017, respectively). A larger number of respondents noted an increase in expenses for events in 2017, compared to 2016, than in 2016 (40% in 2017 versus 30% in 2016). The good news for agencies does not end there - the share of those reporting a reduction in expenses decreased - from 22% in 2016 to 16% in 2017.

Question: What changes occurred in the budget for MICE and Event services in 2016 and 2017? Number of responses: 166

Those who answered the question on dynamics were asked to indicate the order of changes (budget growth or reduction) compared to the previous year. It turned out that budget increases, on average, occur more moderately than budget cuts. So, if the budget increases, then, on average, by 20% (which is 2 percentage points more than a year earlier), and if it decreases, then more dramatically - by an average of 35%, which is 11% more than in 2016.

Question: Please specify the order of changes. Number of responses: 161

In the organization segment local events(Event) in the first cluster (less than 50 projects per year) in terms of the share of cooperation with companies that took part in the study, the leading agencies are Redday (13.1% of respondents), Smart Motion (9.6%) and MarketEmotion (8.6%). The leaders of the second cluster (more than 50 events per year) are MaxiMICE (12.1%), Podezhiki (11.6%) and Eventum Premo (8.6%).

Leaders of cooperation in Event-segment
1 cluster (up to 50 events per year)

Place	Agency	Share of cooperation*

Number of responses: 198

Place	Agency	Share of cooperation

	Cocktails

Number of responses: 198
*Here and below the share of companies (non-experts) from the survey panel is given. It is incorrect to extrapolate the data obtained to the entire market, since a significantly larger number of companies operate in the segment than took part in the study. The collaboration rating is provided as a guide to demonstrate the preference of a particular panel.

Leaders of cooperation in MICE-segment

In the segment away events, the experts surveyed most often involved the agencies Marketing Division (5.1%), Big Jack and HRG (4.5%) and D2 Marketing Solutions (4%) from the first cluster. In the second cluster, four companies also occupied the first lines of the rating: MaxiMICE (16.2%), Demlink (8.6%), Aero Club Tour and ATH with 8.1%.

Place	Agency	Share of cooperation
	Marketing Division

Number of responses: 198 Cluster 2 (more than 50 events per year)

Place	Agency	Share of cooperation

The quality rating included companies that received at least four customer ratings from at least three companies. Respondents assessed satisfaction with service using three criteria using a 10-point scale.

Criteria for evaluation

Expertise
General level of event organization
Strategic approach, clear positioning, efficiency (effectiveness) for the target audience
Creativity
Innovation/application of new technologies in projects,
Team professionalism

Customer service
Team stability
Efficiency (speed of providing proposals per request, speed and quality of communications and response, problem solving)
Independence (autonomy) in solving assigned tasks and eliminating problems
Completeness and quality of document flow (including reports)
Availability of additional services (production, design, PR, other)

Price policy
Optimization approach to estimates
Transparency of pricing and discount policy
Convenience of requirements and payment schedule (availability of post-payments, flexibility in terms, etc.)

EVENT-SEGMENT

The study revealed that leadership in the quality of service provided does not always correlate with the share of cooperation. Yes, in the segment Event The best agencies in the first cluster were Director's Cut (first place with 8.78 points), Big Jack (8.67) and RCG (formerly R&I) with an average score of 8.55. The leaders of the second cluster in the segment were ARS Communications (8 .64 points), ADA-Symposium (8.42) and Citymetria (8.12).

Quality leaders in Event-segment

1 cluster (up to 50 events per year)

Cluster 2 (more than 50 events per year)

MICE-SEGMENT

IN MICE services The quality rating was topped by the agencies D2 Marketing Solutions (8.76), Ark Connect (8.73) and MaxMedium / Ready-to-Go (8.67) from the first cluster. In the second stratum, the leaders were Action (8.25), Night Street (8.20) and FCM Travel Solutions (8.19 points).

Quality leaders in MICE-segment

1 cluster (up to 50 events per year)

Cluster 2 (more than 50 events per year)

The study also obtained separate ratings for various categories of events: depending on the tasks being solved, events were divided into marketing, business and corporate. MICE and Event agencies are presented jointly in these ratings. For clients, AdIndex can prepare separate rankings in all studied categories (for example, the best agencies for organizing business outings, internal corporate events, etc.), as well as ratings based on quality criteria, incl. inside segments. Also, AdIndex partners can receive comments from their clients (anonymized) on the strengths and weaknesses of the service.

B2 B-SEGMENT

In the business segment The leadership in the first cluster was led by Redday (8.81), Big Jack (8.70) and D2 Marketing Solutions (8.53). In the second cluster, the best were ARS Communications (8.70), IBC Corporate Travel (8.11) and Continent Express (8.07).

Quality leaders in B2 B-segment

1 cluster (up to 50 events per year)

Cluster 2 (more than 50 events per year)

Place	Agency	Share of cooperation	Price policy	Customer service	Expertise	average rating
	ARS Communications
	IBC Corporate Travel
	Continent Express

B2 C-SEGMENT

Better than others marketing events D2 Marketing Solutions (8.57), RCG (8.56) and Smart Motion (8.52) from the first cluster. Of the larger companies, the experts surveyed highly rated TMA-Draft (8.08), Continent Express (8.05), Upjet and ADA-Symposium (8.00 each).

Quality leaders in B2 C-segment

1 cluster (up to 50 events per year)

Cluster 2 (more than 50 events per year)

HR-SEGMENT

Topped the quality rating corporate events agencies MarketEmotion (8.71), Big Jack (8.67) and MaxMedium / Ready-to-Go (8.60) - in 1 cluster. In the second, respondents especially noted the Citymetria service (8.48), ADA-Symposium (8.38) and Carlson Wagonlit Travel (8.17).

Quality leaders in HR-segment

1 cluster (up to 50 events per year)

Cluster 2 (more than 50 events per year)

As part of the project, more than 60 companies were ranked in total. It is important to understand why not all agencies on the market were included in the ranking: there may not have been a sufficient number of customer ratings to be included in the ranking. Companies interested in inclusion in the 2018 rating can send their applications to or follow announcements of upcoming projects, where the mechanics of the rating are detailed and all instructions for participants are given (for example, the announcement of this rating).

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