Event Marketing: How to Successfully Promote Events, Festivals, Conventions, and Expositions, Second Edition

Chapter 9

Social Event Marketing

“The formula for a happy marriage? It's the same as the one for living in California: when you find a fault, don't dwell on it.”

Jay Trachman, publisher (1939–2009)

When you have completed this chapter, you will be able to

• Understand and utilize the conceptual overlap in the production and consumption of social events through effective event marketing techniques,
• Comprehend the expanding scope of social event marketing in all strata of society, the emerging role of professional intervention that is required, and the growth of self-generated events, and
• Develop new methods for event marketing within this sector to incorporate e-marketing as well as word of mouth (e.g., endorsements, advocacy) to promote attendance.

There is a wide variety of traditional social events (e.g., weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, anniversaries, and birthdays) that are increasingly subject to professional event management. These constitute the celebrations of family life that play such an important role in cultural identity. There are also increasing opportunities afforded by the phenomenon of an aging population. Due to this phenomenon throughout the Western world, social events are increasing in size and complexity as well as competition. Social events are a kind of infrastructure. They are the least contrived form of a planned event, as they are from the people to the people, and although professional event management has come into play in this variable sector, the ...