When examining localized marketing options, events are rarely mentioned. But they can be a powerful vessel for brand messaging, whether national brands or local SMBs. The localized personal touch that can be gained from events can be meaningful. iHeart Media tells us how.

Key Takeaways

• Brands are increasingly seeing the value of marketing themselves at local events.
• This can include anything from state fairs to NFL games to Taylor Swift concerts (the latter two having some cross-pollination of late).
• Benefits include scaled reach through high impressions, as well as positive brand association for attendees and fans of a given event – a good way to resonate with millennials.
• This can be particularly useful in getting out a new message, such as a specific campaign or rebrand.
• All the above has been done by brands like Fresh Look contact lenses and Mercedes, in partnership with iHeart.
• For example, Mercedes promoted its more affordable entry-level cars at a recent event activation, meant to introduce the idea to millennials with lesser buying power than older generations.
• The key word in all of the above is local: this is marketing that can be done city-by-city, influencer-by-influencer, says Tejeda.
• And though it’s often seen as an upper funnel branding play, event marketing can have attributable results by tying campaigns to things like raffles (via email signups) or deal redemption.
• Impact can be further tracked through things like geo-specific post-activation lift (think: local car sales in the Mercedes campaign).
• But none of this is truly unlocked without a more holistic multi-channel approach. iHeart sees event marketing as the culmination of several other touchpoints in the media mix that it offers (broadcast, OOH, podcasts, etc.).

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Fireside Chat: iHeartMedia

Ray Tejeda (iHeartMedia) has over 25+ years of experience in both creating & generating sponsorship revenue from all sides of the business. Join us for a fireside chat as we discuss creating innovative assets and developing strategies for sponsorship partners through holistic advertising solutions that drive audience engagement and results for customers.

Speakers