Place Event Marketing in the Asia Pacific Region

Branding and Promotion in Cities

Waldemar Cudny

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9780367423544
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000430479
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Industria dell'ospitalità e del turismo
• Index: Business

This book explores the fascinating phenomenon of place event marketing in the Asia Pacific region. It examines procedures in the promotion and branding of places that use events to shape their identities.

It considers how events are used in forming a branded image of a place and disseminate information about it. This innovative book offers theoretical insights of the opportunities and challenges related to place event marketing. With contributions from leading thinkers in the field, chapters also draw on empirical examples to showcase a variety of events across the Asia Pacific, such as MICE, sporting events, festivals, and religious and cultural celebrations. The book explores the importance of such events for the socio-economic development of urban regions. Today, the Asia Pacific is one of the world's fastest developing regions and its rising economic power is accompanied by the growing importance of the tourism and event sector. The book is a unique study relating to a very exceptional region of the world. The role of events in tourism development and the rise of the region's soft power is presented through carefully selected examples of cities from different countries. The book concludes with commentary on the future directions for research in this area.

Written in an accessible style, this book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and practitioners working in events studies, urban studies, tourism, place branding and promotion, business and management studies, geography, sociology, and sport and leisure studies.

1 Introduction

Waldemar Cudny

The scope of the book

This edited volume is devoted to the role of different types of events in the promotion and branding of urban spaces. This is the second volume dedicated to this issue published by Routledge. The first volume was edited by Professor Waldemar Cudny and published by Routledge in 2020 under the title Urban Events, Place Branding, and Promotion: Place Event Marketing.

Whereas the previous publication encompassed case studies from five continents (North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa) this book focuses on cities from the Asia-Pacific region. The main research aims of this volume include:

• discovering how different kinds of events could be successfully used in place event marketing strategies encompassing promoting and branding of different types of urban places with the use of events,
• analysing how various public and non-governmental institutions can implement place event marketing activities in cities,
• investigating the effects of place event marketing activities on urban place promotion and branding,
• presenting a variety of empirical case studies with lessons regarding the use of different events in the promotion and branding of urban places from the Asia-Pacific region.

Methods

The book contains eight chapters with case studies presenting events organised in different countries of the studied region. Various types of research methods were used in these studies. The research method is a way of thinking and bringing to life solutions and new ideas that have scientific value (Sankey 2008). Whereas according to Apanowicz (2002, p. 59) the method of scientific research is “a set of theoretically justified procedures conceptual and instrumental, covering the entirety of the proceedings research aimed at solving a specific scientific problem”. Methods may be divide into several categories; however, one of the most common divisions is based on the research procedure and type of materials being used. Here we can distinguish quantitative and qualitative methods. The first group uses numerical data obtained from empirical studies and measurements. The latter covers methods based on the analysis of the perception-based studies based on the opinions of other people, interviews, and the researcher’s observation (Cudny 2016).

Both types of methods were used in this book. Some of the chapters were based on qualitative methods like interviews and observation, as well as the ethnography method and the analysis of posts and comments published on social media and blogging platforms (see chapters on Hangzhou, Shanghai, ASEAN countries, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Auckland). Some chapters used questionnaires and their quantitative analysis with the use of statistical methods (see chapters on Okinawa and Saitama).

Theoretical background

This book is devoted to events; therefore, defining the issue is a key element for further analysis. Definitions of events may be traced through different publications (Hall 1989; Goldblatt 1990; Getz 1991; Tara-Lunga 2012). According to Getz (2008, 404)

Planned events are spatial-temporal phenomena, and each is unique because of interactions among the setting, people, and management systems – including design elements and the program. Much of the appeal of events is that they are never the same, and you have to be there to enjoy the unique experience fully; if you miss it, it’s a lost opportunity.

Events are very diversified and thus may be divided into different types according to several criteria (see Jago and Shaw 1998; Arcodia and Robb 2000; Cudny 2016).

A comprehensive division of events was presented in the publication of Getz (2008). The author divided planned events according to their size and scale into

• local events (periodic and one-time);
• regional events (periodic and one-time);
• periodic hallmark events (high tourist demand and high value);
• occasional mega-events (high tourist demand and high value).

Getz (2008, 404) also divided planned events according to the theme and distinguished the following groups:

1. Cultural celebrations encompassing festivals, carnivals, commemorations, and religious events.
2. Political and state events including summits, royal occasions, and VIP visits.
3. Arts and entertainment encompassing concerts and award ceremonies.
4. Business and trade including meetings, conventions, consumer and trade shows, fairs, and markets.
5. Educational and scientific events, including conferences, seminars, and clinics.
6. Sports competitions including amateur/professional and spectator/participant events.
7. Recreational events, encompassing sport or games for fun.
8. Private events including weddings, parties, and social gatherings.

Urban spaces across the globe compete to gain resources such as investors, investments, immigrants, and tourists who bring money into the economy of a visited destination. Therefore different techniques are used in destination management, including marketing management. As defined by Kotler and Armstrong (2010, 29) marketing is “a social and managerial process by which individuals and organisations obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging value with others. In a narrower business context, marketing involves building profitable, value-laden exchange relationships with customers”.

Marketing management arises from marketing and may be treated as the procedure of leading an institution (i.e. taking advantage of the organisation’s resources, planning actions, implementing and controlling them) in order to achieve its goals by creating a beneficial exchange between an institution and its customers. When marketing is applied to places it is called place marketing, and city marketing when it refers to cities (Cudny 2020a, p. 13–14).

Kotler and Armstrong (2010, 252–253) defined place marketing as “Activities undertaken to create, maintain or change attitudes or behaviour towards particular places. Cities, states, and even nations compete to attract tourists, new residents, conventions, and company offices and factories”.

Cities (as one of the places undergoing place marketing activities) want to attract the above-mentioned resources and customers who would like to consume their place products (i.e. urban investments land, tourist assets, services, and residential areas). Therefore cities introduce place marketing activities. Thanks to marketing efforts the offer of cities is strengthened and new services, attractions, and other urban “products” appear. They are tailored according to consumers’ needs and properly managed and promoted in order to attract consumers to a given city. Place marketing encompasses product creation, its management, promotion, and distribution (Cudny 2020a).

Event marketing is included in marketing procedures and in a business context, it may be defined as “creating a brand marketing event or serving as a sole or participating sponsor of events created by others. The events might include anything from mobile brand tours to festivals, reunions, marathons, concerts, or other sponsored gatherings. Event marketing is huge, and it may be the fastest-growing area of promotion” (Kotler and Armstrong, 505). Firms are involved in event marketing because it is the way they can promote their products, reach potential customers in order to learn about their needs, exchange information, and form relationships with them, as well as creating a brand image of a company and their products.

However, in the last years, event marketing is well applied to places such as cities and towns. Event marketing is, in this case, part of city marketing and city branding activities. As stated by Cudny (2020b, 14)

City marketing involves urban socio-economic development and promotion. The main aim of promotion is to create communication between an institution and the end-users of its offer (consumers). Among the basic means of promotion which form the so-called promotional means, there are advertising, sales promotion, public relations personal selling and direct marketing.

Place branding is another term connected with place event marketing. It is a complex and multidimensional policy, which is introduced in cities for different purposes. It aims at the socio-economic development of cities due to long-term investments and attraction of newcomers and tourists, creation of a well perceived urban brand. However, place branding in cities is also a result of the influence of different interest groups and stakeholders operating in the urban space (like firms, politicians, social groups, etc.). Branding policy results in actions and patterns that change the social and economic structures, as well as the physical space and image of a city, and creates its brand (Lucarelli 2018).

The concept of place event marketing is central to this edited volume. The issue had been presented by Cudny (2020b). The author defined the scope of event marketing, its connections to city marketing, branding, and urban promotion. According to Cudny (2020b), place event marketing in cities is a twofold procedure. On the one hand place event marketing is a city development policy, while on the other hand it is a means of city promotion (Figure 1.1.).

Figure 1.1 The structure of place event marketing in cities. Source: Own elaboration on the basis of Cudny (2020b, 17).

Place event marketing regarded as a city development policy is similar to place or city branding. Events are enriching the urban product, creating tourism, and are part of the tourism industry. Therefore they generate income for a host city and create jobs. Moreover, many of them (e.g. sports mega-events like the Olympics) generate large-scale investments (stadiums, transportation facilities, etc.). These investments also generate economic development and develop the product of a certain urban place. Moreover, events found social opportunities; for instance, local communities may get involved in event organisations, as volunteers, advisors, participants (e.g. local artists engaged in festival creation), and local firms can participate in event creation by delivering services, and thus people can get jobs and revenue. Event facilities can host events in the subsequent years, and the infrastructure may be used by inhabitants and tourists long after the event is gone.

Broadly speaking, properly prepared and managed event creation can generate a socio-economic and infrastructural boost which may be seen as a long-term development plan. The perfect realisation of an event-led regeneration and development strategy of this kind was the Summer Olympics in Barcelona in 1992. The sports mega-event was used in the capital of Spanish Catalonia as an urban regeneration tool. The preparations for the Olympics started in the 1980s with the elaboration of a complex infrastructural and economic development plan. Thanks to its introduction the post-industrial, harbor city has been transformed, and after the 1992 Olympics, Barcelona became a vibrant urban centre with a strong focus on services, culture, events, and tourism. This development plan based on event regeneration was so successful that it is often referred to as the Barcelona model (see: Garcia-Ramon and Albet 20...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• 1 Introduction
• 2 When ordinary life becomes extraordinary: The branding of Hangzhou, China, during the 2016 G20 Summit
• 3 Branding Shanghai as a global city through China Shanghai International Arts Festival
• 4 Events across ASEAN: Product-oriented regeneration and value-added image promotion
• 5 Brand association with a participant sporting event: The case of the Okinawa Marathon in Japan
• 6 The socio-economic and branding impacts of an international sporting event in Japan: Le Tour de France Saitama Criterium
• 7 From religious festival to cultural carnival: Durga Puja and city branding of Kolkata, India
• 8 Film, fashion, events, and city branding of Mumbai, India
• 9 “It’s coming home!”: Leveraging legacies in the City of Sails
• 10 Conclusions
• Index