The Summer Eventia 2007

Corporate panel challenge delegates

In this plenary session, three corporate clients outlined their roles and the issues affecting their day-to-day jobs. In a group discussion moderated by conference facilitator Neil Jones, these issues were explored in the context of event strategy and agency relationships. Following the initial panel discussion, the audience participated with questions and comments.

Corporate speakers:

Christina Fee, Senior Vice President, Internal Communications, DWPN
Based in Germany, Christina is responsible for all of DPWN (parent of DHL) internal events, including business, sports and social. Her task is to communicate with culturally diverse groups, defining dialogue formats that really engage participants.

Martin Lines, Strategic Planning Communications Controller, Nestle Food Services
Martin is responsible for all marketing communications for Nestlé Food Services, including advertising, promotions and sponsorship. He oversees a range of around 40 events a year, including training and supplier incentives.

Tony Pilcher, Head of Global Business Travel Management, HSBC
Tony is responsible for business travel at HSBC – a role which involves translating the company’s overall strategy into its business travel purchasing policies.

Questions:

What are your priorities in dealing an events context?

CF: I’m less interested in the organisational delivery, I want more of an insight into how agencies can add value.

ML: I’d like events agencies to get closer to the advertising and PR agencies that we work with, so that they are part of the marketing raft. All event management companies have a base-line capability of running events, so there’s a need to stretch to the marketing culture.

TP: Cost-effectiveness is important to me. The old-style of procurement was about driving down costs but now we recognise that we need to get value out of our spend.

Do you prefer to deal direct or through agencies?

TP: We have experience of people booking direct and being unable to measure the costs. An agency will be able to deliver value.

Is CSR a big issue?

CF: DHL has a massive focus on CSR – we even have a dedicated department for it, but CSR policy hasn’t filtered through to events yet.

TP: Yes, it is for HSBC. We are launching a climate change initiative at an event tonight. I also need to know how to apply CSR principles within an award programme

Do you see an increase or decrease in live events in the future?

TP: Yes, we have an increasing demand for events. We have to demonstrate our brand.

What are your challenges to the agency sector?

ML: Become more strategic.

CF: I’m looking for points of difference. I need to know how you [agencies] can help me prove the value of events to those people in my organisation who just see us as party planners.

TP: Become more transparent in your costings.

Questions and comments from the audience

Q: Can clients run familiarisation sessions to help suppliers understand their business and strategy?

TP: Yes – I agree, it must be a two way thing. We did this as part of the briefing process. We had a group of agencies all in the same room. Our ultimate selection was not based on price.

CF: Some agencies can ‘do’ strategic and some can’t. Historically we’ve given strategic consultancy for free, but there should be a commercial value attached to this.

CF: If you want real clarity on ROI there’s a need for a closer relationship than exists at the moment. This requires both sides to invest time in each other.

CF: Clients want an open arrangement, which is fine as long as we [agencies] are allowed to make some money.

TP: Part of the discussion is what is the make-up of the pricing. When we know that, together we can see how we can achieve joint profitability.

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