As the guy who controls messaging for a “meeting planning” company that’s more than 100 years old, Scott Kellner knows a thing or two about the industry. But the very term “meetings industry” sells it short, as the “experience” is rapidly becoming the marketing vehicle of choice for some of the most powerful, and emerging, brands.
“There’s been a paradigm shift in marketing communications, and the allure of experiential meetings in general,” Kellner, vice president of marketing for George P. Johnson Experience Marketing, contends. “There’s been an increase in investments that build relationships and away from investments that strictly are for awareness.”
Meetings and events let brands physically interact with their target market, an incredibly powerful tool that is especially relevant to the current demographic tsunami massively disrupting business, according to Kellner, whose company just picked up Tesla Motors and Fitbit as customers, in addition to having Salesforce and traditional Fortune 500 companies such as IBM in its client portfolio.
“The reason we’re landing some of these emerging brands is that when was the last time you saw a television commercial for Salesforce.com? When was the last time you saw a Tesla commercial?” he asks. “The emerging brands recognize that their target audience is Millennials that tune out traditional awareness campaigns.”
The lesson is that meeting professionals need to recognize their power to persuade, and to be on a continuous learning path, whether they’ve been in the business for five or 30 years. “Imagine the power you have when someone is there willingly, versus doing everything they can to avoid what you’re telling them,” Kellner sums up.
