Mice Marketing Proposal the International

MICE Marketing Proposal

The International Association of Professional Congress Organizers defines MICE as meeting, incentive, conference and exhibition. Meetings are any coming together of people in one place. They can be of a set frequency or not, and can comprise an internal audience (to the host company) or an external audience. Incentives are meetings that are offered as a reward for performance. Conferences are meetings for discussion, fact-finding and consultation. Exhibitions are events where products and services are displayed (ICCA, 2011). The Convention and Visitors Bureau of Rome is working on a proposal to increase the MICE traffic in the city.

Rome is the capital of Italy and its largest city, with a metro population around 2.7 million. Italy current ranks as the 11th largest economy in the world (CIA World Factbook, 2011), although economic strength is diffused among a number of different cities. Rome is the seat of political power, and is a historic city that was once the most powerful in the world. The Roman economy relies on tourism, banking, education and national media as drivers of the local economy, and has a relative absence of heavy industry (United Nations, 2011). Rome is removed from the industrial heartland of the country, in the north, and this makes it a poor choice for domestic meetings outside of its key industries. As a media center, however, Rome is a good choice for product launches. In addition to the strong media presence in the city, Rome also has a strong global brand, being one of the best-known cities in the world. For this reason, the Rome CVB is going to focus its marketing campaign on attracting product launches. This strategy will also help Rome to boost its brand to consumers around the world, fueling its busy tourism industry.

Product launches are big business. It is difficult to reach consumers, with 75% of all consumer packaged goods launched (in the U.S.) failing to garner sales of $7.5 million in their first year. Consumers tend to purchase the same products, and it can be difficult to convince them to change their habits (Schneider & Hall, 2011). A memorable launch is essential to catching consumer attention. Rome can be used as a backdrop not only for a successful launch into the Italian market but into Europe in general. Rome also resonates with consumers in other parts of the world due to its historic status and famous landmarks. A product launch involves creating a media spectacle for the product. This requires the launch to occur in a place where media exposure is high. In addition, access to strong visuals is considered a bonus for product launches.

The purpose of this report is to develop a marketing strategy for Rome to increase the number of major product launches in the city. The recipient of the message could be any consumer product/service company that performs product launches. This is a large and disparate group, one that would be difficult to reach using any one channel alone. The strategy will have to determine a way to reach this audience and convey the message. The message will be that Rome is a great location for a product launch to take place, and that product launches in Rome will stand a greater chance of success than product launches in other cities.

Results and Analysis

The target market for the campaign consists of a wide range of companies. Large-scale product launches that involve strong media coverage come from a variety of industries, mostly in consumer products. The products being launched are ones that have high sales targets well into the tens of millions of euros. Most of these products or services would come from companies that are located outside of Rome, especially northern Italy and other parts of Europe. Thus, the target market is essentially going to consist of major European consumer products firms, in particular those with substantial marketing budgets and experience with major media campaigns for new products.

There are many different types of firms that fit that definition, and they are geographically scattered. Knowing this will help the CVB make a determination as to whether a public relations strategy or a media relations strategy is more appropriate. A public relations strategy focuses on communicating messages to members of the public; a media relations strategy involves building relationships with the media in order to control the message. Miller and Dinan (2008) made the case that public relations is the backbone of modern business. Controlling the dialogue surrounding a product or idea is powerful because it can alter the way things are perceived. In Rome's case, the city needs to engage in a powerful public relations campaign in order to become perceived as the place to launch a product.

The public relations campaign needs to have several components. The first step is to develop the message. The message will need to be consistent over time so that the way people think about Rome is changed for the long-term. The message should also be one that helps the media, as ultimately it is the media that will be relied upon to deliver the message. In this case, the media outlets in Rome in particular will benefit from an increase in product launches in the city. Their profile will improve, as will their revenues and their importance in the global media world. So there is significant incentive for media companies in Rome to buy into the message that CVB wants to put forth.

A four-step model for public relations can help from there -- research, action, communication and evaluation (Krg, 2011). The media companies must be researched. The key players who control the messages that they send need to be identified. The audience and interests of the different media outlets need to be understood so that the campaign can be more effectively targeted -- the media outlets should be chosen for focus based on their ability to reach the target market. With good research, the appropriate course of action will be easier to determine.

In this case, the course of action will be twofold. One will be to provide messages and content to the media so that the media knows what messages to embed in their discussion of events in order to promote Rome. The second course of action will be to provide better support for current product launch events. The more that the CVB can help companies with their product launch the better the city's reputation for launches will be. This help can be in the form of advice, coordination and most importantly ensuring a strong media presence at the events. Working together with the media and existing launch customer, the city of Rome can better spread its message.

Communication refers to the message itself. In addition to a public relations campaign, advertising is a good venue for Rome. On most business-oriented media outlets, advertising from regions for business investment is common. Rome can take that cue and advertise in those venues, or it can choose different means. However, the advertising is a way to underscore the message of the public relations campaign. If the intended audience hears the same message, repeatedly and from a number of sources, then the message will be absorbed better.

Evaluation refers to determining whether or not the campaign has been a success. Sales are mostly a proxy measure, because there is no direct link between the PR campaign and the number of product launches in the city. There are some techniques that can be used, however. One is counting clips, Google searches or page impressions (Nowlan, 2006). This can help to measure the spread of the message, but does little to evaluate the effectiveness of the message. Surveys are another method of measuring exposure. Target companies can be surveyed, as can Roman media outlets, hotels and conference centers. The survey can not only measure the spread of the message but also provide insight into its effectiveness. Another mechanism for measurement is to manually track the high profile launches that were conducted in Rome. This could provide anecdotal evidence about the success of using Rome, and those stories of success can later be used as part of the marketing message. From there, the process begins anew, with the CVB evaluating its campaign and making adjustments where necessary to improve the effectiveness of the different elements of the campaign.

Rome should not attend trade shows or organize familiarization trips. These two options are weak for two reasons. The first is that they are expensive. The CVB would spend a high amount of money for each customer courted, and may not even succeed in winning the business. The second reason these options are weak is that the customers are diffused. Reaching these customers is much easier when leveraging the power of the media than by attempting to reach each one individually. Attending trade shows exposes the city to a number of companies per show, but it is difficult to tell how many of those companies are in the target market. In addition, Rome's issue is not name recognition, but rather positioning. Public relations is more effective at shifting the positioning of the Rome brand than attending trade shows.

The primary advantage of a PR campaign and the related media relations is that the message reaches the target market. The media are beneficiaries of the campaign, so will be willing partners. This allows the message to be spread. Public relations is also highly effective in changing perceptions and the nature of the dialogue. If the campaign goes well, companies will see doing a European product launch in Rome as the norm, and Italian companies in particular will see the benefit of launching in Rome. Another advantage of a public relations campaign is that it is a relatively low cost means of disseminating the message. With the media doing the bulk of the work, supported mainly by online marketing and perhaps an advertisement campaign, the message can be spread globally at a relatively low cost compared with paying for either staff members or potential customers to travel to Rome.

One disadvantage is that it can be hard to measure the effectiveness of PR campaign. All three major measurement activities will need to be conducted in concert with one another in order to have a sense of whether or not the campaign has been successful. In addition to the measurement problem, using other actors (such as the media) to disseminate the message increases the risk that the message will reach the intended audience in diluted or altered form. If that occurs, the effectiveness of the message is likely to be reduced, since consistency and simplicity are two of the main hallmarks of an effect campaign.