"Good events can make up for the problems of this world"
GDI Director David Bosshart on September 11 and the New Event Culture
GDI Director David Bosshart on September 11 and the new event cultureBy Annelies Friedli For a long time, business was running smoothly for event managers. But the dotcom crash, terror and recession plunged event organizers into an identity crisis. David Bosshart, trend analyst, philosopher and director of the Migros think tank Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI), is nevertheless optimistic about the future of events.
On September 4, the GDI hosted the Event Maker seminar. Have any people registered for your event?
David Bosshart: Yes, over a hundred people have registered. And that's rather more than usual.
But event marketing seems to be less in demand today. Budgets are being slashed and customers are tired of events, they complain.
Bosshart: It seems to me that behavior today is driven by fear. But people are looking for new ways of meeting more than ever. The age
native to event marketing is better event marketing. The alternative to the entertainment society is the better entertainment society. I once called it sociotainment - the art of bringing the right people together and creating the right atmosphere. Capitalism and entertainment are inextricably linked. All the measures that have to be taken today to win over customers are not material, but emotional.
Event marketing may have many advantages, but it does not appear to be a miracle cure for sluggish consumption, as current consumer sentiment shows.
Bosshart: That's true: Advertising, PR and the media exaggerated for years and sent out zero messages. They sold people fake stories that nobody could understand. That is now taking its revenge. People need stories again that make the world more understandable to them. I always compare society to a five-year-old child with a teddy bear under his arm. In an increasingly alien world, it provides warmth and understanding. Good events have a teddy bear function: I am among my own kind and can console myself about the problems of this world.
In other words: In your opinion, we live in a rather infantile society?
Bosshart: If you like, yes. The teddy bear gives the child the feeling that it is not alone. This image applies to the situation of adults in the western hemisphere. When I open the newspaper or travel somewhere, I encounter strangeness, incomprehensibility. The fact is: Never before in history have so many people understood so little about what is happening to them. This is not a third-world phenomenon, but a first-world phenomenon - and that is a dangerous situation. That's why we need to develop mechanisms that make the world more understandable. This is a challenge for society and the economy.
Many contemporaries saw the attack on the World Trade Center as a kind of "disruptive advertisement" for more seriousness.
Bosshart: September 11 is and was massively overrated overall - probably simply because we were able to experience live how history is made today. It undoubtedly had a major political dimension, but at the level of everyday trust, what happened with Arthur Andersen/Enron was many times more consequential - for us, it's the Ebner case, the politicians' pension theft, the ABB affair or the Credit Suisse debacle.
Namely?
Bosshart: It doesn't matter if two or three more planes had flown into a skyscraper - the consequences would still have been less fatal than those of greed in management. The events surrounding Arthur Andersen, Worldcom and Enron have shaken society's basic trust to the core. We now know that not only does socialism not work, but capitalism is also sick to the core - but there is no alternative. We only have the option of bull markets or bear markets.
Events are used to make customers believe they are in a dream world, but all they want is their money. Surely Halli Galli is hardly perceived as a "confidence-building measure" in these nasty times?
Bosshart: At best, it's all about Halli Galli at the Eastern Swiss Carnival or with amateurish event agencies. "Stay connected" meets the needs of our society very precisely. This also applies to events. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what happens at an event - what counts is the following: An event has to give me the feeling that I'm with people who understand me and have similar interests to me.
The euphoric self-assessment of party organizers contrasts with the pessimistic expectations of consumers. Illusionary experience marketing no longer seems to match customer behavior; events are perceived as interchangeable. This is why more and more companies are turning to direct marketing and dispensing with marketing bluffs.
Bosshart: Anyone who conceives events as a party and pure fun will certainly not be able to achieve commercial success. It's more about personal contacts and events that are tailored to the target audience.
Porsche, for example, invited its customers to the Swiss mountains to pick a Porsche out of the ice, and in America companies enticed people to try out bulletproof vests for themselves. Hasn't the event industry simply exaggerated?
Bosshart: Why should she? If a Porsche driver goes to the trouble of climbing a mountain to see the new Porsche, that's okay. Anyone who is prepared to spend 200,000 or 300,000 francs on a car wants to be treated differently from someone who buys a VW for 30,000 francs. You won't get very far with a Porsche customer with a barbecue. You need an extraordinary event that challenges the driver's narcissism.
While a VW driver...
Bosshart: ...a better barbecue is all you need. Don't forget: buying a car today means, consciously or unconsciously, marrying into a family. The VW customer is already happy if he can sit in a simulator and race along a road at 230 kilometers per hour. The Porsche freak needs an extra kick. The car business in particular works quite simply according to classic rules: more of the same, but a little different. Too much subtlety would be harmful.
What forms of events do you think have a future?
Bosshart: Mass events such as the Street Parade or the Notting Hill Festival, where individuals can celebrate their immersion in the freedom of anonymity. On the other hand, there are highly specialized events that are tailored to the customer down to the last detail. Events whose access criteria are strictly defined according to the motto "members only" are also gaining in importance. Society needs new forms of belonging - politics can no longer convey a sense of belonging.
But then you are asking a lot of events.
Bosshart: Yes, of course. Once again, the alternative to the event is the better event. Not the marketing chatter of business schools and our boring educational institutions. 08/15 events will no longer stand a chance.
Does this mean that half of the Swiss event agencies no longer have a future?
Bosshart: They have orders because we have a lack of imagination. Dilettantism at a bland level. I also believe that all the training courses and all the fuss in event marketing are overhyped. History teaches us that if you don't know what to do, you create a new profession and a new name. That has been the case for the last 200 years. Ultimately, it's all about understanding customers, and you certainly can't learn that on a course like this. Instead, you get a nice, illusory English title.
On September 4, the GDI hosted the Event Maker seminar. Have any people registered for your event?
David Bosshart: Yes, over a hundred people have registered. And that's rather more than usual.
But event marketing seems to be less in demand today. Budgets are being slashed and customers are tired of events, they complain.
Bosshart: It seems to me that behavior today is driven by fear. But people are looking for new ways of meeting more than ever. The age
native to event marketing is better event marketing. The alternative to the entertainment society is the better entertainment society. I once called it sociotainment - the art of bringing the right people together and creating the right atmosphere. Capitalism and entertainment are inextricably linked. All the measures that have to be taken today to win over customers are not material, but emotional.
Event marketing may have many advantages, but it does not appear to be a miracle cure for sluggish consumption, as current consumer sentiment shows.
Bosshart: That's true: Advertising, PR and the media exaggerated for years and sent out zero messages. They sold people fake stories that nobody could understand. That is now taking its revenge. People need stories again that make the world more understandable to them. I always compare society to a five-year-old child with a teddy bear under his arm. In an increasingly alien world, it provides warmth and understanding. Good events have a teddy bear function: I am among my own kind and can console myself about the problems of this world.
In other words: In your opinion, we live in a rather infantile society?
Bosshart: If you like, yes. The teddy bear gives the child the feeling that it is not alone. This image applies to the situation of adults in the western hemisphere. When I open the newspaper or travel somewhere, I encounter strangeness, incomprehensibility. The fact is: Never before in history have so many people understood so little about what is happening to them. This is not a third-world phenomenon, but a first-world phenomenon - and that is a dangerous situation. That's why we need to develop mechanisms that make the world more understandable. This is a challenge for society and the economy.
Many contemporaries saw the attack on the World Trade Center as a kind of "disruptive advertisement" for more seriousness.
Bosshart: September 11 is and was massively overrated overall - probably simply because we were able to experience live how history is made today. It undoubtedly had a major political dimension, but at the level of everyday trust, what happened with Arthur Andersen/Enron was many times more consequential - for us, it's the Ebner case, the politicians' pension theft, the ABB affair or the Credit Suisse debacle.
Namely?
Bosshart: It doesn't matter if two or three more planes had flown into a skyscraper - the consequences would still have been less fatal than those of greed in management. The events surrounding Arthur Andersen, Worldcom and Enron have shaken society's basic trust to the core. We now know that not only does socialism not work, but capitalism is also sick to the core - but there is no alternative. We only have the option of bull markets or bear markets.
Events are used to make customers believe they are in a dream world, but all they want is their money. Surely Halli Galli is hardly perceived as a "confidence-building measure" in these nasty times?
Bosshart: At best, it's all about Halli Galli at the Eastern Swiss Carnival or with amateurish event agencies. "Stay connected" meets the needs of our society very precisely. This also applies to events. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what happens at an event - what counts is the following: An event has to give me the feeling that I'm with people who understand me and have similar interests to me.
The euphoric self-assessment of party organizers contrasts with the pessimistic expectations of consumers. Illusionary experience marketing no longer seems to match customer behavior; events are perceived as interchangeable. This is why more and more companies are turning to direct marketing and dispensing with marketing bluffs.
Bosshart: Anyone who conceives events as a party and pure fun will certainly not be able to achieve commercial success. It's more about personal contacts and events that are tailored to the target audience.
Porsche, for example, invited its customers to the Swiss mountains to pick a Porsche out of the ice, and in America companies enticed people to try out bulletproof vests for themselves. Hasn't the event industry simply exaggerated?
Bosshart: Why should she? If a Porsche driver goes to the trouble of climbing a mountain to see the new Porsche, that's okay. Anyone who is prepared to spend 200,000 or 300,000 francs on a car wants to be treated differently from someone who buys a VW for 30,000 francs. You won't get very far with a Porsche customer with a barbecue. You need an extraordinary event that challenges the driver's narcissism.
While a VW driver...
Bosshart: ...a better barbecue is all you need. Don't forget: buying a car today means, consciously or unconsciously, marrying into a family. The VW customer is already happy if he can sit in a simulator and race along a road at 230 kilometers per hour. The Porsche freak needs an extra kick. The car business in particular works quite simply according to classic rules: more of the same, but a little different. Too much subtlety would be harmful.
What forms of events do you think have a future?
Bosshart: Mass events such as the Street Parade or the Notting Hill Festival, where individuals can celebrate their immersion in the freedom of anonymity. On the other hand, there are highly specialized events that are tailored to the customer down to the last detail. Events whose access criteria are strictly defined according to the motto "members only" are also gaining in importance. Society needs new forms of belonging - politics can no longer convey a sense of belonging.
But then you are asking a lot of events.
Bosshart: Yes, of course. Once again, the alternative to the event is the better event. Not the marketing chatter of business schools and our boring educational institutions. 08/15 events will no longer stand a chance.
Does this mean that half of the Swiss event agencies no longer have a future?
Bosshart: They have orders because we have a lack of imagination. Dilettantism at a bland level. I also believe that all the training courses and all the fuss in event marketing are overhyped. History teaches us that if you don't know what to do, you create a new profession and a new name. That has been the case for the last 200 years. Ultimately, it's all about understanding customers, and you certainly can't learn that on a course like this. Instead, you get a nice, illusory English title.
