Marketing space: a conceptual framework for marketing events

Abstract

Despite the growing resonance of events within the marketing domain, they continue to receive scant coverage in academic literature, and remain a poor relation to other forms of marketing communication. This detracts from them realising their potential as a relevant and pervasive marketing delivery method. Couched between the authors previous and future (ongoing) empirical work in this area, this article provides much needed conceptual development. The paper introduces the core construct of ‘marketing space’ and associated framework. Marketing space represents the distinctive environment a marketing event creates, which is unlike that cultivated by other communication methods. Marketing space is a transient reality where representatives of an organisation come together physically, and in a planned manner, with a gathering of existing and future customer’s, clients, and wider stakeholders. Marketing events are a grouping that comprises a wide and rich variety of event types, which can be termed ‘marketing event platforms’. These range from the largest of congresses or trade shows, to the smallest and most intimate of seminars or hospitality events. The conceptual framework of marketing space, with associated concepts provides the basis of a new lexicon for practitioners and academics interested in, and utilising, events for marketing purpose. The paper also explores the rationale for the growing resonance of marketing events; examining the characteristics of events, including experiential, interactive, targeted, and relational. The paper ends with the introduction of two dichotomies to the lexicon of marketing events’ direct and indirect events, and exclusive and non exclusive events.