I would describe both as being people businesses which means there’s a strong emphasis on building and sustaining relationships. I think gaming and travel have many more similarities than they do differences.
What are the marketing challenges of promoting an event that hasn’t been staged for two years - that you haven’t yet experienced - and there remains the lingering doubt of Covid disruption?
Jeannette Gilbert Head of Marketing, Clarion Gaming
We’ve made a significant investment across a
programme of qualitative and quantitative research including workshops, focus groups and surveys. We’ve been very conscious of avoiding the mistakes made by many brands who ask the right questions of their stakeholders and customers but don’t act on the answers. Jeanette Gilbert
Jeannette - you’ve moved from the travel industry to gaming - what are the similarities and differences between the two sectors and what are your most relevant transferable skills?
I joined Clarion Gaming from Reed Travel Exhibitions where I was Head of Marketing and Communications, completing two decades experience working in the events, travel and tourism sectors. My career has included launching an airline start-up in East Africa, developing marketing strategies for international conglomerates including Celebrity Cruises, and closer to the gaming sector working for multinational hotel and retail company Whitbread PLC.
At Reed I was responsible for implementing a range of business-critical initiatives including the creation of a long-term marketing communications and partnerships strategy, the development and delivery of a brand content and channel distribution strategy in addition to launching two new brands.
In the close to 12-months working on the Clarion Gaming portfolio I think there are a number of similarities. Gaming, like travel, is a fascinating industry and one which is hugely competitive. Both have highly driven and successful entrepreneurs and there’s a positively disruptive culture with new entrants constantly challenging accepted ways of doing things. Technology is important to both sectors and to be successful businesses have to be agile and not afraid of challenging convention.
In some ways it may be easier not to have experienced ICE London pre-Covid in that I’m approaching the challenge fresh and without any pre-formed views. We’ve made a significant investment across a programme of qualitative and quantitative research including workshops, focus groups and surveys. We’ve been very conscious of avoiding the mistakes made by many brands who ask the right questions of their stakeholders and customers but don’t act on the answers.
Measuring customer sentiment has enabled us to understand motives, needs and requirements and how they have changed since Covid. We also have the benefit of having staged iGB Live!/iGB Affiliate Amsterdam in the autumn which helped us to gauge the appetite for the return of in-person.
What we know is that ICE sentiment is as strong as ever. Registration is tracking ahead of where we were at the same stage of the campaign in support of ICE 2020 and drilling down into who is registering for ICE London, we can see more decision makers and more of gaming’s C-suite signing-up to be part of the ICE experience earlier than ever before. In terms of the focus, there’s a huge emphasis on businesses wanting to network and establish new partnerships and meet new suppliers after a two-year hiatus.
An additional curveball for ICE is Brexit and the uncertainty and disruption this could cause next year. Is it possible to allay fears through the messaging Clarion conveys about ICE?
Once again, we are able to draw on the findings of our research and the data that we are accumulating from the first months of registration. Te research we commissioned in July 2021 demonstrated the popularity of London as our host city. Tis was based on its position as a travel hub, a place to host customers, network with peers and hold meetings with senior members of the international industry.
Registration is showing a concentration of industry professionals who will be travelling to London from throughout Europe and this is the segment that will be most impacted by Brexit. Tis will be the first edition of ICE London staged since the UK exited the European Union and we will be closely monitoring the experience of both exhibitors and visitors to London in a post-Brexit world and feeding that back into the relevant government departments via our representative body the Association of Exhibition Organisers.
Te marketing message for ICE 2020 centres around the idea of “coming together.” Can you breakdown the concept into the strategy and the
WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS P35
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144
