The Contribution of Special Events to Destination Brand Equity

The Contribution of Special Events to Destination Brand Equity Frédéric Dimanche Center for Tourism Management CERAM Sophia Antipolis, France [email protected]

Abstract Special events have grown in the tourism industry as indispensable product alternatives to many urban destinations. From small towns staging traditional cultural events to large cities competing to host mega-events such as World’s Fairs or Olympic Games, events have been used as products to generate additional visits to a destination. Special tourism events can greatly contribute to the overall marketing of the destination by helping to create an image for the city. They can be used to help promote, position, and brand a destination. Starting from Aaker' s (1991) brand equity conceptual approach, this paper discusses the roles events can play in destination branding strategies. More specifically, it examines events'contributions to destination awareness, perceived quality, brand associations, destination loyalty, and destination positioning. Keywords: tourism, special events; destination marketing; branding; brand equity

&RPSOHWHUHIHUHQFH Dimanche, F. (2002). The contribution of special events to destination brand equity. In K. W. Wöber (Ed.) City Tourism 2002: Proceedings of European Cities Tourism' s International Conference (pp. 73-80). Vienna: Springer.

Frédéric Dimanche, CERAM Sophia Antipolis

1 1.1

Introduction What are special events

Special events have grown in the tourism industry as indispensable product alternatives to many destinations. From small towns staging traditional cultural events to large cities competing to host mega-events such as World’s Fairs or Olympic Games, events have been used as products to generate additional visits to a destination. Indeed, “mega-events” can “yield extraordinarily high levels of tourism, media coverage, prestige, or economic impact for the host community or destination” (Getz 1997:6). In addition to image and tourism benefits, large events such as Olympic Games also can serve as catalysts for urban renewal and the development of new infrastructure (French and Disher 1997; Hall 1994a). But small destinations also engaged in event tourism can draw significant benefits by “putting their destination on the map” and attracting additional tourists. According to Getz (1997), a special event can be defined as a one-time or infrequently occurring event outside the normal program or activities of the sponsoring organization. To the customer, a special event is an opportunity for leisure, social, or cultural experiences outside the normal range of choices or beyond everyday experience. Special events are always planned, always arouse expectations, and always motivate by providing a reason for celebration. Types of events can vary widely; they include festivals, fairs, exhibitions, expositions and shows, meetings and other business and educational events, sports events, or art events. To summarize, events can be anything that is planned by a destination to attract and satisfy customers, and that is out of the ordinary. 1.2

Reasons for Staging Events

Destinations organize, promote, and run special events for a variety of reasons. Events can be used to provide off-season benefits to a destination. For example, a famous winter resort such as Kitzbühel in Austria, has been hosting a Men’s Professional Tour tennis event, in part to attract attention and visitors to the destination in what is for them a low season, summer. Such an event can also be used as an incentive to attract first time customers to the destination. Visitors interested in an art show or a sport event may visit a destination for the first time because of this event. An event can also generate additional demand in a regular tourist season to help boost arrivals and occupancy rates in hotels. In addition, events may encourage regular customers to extend their stay in a destination in order to attend an event or a show they had not originally planned to see. However, a potential drawback of large events is that they may create “displacement.” For example, it has been documented that regular international tourists to France may have decided not to visit the country at the time of the Football World Cup in Spring – Summer 1998, in fear of higher prices or heavier traffic. One of the greatest benefits of special events is that they are, by definition, flexible. They can change over time to reflect changing consumer needs, they can be adapted to


specific target markets, and to reflect today’ s needs, fashions, and trends. For example, the program of an internationally famous musical event such as the Sazburg Festival can evolve from one year to the other to keep audiences interested and challenged. Also, as it grows, an event can be moved from one city venue to another that would be better equipped to accommodate larger groups of visitors. Finally, special tourism events can greatly contribute to the overall marketing of the destination by helping to create or maintain an image for a destination. More specifically, events can be used to help promote, position, and brand a destination. This aspect of the role of special events has been overlooked in the literature (e.g., Getz 1997). Conveying a consistent and representative image of the tourism destination should be a key marketing activity of all tourism offices at the local, regional, or national levels. Branding a destination, and more specifically positioning a destination, which includes coherent product differentiation and market segmentation strategies, have not received much attention from Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) where the focus has been traditionally on the promotion dimension of the marketing function. 1.3

What Attracts Visitors?

It has been suggested that tourism promoters give advertising materials the wrong emphasis. That is, tourists are not motivated by the specific qualities of the destination but rather the matching of a destination’ s major attributes to the tourist’ s psychological needs (Crompton 1979). Also, Lawton and Page (1997) argued that in some urban tourism destinations, there may be a major mismatch between the place-product being promoted to visitors and the place-image used to entice visitors to destinations. A specific destination product does not necessarily motivate tourists, but the experience they will derive from it does. There is, therefore, a need to match a destination’ s attributes with target market needs. Ritchie and Ritchie (1998) suggested this switch in tourism contexts by citing Keeley (1992) “ There is an overall trend away from product attributes towards lifestyle or value systems.” In addition, “ The consumer of today makes choices based on whether or not a product fits into her or his lifestyle; whether it represents an exciting new concept - a desirable experience” (Schmitt and Simonson 1997). The concept of leisure travel as experiential consumption is not new (e.g., Dimanche and Samdhal 1994), but examples of such a shift are beginning to appear in the tourism literature (e.g., Elias-Varotsis 1998; Pritchard and Morgan 1998). 1.4

Destination Brand and Brand Equity

Ritchie and Ritchie (1998) showed how destination brand definitions could evolve to reflect this concern for experiential consumption. They first suggested, in a classical way, that “ Destination brand is a distinguishing name and/or symbol intended to identify the destination and to differentiate it from competitive destinations.” But they went on to propose, emphasizing the importance of “ experience,” that “ A destination brand is a name, symbol, logo, word mark or other graphic that both identifies and differentiates the destination; furthermore, it conveys the promise of a memorable


travel experience that is uniquely associated with the destination; it also serves to consolidate and reinforce the recollection of pleasurable memories of the destination experience” (p. 103). But Several authors in the marketing literature have been exploring the concepts of brand equity and brand identity (e.g., Aaker 1991; Aaker and Joachimsthaler 2000; Kapferer 1991; Sicard 2001) and suggest that brand leadership is a determinant to competitive success. These authors suggest that the concept of brand comprises several attributes. Based on Aaker, we can define destination brand equity as the brand assets (or liabilities) linked to a destination' s name and symbol that add to (or subtract from) the services or experiences provided. Further, a tourism destination' s brand equity is created by a combination of loyalty to the destination, destination name awareness, destination' s perceived quality, destination' s brand associations, and other assets such as competitive advantage created by the brand. Indeed, in tourism, the brand may be the key source of competitive advantage. For tourism marketers, the difficulty certainly resides in the process of evaluating and valuing intangible assets such as a brand. However, the importance of the brand and its contribution to the competitiveness of a destination should no be disputed. The proposition that is suggested in this paper is that festivals and special events are key tourism marketing tools and that they have the potential to be particularly effective in adding to the brand equity of a destination.

2

Purpose of the Paper

Special events present an opportunity for marketers to help position their destination with products and services (events and their portfolio of activities) that can be tailored to meet the needs of specific target markets. Events are evolving from being cultural expressions of a region to becoming thoughtfully developed marketing tools, used to establish an image and to position a destination amongst its competitors. Special events have the potential to be effective marketing tools for a destination because they appeal to tourists who are truly attracted by the specific qualities of the events, and therefore, they are more likely to satisfy those tourists. More specifically, if we assume that cities and other destinations can be branded, it becomes important to examine how events contribute to their brand equity. The purpose of this paper is to discuss this aspect of destination marketing, and to show how events can contribute to destination brand equity.

3

The Roles of Events in Branding Destinations

Event marketing has experienced a rapid growth overall. Companies have taken sponsorship of events as an opportunity to create a tight relationship with their customers. In tourism, destinations are naturally associated with the events that take place. Particularly in the context of experiential tourism consumption described above, events


can play a prominent role in branding, positioning, and promoting a destination. This role can take several complementary aspects. 3.1

The creation of experiences

By their specificity, events have the ability to relate to the experiential needs of a target market Events can be developed to create emotions and to offer a memorable experience that is uniquely associated with the destination. This can be done by carefully matching a product (the event) with specific target markets, therefore optimizing the opportunity to satisfy visitors. For example, an event such as “ Air and Style Contest” in Innsbruck had been developed to satisfy the needs of a specific target market, young snowboarders, and it had become in a few years the world leading snowboarding event. The event responds to the target market’ s needs for a unique, dynamic, alternative festival atmosphere, with music, snowboarding contests, and parties. The fact that Air and Style Contest took place in Innsbruck is not fortuitous. Innsbruck is recognized in Europe as a snowboarding capital and has also a world reputation as a winter sport destination resulting from hosting several world skiing events and the Winter Olympic Games twice. 3.2

Events as fortification strategy

An event can then be seen as a fortification strategy (Park, Jaworski, and MacInnis 1986) for the destination. The aim of a fortification stage is to link a destination brand image to the image of other products such as events. For example, linking the Jazz and Heritage Festival or the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans to the destination image and brand has represented a strong fortification strategy. Multiple tourism products with their own name or brand, if they have similar or corresponding images, can reinforce each other, so that each benefits from the other. Such a brand fortification strategy can have the following benefits for a destination: First, communication costs may be reduced because similar images reinforce each other. Events that are promoted by a destination’ s advertising and as a result of public relations efforts contribute to create or reinforce awareness about the destination. In addition, the destination can capitalize on visitors’ knowledge of the brand by adding new features to it, and to further inform the visitors. Consistent images can help create the perception that complementary products should be consumed as a package (e.g., conference + pleasure). Several related products (events and others) will help convey, overall, the image of the destination. 3.3

Contribution to destination awareness

Certainly, events contribute to potential visitors'awareness of a destination. For example, a city staging a mega event such as the Olympic Games, the World Cup, the Super Bowl can expect much media coverage and resulting awareness. Smaller events may not lead to worldwide awareness but a properly targeted cultural festival can yield strong regional and national benefits for the associated destination.


The event acts as an advertising strategy for the destination and contributes to create or maintain awareness of the destination. In addition, events may benefit from public relations efforts that will generate extensive publicity in the media, locally and in the feeder markets. 3.4

Contribution to perceived quality

The 1988 summer Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea were used to display Korean savoir faire. For the first time, the western world realized that Koreans were beyond the level of a developing country. They organized successful games and demonstrated that South Korea was a modern, industrious state, able to deliver quality services and products. Hosting a successful mega-event represents a window for a society and its businesses. Olympics can showcase a wide range of a country’s expertise across several sectors and demonstrate that a city can produce leading edge products. Beijing spared no expense to win its bid for the 2008 games. The legacy of the event is likely to boost tourist arrivals to China, which is predicted by the World Tourism Organization to lead tourist arrivals by 2020. Large events help make the case, but smaller events in more modest cities also contribute to perceived quality. The professionalism of event planners and managers, the excellence of a trade show or a festival will reflect in the host city. In France, a small city such as Cannes has greatly benefited along the years from the image and associated attributes (luxury, quality) of the International Film Festival. Successfully hosting the Festival has contributed to make Cannes the second French convention city after Paris and a desirable pleasure destination. 3.5

Contribution to brand associations

Brand associations can be anything that connects the visitor to the destination. It can include imagery, destination attributes, associations, brand personality, or symbols. Destination brand management involves determining which associations to develop and then create and associate events to the brand. For example, to many Europeans, New Orleans is known for its music and the Jazz and Heritage Festival, and all Americans associate Mardi Gras (Carnival) celebrations to New Orleans. The notoriety enjoyed by New Orleans has been greatly enhanced by these events. In addition, the City of New Orleans is a leader at hosting a major American sports event: the Super Bowl. New Orleans has successfully bid several times to attract this large event, and this has resulted, besides the short-term publicity generated each time, in a lasting reputation as a destination that is the place for special events, and that knows how to entertain visitors with acclaimed food, music, and parties. 3.6

Contributions to brand loyalty

Destination loyalty is at the heart of destination brand equity. Destination loyalty can be defined as the tourist’s conscious or unconscious decision, expressed through intention or behavior, to revisit a destination. It occurs because the visitor perceives that the destination offers the right features or attributes, image, or level of quality at the


right price. In tourism, the price to pay may include the actual cost but also the difficulty to get to the destination (travel time and length of stay). In other words, brand loyalty occurs when the destination offers value. A tourism destination can measure some of its success with repeat customer ratios. Events offer an opportunity to create visitors and to make them loyal to the destination. An attractive event will be the reason for first time visitors to discover a destination. The destination has then the opportunity to satisfy those visitors and to lure them into repeat visits. Of course, recurring events can cause themselves the return of loyal visitors year after year. They must then provide enough diversity from one year to another to maintain the interest of the visitors. For example, the Salzburg Festival attracts new and repeat visitors over the years with careful program changes. 3.7

Contributions to destination positioning

Crompton (1996) and Heath and Wall (1992) suggested the importance of positioning tourism destinations and noted that destination marketers often neglected this area. Positioning involves identifying potential visitors’ perceptions of the strong attributes of a destination, comparing them with their perceptions of the attributes of competing destinations, and selecting those which differentiate the destination from its competitors. These features or attributes can then be emphasized and form the cornerstone of a destination’ s marketing strategies. These attributes can already be strong in the destination (e.g., history, culture, and natural features) or tourism entrepreneurs can create or emphasize new ones. If an event can be identified to be uniquely related to the destination in the minds of tourists or travel intermediaries, it can become itself a key attribute used to position the destination. An example of an event that, in the USA, can be uniquely identified with the destination that stages it is Mardi Gras. Other than its traditional cultural function, Mardi Gras serves the purpose to help position New Orleans as a “ party” destination, as a city where “ everything goes.” It reinforces some of the existing images and attributes that tourists hold about the destination. The “ brand” New Orleans is well-known and potential visitors as well as travel intermediaries are aware of the city as an urban destination. The growth of tourism in New Orleans is documented by increased number of hotel rooms, airport passenger handling, and tax revenues in the past decade (New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau 2000). It is suggested here that a major reason for this growth and for the establishment of a strong tourism brand has been the staging, over the years, of special cultural events such as Mardi Gras, the Jazz and Heritage Festival, the French Quarter Festival, and of major sports events such as the Sugar Bowl or the Super Bowl.

4

Conclusions and Recommendations


Around the world, we see the growing place that special events are taking in destination marketing. Destination sales and promotion strategies are increasingly dependent upon those events (Hong Kong launched last year a two-year, $30 million tourism campaign, that features over 200 events, festivals, and other attractions). However, for events to play a significant role in the overall marketing efforts of the destination, several conditions should be met. First, the events’ target markets should be consistent with the destination’ s target markets. Strategic decisions must be taken to determine the type of experiences a destination wishes to sell and the profile of customers a destination wishes to attract. These two points are, of course, related and the strategic decisions should be consistent with one another. Unless a re-positioning strategy is decided, the image portrayed or promoted by the event should be consistent with the destination’ s overall image. In addition, the events should use or relate to the features/attributes that are specific to the destination. The following example summarizes this point: Visitors to the French Quarter Festival are very likely to be attracted by the features of New Orleans, because of the similarities of the products’ offerings: food, music, and a party atmosphere in a romantic setting, the French Quarter. The image of the destination, “ The big easy,” is consistent with the festival’ s attributes. Therefore, the markets that are targeted can be used interchangeably by the festival and by the destination. It is doubtful that a Shakespeare or a classical music event would successfully contribute to New Orleans'brand equity. Finally, it must be pointed out that marketing efforts such as branding and positioning are long-term efforts. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is more than a tourist event: it is a community festival rooted in over 150 years of tradition. The Jazz and Heritage Festival started as a small community festival nearly 30 years ago before becoming the large event it is today, attracting over 200,000 attendees over two weekends. Mega events such as Olympics or World' s Fairs are planned over 10 year-periods. Public sector destination marketers and their political stakeholders (money providers) should make sure to plan for a long-term investment when creating events in the context of a branding strategy. Developing a brand and an image for a destination may take years, and for events to contribute significantly to this effort, patience and consistency should be used.

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