5 Tips for Branding, Before and During Your Event
21 September 2015
The date is set, the venue is booked and it’s time to go full-throttle on your event marketing. From invites to online promotions, here’s our guide to branding your event before and during the day itself.
1. Get your brand guidelines in order
Some businesses have their own brand guidelines, but many don’t. If you fall into the latter category, it’s time to compile a set of brand ‘rules’ covering the finer details of your brand, including colour palettes, fonts and tone of voice. Once the guidelines are finalised, make sure that everyone on your marketing team has access, ensuring your output – including words and graphics – is consistently on-brand.
2. Create a sub-brand for your event
Every event has it’s own USP – perhaps the lure of a key speaker, the chance to learn a new skill or simply first-rate entertainment. Use this selling point to create a new sub-brand for your event – one that goes hand-in-hand with your core brand identity. Glastonbury Festival is a great example here: every year the festival has a new, reimagined look used across all marketing collateral, while retaining the core and enduring identity of Glastonbury festivals as its parent brand.
3. Create and use branded imagery
Once your event’s brand identity has been created, it’s time to make the most of it. Create a suite of professionally designed imagery that will be used throughout your marketing campaign – including email signatures, social media cover images and event invitations.
4. Avoid brand fatigue
While promoting your event, it’s important to avoid the trap of brand fatigue. While you need to maximise marketing efforts via email, social networks and your website, remember to build anticipation and intrigue with new information and event teasers without going overboard. Instead of repeating the same core message with the same branded imagery, keep your efforts fresh, on-brand and tailored to each marketing platform. To avoid spamming your contacts, target your marketing campaign to a specific demographic using relevant, compelling content.
5. Prepare your physical branding
At the event itself you’ll need visual prompts to reinforce your brand identity and continue the efforts of your pre-event marketing. Physical branded materials may include gift bags, table toppers, menus and name badges – so ensure these follow your brand guidelines from the logo right down to your choice of font. To reinforce your message, provide branded content on the day itself – for example case-study videos showcasing your work, or a live ‘tweet wall’ displaying real-time tweets with your event hashtag.
On the day, remember that your brand is not just a logo. Every aspect of your event should be in keeping with your brand’s personality, which even includes your choice of music, entertainment and decorations.
To finish, a quote from Amir Kassaei, Chief Creative Officer for DDB Worldwide. “A brand is not a product or a promise or a feeling. It’s the sum of all the experiences you have with a company.” It’s your job to act before and during the event to shape that all-important brand experience.