Research On Media Event Marketing

Abstract: In recent years, China's media have undergone increasingly greater institutional reforms and higher level of industrialization. The competition among various media forms under the market conditions is becoming more and more tense, which is made even worse with the introduction of the new forms of media. As a result, media industry faces more and greater challenges on the way of development. In order to survive and develop, China's media have to face the competition and seek "cure-alls" to win under such tense competitive situation. As a means of modern marketing, and characterized by such features as wide dissemination, low cost, and effectiveness both in time and in results, event marketing has gained favor of the media industry and is frequently used to gain advantageous positions in competition, and the results are wonder-like and have attracted much public attention.It is undisputedly conducive for the media to enlarge their share in national economy and to make their own contribution in building a harmonious society. The way of achieving this is to follow the commencing and development track of media event marketing, to analyze its current situation and developing tendency, to explore ways and measures for the media to improve visibility and build credibility, to upgrade its influence and build up media brand under new situations. Following this line of thought, I would like to elaborate my shallow opinions in four parts.PartⅠis mainly about the commencing, development and social significance of media event marketing. In recent years, the current reform of the media industry has entered a crucial period, and the competition among different media is ever growing. Under this situation, the media are paying more attention than ever to marketing so that they may find new ways of development under the situation of homogenized competition. Pioneers such as Guangzhou Daily and Phoenix TV etc. have made wonder-like achievements. Their success lies in that they continuously upgrade their business philosophy and relentlessly explore new ways and measures for business operation and marketing. Media event marketing is one of the effective ways the media explored by learning from modern marketing methods.Media event marketing is a successful practice, the basis of which is to deeply understand the market features of the media, to accurately grasp the psychological needs of the audience, to keep close observation of the social historical progress, to make use of appropriate dissemination opportunities, to learn from the marketing methods of modern enterprises and give full play of their won advantages in resources, in human power and in dissemination channels. The way of achieving this is to integrate marketing dissemination by using multiple dissemination methods, the purpose is to build up visibility, to improve credibility, to upgrade influence and to mold their own media brand. With its high input-output ratio, and its advantages in effectiveness and in wide dissemination, Media event marketing has won not only social benefits for the media but also substantial economic gains.At the very beginning, media event marketing commence with public welfare activities, in which it pays attention to the participation in social life, and its aim is to enhance the visibility and influence of the media. Since the latter part of 1990's, profiting event marketing has gradually gained the favor and attention of media operators. Besides their pursuit of media influence, they're more eager to gain double win both in social benefits and in economic profits. With this mentality, the operators think of ways to draw public attention, and make serious research on the psychological reactions of the audience, plan various programs of event marketing methods that the audience may be interested in and play an active part in, so that the favorable visibility and influence of the media might be built upPartⅡchiefly deals with China's media, which hold a special social position, functioning both as the mouthpiece of the Party and the government and as a symbol of authority and justice to the general public. In this fierce market competition, some media have taken an edge and become the most fortunate in this industry. The way of success is to make good use of their unique advantages in dissemination channels, in social influence, in their ability to integrate resources, in credibility as well as in their cost favors and hidden marketing means, and integrate their marketing by giving full play of their advantages ----event marketing has an edge on high output ratio, on effectiveness in time, and in its wide dissemination. There are some shining examples that the whole industry can learn from: the success of Phoenix Satellite lies in its use and creation of momentum, and in its emphasis on global marketing; "Super Girls" of Hunan Satellite lead mega millions of audience and their songs are echoed all over the Nation; Fortune magazine based in the U.S. has accumulated much strength from its "Fortune 500" name list of the most powerful world enterprises; while Al-Jazeera Satellite TV in Qatar going through the war has become a dark horse in world media.PartⅢis chiefly about the reasons why the effects of event marketing are on the decrease in recent years. The essay points out that problems remain in these aspects: lacking freshness in creation, inadequate public participation, loose connection between planned events and the function of the media, and inadequate propaganda. The author also offers solutions to these above mentioned problems.PartⅣpoints out that presently in a time of brand marketing media operators should take integrated dissemination ideas to guide their marketing, stick to the idea of all-personnel, marketing, attract marketing personnelwith professional training, constantly renew marketing methods, build up their own media brand and create core competitiveness so that they may build up media influence for mote ambitious development in the future.