Digital Marketing Plan for an International Event. Case: Guinness Sauna event.

Abstract

With the development of technology and new customer touchpoints, the primary aim of the thesis is to determine out the connection between digital marketing and event management. The sources of the thesis are in the form of books, journals, Internet sources and previous studies. The secondary aim is to collect a useful dataset by conducting a benchmarking research method to understand old problems, adapt outstanding practices and identify potential improvements concerning three different event management organizations in Helsinki. Finally, the outcome of this thesis are guidelines to manage digital marketing activities in an event according to the SOSTAC model and to measure its effectiveness by digital techniques.

The research findings show that there are multiple ways of interacting with customers in the event industry. With different digital marketing tools, there are various aspects, management, evaluation support tools and customer touchpoints. As a result, this thesis can be seen as a vast database and framework not only to help marketing specialists produce a digital marketing plan for any company in the 4.0 industry but also to support event organizers to create a successful event in the competitive environment.

The case project is the Guinness Sauna event. The author believes that this thesis will provide an effective and efficient digital marketing plan, which helps fulfil its goal of increasing the Haaga-Helia University of Applied Science’s brand equity.