Abstract
Technology is playing a pivotal role in shaping the operations and marketing and events industry. The modern event manager has understood that the event success or failure may depend on the technology used or the lack of it. An event is a set of activities with specific purpose goals and needs of the attendees. An event can be defined as an organised occasion, it provides some lived experience and meaning. The technology has the potential to be used at each stage of the consumers' experience of events. The chapter has taken a resource-based view and analysed how technology can be a tool for operations and service innovation and ultimately a strategics for creating core competencies and core capabilities. This chapter explores how technology can be used in the management event, technology in the value delivery network of events, and marketing of events. Various new technologies like block-chain technology, augment relativity, RFID, social media, digital promotional tactics are discussed.
TopIntroduction
In this globalised world, companies can gain competitive advantage and improve their performances by continually improving their products, innovative operations and innovative strategies to reach their target customers(Ungerman, Dedkova, & Gurinova, 2018). The innovations mean creating something new and it can be product innovation, process innovations, organisational innovations, and marketing innovations to attract exiting or new customer segments (Ungerman et al., 2018). Those four innovations could be due to technological or non-technological innovations. The current ICT revolution and digitalisations have further increased the speed of innovations. The use of ICT Technology is playing a pivotal role in shaping the marketing of many industries including events industry. The use of technology in any industry is also known as an industrial revolution or Industry 4.0 is enhancing organizational competencies (Ungerman et al., 2018). With the amount of research and development going on within the sector, new technology is being unearthed almost on a daily basis. The modern event manager has understood that the event success or failure may depend on the technology used or the lack of it. Marketing innovations are based on lateral thinking with the underlying principle of innovativeness, playfulness, boundlessness, and provocativeness(Ungerman et al., 2018)
Most services organisations are developing or using technologies to add further value and dimensions to their services, in particular, the organisation is using social element in their services(Trivedi, Adomako Asamoah, & Doran, 2018). The organisations can achieve suitable competitive advantages by adopting technology in the whole of the value delivery network.
Managers can use technology in operations and in the marketing of events by using the power of Web2.0 and social media platforms. Technology-enabled social elements (letting social connections or friendship, community development around a brand, person, product or service) built has allowed customers or users to create, post content, share information and directly interact with each other via Social media or other platforms(Trivedi et al., 2018). This implies customers (as co-creators) participate, involve and engage in the operations of creating, developing, delivery and consumption of the of services. Such added-value services have a direct and positive impact on customers’ purchase intentions, loyalty and e Word of Mouth (Trivedi et al., 2018). The social elements of services are not only useful for customers but also are very important feedback and two communications routes for the organizing, as the organisation can use those feedbacks or customer review to contentiously innovate and enhance overall service designed and service experiences of the customers.
Thus innovation can be inbuilt into the organisation system by making use of social elements into operations of an organisation. The operations of events and marketing of events also require innovative approaches for sustainable marketing and competitive advantages. The new technology trends such as digital platforms, social media, Big data, blockchain augmented reality, and artificial intelligence, etc., are disrupting many industries and the event industry is not an exception. This chapter covers some of the technology-based innovations in the field of marketing and events and their applications for competitive advantage. Most of these are the trends in the events industry in the last decade or so.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Customer Engagement: Customer engagement means involving customers (internal occupancy with the activity or some external interactions or cognitive linked reactions to an external stimuli) in the process of a service purchase, consumptions, and post-purchase behaviour.
Innovation: An innovation is an idea, practice, or object or a new product or a new quality of a product,, a new production method or a new sales market etc that is perceived as new by an individual or another unit of adoption.
Projection Mapping: A projection mapping is a technique where images or videos of building, mountains, fountains, etc. are directly mapped onto surfaces giving the surface a three-dimensional visual effect.
Event: An event is an organized occasion made up of a set of activities with specific purpose goals and needs of the attendees An event can incudes occasion such as meeting, music testable, product/brand promotion, convention, conference, exhibition, special event, wedding, social gathering or gala dinner, and so on.
Service Innovation: Service innovation implies developing a new service or renewal, modification of existing services.
Diffusion of Innovation: Diffusion of innovation means an adoption process across a population over time and it includes a special form of communication that leads to the spread of innovation from one individual to the other.
Event Management: Event management is a process of planning, organising, coordinating, executing various activities at an event with effective use of all the event resources to meet the specific goals and objective of the event.
Events Marketing: Events marketing is also a tool used by marketers for how they can reach audiences, promote products and enhance event experience.
Resource-based view: The resource-based view postulates theta organisation’s strategy and performance depends upon its own internal unique capabilities and resources, and such resources and capabilities should add value, rare, non-imitable, and non-substitutable.