A quarter of event professionals are looking to increase marketing budgets, according to a survey conducted during a webinar hosted by The Hague.
More than 100 attendees from more than 25 countries joined The Hague Convention Bureau for its third webinar to discuss the topic, 'How are destination marketing communications strategies evolving right now?'.
During the webinar the attendees were asked the following question: 'To what extent do you think you will increase your overall marketing budgets and resources now and after the crisis?'.
The results showed that there is significant reticence in the sector to invest in marketing at this point in time.
• 36 per cent - Not at all, we are cutting marketing budgets
• 39 per cent - It will remain the same
• 18 per cent - Will slightly increase
• 7 per cent - Will heavily increase the marketing budget
Olga Golubova, marketing communications advisor B2B at The Hague & Partners and host for the webinar said: “It was heartening to see that there are creative and inspiring opportunities for marketing despite the ongoing challenges created by Covid-19.
"It is true that there is still a long way to go and budgets will not return to pre-Covid levels for some time. However, opportunities clearly exist and we must all do our best to identify and make the most of them.”
The webinar was moderated by André Koster, marketing communications consultant at Frontier Marketeer.
The panel was made up of:
• Patrick Delaney, managing partner at SoolNua.
• Carola van der Hoeff, COO and congress director International Pharmaceutical Federation.
• Martin de Munnik, neuromarketing expert, managing partner and co-founder of Neurensics.
• Gorazd Čad, founder and owner of marketing and congress agency Toleranca Marketing.
A full recording of the webinar as well as previous content can be found via: https://conventionbureau.thehague.com/webinars
The Hague’s next webinar will take place on July 2nd on the subject of the viability of business events following social distancing measures.
M&IT editor Paul Harvey is a journalist with more than 15 years of experience. He began his career in the local press, working for various titles across the north. Since joining M&IT in 2013, he has become a trusted and respected voice in the sector, championing event professionals and reporting on all aspects of the events industry for the brand.
