Events are in Vogue

Well, the 2008 Perth Fashion Festival has finally come to an end. Much blood, sweat and tears was pored into the preparation and lead-up to the event, and thankfully it went off without much of a hitch. The event is one that is sponsored by The Sunday Times each year. It is a notoriously difficult event to manage in terms of sponsorship, due to the size and the nature of the event. This year proved to be no different and with The West Australian pulling out their support earlier in the year, we were subsequently offered the first-right of refusal to support the events which were once held by The West. This meant that in addition to the 'STM Style Sessions' which we host each year, we were also offered the chance to support additional events at the festival.
From the point of accepting more sponsorship activity to the actual event, there were countless issues. Much of these were concerned with the proposal and having all parties agreeing on a fair sponsorship exchange was very difficult.
In all relationships, finding the balance of support is particularly difficult. The same issue exists between sponsors and it is often impossible to match the exact support as a lot of the work involved is intangible and impossible to measure.
Therefore, it was important to communicate these factors when determining what was ‘fair’ and reasonable to include in the sponsorship proposal. Many phone calls and meetings were arranged to discuss these issues, to ensure that they did not become a problem and were made clear from the very beginning. For instance, many of the events have more than one sponsor. Therefore, it was important to stipulate that if we were supporting any given event that our signage must be the only one on display and so on.
These factors may seem pointless, however in the evaluation of the support following the event itself, it quickly becomes clear how important and valuable these things really are.
As we all learnt in-class the evaluation of any public relations campaign is crucial to the whole process itself. We cannot improve our activities if we are unaware of their value n the first place.
From this event, I was able to better understand the value of the evaluation process across the entirely of any PR activity. Furthermore, I realised how valuable all the small things really are in achieving your goals. In this instance, our goal was to promote STM as a fashion-forward publication. We were able to conclude this at the end of the campaign, judged by the coverage of the festival in-paper, and our visual presence across the festival’s events.
It was a great experience to be a part of (especially going to the events), but it was definitely a learning curve having never had to deal with so many people on the one campaign. It certainly made me have a lot more respect for event planners!